Many students who enroll in online universities will never graduate. Attrition in higher education is accepted and expected; however, in exclusively online programs, it is prolific, with more than 80% of those students who begin an online program leaving before graduating. It is well known in the academic literature that isolation is related to…

Understanding how to best support online postsecondary students is critical for student success and the credibility of online education as measured by student retention. With the growing trend of online education as an alternative to traditional face-to-face instruction, meeting the needs of online learners is essential. It is also essential that…

Since student retention in online courses is related to the students' community, this dissertation explores the effect of discussion board prompt format on students' sense of community of inquiry (CoI). The quasi-experimental study design examined the participation levels, sense of CoI (i.e., social, teaching, and cognitive presence), and final…