Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of the study was to identify specific factors that keep students enrolled in online course work in a vocational program and how those factors influence student success. In addition, this study compares research from two other dissertations with adaptive procedures. Methodology. This is a quantitative study using descriptive research utilizing four research questions to depict specific factors with ordinal data. The population included eighty-five students enrolled in vocational certification online courses. A questionnaire was mailed to each student. Twenty-nine items were listed on the questionnaire making comparisons between technology, demographics, and personal factors that influenced a student's decision to stay enrolled in online course work. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and z-scores. Findings. This study found a significant difference in the success of students when enrolled in online courses. The majority of students enrolled in vocational or certification classes all or most of the time, were influenced by findings such as: quality feedback of instructors, students did have previous computer knowledge, motivation was high completing courses because students were career minded, ethnicity was a majority multiethnic/Hispanic, and gender mostly male. The same factors create a positive learning environment for online coursework. Conclusions and recommendations. Many online courses are using personal feedback from students to influence future coursework decisions. Campus administrators are in a position to move higher education to accommodate all learning as an online delivery system. The main consideration with these findings is to understand if different variables such as technology, demographics, and personal factors will shorten time spent in obtaining certification when the class is taken online. Further research could show what other factors might affect successful completion of online vocational certification coursework.