Action Research Project: - iMET

28of student needs for academic success. Shifting the education environment to the communitarianmodel suggests that online learning is complete when qualitative measures are involved. In thisenvironment, a community of learners is developed that supports academic achievement bysustaining on-going communications via face-to-face, asynchronous, and synchronouscomponents within the online learning experience.Action ResearchPresently, class.com is contracted by Choices Charter School (affiliated with S.J.U.S.D.)to provide online courseware as a pilot program. Administrators in the S.J.U.S.D. are nowlooking to expand the role of online learning for secondary students throughout the district. Theywant to know if online learning is effective in gaining student academic success. The review ofthe literature revealed what comprised academic success, the reasons for academic successand/or failure, and the potential of online learning to accomplish that objective. This actionresearch is an investigation of whether or not online learning programs actually meet theobjective. The course of action in this research has three stages: collect data; present data andreview of the literature to administrators; record administrator’s response to these findings. Datais derived from four primary sources: interviews and personal communications, a studentquestionnaire, class.com student data, a case study.In an interview on September 19, 2001, CTAP Region 3 director Mitch Hall said thatthere were three components necessary for a successful online learning program: “Face-to-faceconnections, constant communication (both asynchronous as well as synchronous), and a body ofcontent that can be delivered online.” Hall goes on to say, “When we try online learning withoutthese components, the failure rate is incredible.” Therefore, a successful online program isdetermined by a low dropout rate.