The Role of Learning and Learning Technology

In many respects, learning technology has already provided the means for additional access and capacity. It has been and is up to the most motivated institutions to take advantage of this development.

Retention, persistence, and graduation rates have been under study for several decades. Perhaps the most notable scholar in this area is Vincent Tinto of Syracuse University. Tinto identifies five factors that impact persistence: expectation, advice, support, involvement, and learning (Tinto, 2002, pp. 27-28). It is interesting to note that these factors essentially define an institutional system for success. It is also interesting to note that certainly the challenges in these areas grow as more non-traditional students are served.

While some institutions that specialize in distance programs have adopted new ways to set expectations, provide advice, and provide support, most students are looking to the heart of their learning experience, the interaction with faculty, to judge whether the educational endeavor is worth the time and effort. This is where involvement and learning takes place for the non-traditional student and probably most traditional students as well.

Tinto reinforces this idea with his finding that the last factor, learning, is the key ingredient:

“Students are more likely to persist and graduate in settings that foster learning. Learning has always been the key to student persistence. Students who learn are students who stay.” (Tinto, 2002, p. 28)

“The center of the policy I have in mind . . . must be located at the center, not the periphery, of institutional life and must commit the institution to place the assessment and promotion of student learning and persistence at the top of their priority list.” (Tinto, 2002, p. 29)

If the research from these decades of study is correct, it means that in fact the most impactful and compelling need in solving retention, persistence, and graduation is better learning. Again, the challenge in achieving better learning should not be underestimated given that there is more to know while at the same time most students have substantial non-traditional concerns.