In my 17 years of instructing online, I have noticed a shift in the priorities of both students and institutions. When I first entered online education, students were motivated to learn and applied themselves. As time went on and competition grew with the advent of on-ground institutions getting online, the 'for profits' were compelled to compete and in so doing, recruited new students with tactics to simply attract volumes of students, some of which were not prepared to commit to the regimen required or signed up merely to use student loans as income.
In one of my more recent employs, I transitioned from instructor to truant officer, with pressure to get underperforming and non-performing students to engage and be active in class. The pressure and onus of the need to reduce absenteeism was relentless.
In one of my current teaching environments, the student body is 90+ percent military and retention and non-performance is not an issue at all. Nearly 100 percent perform and complete each course and I am in my sixth year of heavenly bliss, instructing students who are 'all in' and motivated to learn and succeed.
