OU H890 Conference

Tag: retention

  • Connection for Staying Power? Investigating the Effect of Social Learning Activities on Retention of Asynchronous Online Learners

    Online learning has long been available but has seemingly exploded since Covid-19. Higher Education (HE) institutions have realised available educational technology can support a fully distance offer and non-traditional learners (mature, with busy family or care commitments, geographically and culturally diverse) are looking to invest in their education. Many HE providers have therefore branched out into online education or partnered with Online Programme Management companies (OPMs).   Studies indicate that despite healthy recruitment, attrition in online learning is high (Boston et al, 2019; Shatila, 2024), causing institutions to put in place interventions for improving retention, and investigate ways of encouraging students’…

  • Can low-risk introductory courses help solve adult learner retention problems in UK Further Education?

    Technology, and more recently, the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, has prompted calls for an urgent need for adults to engage in lifelong learning and reskill to keep pace with technological advancements ​(Husomanovic, 2025)​.  For adults in the UK, the primary avenues used for reskilling are Further Education and Higher Education. In the 2023/24 academic year, Further Education had 3,110,815 participants and Higher Education had 2,991,100 participants ​(UK Government, 2025)​.  Both…

  • Using Virtual and Augmented Reality to Enhance Primary Students’ Learning

    Over the past two decades, research into the use of Virtual (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) in schools has demonstrated an increase in student engagement, motivation, learning and retention of knowledge (Azuma et al, 2001; Chen et al, 2018; Alenezi, 2023). VR and AR technology has become more accessible in recent years, leading to an interest in using this within education, however, very few studies have looked at the effectiveness of these with primary-aged children (Chua et al,…