Impacts and Satisfaction of Student Learning Cohorts: Findings of a Comparative Assessment

It is commonly held that cohort-based learning is a highly effective approach to distance and online learning. More specifically, it has been suggested that "students who have the opportunity to develop and build their personal, social, and academic skills within a pedagogical community may be more advanced in their ability to foster new communities within their professional careers." (See Fenning) Proponents of cohort-based learning argue that student capabilities are enhanced by cohorts, inasmuch as students purportedly feel more confident and more inclined to explore new ways of thinking. They also argue that students involved in learning cohorts are more highly motivated, enjoy comparatively greater emotional well being, and are generally more satisfied with their learning experiences. However, the empirical evidence supporting these views is surprisingly thin. (This state of affairs may be explained in part by the fact that until recently online educators have been preoccupied with justifying their efforts in pedagogical terms, and also because circumstances lending themselves to studying the issues underlying cohort-based learning have not been common.) This presentation describes the findings of a study designed to assess an online degree program based on learning cohorts, focusing specifically on the extent to which cohort-based learning influences the attitudes and perceived satisfaction of students. The University of Pittsburgh's School of Information Sciences (SIS) offers a special opportunity to examine issues related to the efficacy of cohort-based learning. Since 2001, when SIS began to offer the MLIS degree in the online environment, 19 cohorts with more than 800 online students have been organized at matriculation, and over 90% percent of them have fulfilled the requirements for the MLIS degree. (In the beginning, the online cohorts matriculated once a year, in May, but owing to increased demand, a second cohort matriculated in August, beginning in 2003.) The study compares the attitudes of degree recipients who belonged to formally organized learning cohorts with the attitudes of graduates who did not belong to learning cohorts. The study also assesses changing attitudes toward online education and blended course delivery. The results will be compared with the responses from degree recipients who completed a similar professional graduate degree online from another institution, but who were not part of a formally organized learning cohort. The purpose of the study is to examine the perceptions of students who completed an online graduate degree as part of a formally organized learning cohort with students who completed an online graduate degree without being part of a formally organized learning cohort. See Kristine Fenning. "Cohort Based Learning: Application to Learning Organizations and Student Academic Success." College Quarterly 7 (Winter 2004); Shapon-Shevin and Chandler-Olcott, 2001).