Abstract:

The pedagogical model applied in the online programs at Laureate UK institutions, generally defined as asynchronous, offers high quality postgraduate programs to thousands of learners without any geographical or time restrictions. The attractiveness of this form of education seems fairly obvious, since those people who are unable to attend a face-to-face (conventional) course now have the opportunity to obtain a degree from one of two internationally recognized and accredited institutions, the University of Liverpool and the University of Roehampton. As is common in fully online programs, if we ignore critical success factors (CSF) in supporting individual learning, there can be issue of not meeting retention targets. In this context, student success and retention have been the primary goals for Laureate Online Education. Our recent literature review identified gaps in knowledge in respect of successful online learning as opposed to face-to-face teaching. The gaps led to the formulation of the proposed research aims to define and discuss the CSF for online education and to design a Foundation Course in “Teaching and Learning in Digital Environments”, so as to conceptualize some of the identified CSF’s as well as providing pragmatic ways to avoid some of the inherent problems in fully online learning and teaching education provision. To inform the design of the Foundation Course, a literature review was conducted, using the timescale of 1994 – 2015 in order to uncover findings from research-based literature over the time span when online learning was / is becoming more prevalent internationally. A number of possible improvements is identified from this study. First of all, the creation of a definitive list of critical success factors that are identified as fundamental to retention and successful achievement within an asynchronous learning environment. In addition, the findings from this research could be applicable to many other organizations and online providers. Finally -and most important-, this study has made possible the development of guidance for prospective students in respect to best practice when embarking on the endeavor called ‘online learning’.

Keywords:

Critical Success Factors, Students' Success, Foundation Course, Student Retention, online education.