2015

WEEK OF

Partnership Provides Retention Boost for Mississippi Community College's Online Courses

E6Sf CENTRL\L . ' - l by Knsta M. LeBrun Ph.D. Dean of eLeam1ng Education,

"lllhlat 1f you could increase your student retention by five percentage points?" asked Kim Munzo, president and chief executive officer of AspirEDU. I was immediately skeptical. Much research has been conducted on retention and attrition in online courses, we must consider many variables when we try to determine the reasons students don't complete As president of the 15-member Miss1ss1ppi Virtual Community College (MSVCC) consortium, we knew retention and student success had to be key parts of the consortium's new five-year strategic plan As dean of eLeaming education at East Central Community College (ECCC), student success is an institutional commitment in the 2020 strategic plan ECCC adopted in 2013

Munzo's question piqued our interest Could she really help us increase student retention? How could we ensure students were successful in their online courses if we retained them?

11\1\th 2020 vision in mind, ECCC and the MSVCC, moved forward with a pilot to integrate Asp1rEOU s OropOut Detective and Link-Systems' NetTutor into our onhne courses. OropOut Detective identifies at-nsk students, and recommends they take online tutoring through NetTutor at no cost to the student Both products integrate with Canvas, our learning management system, for a seamless user experience Identified at-risk students receive online tutoring in a variety of subjects from the convenience of their home or office from highly-qualified, current or retired instructors who have a master's or doctorate degree The results of this pilot have been overwhelming and have led to a long-term partnership among MSVCC, AspirEOU, and NetTutor. Since we implemented this model in the 2013-14 and incorporated other initiatives. such as course templating and redesigned our online professional development, ECCC has reahzed pass rate increases for its 15-week and eight-week onhne courses from 5.2 to 32 percent, and withdrawal rate decreases from 6 5 to 54 percent A year into our partnership, 1t 1s evident that Munzo and the AspirEOU team and Link-Systems share the same passion for student success as we do at ECCC. These types of partnerships are crucial In higher education, especially for small colleges with limited resources. This new venture is having a major impact on student success as we move forward to achieve the strategic vision of the MSVCC and ECCC's 2020 Vision

APPEARED IN:

NESHOBA DEMOCRAT ________ SCOTT COUNTY TIMES ----– WINSTON COUNTY JOURNAL__ CLARION-LEDGER --------

CARTHAGINIAN----- - - NEWTON COUNTY APPEAL _ _ _ SPIRIT OF MORTON-------- MERIDIAN STAR ______ _ U\VVJ QUD\\~U\\U\\ X \J'\\NW \ l\1tt\J\JUf~ U( 9