Annotated

Bibliography Distance Education Research Linda A. Cook Xu, D. & Jaggers, S. S. (2013). Adaptability to online learning: Differences across types of students and academic subject areas. County College Research Center, Columbia University, CCRC Working Paper No. 54. In this study, Di Xu, a research associate with the Community College Research Center, and a colleague utilized a database of 500,000 community college courses and 40,000 students to study factors contributing to success within online learning environments as opposed to face-to-face delivery. According to the report, students across all groups had difficulty adapting to online courses, but the difficulty was greater for certain subgroups: males, Black students, younger students, and students with less prior academic preparation. These findings contradict other studies that assert that there is no significant difference in achievement within online and face-to-face environments. The study also raises concern about whether the online environment might increase the achievement gap for students who already lag behind their peers within traditional instructional environments. Simpson, O. (2006). Predicting student success in open and distance learning. Open Learning, 21(2), 125-138. This study compared techniques such as student surveys and statistical regression analysis as predictors of success in distance learning courses. The purpose of the study was to determine which students within an open enrollment context would need tutorial support in order to successfully complete distance learning courses. As was true in the Xu & Jaggers (2013) study, middle-aged female students with prior academic success were the most likely to be successful. Other

factors predicting success were the chosen course level (entry level students were more successful), and the socioeconomic status (higher status students were more successful). Results were used to make proactive contact with students who were predicted to be at risk of dropping out or performing poorly. Some ethical considerations discussed were whether the predictions should be shared with students and whether the use of predictions resulted in overlooking students who were outliers. Subotzky, G. & Prinsloss, P. (2011). Turning the tide: A socio-critical model and framework for improving student success in open distance learning at The University of South Africa. Distance Education, 32(2), 177-193. The focus of this article is the development of a framework for understanding and addressing factors that contribute to students failure to complete open distance learning courses. In addition to issues of race and gender, the significance of the relationships between the students and their institutions of higher education as well as socio-political factors, such as resource allocation, were addressed. Similar to the findings of Simpson (2006), this study advocated for pre-emptive interventions in order to provide needed support of at-risk students so that they might be successful.