Introduction

The stance of this book is that current retention rates in online, open and distance learning are lower-sometimes considerably lower-than they need to be, and that the overwhelming majority of students who start courses do wish to finish them. However, increased retention does require a radical and systematic agenda to which institutions will need to subscribe. And at the same time it will be necessary to remember. Tinto’s (1993) slightly gnomic statement that ‘Education, not retention, should be the goal of institutional programmes’ and the implications of helping students deal with dropout and failure when it occurs.