Date of Award

12-2021

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Departmental Honors

Department

Data Analytics and Information Systems

Abstract

This study utilizes a curricular analytics framework developed by Heileman et al. (2018) to examine the relationship between curriculum complexity and graduation rates in academic programs at Utah State University. The goal in quantifying the complexity of curricula is to determine whether or not prerequisite courses and other factors of curricula structure impacts graduation from the university. To accomplish this goal, curriculum complexity spreadsheets were developed for 96 degree programs at the university, which facilitated the assignment of curriculum complexity scores to the 6,337 students who qualified for the quasi-experimental study. Logistic regression was then applied to the resulting data to plot graduation trends for students who graduated within four, five, and six years across the spectrum of curriculum complexity scores. The resulting trendlines indicate that increased curriculum complexity at Utah State University is significantly associated with lower graduation rates and calls for program administrators to restructure prerequisite structures to enable increased degree completion.

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Faculty Mentor

Mitchell Colver

Departmental Honors Advisor

Yong Kim