DLD+Summary

Analysis of Regional College, Televised, and Online students who Later Attended the University of Regina
 * Distance Learning Division**

Teneille Dzuba March 9, 2009

Sample

In the Winter, Spring/Summer, and Fall semesters of 2005, a total of 874 students attended University of Regina courses in a face-to-face format offered through regional colleges and SIAST, 733 attended televised courses, and 530 attended online courses. A sample of approximately 16.6% was chosen from each group by selecting every sixth name from a list of the students (organized randomly for regional college/SIAST students, and by last name for televised and online students). This provided a sample of 145 regional college/SIAST students, 122 televised students, and 88 online students. These students’ ID numbers were entered into a CASPUR report which returned the academic history of each, and the cases were then organized alphabetically by last name and assigned numbers in place of their names/student IDs.

Results The average age of the students attending Distance Learning courses in 2005 was 26 for the regional college/SIAST courses, 27 for televised courses, and 28 for online courses. Regional college/SIAST and televised students had a median age of 23, while students taking online courses had a median age of 26. Their average GPAs were relatively similar to one another. As of Fall 2008, students who had attended regional college/SIAST courses in 2005 had an average undergraduate GPA of 72.49 and an average graduate GPA of 85.79, televised students’ average undergraduate GPA was 70.58 (no graduate students), and the online students had an undergraduate GPA of 72.63, with an average graduate GPA of 84.68. Table 1 shows that of the students attending face-to-face courses at regional colleges/SIAST, 4.14% had already attained a degree prior to 2005, 41.38% completed a degree (whether their first, or a subsequent degree) in 2005 or later, 40% eventually dropped out or otherwise discontinued their studies, and 20% are currently registered with an unfinished degree. Of the televised students, 5.74% had completed a degree prior to 2005, 30.33% attained a degree in 2005 or later, 44.26% eventually dropped out or discontinued their studies, and 22.95% are currently registered with an unfinished degree. Of the students who took online courses, 9.09% had attained a degree prior to 2005, 62.5% completed a degree in 2005 or later, 29.55% eventually dropped out or discontinued, and 12.5% are still currently registered with an unfinished degree. (Some overlap was present between categories in all delivery types due to multiple degrees earned or attempted by some students.)

Which faculty these students were most recently registered in was also considered (see Table 2). The majority of regional college/SIAST students were registered in the Faculties of Social Work (52.41%), Arts (22.07%), and Education (6.90%). Less than three percent of students were registered in each of the Faculties of Business Administration, Fine Arts, Graduate Studies and Research, Kinesiology and Health Studies, and Science, and 8.97% were either visiting or Special students, or enrolled in the university entrance program. The top three faculties for televised students were the Faculties of Arts (41.53%), Social Work (36.44%), and Education (12.71%). Approximately four percent of students were registered in the Faculty of Science, and Business Administration and Fine Arts each had less than two percent of all televised students. Finally, the majority of students enrolled in online courses in 2005 were registered in the Faculties of Social Work (37.50%), Arts (29.55%), and Graduate Studies and Research (10.23%). All other faculties each had less than seven percent of all online students registered. In contrast, the faculties with the largest proportions of all U of R students registered in the Fall 2005 semester were Arts (32.83%), Graduate Studies and Research (11.03%), and Education (10.32%). For the U of R overall, the Faculty of Social Work had a significantly smaller percentage of students enrolled than did any of the distance learning delivery methods (only 8.01%, compared to between 36% and 52% for distance learning). The smallest faculties by enrolment for the entire U of R student body were Continuing Education (3.99%), Fine Arts (4.00%), and Kinesiology and Health Studies (3.76%). Less than two percent were Special, visiting, or university entrance program students.
 * Table 1 – Degree Sequence**

Total Enrolments Enrolment statistics for all semesters of 2005 were compiled for each delivery type. This included all classes offered and the total number of enrolments (not only sample data). For all three semesters of 2005, there were a total of 335 classes offered, of which 139 were regional college/SIAST courses, 155 were televised, and 41 were online. In total, there were 3525 enrolments, with over half (61.56%) being regional college/SIAST students, 22.67% being televised students, and 15.77% being online students. The proportion of full-time students was highest among those enrolled in regional college/SIAST courses, of which 78.02% were classified as such (see Table 3). Televised courses had the second-highest proportion, with 72.84% of its total enrolled students classified as full-time. Of the three, the lowest proportion of full-time students (70.68%) was among those registered in online courses. In contrast, the percentage of students enrolled full-time at the U of R overall was 59.71% in Winter 2005 and 73.54% in Fall 2005.
 * Table 2 – Faculty Registration**


 * Table 3 – Full- and Part-Time Enrolment**

In terms of gender, all three delivery types had a majority of female students. As Table 4 shows, 82.17% of regional college/SIAST students, 80.48% of televised students, and 77.52% of online students were female. These figures are considerably higher than those for the U of R overall, whose total enrolment in both the Winter and Fall 2005 semesters was made up of 60% female students.


 * Table 4 – Gender**

Table 5 shows that the majority of students enrolled in all three types of courses were between the ages of 25 and 35 (48.2% of regional college/SIAST students, 43.05% of televised students, and 57.19% of online students). For regional college/SIAST and televised enrolments, the next largest age group consisted of those students aged 24 and under, with 34.61% and 33.67%, respectively. Only 12.41% of online students appeared in this age group. Online courses had the highest proportions of students aged 36 to 45 (18.17% compared to 9.4% for regional college/SIAST and 15.64% for online), 46 to 55 (10.07% compared to 7.42% for regional college/SIAST and 7.26% for online), and 56 to 65 (2.16% compared to less than 0.4% for regional college/SIAST and online courses). Regional college/SIAST courses were the only ones with any students over 65 enrolled (0.05% of its total enrolments). In contrast to Distance Learning students, in the Fall 2005 semester, the majority (63.89%) of all U of R students were aged 24 and under. The proportion of students in each age group decreased as age increased, with the smallest group being those students aged 66 and older (0.06% of total).


 * Table 5 – Enrolment by Age Group**