impact of online learning on the success of nontraditional undergraduate students in low-level mathematics courses

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20350264

This quantitative study examined the impact of online learning on the success of nontraditional undergraduate students (NTS) enrolled in a low-level mathematics course (i.e., pre-calculus) in a large community college in Maryland. NTS represent a large portion of the total undergraduate student population, and researchers predict their numbers to increase in the coming years (Radford, Cominole, & Skomsvold, 2015). Online learning is a popular option for NTS who often have many roles to play in their busy lives (Xu & Jaggars, 2013). Mathematics online learning is no exception to this trend (Wladis, Hachey, & Conway, 2015). Therefore, understanding the effect of online learning on the success of NTS in low-level mathematics is important. This study employed a second-hand dataset provided by a Maryland community college and was guided by two research questions: 1) Could online learning impact NTS' success in low-level (i.e., pre-calculus) mathematics courses? 2) Is there any association between characteristics of NTS and their success in online low-level mathematics courses? Accordingly, the researcher tested two samples of 355 and 91 NTS generated from the dataset and two hypotheses. The researcher used descriptive statistics methods to describe the variables. The researcher tested the first hypothesis using the Chi-square test, while the researcher applied logistical regression to the second hypothesis. The study findings showed that the modes of delivery (i.e., online, face-to-face) did not impact the success of NTS in the pre-calculus course. Also, the characteristics of NTS (i.e., gender, race, part-time/full-time status, and age [25 years and over]) were not associated with the success of NTS in the pre-calculus course. Finally, the researcher offers recommendations for higher education professionals and practitioners and suggests further studies--Author's abstract