Going the Distance? Exploring Student Perceptions and Experiences of Online Courses at Community Colleges

Author: Constance Iloh
Presented at 2017 AERA

​Abstract: Distance education, a growing force in expanding postsecondary education opportunity, has had dismal learning outcomes in the community college sector. The author conducted a five-month qualitative grounded theory exploration of student perceptions of online courses at two community colleges. Findings from this study highlight the illusion of convenience, prevalence of digital novices, and utility of distance education as only context-specific.