Retention Is Emotional, Not Just Academic: Practical Strategies That Keep Online Students Engaged  – Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning

According to the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (2025), the percent of students enrolled in distance education courses in postsecondary institutions in the fall of 2024 was 53.8%. Importantly and unfortunately, the withdrawal rate for this population far outpaces traditional students attending higher education institutions, requiring a closer examination of factors that can be addressed to improve retention in this population. In a comprehensive study reporting post-pandemic online course discontinuation, students reported withdrawing due to the following five undermining elements: misalignment between suitability of content and online content presentation, inexpertly prepared and/or unstimulating instruction, inadequate digital skills, insufficient institutional support and personal resources, and distracting environmental factors (Kaisara 2024). 

Translated, this means online students who withdraw rarely do so because they cannot intellectually complete the work; instead, they drop out because they feel a disconnect between content and content presentation. They give up attending school because they are anxious about needing a computer, not just a phone, for learning. They do not persist at the higher education level because they feel uncertain and lack confidence regarding classroom navigation. Our digital learners’ retention rates are lower because they feel isolated online and feel poorly supported by the institution. Such students also withdraw because they feel ashamed of their poor digital skills. If so many of the root reasons our distance education students have for leaving are emotional, solutions to these barriers should also be emotional.   

Using Predictability to Reduce Anxiety

A key emotional state that surfaces when considering online higher ed students is anxiety. Data from the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) 2024 Annual Report indicates that anxiety remains one of the most prevalent and persistent mental health challenges faced by college students (Center for Collegiate Mental Health 2025). While this data point suggests anxiety is common among all higher education students, anxiety in online college students is even more prevalent than in traditional face-to-face college students (Li et al. 2024; Hayat et al. 2024). To mitigate the challenge posed by anxiety, an optimized and orderly online learning environment will aid in addressing predictability for students, ultimately leading to reduced anxiety, relief of uncertainty, and maximized accessibility. 

As an online instructor for 20 years, I can attest to the power of predictable course rhythms. With uncertainty better managed, students know what to expect. Knowing what to expect reduces anxiety and the emotional cost of staying, hence retention grows. To encourage such retention, consider the following consistent course design choices and predictable instructional practices to systematize your classroom while enhancing its navigability: 

• Folder Feng Shui – Employ consistent naming conventions in online classrooms to streamline location and access and address unpredictability   

• No-dust Grading – Supply timely feedback with a 1-4 day turnaround time to reduce uneasiness 

• Prominent Prompting – Post predictable gentle reminders and announcements to reinforce engagement and instructor approachability  

• KISS – Keep It Short, Silly – Record chunked (five minutes or less) tutorials and weekly overviews to model expectations, connections between content and career relevance, and navigational components, effectively minimizing confusion 

Using Vulnerability to Reduce Shame

Regulating anxiety due to unpredictability in the online classroom can be very effective, and reducing the shame experienced by many of our students due to the barriers complicating their return to school is equally important. To do so, instructors can calibrate their classroom interactions to capitalize on practices that emphasize vulnerability, revision, and growth as being inherent to success. Carol Dweck’s philosophy of growth mindset comes to mind when striving to address such concerns. According to Dweck (2007), as instructors, we must encourage the mindset of not yet. Students must be encouraged in a way that presents stumbling points or imperfections as temporary blocks that have not yet been circumvented—but can be overcome with further dedication and work.

Communications in announcements, feedback, and discussions should promote energy consistent with the message that struggling is developmental, not indicative of a deficit in character. If instructors can engage with students in a way that promotes revision as being intrinsic to the learning process, this can keep students from withdrawing after setbacks (Kim et al. 2022). Furthermore, promoting a student-instructor partnership mentality can improve student retention (Loes et al. 2024).  

Likewise, being mindful of approachability, accessibility, outreach incentivizing, tone, and level of instructional organization can also play strong roles in improving satisfaction between instructors and student retention (Loes et al. 2024). To encourage vulnerability and positive relationships with students, I embrace the following practices that display my own vulnerability as an instructor:  

• Embrace the Ums – When recording, be vulnerable by using a headshot and speak unscripted – A few ums humanize instructors  

• Cheer and Nudge Communications – Send out short reminders congratulating or nudging students on mid-week task completion to encourage positive relationships  

• Balancing the Mess with the Magic – In feedback, comment conversationally, specifically, and holistically on strengths and areas for opportunity for all assignments to encourage growth 

• Master Modeling – Develop routine sample assignments and templates to reduce cognitive load and self-doubt 

• Extend Empathy – When students ask for an extension or share a difficulty, extend empathy and offer structured options for negotiated due dates as well as additional support to humanize interactions and reduce student feelings of inadequacy 

Using Self-Regulation to Reduce Powerlessness

If predictability can be used to reduce anxiety, and vulnerability can be used to reduce shame; then self-regulation can be used to reduce the helplessness felt when overwhelmed with the inadequacy experienced in online learning. Too often adult learners in online environments feel incapable; they feel their options are limited or nonexistent when they need additional support or are confronted by obstacles. Instead of feeling powerless, it is important for students to develop agency with regard to their learning. 

In a comprehensive literature review of dozens of studies, self-regulation was repeatedly found to correlate with online students’ persistence and completion with online classes (Khanh and Thanh 2024). Self-agency or self-regulation strategies naturally support students in setting and achieving their own goals, managing their time, and evaluating their own learning. To empower students with agency, consider the following high-impact practices:  

• Check that Box! – Create clear checklists outlining assignment requirements and pitfalls to improve feeling of control  

• Optional Opportunities – Build options into assignments to encourage empowerment 

• Reflective Response Exchange – Add a reflection piece to all assignments to aid in ownership of learning process  

• Praise Progress – Praise adjustments, revisions, and effort to celebrate student agency 

• AI with Intentionality – Encourage students to use AI to clarify, explore, and deepen learning while keeping original thinking central to reinforce their sense of capability 

Agency and self-regulation work together to counter-balance helplessness. Vulnerability encourages bravery by reducing the shame associated with the risks associated with a return to school and possibilities to fail. Predictability addresses anxiety by stabilizing accessibility and reducing uncertainty. Staying enrolled in school is as much of an emotional decision as it is an academic one, and as instructors, we are positioned to ease the emotional burdens carried by our students through our own high-impact practices and regulations. When students feel confident in navigating learning systems, validated in their personal worth, and empowered instead of powerless, we set them up to not only persist in academics but prevail both academically and emotionally.  

Amy Winger, MEd, is an online instructor for the University of Phoenix and American InterContinental University. She holds a BA in English from the University of Iowa and a MEd in English Education from the University of Minnesota. For over 20 years, she has taught English and general education courses and enjoys pioneering the use of tech tools. Prior to that, she taught English at the secondary level. Her academic research primarily focuses on retention strategies, technology tools, and social media implementation in the online classroom. She is also a freelance fiction writer. 

References 

Center for Collegiate Mental Health. 2025. 2024 Annual Report. University Park, PA: Penn State University. 

Dweck, Carol S. 2007. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House Publishing Group. 

Hayat, Ali Asghar, Nahid Barzegar, Hatam Faraji Dehsorkhi, Mehrdad Azimnejadian, Sasan Rostami, Mohammad Hasan Keshavarzi, and Sedigheh Mokhtarpour. 2024. “A Cross-Sectional Study on the Role of Computer Anxiety in Students’ Online Learning.” Journal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism 12 (1): 51–56. 

Kaisara, Godwin, Clayton Peel, Cornelius Niemand, and Kelvin Joseph Bwalya. 2024. “Exploring Factors Influencing e-Learning Dropout Rates in the Post-COVID-19 Era.” Information and Communication Technology Education 20 (1): 1-13. 

Khanh, Ho Dinh Phuong, and Phan Thi Ngoc Thanh. 2024. “Student Persistence in Online Learning: A Literature Review.” VNU Journal of Foreign Studies 40 (1): 76-102. 

Kim, Soobin, John Yun, Barbara Schneider, Michael Broda, Christopher Klager, and I-Chien Chen. 2022. The Effects of Growth Mindset on College Persistence and Completion. EdWorkingPaper No. 22-516. Providence, RI: Annenberg Institute at Brown University. 

Li, Zhiyong, Pengju Guan, Jiaying Li, and Jing Wang. 2024. “Comparing Online and Offline Chinese EFL Learners’ Anxiety and Emotional Engagement.” Acta Psychologica 242 (February): 104114. 

Loes, Chad N., Teniell L. Trolian, and Megan R. Ford. 2024. “Quality of Student–Faculty Interactions, Persistence, and Disparities in College Student Outcomes.” Journal of Postsecondary Student Success 2 (1): 20-46. 

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. 2025. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall Enrollment Component, Final Data (2012–2023) and Provisional Data (2024): Percent of Students Enrolled in Distance Education Courses by State, Distance Education Status of Student (Enrolled in Some). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.