Is Utilization of University-Sponsored Social Media Associated With Increased Social Integration and Retention Among Online Students? An Examination of Social Media as a Moderator of Student Retention

Abstract

Online student retention remains a problem for many colleges and universities. Retention models developed for residential students also explain the contribution to retention resulting from connecting online students with other students and the daily life of the university. Social media has been proposed as a way to engage online students to create a sense of community that may contribute to student retention. This quantitative study assessed the association between online student usage of university-sponsored social media with the Classroom and School Community Inventory (CSCI), a scale developed to quantify students’ sense of academic and social community, and the association with subsequent retention at a southeastern U.S. university with a large online student population. While the effect was small, student engagement with university-sponsored social media was significantly associated with both higher scores on the CSCI and with higher reenrollment rates.