Mythbusting the DE Numbers

When I first started working here in July of 2009, I had some instructors tell me that there was a 30 to 40 percent difference in the success and retention rates between face-to-face and online classes at this campus. This was after I had been talking about studies that show no statistical difference (+ or - 5%). Many of these studies are found on the "No Significant Difference" website.

I talked to Zach DeLoach in Institutional Research and he found a steady 10% difference and said "that while the DE Success and Retention are lower than the Classroom Sections and the Overall figures, there is strong correlation between them. As the College Course Retention has gone up, so has the DE
Course Retention. As the College Course Success has remained flat, so has the DE Course Success."


I believe that as we develop our online college, and more instructors learn about how to use online tools effectively for communication and collaboration that we will see these numbers move even closer together.