Academic Integration and Success for Online Community College Students: The Role of Community and Motivation
Open Access
- Author:
- Jenkins, Adam
- Graduate Program:
- Adult Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Education
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 03, 2019
- Committee Members:
- Adnan A Qayyum, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
William Calvin Diehl, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Karen Paulson, Outside Member
David S Guthrie, Outside Member
Susan Mary Land, Program Head/Chair
Adnan A Qayyum, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
William Calvin Diehl, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- community college
community college students
online community college
online learning
classroom community
Academic Motivation Scale
academic integration
intrinsic motivation
persistence
academic achievement - Abstract:
- The research described in this paper examines the role of sense of classroom community, intrinsic motivation, and academic integration on academic achievement (using persistence and course grade as the dependent variable) for community college students in online courses. A total of 72 students enrolled in online community college courses participated in this study. Each participant identified one online community college course in which they were currently enrolled for the purposes of the study. Participants reflected on this course and completed modified and partial versions of three survey instruments- The Classroom Community Scale, the Academic Motivation Scale, and the Institutional Integration Scale to measure the independent variables of sense of classroom community, intrinsic motivation, and academic integration, respectively. At the completion of the semester, course grade and completion status for each participant were collected by the researcher. Results of the data analysis revealed numerous findings. Sense of classroom community was found to be significantly correlated with academic integration. Intrinsic motivation was also found to be significantly correlated with academic integration. Students with high levels of intrinsic motivation and relatively lower levels of extrinsic motivation (a concept which the author terms “dominant intrinsic motivation”) were found to have the strongest correlation with academic integration. Neither sense of classroom community nor intrinsic motivation was found to be predictive of course grade. Academic integration was also found to not be predictive of course grade at a statistically significant level. No between-groups differences were found on any of the independent variables (sense of classroom community, intrinsic motivation, and academic integration) for the following groups: Students working full-time versus students working less-than-full-time, and students in 100 level courses versus students in 200 level courses. No correlations were found between any of the independent variables and student age.