Research suggests that some students are at risk of lower levels of academic performance when studying online compared to students who take coursework only in the classroom. Community college students appear to be among those that struggle in online settings. In this paper, we hypothesize that online course load may influence outcomes for such students, especially those at risk for lower levels of degree attainment. To examine this, we conducted a statewide study using data from the 30 community colleges (n=45,557) of the State University of New York, to understand online course-load effects on degree completion, transfer, and dropout. We conclude that when controlling for covariates known to impact degree completion, on average, community college students who successfully complete online courses nearly double their chances (odds ratio=1.72) of earning a degree or transferring to a 4-year college. However, racial minority students had reduced outcomes and additional research is warranted.

中文翻译：

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在线课程负荷对纽约州立大学社区大学学生学位完成，转移和辍学的影响

研究表明，与仅在课堂上学习课程的学生相比，一些学生在在线学习时面临较低的学习成绩的风险。社区大学生似乎是那些在网络环境中挣扎的人。在本文中，我们假设在线课程负荷可能会影响此类学生的成绩，尤其是那些面临较低学位水平风险的学生。为了检验这一点，我们使用来自纽约州立大学的30所社区大学（n = 45,557）的数据进行了一项全州研究，以了解在线课程负荷对学位完成，转移和辍学的影响。我们得出的结论是，控制已知影响学位完成的协变量时，平均而言，成功完成在线课程的社区大学生的机会几乎翻了一番（优势比= 1。72）获得学位或转学到四年制大学。但是，少数族裔学生的成绩却有所下降，因此有必要进行进一步的研究。