STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN AN ONLINE GRADUATE BUSINESS PROGRAM AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Abstract

This study reports on the Community of Inquiry (CoI) studend engagement model concerning online courses and programs. The model seeks to have teaching, social and cognitive presences interact with each other thus creating an educational experience for online learners. The research is guided by the following research questions: (1) Does student engagement associate academic achievement as defined by cumulative grade point average in the Online MBA program? (2) Do student demographics correlate to academic achievement in an online graduate business program? Data consists of rankings from the CoI 36-item engagement survey on a five point scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree regarding students’ view of their engagement level in the OMBA program as a whole. The findings of this study indicate that there is not a significant correlation between level of student engagement in the OMBA program and academic achievement. Predictor variables such as age years of professional work experience correlated to a lower GPA while gender and previously attaining a post-bachelor’s degree was not a factor for GPA. The results of this research do indicate that design and organization of a course and content is the most important aspect of engaging an online learner.