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Organizacija, Volume 40
Research papers Number 6, November-December 2007
248
Alenka Gortan1and Eva Jereb2
1Secondary School Velenje, Trg mladosti 3, 3320 Velenje, Slovenia, alenka.gortan@amis.net
2Faculty of Organisational Sciences, University of Maribor, Kidri~eva 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia, eva.jereb@fov.uni-mb.si
This paper deals with the dropout rate for e-learning academic courses in correlation with student satisfaction with distance
education. This study explores two main ideas: student satisfaction with e-learning and the locus of control. The results show
that the main reason for persistence with e-learning academic courses is a significantly high level of satisfaction with e-lear-
ning and satisfaction with the students' own academic performance.
Key words: e-learning, dropout rate, success, satisfaction
Osip in uspešnost študentov pri e-študiju
Prispevek obravnava osip študentov e-študija in razloge, ki študente vodijo k opustitvi študija.Osredoto~i se na povezavo med
zadovoljstvom študentov z e-okoljem in uspešnostjo pri študiju, pri ~emer upošteva tudi lokus kontrole. Rezultati ka`ejo, da
so glavni razlogi, ki študente e-študija odvra~ajo od opustitve študija, zelo visok nivo zadovoljstva z e-študijem in z lastno us-
pešnostjo pri študiju.
Klju~ne besede: e-študij, stopnja osipa, uspešnost, zadovoljstvo
The Dropout Rate from E-Learning
Courses and the Satisfaction of Students
with E-Learning
1 Introduction
A few decades ago, it would have been impossible to ima-
gine that students would study at universities without any
classrooms at all. Asynchronous Learning Networks (e-
learning or e-study) is the main medium to study over the
Internet (Thor, 2004). Distance education has existed for
about 500 years,since the first book was printed, meaning
that a reader could learn directly without a teacher being
present to explain the topic. With e-study, we think of
learning and teaching through the internet or in a virtual
environment but then e-learning is just one way of stud-
ying and teaching in a distance learning courses.
There are a significant number of articles that offer
definitions of e-study, e-education. Various authors state
that e-education is education that involves electronic me-
dia in the process of education (Jereb and Šmitek, 2006).
On-line study basically differs from traditional forms
that take place in traditional classrooms; e-students have
their own pace of study and they can study whenever and
wherever they want, providing Internet access is availab-
le.
A student can co-operate and work with a mentor,
professor and peers on a daily basis in an asynchronous
and synchronous way using different communication
tools.
This is doubtless of the utmost importance in the so-
ciety where continuous and life long education has beco-
me a necessity in order to maintain a work position or to
acquire a better one. E-learning is also more interactive
than traditional learning in traditional classrooms. (Jereb
and Bernik, 2007)
There are several practical factors that speak in fa-
vour of e-learning:There is no need for commuting to and
from lectures, which contributes to reducing costs and
time that would be used for commuting can be better
spent on study itself. There are no costs incurred from li-
ving away from home or renting a room or flat. Employed
students don't have to ask for days off and there are no
classes at the weekends. Beside the flexibility of time, e-
studying also offers better learning management.Without
e-study, many students would be unable to complete their
studies because of family obligations or work time. Later,
the concept of dropout and the satisfaction with e-study
Organizacija, Volume 40
Research papers Number 6, November-December 2007
249
will be presented, as well as the methodology and results
of this research.
2 Defining the Terms Dropout and
Satisfaction with E-Study
Levy (2004) offers an appropriate definition of the term
dropout student: these are students who voluntarily with-
draw from e-learning courses, acquiring financial penal-
ties in the process.
There is no add/drop period in Slovenia and thus it is
not possible to drop out without penalties even in the first
two weeks after the beginning of the term. Existing Slove-
nian literature referring to dropout rates in e-learning
does not abound because only a few first steps have been
made into e-learning. Foreign literature states a distincti-
ve quantity of drop outs in e-courses and distance courses
before the introduction of the internet (Tinto, 1975). A
number of authors agree that dropout is a complex phe-
nomenon (Billings, 1988; Parker, 1999; Volkwein and Lo-
rang, 1995;Williamson and Creamer, 1988). Xenos (2004)
states that administrators and teachers must determine
the causes of the dropout rate. Munro (1987) states that
dropout is a symptom and its causes can be quite nume-
rous and can differ substantially. Kember's model is based
on Tinto's and involves demographic factors, student mo-
tivation, academic abilities and student social factors. Mo-
reover, Kember reproaches Tinto for not taking into ac-
count the job motivation of adults. (Kember, 1989).
A number of authors believe that demographic fac-
tors do not influence the dropout rate.
(Volkwein and Lorang, 1995; Williamson and Crea-
mer, 1988). Dille and Mezack (1991) concluded that little
research has been conducted on the personality traits that
characterize a completer student in telelearning courses.
They suggested that there exists an important correlation
between the age and success of students in distance edu-
cation courses.They claimed that older and employed stu-
dents drop out more frequently (Levy, 2006) than younger
students. Moreover, the results indicate that gender and
family status do not have an important role as in predic-
ting dropout from distance education courses.
Cheyung, Winiecki and Fenner (1998) pointed out
that the main cause of dropout from distance courses is
(dis)satisfaction with the study itself.The study then defi-
nes Slovene students' satisfaction with e-study.
Parker (1999) conducted a study of numerous variab-
les as predictors of students' dropout from distance edu-
cation courses.The focus of her study was in locus of con-
trol and some demographic characteristics such as gender,
age and employment status. She concluded that locus of
control was the main variable in predicting dropout rates
with an overall accuracy of 80%. Locus of control also
plays an important role in understanding the nature of the
learning process in different kinds of learning situations.
Rotter (1966) proposes locus of control as a measure
of individual perceptions on outcomes of their own beha-
viour relative to their perceptions on outcomes resulted
from actions of someone else.An internal locus of control
is developed by those students who believe that their aca-
demic success is attributed to internal factors (their own
academic abilities). Therefore they are firmly convinced
that they have control and this motivates them. An exter-
nal locus of control is significant for those students who
develop a learned incompetence because of fear of failu-
re.They attribute their successes to external, »outer« fac-
tors such as chance, luck, fate or the actions of others.
A key factor that the literature states referring to dro-
pouts is the satisfaction of the student with e-study. Seve-
ral researches report that the satisfaction of the student is
the most important factor in making the decision whether
to drop out or not. Cheyung (1998) reported that 42 per-
cent of the students who dropped out gave dissatisfaction
with the learning environment as the reason. Frederick-
sen et al. (2000), also noted that students who are very
happy with the learning environment and e-learning in
general, get higher grades, strive for better results and do
better in exams taken for the first time.Fredericksen et al.
(2000) also state that older students have developed a hig-
her degree of dissatisfaction with e-learning than younger
students. Levy (2000) carried out a survey of 200 students
and found that satisfaction with e-learning is one of the
key points for successful study. Sachs and Hale (2003) no-
ted that universities and educational institutions should
put a major emphasis on student satisfaction with the
study because this is the key predictor in dropout rate.
The factors that cause (dis)satisfaction with e-study are
pedagogic, the forms of work and the development of
study programmes (Shea, Pickett, Peltz, 2003). Their re-
search shows that student satisfaction has a strong corre-
lation with the clarity and precision of the instructions,the
organization of e-subjects, communication with mentors
and professors and interaction with mentors who give in-
structions online. Richardson and Swan (2003) examined
social role in e-learning courses as one of the key factors
for successful e-study as well as co-operation with men-
tors,which is strongly connected with mastery of study to-
pics.The sensation that a student can master academic to-
pics fills a student with enthusiasm for further study and
such a student will never drop out.
3 Methodology
Hypotheses
From the relevant literature above,it is evident that satis-
faction with e-study is a potential factor related to student
dropout rates from academic e-courses. Reasons for dro-
pout and satisfaction with e-study was researched through
a survey distributed among e-students of the second and
third grade of a three and four year business school. We
defined several layers of questions, which were then cate-
gorized and supported with a programme for statistical
analysis, SPSS.
The answers to our questions in the survey will help
us understand which factors are related to dropout rates
in e-courses and which factors encourage e-students to
Organizacija, Volume 40
Research papers Number 6,November-December 2007
250
continue and complete them. 152 students answered the
questionnaire.We inquired about satisfaction with e-study
and the success of the students,satisfaction with their own
academic performance, reasons for not taking up traditio-
nal forms of academic course and also the age and gender
of the students for correlation with successfulness.
The study proposes the following hypotheses:
1. The causes that affect the dropout rate and success of
students are: a profile of an e-student, reasons for ta-
king up e-study and satisfaction with e-study.
2. The dropout rate is lower for e-students than for tra-
ditional ones.
3. If students are satisfied with the e-study itself, then
they tend to be more successful than those who are
less skilled in e-technology and thus dissatisfied.
4. Considering gender, more women decide to take up
e-study than men mainly because women are gene-
rally more persistent than men and this could be an
additional reason for the lower dropout rate of wo-
men in e-study.
5. E-study is taken up by younger people because they
are better acquainted with information technology
and they seem to be closer to the virtual classroom.
6. E-study offers time flexibility for accomplishing tasks,
which is an additional reason why the dropout rate is
lower than in traditional study.
7. Distance from academic centres makes a significant
difference when deciding to take up e-courses.
After stating these hypotheses, research was carried
out on students of the Business High vocational school in
Maribor.
Instrument
There are two instruments employed in the research.
The first is a survey that follows Likert's five level scales.
Students were asked to rate each item on a five-score Li-
kert-type scale ranging from 1 »Strongly disagree« to 5
»Strongly agree«. By means of the survey we have deter-
mined demographic factors, the time of the day when the
students fulfil their study obligations, the reasons for ta-
king up e-study, satisfaction with the co-operation with
mentors,professors and organizers of the e-study, satisfac-
tion with their own performance and academic achieve-
ments, satisfaction with the work in the programme envi-
ronment and their opinion on team work.
The second instrument was a Bures seven item survey
(2000), which is used in order to measure the students' sa-
tisfaction with e-learning. This survey is also based on Li-
kart's five level scales where 1 means »Strongly disagree«
and 5 »Strongly agree«. The statements are:
1. Using the WebCT (Web Course Tools) was frustra-
ting.
2. Learning to use the WebCT was easy.
3. WebCT was an effective way to learn the course con-
tent.
4. I learnt a lot through using of WebCT.
5. WebCT facilitates my work with other students in the
course.
6. Group on-line activities did not improve the quality
of my education.
7. I will not voluntarily take another course using Web-
CT.
4 The Results of the Research
We ascertain that the dropout rate for e-students is not
larger in number than for traditional students. The rever-
se is true. The data from the Statistic annual of Republic
of Slovenia (2005) shows that the dropout rate of students
who are partly or fully employed reaches almost 50 per-
cent - out of 2438 students enrolled in the 1st grade of
high school courses in the year 2001/2003, 1074 students
graduated, making 44.05 percent. In on-line study, the
dropout is lower than expected as, 14.9 percent of stu-
dents dropped out in 2003/2004, meaning that a little over
than 85% of students successfully completed the course
(for a business secretary). The percentage of dropout was
a bit higher in the on-line commercialist course, where
15.8 percent dropped out. A year later (2004/2005) the
dropout from the business secretary course reached
16.9% and 16.8 percent for the commercialist course. In
2005/2006, the figures were 16.6% of students on the bu-
siness secretary course and 15.2% on the commercialist
course, as shown in Fig 1.
Such a low percentage of dropouts is due to various
factors: e-study is taken up by people who are already em-
ployed and need further education and knowledge to get
promotion at work or to get a job. This is why these stu-
dents do not procrastinate. They want to complete their
studies as soon as possible because they have a number of
obligations – besides work, they usually have a family to
look after and obligations connected with their study. Be-
sides, for most students in Slovenia, e-study is quite a
handful financially so they really do their best to comple-
te it. Students have strong support from their mentors,
who are constantly within reach and the course is desig-
ned in such a way that it demands serious, devoted and
hard work. If a student deviates from their personal week-
Fig 1: Dropout from e-studies in the school years of
2003/4, 2004/5 and 2005/6
Organizacija, Volume 40
Research papers Number 6, November-December 2007
251
ly plan, the organizers and councillors will get in touch
with them and kindly invite them to continue with the
work.
If students are satisfied with e-study, they are success-
ful. This statement matches Levy's findings (Levy, 2006).
Table 1 shows that students are generally happy with the
course (the average in the last year is 5.3 on the scale from
1 to 7). It is clear that most students are satisfied and even
very happy with their own performance and success (in
over 87 percent of valid answers from the students que-
stioned).
Students who labelled themselves as successful were
also more satisfied with the course, professors, mentor
and materials (Table 2). Students who have difficulties
with information technology are more dissatisfied and
also less successful. The question is though, whether they
are less successful because they are dissatisfied or they are
dissatisfied because they are less successful.
We later interviewed a further 49 students and asked
them about the final grade they got in the exam (from 1
to 10, 6 meaning pass and 10 meaning excellent).We also
asked them about their satisfaction with the course (on
the scale from 1 to 5). We found that if the final grade im-
proves, their satisfaction with the course will also rise and
vice versa. Our hypothesis is confirmed, though rather
weakly: students who are satisfied with the course are
more successful in the examinations (r=0,328, α=0,05,
p
α
=0,035).
We present the contingent table below, which shows
the two observed variables where the distribution by indi-
vidual values of both variables is presented.
Table 3: Correlation between the final grade obtained at the
exam and satisfaction with e-study
It can be seen (Table 3) that there are only students
with the lowest grades (6) among those who are less satis-
fied (2) and nobody got a better grade in this group. The
students with higher grades have higher level of satisfac-
tion (3, 4). This fits our hypothesis, although the value of
the chi square test on such categorial data is 10.5 which, at
8 degrees of freedom, is not statistically significant.To get
a stronger confirmation, more units of observation would
be needed because in our case there are too many empty
cells.
More women than men get education through e-lear-
ning. This statement was confirmed in the present re-
search. As mentioned in the introduction, 36 females and
13 males responded to the question on gender, which
means that three times as many woman than men took up
e-courses (over 70 percent). According to the data in the
table below (the Guide for e-study 2006/7), the result is to
be expected.
We can confirm the statement that the rate of women
who take up e-learning courses is higher than men (Table
4). It can be seen that women prevail among the enrolled
students in all years.The representation of women is gro-
wing over the years (t=7,398, α=0, 05, p
α
=0,000). With a
negligible level of significance, we deny the hypothesis
and accept the alternative that more women than men
take up e-learning courses. In all the given years (from
2007 to 2007), more women enrolled in e-learning courses
than men (Fig. 2). Women are generally more diligent.
They have to try harder than men to achieve a certain sta-
tus,they have become more ambitious and they crave bet-
ter jobs.A number of women were forced to give up tra-
ditional forms of study for family reasons or work but no-
wadays study, education and graduation are available and
possible even if they have family and job obligations.
Table 1: Students satisfaction with the course, professor, mentor and materials
Table 2: Estimation of the students' own academic performance
252
Organizacija, Volume 40
Research papers Number 6,November-December 2007
The statement that it is mostly young people who
take up e-study because they are more acquainted with
information technology is inconsistent with the facts.
The data obtained by the survey show a student age
structure as can be seen in Table 5.
It can be seen that more than half the students who
answered the question belong to the third age group,
which means quite a large number of students in this age
group. 70 percent of all the students in e-courses are over
35 years old. In this case, the statement that it is the youn-
ger students who take up e-study is inconsistent with the
present situation.
The distribution of students into a particular group
can be calculated using the chi square test. The observed
(factual) frequencies and the expected (theoretical) fre-
quencies are presented in Table 6.
Fig 2: Enrolment in e-learning courses by gender
Table 4: Representation of the sexes as a percentage in three and four-year high school for the years 2002 to 2007.
(Guide for long distance study, 2006/2007)
Table 5: The age structure of e-students
Table 6: The distribution of students according to age
O - observed (factual) frequency in the cell of i column and J row of the contingence table
E - expected (theoretical) frequency in a particular cell
Table 7: The age and gender of e-students
253
Organizacija, Volume 40
Research papers Number 6, November-December 2007
Categorization of the enrolled students by their age
reveals that there are different percentages of students in
the different age groups and we cannot claim that age has
no influence on enrolment. This can be confirmed by a
statistical test using Pearson's chi square test
(χ2=8,042, α=0, 05, p
α
=0,045).We deny the hypothesis
and confirm the statement that age structure is not even
and constant among e-students. The majority of students
are in the 35 to 44 age group .
Next (Table 7, Table 8), we will calculate if gender and
age are correlated.
It is evident that the percentage by age groups among
the sexes are similar and we cannot define the difference
between gender and age as significant. The hypothesis is
verified by the chi square test (Table 9, Table 10).
Even at a hasty glance it is evident that the frequen-
cies are closely connected and correlated.The value of the
chi square test will be quite low.Comparison of the e-stu-
dents by gender and age shows that the number of women
prevails in every age group. The comparison also shows
that the share of students in the individual age groups is
the same for both sexes. It means that we can not conclu-
de that there is difference between males and females in
the age structures in e-study. Pearson's chi square test
confirms our findings. (χ2=0,015, α=0, 05, p
α
=0,998).
Young people up to 24 years old prefer to take up tra-
ditional forms of study because of social and companio-
nable specifics. It is also quite possible that the fee for e-
study is too high.
The fact that students over 45 are in a minority (3 per-
cent), as is shown in fig.3 below, is not connected to know-
ledge and skills in computing but is because people over
45 have already established their position in society and
are not prepared to change it any more.They are not wil-
ling to go back to studying even online. (Fig.3).
Students take up e-learning courses because of their
time flexibility. This is the reason why almost half of the
e-students decided to take up e-learning courses,as can be
seen in the table below (Table 11):
From Table 11, it is evident that almost half of the stu-
dents named time flexibility as a specific reason for taking
up an e-learning course. In all the given years, the values
for this reason exceeded 40 percent and are far above all
the other reasons. Calculation of a statistical t-test for the
year 2006/07 (42 percent) counting the average numbers
for all the reasons shows that this value is statistically dif-
ferent from others and so our hypothesis can not be con-
firmed. (t=-4,508, α=0, 05, p
α
=0,006).
Table 8: The age and gender of e-students in percentage
Table 9: The age and gender of e-students, a table of observed (factual) frequencies
Table 10: The expected frequencies
Fig 3: The age of e-students as a percentage for each
school year
Organizacija, Volume 40
Research papers Number 6, November-December 2007
254
Students do not decide to take up e-learning courses
because of their distance from study centres. The distance
from study centres in Slovenia is of minor importance be-
cause Slovenia is not a vast country where distances
would make a serious difference. Study centres are not
really out of reach. In spite of or maybe just because of
that, we are not used to commuting and we do not want to
travel for an hour or more to a study centre.The table be-
low shows that geographical distance does not present an
obstacle for taking up an academic course and we will
deny the sixth hypothesis as only 7 percent of students
stated that the main reason for taking an e-learning cour-
se was distance from the study centres. It is shown in Tab-
le 12.
It is evident from Table 12 that only 7 percent of stu-
dents named distance as the main reason for taking an e-
learning course in the last year. In comparison with the ot-
her reasons,this is a rather low value and our expectations
in this study that distance could be a reason for taking up
e-learning course turns out to be inconsistent with the
present situation. This can be confirmed by a statistical t-
test (t=1,723,α=0, 05, p
α
=0,146). Fig. 4 shows the reasons
for taking up e-study.
Students accomplish their academic obligations in the
evening and not during the day. Almost half of the stu-
Table 11: Reasons for taking up e-study in percentages
Table 12: The reasons for joining e-courses in percentages
Fig. 4: Reasons for taking up e-study
dents who were asked only study in the evening – and
only about one tenth of the students perform their acade-
mic duties in the morning before going to work, as can be
seen from the table below:
Table 13 shows that the students questioned do not
support the notion that they perform their academic du-
ties in the morning or during work. Conversely, they study
in the afternoon and especially in the evening.This hypot-
hesis is strongly supported by out study: students mainly
accomplish their academic duties in the evening.
The highest average points to the evening (4. 4 out of
5), as can be seen in Fig. 5. We take each part of the day
and we get an average, as seen in Fig. 5.
It is evident that the evening value is significantly dif-
ferent from the values for morning and work time (with
values of 2.6 and 1.6) as opposed to the afternoon (with a
high average of -4.1), which means that students mainly
do their academic study assignments in the evening, only
partly in the afternoon and almost never in the morning
or during work.
In Table 13 we can see that students study and per-
form their academic tasks mainly in the afternoon and
evening. The validity of this statement can be checked
with a statistical chi square test. (χ2=21,377, α=0,05,
p
α
=0,045).Students mainly perform their academic tasks
in the evening and in the afternoon (Table 14).
5 Conclusion
The results received show that persistence in e-learning
courses is higher if students are satisfied with the e-study
and if they are happy with their academic achievements.
It is evident that the dropout rate in e-learning courses is
lower than the in traditional studies. Considering gender,
women prevail over men.The majority of the students be-
long to the age group between 35 and 44. E-learning cour-
ses are mainly taken up because of the flexibility of study.
The students themselves manage their own time and deci-
de on the part of the day when they want to perform their
academic tasks.Geographical distance from study centres
is irrelevant when deciding to take up e-learning course.
The contribution of this paper is twofold: firstly, it at-
tempts to stimulate research into dropout and the reasons
why students do not complete the on-line academic cour-
ses. It is intended to invoke new researches that would
help concentrate on the factors behind the dropout rate in
e-learning courses.
The other contribution is the findings concerning e-
learning courses related to student satisfaction with e-
study, which is a very important predictor of success or
failure in academic courses. The results of the study are
greatly consistent with the existing literature, though the-
re is a discrepancy in the percentage of dropouts.The pa-
per offers an insight into some key factors that influence
the success of e-study.
The main limitation of the research is the lack of data
on e-students from different institutions. The survey was
carried out in only one institution, which deals with e-
learning academic courses, thus the situation in other in-
stitutions must be considered and studied.
Additional research is needed into the field of moti-
vation and the locus of control, which lead either to dro-
pout or a successfully completed course. Such research
should focus on students who complete the study success-
fully as well as those who drop out. Thus we will be able
to understand the reasons and mechanisms that lead to
dropout.
It would be of utmost interest to make a comparison
between the academic success of on-line and traditional
students.
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Table 14: The time of day for performing academic tasks:
1 strongly disagree, 5 strongly agree
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Research papers Number 6, November-December 2007
257
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Alenka Gortan graduated in 1992 from the Faculty of Arts,
the University of Ljubljana, departments of English langua-
ge and literature and Spanish language and literature. At
present she is a teacher of English and Spanish at a Secon-
dary grammar school in Velenje (Slovenia) and is a post gra-
duate student of the organization of e-learning with profes-
sor Eva Jereb at the University of Maribor’s Faculty of Orga-
nizational Sciences. Her research is mainly in the area of
the Management of e-learning. She is the author of some
scholarly articles (The case study of global and human re-
source management at the Adult educational centre in Ve-
lenje and the importance of student satisfaction with the
program environment in e-learning – presented at the
Moodle conference in Graz, 2007) and she also works with
e-students as a tutor at the College of Business in Maribor.
Her main interest is the causes and reasons for dropping
out from e-learning courses and student satisfaction with e-
study, especially with program environment and the tutorial
support throughout the study.
Eva Jereb is an associate professor at the Department of
Education – Personnel and Information Science at the Fa-
culty of Organisational Sciences, the University of Maribor,
Slovenia. She is currently researching personnel expert sys-
tems, education and distance education (particularly e-lear-
ning and e-examination), office automation (particularly
electronic document management systems) and the pheno-
menon of telework. She has introduced her work at several
international and national professional and research confe-
rences. She is the author or co-author of scientific and pro-
fessional articles published in national and international
journals and the co-author of several books.
David Mihevc
Nika Poder{an
Samo Pahor
