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AlterNet reports
Online instruction at community colleges isn't working--yet policymakers are continuing to fund programs to expand online courses at these schools, which primarily serve low-income minority students, and community college administrators are planning to offer more and more of them.
The latest salvo comes from researchers at the University of California-Davis, who found that community college students throughout California were 11 percent less likely to finish and pass a course if they opted to take the online version instead of the traditional face-to-face version of the same class. The still-unpublished paper, entitled Online Course-taking and Student Outcomes in California Community Colleges, was presented on April 18, 2015, at the American Educational Research Association's annual conference in Chicago.
[...]Community colleges [educate 45 percent of the nation's undergraduates] and [that sector] is under fire for low graduation rates.
[...]Despite the flexibility, it appears that many students find it hard to manage their time to complete the lectures and coursework throughout an entire semester.
[...]These are very different results from what researchers are finding for students at four-year colleges.
(Score: 2) by SecurityGuy on Thursday May 07 2015, @03:42PM
Absolutely, and I expect that's a lot of it. Re: CC's low graduation rates, I went to two and didn't graduate from either. I never intended to graduate from either, I intended to transfer to a 4 year university, and I did graduate from one. I couldn't care less that I don't have an A.A. degree to hang on the wall.
I'm slightly interested in furthering my education, but I have a day job and a real life, so I'd absolutely consider the online option. That day job and real life certainly means I might change my mind and not finish.