STUDENT PROGRESS IN DISTANCE EDUCATION: IDENTIFICATION OF EXPLANATORY CONSTRUCTS

Summary. This paper reports the testing and development of a model of student progress for distance education students. The constructs which have been used to explain drop-out in on-campus courses are not directly applicable to distance education. The Distance Education Students' Progress (DESP) inventory has been developed, containing four scales, made up from 17 subscales, which emerged from the factor analysis. The scales relate to approach to learning, motivation, language ability and the extent to which the student is able to integrate study demands with personal, family, work and social commitments. Semi-structured interviews were used to assist in deriving and interpreting the scales and to help establish their validity. The identified constructs have been used to test a theoretical model using path analysis techniques. The four scales serve as intervening variables between enrolment characteristics and grade and persistence criteria. The results support open entry for the courses as the identified constructs have a higher correlation than entry qualifications with the grades attained by students.