Unlocking secrets of ghost students

    Press/Media: Press / Media

    Description

    Students who never submit any work in their first course are “zero fails” and while they generally disappear, they do leave with one memorable outcome – a study debt.

    Neil van der Ploeg and Charles Sturt U colleagues think universities have a responsibility to help, so they looked at the performance of 32,000 CSU students in a new paper.

    What they found:

    • Zero fails aren’t all ghosts who enrol, but never engage. Some, it seem do have a go – only 24% never engage with the learning management system. Although 45% of those who did engage were gone by census date, nearly 12% were still there at Semester end.   
    • On-line students are a greater risk of zero fail than similar campus-based students, but First Nations and disability students are the only equity groups at marked zero fail risks.
    • A First Semester zero fail sends a message that most get – more than half withdrew afterwards. Of those who stick for second Semester, 63% have more zero fails, while 17% pass most units.
    • The headline result is that zero fails are never less than 17% of all fails.

    What universities can do:

    • “Look beyond first year retention … retaining more students with a history of zero-fail grades may not be a great outcome, unless students’ likelihood of success can actually be improved.”
    • Better explain census dates and do more to advise students already at risk of zero fails. That means looking for work not submitted, rather than just LMS activity.

    As co-author Kelly Linden and Chris Campbell wrote in Campus Morning Mail (July 24 2022). “ a timely, targeted phone support to disengaged students pre census,” can reduce the risk of zero-fails and increase the chance of a pass or credit.  

    Period15 Mar 2024

    Media contributions

    1

    Media contributions

    • TitleUnlocking secrets of ghost students
      Degree of recognitionNational
      Media name/outletFuture Campus
      Media typeWeb
      Country/TerritoryAustralia
      Date15/03/24
      DescriptionStudents who never submit any work in their first course are “zero fails” and while they generally disappear, they do leave with one memorable outcome – a study debt.

      Neil van der Ploeg and Charles Sturt U colleagues think universities have a responsibility to help, so they looked at the performance of 32,000 CSU students in a new paper.

      What they found:

      Zero fails aren’t all ghosts who enrol, but never engage. Some, it seem do have a go – only 24% never engage with the learning management system. Although 45% of those who did engage were gone by census date, nearly 12% were still there at Semester end.
      On-line students are a greater risk of zero fail than similar campus-based students, but First Nations and disability students are the only equity groups at marked zero fail risks.
      A First Semester zero fail sends a message that most get – more than half withdrew afterwards. Of those who stick for second Semester, 63% have more zero fails, while 17% pass most units.
      The headline result is that zero fails are never less than 17% of all fails.
      What universities can do:

      “Look beyond first year retention … retaining more students with a history of zero-fail grades may not be a great outcome, unless students’ likelihood of success can actually be improved.”
      Better explain census dates and do more to advise students already at risk of zero fails. That means looking for work not submitted, rather than just LMS activity.
      As co-author Kelly Linden and Chris Campbell wrote in Campus Morning Mail (July 24 2022). “ a timely, targeted phone support to disengaged students pre census,” can reduce the risk of zero-fails and increase the chance of a pass or credit.
      Producer/AuthorStephen Matchett
      URLhttps://futurecampus.com.au/2024/03/15/unlocking-secrets-of-ghost-students/
      PersonsNeil van der Ploeg, Kelly Linden

    Keywords

    • Ghost Student