Description
This quantitative study was designed to provide insight into relationships between online faculty behaviors and student persistence. As online education programs continue to grow, institutions will need to understand the degree to which online faculty behavior contributes to student success. The researcher sought to explore the degree to which online instructor's Teaching, Social, and Cognitive Presence, as well as demographic variables, could predict student persistence. The findings indicated that the majority of students who participated in the study persisted (91.9%). None of the predictor variables independently explained a statistically significant proportion of the variance in student persistence. Furthermore, there were no statistically significant associations between the demographic variables and persistence. The researcher provides insight into the findings, as well as recommendations for future research. Understanding the context, environment, and instructor expectations for this and future research may bring clarity to the degree to which instructors affect online student persistence.
