The Use of an Online Orientation at a For-Profit Higher Education Institution to Support and Retain Online Adult Learners: A Qualitative Case Study

The purpose of this qualitative holistic case study was to explore how support staff, faculty, and online adult learners at a FPHEI located in Pennsylvania perceive the use of an online orientation as a proactive institutional support strategy to increase the preparedness of online adult learners and potentially improve their retention rates. The theory guiding this study was Tinto’s theory of student departure. The central research question that was guiding this study was: How do support staff, faculty, and online adult learners at one FPHEI perceive the effectiveness of an online orientation as a proactive institutional support strategy to enhance the preparedness and retention rates of online adult learners? A qualitative methodology with a holistic case study design was used to gather in-depth information through interviews, an open-ended questionnaire, and hypothetical letters. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit 12 support staff, nine faculty members, and 10 online adult learners at one FPHEI located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The support staff completed a semi-structured interview, the faculty members completed an open-ended questionnaire, and the online adult learners wrote a hypothetical letter. Saldana’s level 1 and 2 analysis coding cycles was used to analyze the interview transcripts, open-ended questionnaire responses, and hypothetical letters. Three themes emerged from the participants’ experiences. Themes included participants’ ideas on the effectiveness of the online orientation as a proactive institutional support strategy as well as the participants’ ideas on how to improve the online orientation for a better student experience. The participants felt that the online orientation was an effective proactive institutional support strategy to enhance the preparedness and retention rates of online adult learners.