Retaining e-learners: A case study of e-PJJ program Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam Main Campus / Lenora Jailan Zainal

In this era of science and technology where the world seems to have no boundaries, the
term e-learning has brought a new significance to education. Defined as acquisition and
use of knowledge distributed and facilitated primarily by electronic means, Malaysia does
not want to be left behind with this emergence of new technology. University Teknologi
MARA is one of the universities in Malaysia who has been practicing this new learning
method. However, even though this new means of delivering education has been getting
good responds, there still exist problems which lead to a high number of students'
attritions. This research seeks to determine what are the factors of attrition and also
retention among students of e-PJJ. A research model has developed to conduct the
research. A total of 200 questionnaires have been distributed among targeted respondents
which are the current and former e-PJJ students who have dropped out. A total of 157
answered questionnaires have been retrieved back. An exploratory factor analysis has
been run in analyzing the data in order to seek what are the most significant factors of
attrition or retention. After the exploratory factor analysis has been run through the data,
it is found out that the most significant factors of attrition or retention are individual
background, academic integration and social integration. Thus, the objectives have been
achieved. Recommendations have been provided as proposed means solutions to alleviate
the problems.