Community College Students

Introduction (literature review)

We chose a study to find out what drives a community college student to choose particular courses. Many students try to find the easiest option to get in and out as soon as possible; however, these classes that appeal to students initially tend to be more challenging than expected. We are aware that many community college students also work and have other priorities outside of school. This may be the reason why students are searching for less challenging courses. Our hypothesis is that Citrus College students prefer courses that are non-challenging over courses that are challenging. If we discover what characteristics will create an ideal class environment, students with other obligations will have a higher

Recent research on achievement motivation has yielded an extensive body of knowledge on the goals students pursue in learning situations (Anderman, Austin, & Johnson, 2002; Harackiewicz, Barron, Pintrich, Elliot, & Thrash, 2002). The study by Tapola, Anna and Niemivirta, Markku The role of achievement goal orientations in students ' perceptions of and preferences for classroom environment (2008), accentuates a student’s dispositional motivational factors when observing changes in their preference in learning environments. This study was conducted by administering surveys to a sample of 208 (107 boys and 101 girls) sixth graders from four public elementary schools. The purpose of the questionnaire was to obtain insight on conceptual structural validity of the motivational constructs; classification of the students according to their goal orientation profiles and student’s preferences and perceptions across goal orientation groups. It was hypothesized that students’ perceptions and preferences correspond to their individual goal preferences and other motivational beliefs (Tapola, 2008; Markku, 2008). The results reflected a motivational mindset that the students bring with them to the classroom. “Students with different motivational profiles differed not only in their experiences of, but also in their preferences for the learning environment.” (Tapola, 2008; Markku, 2008). This

The researchers referred to Pascarella and Terenzini 's (2005) to define high-risk online courses (HRC) "as college courses with withdrawal or failure rates of 30% or more". Bambara et al. found that community colleges alone make up half of all students who are enrolled in online classes. The amount students enrolled in online classes are growing fast. Online classes are appealing to students of two-year institutions because they provide new opportunities and an ideal ease (Bambara et al.). However, the opposite tends to be true. Online classes show a correlation to student "attrition" (Carr, 2000). Bambara et al. recognized that the idealistic view of online courses (helping students become better with technology and offering convenience) is based off of opinions and not off of facts and data (Cox, 2005; Kozeracki, 1999). They also found from (York, 2003) that student retention rate is very low in online courses. For their own research Bambara et al. used "phenomenology . . . [and] qualitative method for research" (2009). They studied online enrollment during the 2003-2004 school year at a particular unnamed community college and used “25 courses delivered online and on campus” (Bambara et al.). The 13 online courses fit the previous definition for HRC and were “principles of accounting I,