Mentoring in Distance Education Preventing Attrition to Promote Public Health

Abstract

The number of college and university students has increased greatly in Europe during the past quarter century, and the number of distance education students has tripled in Sweden since 1996. More than 20% of the students in Sweden now choose distance education, with a student population where 42% are older than 34 years of age, compared to 18% of the campus based students. This is a clear indication of an increased interest in lifelong learning. The average European college student dropout rate is about 40%, which is very close to the Swedish on-campus (38%) and traditional off-campus (39%) dropout rates. An increasing number of the distance education students, now more than 70%, choose IT supported (online) distance education, but the problem is that this increasingly popular choice has resulted in an average dropout rate of 58%. The present study was designed to investigate how online mentoring affects attrition in IT supported distance education. A masters degree program at the IT University of Gothenburg, Sweden, was used as an empirical example, and mentoring was introduced during the first course. The dropout rate was 55% in the first course, while the second and third courses had no dropouts at all, for the first time in the history of the program. A number of studies have indicated a strong relationship between education and public health. Low educational level is associated with poor physical and mental health. Education is clearly an important factor in promoting, restoring and maintaining physical, social and mental health. Lifelong learning is an essential part of a lifestyle that will help to maintain body and mind in good health. Lifelong learning may be facilitated by online access to university courses. This should also be recognized as an important part of public health promotion. Student attrition in distance education is a public health problem that may be addressed in a number of different ways, including active support from distance education mentors. Online mentoring should always be included as an important part of all distance education programs.