Taking online courses has become a delivery mode of choice for many students. This study focused on the impact of college readiness, technological resources, and course design on student success in an online computer literacy course offered in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). Recent statistics of student success in KCTCS show that almost triple the number of students fail or withdraw from online courses than in-person courses, yet the number of students who are provided access to postsecondary online distance education in Kentucky has increased from 1,336 to over 127,000 in just 10 years. This dissertation consists of three primary parts: (1) a companion research study presented as a technical report, (2) an individual research study on the effect of college readiness on success in a non-gateway, online course, and (3) a reflective essay outlining Institutional Action Research (IAR) as a model for policy development. The companion dissertation utilized a three-member research team to examine specific components that affect student success in online courses. The research design included a mixed-methods analysis of 8,255 KCTCS students enrolled in online (3,340 students) and in-person (4,925 students) sections of an entry-level computer literacy course (CIS100) in the Fall 2010 semester. This dissertation individual study focused on college readiness of students enrolled in online courses. College readiness was defined as meetings statewide readiness benchmarks. Overall, students who demonstrated college readiness were significantly more successful than students with college readiness deficiencies. This effect was intensified by the mode of delivery. The combination of college readiness deficiencies and online mode of course delivery resulted in the lowest success rates in the study. The reflective essay outlines a mechanism to expand institutional research to inform policy development and decision-making. Based on the model developed and implemented in this dissertation, a modified form of action research utilizing defined success as the dependent variable, followed by a statistical protocol to determine the factors that contribute to success and their relative contribution is explained. The reflective essay concludes with a protocol to expand data informed policy and decision making on institutional problems of practice. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]