Why did the Chinese Distance Learners Drop Out After Only One Semester?

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Dropouts appeared after the first semester in autumn 2010. Table 3 shows their self-evaluation of their first semester academic performance from the four perspectives of face-to-face tutorial, assignment completion, participation in online learning organized by the school and time spent on study each week.

Face-to-face tutorial plays a dominant role in ODL. Generally speaking, tutors will use the limited tutorial time to explain focal language points and key contents of a course, and analyze what is to be tested. The proportion of dropouts who attended the face-to-face tutorials is shown in Table 3, which was 23.1% for bachelor's degree programmes and 38% for associate degree programmes. Assignment completion accounts for a dominant proportion of the final scores of ODL courses, and is usually called formative assessment. It is also clearly specified for some courses that those who do not hand in their assignment on time will not get final scores for the subjects. Table 3 shows that the percentage of dropouts who had finished all their assignments was 41 % for the bachelor's degree and 54.4 % for the associate degree. ODL is fundamentally a combination of different teaching modes. There is face-to-face tutorial by tutors and also online teaching so that on-the-job learners can study by themselves in their spare time. Also shown in Table 3 is that 69.2% of the dropouts in bachelor's degree programmes and 46.8% in associate degree programmes seldom participated in online studies and that dropouts in bachelor's degree programmes spent more than one hour a day in their study while their counterparts in associate degree programmes spent more than two hours.

Table 3 Dropouts' Self-Evaluation of Study Performance in the First Semester

	Bachelor's Degree Programme	Associate Degree Programme
Participation in Face-to-Face Tutorials (%)
Full	23.1	38.0
Half	23.1	24.1
One-Third	20.5	12.7
One-Quarter	28.2	20.3
Never	5.1	5.1
Assignment Completion (%)
Fully completed	41.0	54.4
Half	10.3	15.2
One-Third	15.4	10.1
One-Quarter	25.6	17.7
Never	7.7	2.5
Participation in Online Study (%)
Often	23.1	46.8
Seldom	69.2	46.8
Never	7.7	6.3
Hours Spent on Study Every Week, including the following:	8.91	16.73
Face-to-Face Tutorials	4.73	4.72
Exchanges with Tutors and Class Supervisors after Class	0.77	1.95
Exchanges with Fellow Students	0.85	2.84
Assignment Completion	1.94	2.84
Self-Study (including online learning)	2.36	4.91

Reasons for quitting school
Listed in Table 4 are the reasons for quitting school submitted by the dropouts. The questionnaire included a number of options, such as work-study conflict, personal time management, weak knowledge base, course difficulty, examination difficulty, choice of programme, quality of learning resources, learner support, teachers' professional competence and interaction, interaction with class supervisors, interaction with fellow students, study methods, emergencies, and other difficulties. The respondents were asked to identify their three most important reasons for dropping out.

Table 4 Reasons for Quitting School

Programme	Reasons for Dropout	Primary Reason		Secondary Reason		Third Reason
Programme	Reasons for Dropout	Frequency	Percentage	Frequency	Percentage	Frequency	Percentage
Bachelor's Degree Programme (39 Dropouts)	Work-Study Conflict	17	43.6	8	20.5	3	7.7
	Time Management	3	7.7	10	25.6	5	12.8
	Knowledge Base	6	15.4	4	10.3	2	5.1
	Course Difficulty	3	7.7	8	20.5	3	7.7
	Examination Difficulty	——	——	3	7.7	4	10.3
	Choice of Programme	1	2.6	1	2.6	2	5.1
	Learning Resources	——	——	——	——	2	5.1
	Learner Support	1	2.6	——	——	2	5.1
	Tutors	——	——	1	2.6	1	2.6
	Interaction with Class Supervisors	——	——	——	——	——	——
	Interaction with Students	——	——	——	——	1	2.6
	Study Methods	——	——	——	——	1	2.6
	Emergencies	7	17.9	4	10.3	2	5.1
	Other Difficulties	1	2.6	——	——	11	28.2
	Total	39	100.0	39	100.0	39	100.0
Associate Degree Programme (79 Dropouts)	Work-Study Conflict	25	31.6	7	8.9	4	5.1
	Time Management	8	10.1	16	20.3	6	7.6
	Knowledge Base	10	12.7	11	13.9	13	16.5
	Course Difficulty	2	2.5	10	12.7	5	6.3
	Examination Difficulty	——	——	3	3.8	8	10.1
	Choice of Programme	4	5.1	1	1.3	7	8.9
	Learning Resources	——	——	4	5.1	3	3.8
	Learner Support	2	2.5	1	1.3	3	3.8
	Tutors	1	1.3	1	1.3	1	1.3
	Interaction with Class Supervisors	——	——	——	——	——	——
	Interaction with Students	——	——	——	——	——	——
	Study Methods	7	8.9	5	6.3	7	8.9
	Emergencies	18	22.8	8	10.1	8	10.1
	Other Difficulties	2	2.5	12	15.2	14	17.7
		79	100.0	79	100.0	79	100.0

Note: “——” means that this option was not mentioned.