Improving Online Education to Increase Student Completion

As an institution, one of SLCC’s top goals is to help all of our students complete their degrees or certificates. We understand our responsibility is to train and educate students so they are prepared and well-positioned to find meaningful work or transfer to another institution.

We know that many students have difficulty finishing their programs. Our students face unique challenges: more than 80 percent work while attending college, and many of our older students have pressing family obligations, such as raising children or caring for elderly relatives. As a result, our students require flexibility. One way we can cater to this need is by increasing our offerings in online education.

SLCC has given students the option to take classes online for many years, but recently we have begun expanding our online offerings in more strategic ways. We currently offer 13 programs and certificates that can be completed entirely online, and we’ve recently started promoting our online Business and Criminal Justice programs through a robust online marketing campaign. Launched last summer, the goal of the campaign has been to increase enrollment in these programs. Early results of this campaign have been encouraging, as interest in these online courses has increased significantly.

In addition to the marketing efforts, SLCC is reaching out to individual students who completed most of the courses toward their degree but dropped out before finishing. “We are identifying students who stopped taking classes after completing 82 percent or more of their program and who could finish by taking online courses,” says David Hubert, Associate Provost of Learning Advancement. “We are contacting these students to encourage them to finish their remaining credits online, and we will make tuition waivers available to them as well.”

Additionally, the college is studying how to best track online students as a way to inform our efforts in improving our online programs. A proposal for a new system is being finalized and will be fully implemented in fall 2020.

More information on SLCC’s online education efforts can be found on our SharePoint site.

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