I would look at speaking with past or seasoned instructors in the course at the school to see what had worked in the past and build upon this knowledge. I would also look at survey information from others in the department.
It is important to:
know each student's education/professional goals and current major/current job. By knowing this information onine instructors need to communciate with the studnet about his/her progress in the course that will help him/her reach their goal.
It helps to know this to be able to relate the activites and topics of the course to his/her experience and goals.
Online instructors really need to focus on constant communication as it is easy for students to feel isolated in an online environment
In the online format for which I instruct, making the classroom comfortable includes things such as ensuring each student:
knows how to use the technology
understand the course objectives and how the activities are to be reinforcing the transfer of learning for those objectives/goals
the environment is "safe" for them to share
I think it is even more important that online instructor respond very quickly to students questions and that repsponses to students posted forum (the online version of dicussions) often and with challenging questions/thoughts.
Hi Kescia,
This is very important for students to have. If they are comfortable they can focus on the course content better. What are some ways you make your classroom comfortable for your students?
Thanks in advance for your input.
Gary
Make the classroom room comfortable for the students to learn
I think professional development is very useful - not just to the students, either.
There are hundreds of studies that address “no significant difference†in the quality of online versus on-ground instruction, yet it is clearly the instructor who makes the difference. While there is considerable research on student retention practices for university recruitment and enrollment departments, there seems to be little written on student outreach and retention strategies for online adjuncts. This paper is based on existing research on the philosophies of adult education, a review of current literature related to online education and the writer’s own eight years of experience teaching online at for-profit universities as a baseline for offering online adjuncts five adjunct outreach strategies to bridge the virtual distance and increase student retention.
By getting to know students and tailoring the material to the learners, askign for learners input, and being fair and consistent.
By participating in professional development.
Many things contribute to retention, including University policies, the mix of students and their current life situation, and importantly instructor actions. While there may be instructors who naturally apply some strategies and will be good at retaining students, my experience as a student was that staying in school and being successful was my problem. Not perhaps the best attitude for our nontraditional learners. Awareness of retention strategies is the bridge to action, and so has a critical place.
Awareness begins by explicitly making retention a goal and focusing on how well I am doing. Courses like this one provide good general guidelines and strategies to apply. There are articles available in the literature which may have valuable strategies.
Another source of ideas is to ask students for their feedback. This would be outside of the usual after class surveys that our institutions provide. Make a point of learning from our failures and our successes. If a student withdraws, try to understand why and what, if anything could have been done to help the student succeed. If we do succeed in retaining a student, especially one on the edge of withdrawal, see what worked. Make a list. Try the ideas out in
future classes.
Another way to get strategies and awareness is to work with our colleagues. See what they do, have them critique what we do.
In the online environment it is important to track attendance through the week rather than waiting until assignments are not turned in on time. When a student has not logged in by Thursday when their first discussion posting is due that is the time to email and can help resolve a problem early as well as being an opportunity to "touch" the student personally.
Instructors need to get to know thier students and ask questions. To be able to change the way we get the point across to the students.
The sharing of ideas across faculty can help with retention. Another way would be to have student do an exit assessment with checklist and/or opinion adds that state why they choose to drop the class to better assess reasons for the future.
Hi Allen,
Right you are about the need for the personal approach to teaching. The human factor has to be present if rapport is going to be developed and respect earned. Keep up your good work you are creating a legacy of professionalism for your students.
Gary
Instructors should be aware of college policies and protocol and enforce them and follow through. At the same time, within the classroom, the best retention strategy is for teachers to truly care about the success of their students. If this is lacking, then retention efforts of any kind are not as successful.
Through ongoing personal acknowledgment of individual students, continuing concern for their well-being and learning progression, as well as incorporating a variety of learning experiences that appeal to each student, the instructor can then establish a learning environment that is "learner friendly" and relevant to individual class members.
As others have mentioned it is important to have empathy towards your students and show them that even though you have set expectations of outcomes that you are always there to help and listen to there needs
Hi Chris,
Good point about how to internalize student feedback so instructional improvement can be made. This is how instructors can expand their expertise as effective communicators and educators.
Gary
Our students do mid-quarter surveys that we get the following week. The value is that you get the feedback from the students in such time that you can learn from it to make corrections if needed rather than finding out at the end of the course that there was something you could have changed to help the students. The important thing is to review the surveys objectively and use them to make positive change in course or the next time it is taught.
Developing rapport with the students from the very beginning and nourishing this rapport throughout the course is the key. I have found that simple short personal chats before classes go a long way in accomplishing this. I've also found two other activities helpful: catching them during breaktime for a bit of feedback on their progress, and engaging them in brief conversation when I meet them in the school corridors in between classes.
