Almost by definition, students within distance education programs face additional challenges to remain healthy online students. Distance students often face higher financial burdens, live within lower socio-economical contexts, and suffer greater family loss during their time as students than residential students, not to mention being responsible for structuring every aspect of their learning environment for themselves while in school. And it directly follows that online schools face a greater challenge with retention and graduation rates of their students and must work hard to innovate methods by which to bolster student retention. At Centura College's Virginia Beach Branch, which hosts all fully-online programs, we have found that a key method for promoting student retention is by developing an online community that "draws students in", even outside of classes and course content.
From fraternities and sororities, to athletics, to clubs and organizations, higher education figured out long ago that extra-curricular activities create lasting bonds that positively impact students' lives, as well as support student retention. However, for about as long as distance education has been around, post-secondary education has assumed that student activities are for residential students and not for the online learner. At Centura College, we reject this assumption and work hard to create dynamic opportunities for online students to be involved and connected to student life activities through our online Student Success Center (SSC), a virtual commons area available to all students within our learning management system. For example, the Keep In Touch (KIT) club is an area where students share recipes and chat about what will be on their holiday dinner table. In the Book and Movie Club, students share their thoughts on books that fit a monthly theme. Online students have developed both an online sorority and a fraternity, and these two groups have logged over 700 hours of community service in less than two years. Our newest endeavor is the National Technical Honor Society (NTHS), where our online students enjoy the same benefits and recognition as residential campus NTHS students.
This presentation will consist of data and examples supporting the notion that online social networking improves retention and positively impacts the lives of students earning their degrees online. We will unveil our newest incarnation of the Student Success Center, which adopts a social networking interface, harnessing the power that Facebook, Twitter, and blogs have promoted, and demonstrate how our SSC 2.0 promises to provide more community, more interaction, and higher retention among our online students.
