E-Learning Funded Projects

Current Funding

Grant: National Research Foundation EHR Core Research Award
Award Number: 1920599 

Funding: $2,466,374

Time Frame: 2019-2025

Primary Investigators: Claire Wladis (PI); Alyse C. Hachey (Co-PI); Katherine M. Conway (Co-PI); Christopher Rhoads (Co-PI)

Title: Investigating Whether Online Course Offerings Support STEM Degree Progress

Abstract: This research project will investigate whether online courses provide increased access to college and STEM degrees, particularly for students typically underrepresented in STEM fields. Annually, between 28% and 36% of all post-secondary students in the U.S. enroll in at least one online course. The growth in online course enrollment contrasts with an overall decline in college enrollment. Thus, continued online course growth will have an escalating impact on degree progression and attainment. Online course-taking is widely adopted at community colleges, which have large populations of first-generation college students, low-income students, female students, students of color and non-traditional students. As a result, online courses at community colleges may have disproportionate impacts on the degree completion of students from groups that have been underrepresented in STEM fields. To support an innovative and productive national STEM workforce, access to STEM careers must be available to the entire, diverse U.S. talent pool. The aim of this research is to explore whether limited access to online courses hinders degree progress for STEM majors, particularly those from underrepresented groups.

The assumption that online courses enable non-traditional students with work and family responsibilities to enroll in more courses has never been rigorously tested. This project will: 1) explore the relationship between online course availability and academic momentum (the number of credits in which a student enrolls) and STEM persistence, with a particular focus on “non-traditional” students; 2) explore the role of student time poverty (i.e. quantity and quality of time available for college) in mediating these patterns; and 3) explore scarcity of alternate course sections as a potential moderating variable in explaining these patterns. No large-scale studies to date have explored whether the availability of online courses increases access to, or momentum through, college or STEM degrees. This project will collect data on 22,000 City University of New York (CUNY) students and will make causal inferences by using: 1) a simulated course registration system to create a within-subjects experimental design; and 2) student placement on course waitlists to conduct a regression discontinuity design. CUNY’s student population mirrors the groups traditionally under-represented in STEM: largely non-white, female, and low income, as well as a large proportion who are non-native English speakers and first-generation college students. This project is designed to provide critical information to practitioners and policymakers about how to balance the dual concerns of access and retention when offering online courses.

Past Funding

• (2015-2018; Award #: 1431649). Can Student Characteristics Be Used to Effectively Identify Students At-Risk in the Online STEM Environment? National Research Foundation (NSF) EHR Core Grant, $719,108. Principal Investigators: Claire Wladis [PI], Alyse C. Hachey and Katherine M. Conway. This project sought to find out if differences exist between online and face-to-face STEM courses and college outcomes and more specifically, if characteristics of students may be used to predict if certain students are at greater risk of course or college dropout in the online STEM environment compared to their peers. The researcher surveyed roughly 100,000 students and merged this with Institutional Research data to create the largest known dataset on online college students that includes important life factors such as work, family, and time use.

• (2015-2018). Assessing Factors that Impact the Course and College Completion Rates of Students at BMCC and CUNY,  Internal Research Award, $278,981. Primary Investigators: Claire Wladis, Alyse C. Hachey and Katherine M. Conway: This project assessed factors that impact the course and college completion rates of students at BMCC and CUNY in order to inform eLearning policy. It used  logistic and ordinary linear regression models, along with propensity score matching and sensitivity analysis, to analyze the impact of student characteristics and eLearning program structures and policies on online courses and subsequent college outcomes.
• (2014-2015). Online Course-taking, Access, and Persistence in Higher Education in the U.S. and Germany, CUNY Fellowship Award, $74,860, Primary Investigator: Claire Wladis
• (2014) Online Course-taking, Access, and Persistence in Higher Education in the U.S. and Germany, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst/ German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Research Visit Grant for Faculty, $9,255.,  Primary Investigator: Claire Wladis 
• (2012-2014; ) Online STEM Students At-Risk: Building a Model of Online STEM Student Retention at the Community College, American Educational Research Association (AERA) Research Award,  $25,000, Primary Investigators: Claire Wladis, Alyse C. Hachey and Katherine M. Conway.
• (2013-2013) An Investigation of Prior Experience and Course Type as Factors Affecting Online STEM Student Retention and Success, CUNY Community College Collaborative Incentive (C3IRG) Research Grant, $15,000, Primary Investigators: Claire Wladis, Alyse C. Hachey and Katherine M. Conway.

• (2013) Factors Determining Online Student Enrollment Evaluation of a Large-Scale National Dataset, BMCC/CUNY Faculty Development Grant, $3000

• (2015) The Role of Self-Selection in Online Student Persistence at the Community College: Are Restrictive Enrollment Policies Justified?, PSC CUNY Research Award, Traditional B, $5125

• (2012-2013) Using a Binary Logistic Regression Model to Identify Online Courses in Greatest Need of Supplemental Student Support, PSC CUNY Research Award, Traditional B, $5462

• (2012-2013) Examining Minority Student Success in Online STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Courses, PSC CUNY Research Award, Traditional B, $2800

• (2011-2012) Assessing Online Students at Risk: Building a Better Predictive Model for Online Course Attrition, PSC CUNY Research Award, Traditional B,  $4512
• (2011-2012) Investigating Trends in Online Attrition to Optimize Student Success, PSC CUNY Research Award, Traditional B, $4512

• (2011) Assessing Online Students at Risk: Building a Better Predictive Model for Online Course Attrition, PSC CUNY Research Award, Traditional B, $4000

• (2011) Investigating Trends in Online Re-enrollment, Retention and Success,  BMCC/CUNY Title V Faculty Research Grant, $4000

• (2011) Access & Success: The Traditionally Underrepresented Student in Online Learning, BMCC/CUNY Title V Faculty Research Grant, $4000