This study explored the perceptions of 51 graduates of a distance learning health and social care programme, identifying what factors contributed to students continuing for the duration of their distance learning studies and completing their degree. An appreciative inquiry approach was used to identify the positive aspects of the students'…

Across the Higher Education (HE) sector student feedback is used to feed into university processes and guide decision making. In this study, data gathered allowed the authors to investigate a hitherto neglected, but important, cohort of successful students -- those who succeeded when all the odds were stacked against them. The identified group of…

Using the badged open course, "Taking your first steps into Higher Education", this case study examines how assessment on online open courses draws on concepts of assessment used within formal and informal learning. Our experience was that assessment used within open courses, such as massive open online courses, is primarily determined…

Resilience is understood to be the ability to adapt positively in the face of adversity. In relation to new students on a distance learning module, this can mean how they adapt and make sense of the demands of their chosen study to enable them to persist in their studies. This article reports a small-scale study involving semi-structured telephone…

Graduation rates in distance higher education are low compared with full-time higher education--often less than 20% compared with full-time UK rates of around 80%--the "distance education deficit". In the University of London International Programmes, the difference between the face-to-face graduation rate of 61.5% and the distance…

Higher education libraries have traditionally sought to be able to demonstrate the impact their services have on student attainment. This is particularly important in the current economic climate where libraries frequently have to defend their budgets in the face of financial constraints, whilst needing to demonstrate better value for money to…

This investigation compared outcomes in disabled and non-disabled students taking courses by distance learning with the Open University UK in 2003. Students with mental health difficulties showed poorer course completion than non-disabled students. Students with restricted mobility and students with other disabilities showed lower pass rates than…

Attempts to improve retention in conventional college settings in the United States (see Barefoot article in this issue) have emphasized the importance of institutions having good information systems and appropriate interpretation of information as a means of identifying where retention is a problem and what might be causing student withdrawal,…

This article argues that in the drive to develop e-learning initiatives in distance learning, simpler ways of supporting students for retention may be overlooked; for example, the linking of students in the form of mentoring and peer support networks. The article reports on three mentoring projects, in the United Kingdom, Korea and New Zealand,…

This paper considers the influence of e-tuition using an asynchronous written conferencing package, "FirstClass," upon retention and success rates for Masters-level courses in a distance learning programme as compared with similar courses that were supported in a traditional manner using face-to-face tuition. The paper investigates the common…

Action research studies in the United Kingdom with Open University students have shown that students come to distance education courses with variable expectations of the levels of service and support they will receive from their tutors. It has been further suggested that a specific expectations-led quality assurance process that enables the…

Terms such as retention and persistence reflect the interests of different parties. Much of the empirical and theoretical literature deals with retention from a "supply-side" perspective. This article has three main sections. The first consists of a summary of recent empirical findings from surveys of students who left their on-campus programmes…