Enrolling habits in higher education. What sources of information do students have and what are missing?

Abstract

Since the appearance of the web, universities have changed the way education is designed and provided. Nowadays, most universities offer online programmes and subjects, and there are even fully online open/distance universities. Students now have a higher degree of flexibility, which allows them to choose among an endless list of subjects for completing their degree. Although this can be seen as a success of enrollment flexibility measures, it may be also the source of one of the most well-known problems in open education: high dropout rates, partly caused by inadequate enrollment. Students may face an overwhelming amount of information they are not able to sort, or they may even find it insufficient to plan and select subjects strategically. Understanding students habits when enrolling is important to improve their learning experience. In order to do so, a questionnaire about enrollment habits was sent to students taking a Computer Engineering degree in their first or second semester. Results show that, although the majority of students are quite satisfied with the enrollment process, there is still room for improvement. Surprisingly, tutors recommendations are not as relevant as institutional web pages as an information source. An exploratory factor analysis shows that the most important factor for students to determine their enrollment is the time they have to study, followed by their experience in previous semesters. Responses to the questionnaire were used to design a preliminary sketch of an interactive web application that addresses students needs and habits.