Predictors for Student Success in an Online Course

This study analyzed the factors that affect student success in an online computer programming course. The study had two with two main objectives. The first was to examine relationships among selected variables (gender, age, educational level, locus of control, and learning style), motivational beliefs (intrinsic goal orientation, extrinsic goal orientation, control beliefs, task value, self-efficacy, and test anxiety), selfregulated learning components (cognitive strategy use, self-regulation), and student success in the online course. The second objective was to examine course instructors’ views about the factors that contribute to the students’ success in the online course. The study sample consisted of two course instructors and 80 voluntary participants who partook in this online course in 2005–2006. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to collect relevant data in this study. Four online questionnaires (Demographic Survey, Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, Learning Style Inventory, and Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire) were used to gather data on quantitative variables, and semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather data on instructors’ views. The statistical results indicated that the effect of the selfregulation variables on students’ success was statistically significant, and the interview results indicated that successful students generally used self-regulated learning strategies in the online course.

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