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This research paper examines the influence of interpersonal interactions on the course-level persistence intentions of online undergraduate engineering students. Online learning is increasing in enrollment and importance in engineering education. Online courses also continue to confront issues with comparatively higher course dropout levels than face-to-face courses. This study correspondingly explores relevant student perceptions of their online course experiences to better understand the factors that contribute to students’ choices to remain in or drop out of their online undergraduate engineering courses. Data presented in this study were collected during fall 2019 and spring 2020 from three ABET-accredited online undergraduate engineering courses at a large southwestern public university: electrical engineering, engineering management, and software engineering. Participants were asked to respond to surveys at 12-time points during their 7.5-week online course. Each survey measured students’ perceptions of course LMS dialog, perceptions of instructor practices, and peer support for completing the course. Participants also reported their intentions to persist in the course during each survey administration. A multi-level modeling analysis revealed that LMS dialog, perceptions of instructor practices, and peer support are related to course persistence intentions. Time was also a significant predictor of persistence intentions and indicated that the course persistence intentions decrease towards the end of the course. Additionally, interactions between demographic variables and other predictors (perceptions of course LMS dialog, perceptions of instructor practices, and perceptions of peer support) were significant. With the increase in perceptions of course LMS dialog, perceptions of instructor practices, and perceptions of peer support, there was a relatively smaller increase in the persistence intentions of veterans than non-veterans. There is relatively more increase in the persistence intentions of females than males as their perceptions of instructor practices increase. Finally, increasing perceptions of peer support led to a relatively larger increase in the persistence intentions of non-transfer students than transfer students and a relatively smaller increase in persistence intentions of students working full-time than other students. 

Online learning is increasing in both enrollment and importance within engineering education. Online courses also continue to confront comparatively higher course dropout levels than face-to-face courses. This research paper thus aims to better understand the factors that contribute to students’ choices to remain in or drop out of their online undergraduate engineering courses. Path analysis was used to examine the impact of course perceptions and individual characteristics on students’ course-level persistence intentions. Specifically, whether students' course perceptions influenced their persistence intentions directly or indirectly, through their expectancies of course success, was tested. Data for this study were collected from three ABET-accredited online undergraduate engineering programs at a large public university in the Southwestern United States: electrical engineering, engineering management, and software engineering. A total of 138 students participated in the study during the fall 2019 (n=85) and spring 2020 (n=53) semesters. Participants responded to surveys twice weekly during their 7.5-week online course. The survey asked students about their course perceptions related to instructor practices, peer support, and course difficulty level, their expectancies in completing the course, and their course persistence intentions. This work is part of a larger National Science Foundation-funded research project dedicated to studying online student course-level persistence based on both students' self-report data and course learning management system (LMS) activity. The survey sample was consistent with reports indicating that online learners tend to be more diverse than face-to-face learners. Findings from the path analysis revealed that students' perceptions of course LMS fit, perceived course difficulty, and expectancies of course success positively and significantly predicted persistence intentions, making them the most important influences. Expectancies of course success had a direct effect on persistence intentions. The findings underscore the need to elucidate further the mechanisms through which expectancies of success influence persistence.