At our school, some of the things that we do is to allow the students to give us feedback in written form to help us know how they feel about information recieved.
We have a student services department, student employment services department, student financial aid department, and in addition each has their own sub departments that focus on things such as student housing, transportation, etc.
The Ambassadors are students who are nominated based on their attitude, committment to the school and their education, professionalism, grades, attendance, and are at a certain pint in their program.
We populate a list of students who meet the above criteria and have staff and faculty nominate the students based on their experiences with the students. The students then must appear in front a panel of Ambassador Committee members. We interview them to ensure that they would be a good fit for this program as we want them to be role models for other students. Once accepted, we conduct an induction ceremony where we go over the expectations and have them recite an oath. We have them meet with us once per month to go over important things that they need to be aware of and find out if there is anything they would like us to know or address with the rest of the student body. They also assist us in our retention efforts. They make us aware of potential issues with at-risk students and they often intervene in certain situations. Each session has an Ambassador Chair and Co-Chair that are responsible for conduting meeting and handling any other business.
Who are the ambassadors? Do they include students? How do you select the participants in this program? Is this role part of their routine job responsibilities?
We give out a survery quarterly relating to each department and their overall satisfaction weith the school. They also complete a survery at the end of each course specific to the instructor and course they have just completed. They complete another survey at the end of their program to rate the quality of their externship as well as the overall educational experience.
We also have an ambassador program in which we meet with the students monthly to ensure that we are bridging the communication gap between the staff adn students to ensure that we are doing what we can to assist them in being successful in their program.
How well does this system work? Are you pleased with the results? What can you do better?
The institution that I am employed with uses end of course surveys to help determine student satisfaction levels. There are a series of multiple choice questions and an additional space for comments or concerns. If the student so desires to be contacted about their concerns they can leave their contact information in this section.
First students go through a orientation which outlines the guidelines for the campus and its classes.Once the students begin,they are monitered by the instructors for there performance,and any issues adressed inthe intervention process and through tutoring.Any issues that cant be resolved by the instructors,are directed to the Education manager for resolution.
One of the items that students were complaining about was that the individual printers in the computer labs were always loosing connection with the network and were not able to print their needed documents. The school decided to purchase a 3500 copier/scanner for each of the computer labs and attaching them to our network. Once the individual printers were removed the problem was solved and the complaints stopped.
Gail, do you have any examples of changes made as a result of the surveys?
Our school starts detailing how we will meet student satisifaction at orientation by telling students that our offices (DOE, Assistant to DOE, Student Services and Career Placements) are available to them anytime. We also conduct instructor surveys after each 10 week module to ascertain how satisified the student is with the curriculum / instructor / school. These responses are reviewed by the Director of Education, Executive Vice President and instructor. If there are any issues that need to be addressed the student will be contacted and the issue is discussed.
At the end of each course session students are asked to access the class and instructor. Follow up by the school to negetive student input is required.
We are doing a good job of intervention when problems arise. I feel that the instructors are the first line of defense. We have a great orientation program to bring the students in. Our instructors are going through training to help them recognize problems and where to send the student if it is beyond our scope. We are also constantly talking to the students and LISTENING to identify any potential issues to keep the student here.
We have a student evaluation at the end of each course, wich is a 3 week period. Other than that I do not know of any other contact that the administation has with the students.
We use a esi system where the student answers questions as to there satifaction of the course and the content and our ability to deliver the material in a way they can all understand and learn from.
The institution that I work at has the Admissions Dep't giving the students an overview of what to expect, along with tours to show the environment as it is in progress. They also show where the different departments are and how they can help the students.
We have a Financial Aid Dep't that assists students with loans and grants, whether they derive from gov't, third party sources, or even in house.
Employment Services Dep't helps prepare the student to become a qualified applicant. They assist with resumes, guidance on appearance , coaching on mannerisms, as well as helping the student actually find a job.
Student Services Dep't aids with success programs to help the student stay in school, such as support for food, housing, transportaion, health, on an as needed basis. They also have councelors to help a student through a tough time if needed. This is just a start of what they do for students.
Then, there are the instructors, carefully picked with years of field experience in the courses they teach with further training in house and through external sources on a continual basis. The instructors are the direct front line to the students, the immediate leader and mentor, and support personnel. Between class and lab, students get theory and technical training as well as hands on learning and practical experience, all in an environment they look forward to showing up to.
At the end of each course we have a survey for feedback.
At the end of the program we have exit interviews for feedback.
By the way, this is the short version.
My institute has many systems in place for this assurance. We utilize an educational survey index system at the end of each coarse along with a student success instructor to help students on a daily basis. We also are inspected by the ACCSCT every 5 years and inspect ourselves every 2 1/2 years.
Students fill out an evaluation sheet at the end of each course. With this information we can tell if the students expectations are being met and if they are satisfied.
We survey they in each class and look at the trends. We reply to comments for validity so we can be proactive to their concerns.
We are always coaching are students and helping them out in any way that may be needed whether it be tutoring or hands on lab time one on one with the instuctors
