International Journal of
Information and Education Technology

Abstract

The Open Universities nowadays have been growing up with the high number of students. At the same time, they also facea high number of non re-enrolment and in turn have affected the retention rate. This study was aimed to explore factors contributing to student progress in the Indonesia Open University by employing mixed methods study. In this study, student progress refers to continuation of learning by re-enrolling within four consecutive semesters. A mixed methods research with the design of sequential explanatory study was opted by obtaining the quantitative findings from surveying 127 students and then was followed by multiple case study from four purposefully selected respondents. In the quantitative phase, 12 predictor variables were found to have important contributions to the predictive model of student progress. Meanwhile, in the qualitative phase, three major themes emerged from the multiple case study analysis: 1) self-motivation; 2) quality of institutional support; 3) interaction; and 4) supporting environment. The quantitative and qualitative findings are discussed with reference to previous research.