participation in higher education online: demographics, motivators and grit

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Demographics, motivators and gritDr Cathy Cupitt & Nargess Golshan, NCSEHE 16/09/2015

Participation in higher education online



The questions

Is online education a defacto equity pathway?

What are the implications of that?

What reasons contribute to the comparatively high

attrition rate in the online mode?

• Demographics

• Motivators and grit

• Stoppers



Online courses at Curtin

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

Open Universities Australia (OUA) units

University enabling programs (UniReady and

ITEC), and

Standard university units offered in blended or

fully online modes (CurtinOnline).

Domestic undergraduate groups Rate of completion (%)Total domestic completions 72.3%Full time students

Part time students

77.7%

47.1%Internal students

Multi-modal students

External students

75.4%

69.5%

44.4%High SES students

Medium SES students

Low SES students

76.5%

71.3%

67.7%Metropolitan students

Regional students

Remote students

73.7%

68.5%

58.3%Secondary education admission

Other basis of admission

77.4%

68.1%19 and under

20-24

25 and older

79.1%

69.2%

57.1%

Completion rates of domestic bachelor students commencing in 2005

at a publicly funded university and their progression by 2012 (Commonwealth of Australia 2014).



Grit, or “perseverance and passion for long-term

goals” has been found to be an effective indicator

of educational attainment.

(Duckworth et al., 2007, p. 1087).



Online Mode No. of student responses

Curtin Online unit (6 units surveyed) 244

Open University unit (4 units surveyed) 227

Unspecified online units 107

MOOC 59

UniReady (Curtin’s enabling program) 52

Not studying online 23

Total response to question 712

The online survey



16 andunder

17-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60 andover

0

50

100

150

200

250

Age of students



0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Age of MOOC students

0

5

10

15

20

25

Age of UniReady students



0

50

100

150

200

250

300

My own house Living withparents/guardians

Off-campus rented Other On-campus

Living arrangements



0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

Primary School residence Current residence

Metropolitan

Regional

Remote

Residence of students



Online LSESstudents at Curtin

National equityshare for LSESstudents, 2013

Parity ofrepresentation for

LSES students

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Socioeconomic Status of Students



0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Student's completededucation

Parent's education

High school

Technical college orTAFE

University

Education Completed



Does grit grow with age?

Duckworth: “[M]ore educated adults were higher in grit than were less educated adults of equal age” (1091).

Students taking our survey showed a negative correlation between age and grit.

(r=-.22, p=<.001)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Per

cen

tag

e o

f re

spo

nse

s

Very important

Somewhat

important

Not important

Motivators



Motivators and grit – negative correlations

Necessity I want to graduate

This subject is relevant to my

academic field of study (3rd very

important)

So that I can undertake a university

degree

For employment (e.g. to get a job)

This class teaches skills that will help my

job/career

For re-employment (e.g. to get a better

job or promotion)

I want to earn some sort of credential that

I can use to enhance my CV / resume

Passion To improve my knowledge of the

subject (2nd very important)

To prove to myself I can do it (5th very

important)

For fun and enjoyment

For a chance to network with other

people in the field (somewhat

important)

Because this course is offered by a

prestigious university (not important)

I'm curious about what it's like to take an

online course



Grittiness

Male students are more likely to be gritty if their

motivation stems from necessity.

Those under 25 are less likely to be gritty if their

motivation stems from necessity.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Other reasons which motivate online study



Family as a motivator

“So my Mum can be proud of me.”

“To make a better life for my children and teach them that education

and a good career is extremely important in life.”

“I have two sons and I would like to set a good example for them.”

“i am a mother of three with an autistic child. I works at Mcdonalds for

a living and i am still unable to pay for the therapy my son requires. I

am doing this so that i can not only afford to pay for my sons therapy,

but as i am studying Laboratory Medicine, i am hoping i can use this to

help other autistic children as well.”



Grittiness and family

Parents’ education level is positively

correlated with grit.

Being a non-first-in-family university student is

positively correlated with grit.



0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Difficulties when studying online



Stoppers “Just juggling real life commitments. I have a child with special needs, I work

fulltime and my husband works away. So sometimes it's hard to find quiet time

to study.”

“It can be difficult to know whats required of you regarding weekly work and

deadlines, plus it feels a little bit isolating”

“I find it very difficult to study online. Since I don't have classes to attend I

seem to get slack and forget about this unit as a priority. I prefer asking a

teacher a question in class, as im not good at explaining myself through email.

its difficult to make friends to study with.”

“The lack of understanding, for students who are working full time. Everyone

are lumped together, as if they are ALL beginers. / The subject matter seems

irrelevent, and computer prowess matters the most, with little consideration to

the actual job requirements once completed.”



The answers so far…

Online education does seem to be a defacto equity

pathway

• Especially for mature-age, first in family, and LSES students

• Family is an important motivator for online students, and correlates

positively with student grit

A complex web of factors contribute to student

disengagement in the online mode

• Student grit for this cohort is negatively correlated with several

demographic characteristics and self-reported motivators

• Students report experiencing a broad range of stoppers which make it

hard to stay motivated, some related to their own life circumstances,

some related to pedagogy and infrastructure



Contact information

Dr Cathy Cupitt – [email protected]

[email protected]

ncsehe.edu.au

@NCSEHE