Telecourse persistence and psychological variables

This study investigated the constructs of loneliness, dyadic communication apprehension, two dimensions of communication competence, and locus of control as predictors of persistence in telecourses. A telephone survey was administered to 306 students at a community college in the greater New York area. None of the independent variables proved significant. Using quartiles of completion, a multiple discriminant analysis produced a finding barely better than chance for withdrawal and slightly better than chance for withdrawal/failure. None of the Pearson correlation coefficients proved significant. Implications of the results are discussed.