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Abstract
The first-year experience for students enrolled in an online degree program, particularly the orientation and the first course experience, is critical to success and completion. The experience of one online university in improving persistence through enhancing orientation and the first academic course is presented. Factors impacting persistence are identified and the development of a university orientation seminar and the foundations for graduate study course are explored. The positive results of this first-year effort are presented along with implications for continued improvement and for distance education.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank the many staff members and faculty involved in this project, particularly our executive sponsors. A project of this scale requires the collaboration and efforts of many individuals and teams, and we were fortunate to be a part of this work to increase student success.