Microeconometric Approaches in Exploring the Relationships Between Early Alert Systems and Student Retention: A Case Study of a Regionally Based University in Australia

Scott Harrison; Renato Villano; Grace Lynch; George Chen

doi:10.18608/jla.2021.7087

Authors

Scott Harrison Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education and University of New England https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6712-7784
Renato Villano University of New England https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2581-6623
Grace Lynch University of New England https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1508-6815
George Chen University of New England https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8519-9340

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2021.7087

Keywords:

student retention, logistic regression, survival analysis, treatment effects, learning analytics, early alert systems, research paper

Abstract

Early alert systems (EAS) are an important technological tool to help manage and improve student retention. Data spanning 16,091 students over 156 weeks was collected from a regionally based university in Australia to explore various microeconometric approaches that establish links between EAS and student retention outcomes. Controlling for numerous confounding variables, significant relationships between the EAS and student retention were identified. Capturing dynamic relationships between the explanatory variables and the hazard of discontinuing provides new insight into understanding student retention factors. We concluded that survival models are the best methods of understanding student retention when temporal data is available.

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Microeconometric Approaches in Exploring the Relationships Between Early Alert Systems and Student Retention

A Case Study of a Regionally Based University in Australia

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