Factors Influencing Adult Learners’ Decision to Drop Out or Persist in Online Learning

"The number of adult learners who participate in online learning has rapidly grown in the last two decades due to online learning’s many advantages. In spite of the growth, the high dropout rate in online learning has been of concern to many higher education institutions and organizations. The purpose of this study was to determine whether persistent learners and dropouts are different in individual characteristics (i.e., age, gender, and educational level), external factors (i.e., family and organizational supports), and internal factors (i.e., satisfaction and relevance as sub-dimensions of motivation)" (p.207). (Abstractor: Author)

"Adult learners are more likely to drop out of online courses when they do not receive support from their family and/or organization while taking online courses, regardless of learners’ academic preparation and aspiration. Internal factors such as course design strategies and learners’ motivation should be prioritized at the course development stage in order to make the course participatory and interesting and to keep learners engaged. Once the course is launched and in progress, however, course administrators and instructors should consider external factors that might interrupt learners’ participation and persistence. It is important to consider learners’ situation while managing or maintaining the course so that learners can get help if needed. In the event that an instructor knows that learners are not receiving enough support from their family and organization, he/she might help the learners stay in the course by paying extra attention, using appropriate motivational strategies, and providing additional internal support. This study concludes that instructional designers should systematically analyze external factors surrounding learners and use the analysis results to initiate learning and motivate learners so that the high dropout rate can be decreased. The results of this study support the significance of those external factors that are easily overlooked by instructional designers. This study also showed that dropouts had significant differences in perceptions of learner satisfaction and relevance from persistent learners. In other words, learners are less likely to drop out when they are satisfied with the courses, and when the courses are relevant to their own lives. The results suggest that learners’ satisfaction with the online course and relevance to learners’ job, prior knowledge, and experiences are major factors affecting their decision to drop out or persist...In order to enhance satisfaction as a way to motivate online learners, rewards such as a completion certificate, praise, and promotion should be given to learners. Relevance can be achieved by designing a course that contains learning materials and cases closely related to learners’ interests, experiences, goals, and so forth" (p.215). (Abstractor: Author)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2009
• Author(s): Park, Ji-Hye; Choi, Hee Jun
• Organizational Author(s): Dept. of Education, Kookmin University; Dept. of Education, Hongik University
• Funding Source: Hongik University Research Fund
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies