Online higher education continues to grow, yet its high dropout rates remain a pressing and complex problem. This article presents a scoping review of the recent literature on the theme, focusing on dropout definitions, concepts, and models, study domains and themes, methodological approaches, and findings. A search of relevant databases yielded 138 articles and dissertations. Findings reveal a complex yet disorganized field, lacking standard definitions and models. The bulk of current research is focused on risk factors; the most important ones were course and program factors (student support), student factors (motivation, time management skills, and satisfaction), and environmental factors (time- and financial-related issues). Future research should strive to achieve greater consistency in terminology, methods, and measurement, develop new intervention strategies and produce reliable effectiveness information. Further implications of these findings for future dropout research and the limitations of the study are discussed.

Online higher education continues to grow, yet its high dropout rates remain a pressing and complex problem. However, there are many different definitions of dropout (and related concepts: attrition, persistence, and retention) in the literature, usually related to a temporal conception, and the issue is controversial. Inconsistent terminology is problematic because the ways dropout is defined determine how it is measured, tackled, and researched. This contribution seeks to remedy such issue by summarizing a scoping review of the recent literature on the theme, focusing on the key issue of online higher education students’ dropout conceptualization and definition. A scoping review between 2014 and 2018 yielded 138 articles and dissertations. Findings reveal a complex yet disorganized field, lacking standard definitions. Some concepts (e.g. completion) were defined clearly more often, while others (e.g. attrition and dropout) varied wildly; few papers employed previous definitions from the body of literature. Future research should strive to achieve greater consistency in terminology, so as to compare findings and produce reliable knowledge for intervention in online higher education institutions.

Student persistence in the first year of studies is a crucial concern in online higher education. Recent accelerated growth in online programs due to the COVID pandemic has increased concerns over higher dropout rates, which are often connected to students’ time challenges—time poverty, juggling multiple commitments, and fitting studies into busy lives. However, research seldom focuses on students’ perceptions of time issues related to persistence. This study addresses this gap by exploring how 20 second-year students retrospectively viewed their experiences of time challenges and how they impacted their persistence in their first year at an online open university. Content analysis of in-depth interviews demonstrated that time pressure and time-conflicts were crucial barriers for success in the foundational semester; the main barrier was juggling study with multiple priorities. Most persisters had good time management and high levels of intrinsic motivation, satisfaction, and self-determination. However, even procrastinators with heavy work-family duties managed to persevere due to their resilience and personal motivation. Lastly, recommendations and strategies for effective student-based interventions to foster persistence are suggested.

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Online higher education continues to grow, yet its high dropout rates remain a pressing and complex problem. This article presents a scoping review of the recent literature on the theme, focusing on dropout definitions, concepts, and models, study domains and themes, methodological approaches, and findings. A search of relevant databases yielded 138 articles and dissertations. Findings reveal a complex yet disorganized field, lacking standard definitions and models. The bulk of current research is focused on risk factors; the most important ones were course and program factors (student support), student factors (motivation, time management skills, and satisfaction), and environmental factors (time- and financial-related issues). Future research should strive to achieve greater consistency in terminology, methods, and measurement, develop new intervention strategies and produce reliable effectiveness information. Further implications of these findings for future dropout research and the limitations of the study are discussed.