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By participating in the survey, your institution will have access to data that will allow you to better understand the challenges and priorities of online students, align institutional priorities with those of online students, and ultimately retain a greater percentage of those students. The study results may also identify immediate expectation gaps for institutions to address.
Additionally, survey responses can be segmented based upon different areas of interest — such as age, education level, or career stage — which will provide valuable insight for institutions that are focused on a specific student population.
The new UPCEA/Inside Track survey is uniquely positioned to help your institution
For institutions that choose to participate in the survey, we ask that you provide UPCEA with a list of relevant staff members who meet the requirements of the target population. Multiple members of each institution can participate in the survey.
To prepare for the student survey, you can either send UPCEA a list of students to invite via email or UPCEA will send you a link that you can use to invite students.
While there is no distinct or specific title for staff members this survey would target, ideal respondents would include any staff member who is tasked with providing support services for online students — such as academic advisers, online support specialists, enrollment management, registrars, and administrators within colleges of online and continuing education.
Institutions that have an IRB process are usually asked whether or not participation meets the definition of “research,” involves human subjects (or includes some interaction with human subjects that involves any interaction or intervention with subjects), or if there is access to identifiable information. While some institutions view surveys as an interaction between human subjects and researchers, others have been able to classify the UPCEA/InsideTrack effort as an administrative response or activity designed for quality improvement. Activities designed for quality improvement or evaluation of courses or programs usually don’t require IRB reviews.
Most previous research related to managing support of online students focused on how to implement student support. While that research identified how to manage online student support, it failed to identify the types of support services that help online students overcome the challenges they face and how effectively those services are being delivered. The joint UPCEA/InsideTrack survey will prioritize important services and also identify service gaps.
Since students come to online education with varying levels of preparation and in pursuit of a wide range of goals, there is no such thing as a “typical” online student. Likewise, the term “student support” is deceptively simple shorthand for a complex set of elements and services that can be delivered through different channels — from one-on-one conversations to on-demand digital resources. Taking into account the differences among online students, as well as the nuances of providing meaningful support at a distance, this study will assess student and institutional perspectives on effective online student support.
