Teacher-Student Relationship as a tool for retention in online higher education

Danish University Colleges

Teacher-Student Relationship as a tool for retention in online higher education

Grauslund, Dennis; Kondrup, Mette; Verwohlt, Pernille Nøhr

Publication date:

2021

Link to publication

Citation for pulished version (APA):

Grauslund, D., Kondrup, M., & Verwohlt, P. N. (2021). Teacher-Student Relationship as a tool for retention in online higher education. Poster session presented at EuroCHRIE 2021, Aalborg, Denmark.

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Download date: 24. Mar. 2022

Background

Online education is increasingly becoming a significant factor in higher education with more and more institutions providing online

programmes for students.

Research Design

Use of principles from both design-based research and action research

Expected findings

TSR in an online setting has a positive effect on students’ retention and academic

performance

TEACHER-STUDENT

RELATIONSHIP AS A TOOL FOR RETENTION IN ONLINE HIGHER EDUCATION

Dennis Grauslund | dgr@ucn.dk

University College of Northern Denmark

Mette Kondrup | meko@ucn.dk

University College of Northern Denmark

Pernille Nøhr Verwohlt | peve@ucn.dk

University College of Northern Denmark

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bergin, C., & Bergin, D. (2009). Attachment in the Classroom. Educational Psychology Review, 21(2), 141–170. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-009-9104-0

Christensen, O., Gynther, K., & Petersen, T. B. (2012). Design-Based Research: introduktion til en forskningsmetode i udvikling af nye E-læringskoncepter og didaktisk design medieret af digitale teknologier. Tidsskriftet Læring Og Medier (LOM), 5(9), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.7146/lom.v5i9.6140

Hagenauer, G., & Volet, S. E. (2014). Teacher-student relationship at university: an important yet underresearched field. Oxford Review of Education, 40(3), 370–388.

https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2014.921613

Komarraju, M., Musulkin, S., & Bhattacharya, G. (2010). Role of Student–Faculty Interactions in Developing College Students’ Academic Self-Concept, Motivation, and Achievement. Journal of College Student Development, 51(3), 332–342. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.0.0137

Kumar, A., Kumar, P., Palvia, S. C. J., & Verma, S. (2017). Online education worldwide: Current status and emerging trends. Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research, 19(1), 3–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/15228053.2017.1294867

La Rotta, D., Usuga, O. C., & Clavijo, V. (2019). Perceived service quality factors in online higher education. Learning Environments Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984- 019-09299-6

Ortagus, J. C. (2017). From the periphery to prominence: An examination of the changing profile of online students in American higher education. Internet and Higher Education, 32, 47–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2016.09.002

Roorda, D. L., Koomen, H. M. Y., Spilt, J. L., & Oort, F. J. (2011). The Influence of Affective Teacher–Student Relationships on Students’ School Engagement and Achievement.

Review of Educational Research, 81(4), 493–529. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654311421793

Stickney, L. T., Bento, R. F., Aggarwal, A., & Adlakha, V. (2019). Online Higher Education: Faculty Satisfaction and Its Antecedents. Journal of Management Education, 43(5), 509–542. https://doi.org/10.1177/1052562919845022

Svendsen, A. B., Pedersen, D. M., & Henriksen, M. (2019). Regeringen lægger op til besparelser på 290 millioner kroner på uddannelse. Danmarks Radio. Retrieved from https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/regeringen-laegger-op-til-besparelser-paa-290-millioner-kroner-paauddannelse

Svensson, L., & Nielsen, K. A. (2006). Action Research and Interactive Research: A framework for the book. In L. Svensson & K. A. Nielsen (Eds.), Action Research and Interactive Research: Beyond practice and theory (1st ed., pp. 1–45). Maastricht: Shaker Publishing.

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https://doi.org/10.12691/EDUCATION-5-5-9

Online education is increasingly becoming a significant factor in higher education with more and more institutions providing online programmes for students. The costs are lower and online education provides access for more people to obtain new skills and competencies. This increase in online educational programmes has influenced the research agenda in higher education as well, as the number of studies about online education has increased and has been researched from several perspectives, e.g. service quality (La Rotta, Usuga, & Clavijo, 2019), students’

characteristics and attitudes (Ortagus, 2017), and online faculty satisfaction (Stickney, Bento, Aggarwal, & Adlakha, 2019). Yet, there seems to be a gap in the literature, as teacher-student relationships (TSR) in higher education is argued to be less systematically studied by researchers (Hagenauer & Volet, 2014), and even less so in an online setting.

We expect to find a correlation between a supportive use of TSR and 1) retention rates and 2) students´ academic performance. Moreover, the research is expected to

reveal what students perceive as being the optimal TSR.

The research is also expected to find a best-practice

communication strategy between teacher and student in order to support TSR. This research will attempt to raise awareness as to how TSR can help minimize the drop- out rates in online higher education thereby improving the economy in an institution.

BACKGROUND

EXPECTED FINDINGS

EXPECTED FINDINGS: TSR IN AN ONLINE SETTING HAS A POSITIVE EFFECT

RESEARCH DESIGN

The research is designed using principles from both design-based research (Christensen, Gynther, &

Petersen, 2012) and action research (Svensson &

Nielsen, 2006). The research is built on a case from a Danish institution using online classes from two consecutive years of enrolment. Year 2018 is the first iteration of the research and year 2019 is the second. To analyse student behaviour, learning analytics from mainly Panopto and the LMS, Canvas has been collected as well as statistics on enrolment, retention and drop-outs and results from student satisfaction surveys.

Finally, a questionnaire consisting of both open-ended

and close-ended questions has been designed to

understand to what degree students value TSR and how

they perceive it to impact their own learning and

academic performance.