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*Fund project: This paper is a phased research result of the project “Research on Open Distance Education Dropouts” included in the National Natural Science Fund (Approval No.70973148)
In recent years, the number of people enrolling in distance education has increased significantly. However, distance education administrators continue to be troubled by the high dropout rate. The dropout rate is often regarded as one of the most important indexes to measure the efficiency and quality of a school. It has a close bearing on a series of issues including course quality, learning results and learner satisfaction, and it directly impacts the viability and credibility of the educational institution. Thus, a number of scholars have focused on studying dropouts in distance education and made progress in understanding the phenomenon. Domestic scholars (Cao Wen et al., 2000; Luo Fafen et al., 2005; Ji Zhe et al., 2008; Li Ying et al., 2010) often begin studying the causes of dropout from a research and management perspective, analyzing dropouts on the basis of their environment and academic background. The factors most frequently cited in the above research as leading to a person’’s discontinuing their studies are: work-study conflicts, learning difficulties, personal reasons and lack of learner support. The study of dropouts in distance education from this single perspective falls short of helping educational institutions formulate effective intervention strategies to reduce the high dropout rate. Therefore, we also need to learn more about dropouts’’ circumstances, investigating and learning about their actual feelings and experiences, and examining and analyzing their performance throughout the learning process, all with the goal of better understanding the complex factors that lead to dropping out of school. The advantage of analyzing this problem from the perspective of dropouts is that it will help others to have a more complete picture of their study circumstances and their reasons for quitting school. Only when people have a full understanding of what leads a student to quit school, can they shed their previously held prejudices against dropouts and formulate more effective intervention measures. To attain the above objectives, this study focuses on Radio and TV University (RTVU) dropouts and relevant teaching staff, analyzing and summarizing the causes for quitting school, looking for connections between these causes and support services provided by the school, and making clear suggestions as to what educational institutions can do to minimize the high dropout rate.
Related Research on School Dropouts
Based on earlier international research and achievements in the study of dropouts in distance education, this paper will briefly review relevant findings so as to establish theoretical basis for the present research. Discussion on the issue of dropouts has led to attributing the problem to many diverse causes, including academics, environment, individual, institutions and psychology. These diverse causes have led to a number of different theories. One thing they all have in common is that the dropout rate in distance education is significantly higher than that of traditional education, and is a complicated issue involving many factors, which has no clear and easy solution.
International research on dropouts began with traditional education mainly geared to full-time, active students. With advancements in information technology and its application in institutions of higher education, the resulting higher dropout rate became a hot topic in the field of distance education. When examining research on dropouts in distance education, many scholars turn to the influential Vincent Tinto and his theory of student integration. Because the subject of Tinto’s research was students of traditional education, many researchers have made adjustments and supplements to it to suit the characteristics of adult learners and the new methods of distance education, resulting in the derivation of some new theories especially geared to the analysis of distance education dropouts. These adapted theories take into consideration factors unique to distance education, such as that many distance learners are working adults, the technical skills required to study over the Internet, and the individual’’s level of literacy.
Tinto (1975, 1987, 1993) focused his research on dropouts from traditional higher education institutions in the United States. He divided the factors affecting the students’’ leaving school into the two categories of “academic integration” and “social integration”. He pointed out that whether the students complete their studies depends on how well the individuals get along with the school in each respect and the adaptability of individual students. That is, if a student keeps up with the study requirements, adapts well to school life, and gets along well with teachers and other students, the positive psychological experience will further enhance the student’s motive for study and confidence in completing their studies. If these conditions are not met, they are more likely to quit school. Therefore, if schools make an effort to create environments conducive to the students’’ full integration with the school, and help the students adapt to life in their new environment, the dropout rate can be controlled to some degree (Tyler-Smith, 2006). The contribution of Tinto’s theory is that he clearly identified and classified many complex factors that can lead to high dropout rates, and thus gave educational institutions a clearer idea of how to manage their dropout rates.
However Tinto’s theory is less applicable when it comes to adult education. Adult students greatly differ from younger students at traditional higher education institutions. For example, the adult students’’ studies make up only a small part of their life, which is mainly centered off campus. They usually live far away from the school. Their social life does not revolve around classmates and teachers. Moreover, many of them shoulder the task of supporting a family. Adult students usually have to shuffle their time between study, work and family, constantly changing roles and balancing their time. Sometimes their studies are forced to take a subordinate position to the double burden of work and family. There are many factors in a student’’s life that are beyond the control of adult education institutions. When Bean & Metzner (1985) studied adult student dropouts, they made adjustments to Tinto’s theoretical model to suit the characteristics of the aforementioned adult students. Based on the two categories of academic integration and social integration, they further subdivided reasons for dropping out into the following four categories: 1) academic reasons, which refers to individual learning habits, learning guidance received, frequency of participation in learning activities, learning convenience and suitability of the programme to the individual; 2) background reasons, which deal with age, living conditions, education expectancy and prior academic scores; 3) environmental reasons, which relate to economic factors, current employment, family and employer support, and work transfer; 4) psychological experience, which includes academic scores, usefulness of knowledge, study stress and satisfaction, individual effort and the recognition of school support. The theory was verified in later research on adult dropouts. With favorable academic and environmental factors, the students will persist to the completion of schooling. With unfavorable environmental factors, the students’ determination to complete the schooling will be reduced in spite of excellent academic scores; with a negative psychological experience, the students will be apt to give up their studies (Rovai, 2003). We can see in Bean & Metzner’s dropout theory that environmental and psychological factors are crucial in the adult students’’ decision to continue or discontinue their studies. This theory has outlined the two fields that adult schools must give attention to in dealing with dropouts: the environmental factors and the psychological experience of learning. In practical terms, it is beyond the capacity of schools to change the environment for adult students. What schools can do is to provide students with a positive psychological experience by considering the adult students’’ environmental factors, tailoring the teaching plan and curriculum to the needs of each student, and providing focused support services that meet their practical needs, thus enhancing their confidence in their ability to successfully complete their schooling.
Tinto’s theory is based on traditional institutions of higher education and does not apply to adult distance education. It is the same with Bean & Metzner’s theory, which was targeted toward adult students enrolled in traditional institutions. When applied to the study of adult dropouts of distance education, it falls short in the consideration of the Internet-based study and related factors. Statistics show that the dropout rate in distance education is usually higher than that of traditional education (Li Ying et al., 2010), indicating that adult learners receiving distance education are faced with more latent challenges. To cope with this more complex situation, Rovai and Park classify the factors influencing distance education dropouts into the two periods of prior-to-admission and after-admission (Park & Choi, 2009). Prior-to-admission “student characteristics” and “student skills” refer to the basic academic and information capacity learners should have before receiving distance education, while the after-admission “external factors” and “internal factors” generally follow the conclusions of Bean & Metzner’s theory. The “internal factors” also include necessary online learning skills. Table 1 is a classification summary of factors influencing distance education dropouts by integrating Rovai’s and Park’s theories in the research.
Table 1: Classification of Influencing Factors of Dropouts
Prior-to- admission |
Student characteristics |
age, gender, intelligence level, academic scores, learning preparation |
|
|
Student skills |
information literacy, time management skills, reading and writing proficiency, computer interaction skills |
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|
After- |
Internal factors |
Academic integration |
learning habits, participation in teaching activities, learning diligence, mean academic scores, compatibility with teaching plan, course design, available courses, clarity of teaching plan |
|
Social integration |
sense of belonging, ability to communicate with others, skill application, convenience of learner support services, strength of school support, usefulness of knowledge learned, study stress, students’ self-respect, learning satisfaction |
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|
External |
financial status, time for work, family obligations, employer support, work transfer, emergencies, health factors |
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The major enlightenment of Rovai’s and Park’s research is that their theories point out the academic and information capacity adult learners should possess in order to effectively study via distance education. As shown in Table 1, student characteristics and student skills together with external factors influence internal factors during the students’ learning. The interaction among the three is crucial for the learners to decide whether to continue or discontinue learning. What needs to be pointed out is that the extremely important factor of psychological experience in Bean & Metzner’s theory is not fully accounted for in Rovai’s and Park’s research, being categorized under “social integration”.