Institutional policies and practices and student success in online degree programs

This quantitative correlational study was designed to investigate one model for institutional policies and practices (the Sloan-C Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Education) that can be adopted by an online degree program and the model's relationship to student success as measured by the program's graduation rate. Online degree program graduation rates and the programs' category scores for the implementation of the policies and practices on the Sloan C Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Education were obtained via an online survey of online degree program administrators. Program graduation rates were correlated with the total score for the implementation of all the policies and practices as well as each of nine unique category scores (Institutional Support, Technology Support, Course Development and Instructional Design, Course Structure, Teaching and Learning, Social and Student Engagement, Faculty Support, Student Support, Evaluation and Assessment ) to determine if there was a relationship. The total score for the implementation of the Sloan-C Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Education policies and practices was found to be significantly positively related to graduation rate. The categories for Course Development and Instructional Design, Course Structure, and Evaluation and Assessment were also found to be significantly positively related to graduation rate. Multiple regression analysis was also conducted and the researcher determined that the model of institutional policies and practices identified in the Sloan-C Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Education significantly predicted graduation rate. Higher educational leaders can utilize the study to help design organizational structures that facilitate online students' success as well as mitigate the undesirable institutional effects of attrition.