Recommender systems in educational contexts have proven effective to identify learning resources that fit the interests and needs of learners. Their usage has been of special interest in online self-learning scenarios to increase student retention and improve the learning experience. In current recommendation techniques, and in particular, in…

The purpose of this paper is to identify and explain the best practice of using "big data" reports to help distance learning administrators better understand their own programs and represent them to stakeholders. The authors examine five reports: (1) the number and percentage of graduates from the main campus who also take classes at the…

This study investigates the effects of music ensemble participation during the freshman fall semester on the ongoing retention of college students. Retention of college students is a concern across the nation. The research question for the study was, "Is there a correlation between participation in music ensembles during college students'…

This paper discusses methods for benchmarking vocational education and training colleges and presents results from a number of models. It is conceptually difficult to benchmark vocational colleges. The colleges typically offer a wide range of course programmes, and the students come from different socioeconomic backgrounds. We solve the…

This study examines the within-field persistence rates of physical science/engineering (PS/E) students compared with those of students in life science, business, social science, education, and humanities. The data are drawn from a nationally representative sample of college matriculates and include students' high school and college transcript…

Students identified as at-risk of non-academic continuation have a propensity toward lower academic self-efficacy than their peers (Lent, 2005). Within engineering, self-efficacy and confidence are major markers of university continuation and success (Lourens, 2014 Raelin, et al., 2014). This study explored academic learning self-efficacy specific…

Facilitating student transfer from two-year to four-year institutions has been a focus of research and policy in recent years. Much less attention has been given to the phenomenon of four-year to two-year (4-2) college transfer. About 16 percent of students who begin in a four-year college transfer to a two-year college within six years. Using…

Increased federal attention to student completion metrics and uncertain financial forecasts have heightened the tenor of student retention conversations. Improved institutional retention rates will lead to higher completion rates and relieve some funding concerns. To accomplish these improvements, institutions have invested in analytics to better…

Prior learning assessment (PLA) is the process of evaluating learning, regardless of when or where the learning occurred, and, if the learning is at the college level, awarding college credit to the possessor of that learning. This article provides an overview of the PLA program at a large public U.S. institution and presents the findings of the…

Enrollment in online courses has outpaced overall university enrollment for the past several years. The growth of online courses does not appear to be slowing. The purpose of this study was to compare course completion and student academic performance between online and traditional courses. Archival data from the host university student records…

Web-conferencing software was chosen for course delivery to provide flexible options for students at a two-year technical college. Students used technology to access a live, synchronous microeconomics course over the internet instead of a traditional face-to-face lecture. This investigation studied the impact of implementing web-conferencing…

Attrition rates are an indicator of a school's holding power, or ability to keep students enrolled in school and learning until they graduate. This study examines regional trends in Texas for the number and percent of students lost from public high school enrollment prior to graduation. A comparative analysis of 1985-86, 2005-06, 2006-07,…

Distance learning has experienced a noteworthy increase in both the number of institutions offering alternatives to traditional classroom instruction, and the number of students participating in the various distant modalities. Accompanying the increase of students utilizing distance learning is the subsequent increase in students leaving their…

The Concurrent Courses Initiative (CCI), funded by The James Irvine Foundation from 2008 until 2011, comprised eight secondary/postsecondary partnerships across California that offered dual enrollment programs with supplemental student supports. The goal of the CCI was to expand access to supportive, career-focused dual enrollment for students…

The purpose of the study was to explore the academic careers of students who took AP Exams and to compare their careers with those who did not take AP Exams. For most AP Exams, students with AP grades of 3 or better had higher grade averages in intermediate college courses than did non-AP students who first took an introductory course. Two…