Book Description

While distance learning has grown in popularity, many question its efficacy because of low student success. Busy, time-starved community college students tend to flock to distance education courses because of their convenience and flexibility, but many have risk factors that makes it more likely that they won't be successful in their courses. Many faculty have been ambivalent about teaching distance education courses. While administrators see the cost savings of not having to use a physical classroom and the possibility of increased enrollment, some faculty are wary of losing the face-to-face interaction with students. Additionally, the teaching methods that work in a face-to-face class do not always work in a distance education course. This study compares the success rates of students in online, face-to-face and hybrid sections of gateway Math and English courses at a small North Carolina community college. The study also identifies barriers minority and non-traditional students face in taking distance education courses. The researcher used quantitative and qualitative methods in his researcher. He used an Informer report run by a college data analyst to compare the success rates of students by modality and demographic factors like race and age. The researcher used Chi Square goodness of fit and Fisher's exact tests to determine whether there were differences in student success according to modality or demographic group. He sent an e-mail survey to students who took online and hybrid sections of the gateway Math and English classes at the small North Carolina community college in fall 2018. The survey questions identified strengths and weaknesses of distance education courses and barriers that minority and non-traditional students face while taking these courses. Since the researcher is and administrator over distance education at his college, he will use his findings to help improve the program.