Online Retention of Students

I attended a 3 day conference in San Diego, Dec. 8-10 presented by Academic Impressions.

The focus of the conference was Retention of Online Students. Their description was:

Retaining Students in Online Education
December 8-10 :: San Diego, CA

The promise and potential to transform lives through online learning is enormous. All too often, though, the promises of certificates and degrees are never met. Students fail to reach their potential, struggling to complete their coursework at a distance or dropping out altogether. Many institutions find that students in their online programs have a lower completion rate than students on campus. The results are costly: students’ dreams are dashed, faculty members become frustrated, potential tuition revenue is lost, and valuable online class spaces stand vacant. In order to improve online student retention, institutions need methods to track students, document student progress, and put specific practices in place to ensure student success.

Join us for the Retaining Students in Online Education conference as we discuss some practical strategies for online student retention. You will be engaged in small and large group discussions, brainstorming, and planning as you develop an action plan specific to the needs of your institution. Discussion will be centered on:

* Identifying the needs of online students
* Support strategies
* Steps to measure success

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I’ll have more to report as put together a presentation and summary for LCC in January.