Staying or leaving? Designing for persistence in an online educator training programme in Indonesia

This case study discusses factors impacting the attrition and persistence rates of 60 Indonesian educators in an online programme in 2010. Course designers developed three variations of a web-based programme - a fully online, hybrid and web-facilitated model - and placed 20 learners, all with similar technology skills, in the three different models. The online cohort experienced a 31% attrition rate while 100% of learners in the hybrid and web-facilitated models completed the programme. Data collection revealed that the greatest factor impacting attrition or persistence was the absence or presence of face-to-face interaction with the instructor and colleagues. This paper outlines programme design elements that learners found most helpful in successfully completing the course.