MNTI has employed a student retention person , who has taken the program and is a student advocate , she helps with everything from child care , transportation, jobs , homelessness to letting them vent if they are feeling over whelmed
Great practice - helps each student appreciate the progress they are making. Do the students use the portfolio when interviewing with prospective employers?
We have 'Portfolio's our students have to complete upon graduation. They are required to take this portfolio that shows all their work including essays, before and after pictures of their work, special awards, certificate from community volunteering, etc...they are required to take this portfolio with them to their exit interview with our Career Services director. It really encourages students to see how much progress they have made, from start to finish. And I think it brings committment because a portion of the portfolio is due at the end of each quarter for a grade in class.
Is this something unique to your college or is Blinker as commercially available product? How long have you been using it?
We have what is known as "Blinker". When a student begins a pattern of not attending class, for instance, the instructor will scroll down on their roster to a link (Blinker), which notifies Student Resources of a possible problem. It's a great tool to keep possible at-risk students "on the radar".
Making sure that everyone that walks into our school feels at home. Welcoming them with a friendly smile and a positive attitude. Introducing them to the staff and letting them know that we are here to help them and not to hesitate to ask for assistance.
I think it is important in making sure that all staff is on the same page with the information about our school so that everyone is on the same page. Having weekly meeting with any updates on any changes that have been made and a monthly training sessions as well. I definitely think that this would help with retention.
Valeri, are there any specific customer service practices that make your school exemplary?
To me, commitment is something that you can measure and use to make improvements. How can you measure the impact of everyone in the staff talking with the students? Can you demonstrate that this is an effective retention tool?
A practice that our school demonstrates is our strong commitment to excellent customer service to each of our students and to help them as much as we can.
The schools commitment comes in with everyone in the staff talking with the students to make sure they know we care about how they are doing, also we want to assure them that anything they need help with we are here for them.
How often do you encounter previously unknown problems? Do you see the same students from start to finish or do they move on to other instructors?
If the latter, how do you communicate the student's history to the next instructor?
Sounds like a good way to get students acclimated to the institution. Orientation frequently is a blur and students don't really know what services they will need.
Is this done in an "assembly" like setting? How well attended are the ceremonies? Do students know in advance if they are receiving recognition? What percentage of the student body are recognized each quarter?
Is there a segment of the student population that scoffs at the proceedings? If so, how do you deal with them?
The easy answer is to say that students are so busy that they don't think they have time to seek help that doesn't satisfy an assignment. I'm not sure that that's the whole answer. I suspect many are embarrassed to ask for help.
Have ever asked students why they haven't sought help or why they waited until it was too late?
Is it possible to drive students through the support service site to get information they need to complete an assignment? This might be enough to get them the comfortable with returning to for help.
Sounds like a very effective email system. Does the email become part of the student's record? Who is responsible for following up on issues that are addressed in the email?
In my career development class I try to get staff from all areas of the school to drop in to re-introduce themselves (it's been a few weeks since orientation) and reconect with students.
The visitors are asked to restate their role, affirm their commitment to the student's success, and offer encouragment and praise students for what they have/are accomplishing.
In my career development class I try to get staff from all areas of the school to drop in to re-introduce themselves (it's been a few weeks since orientation) and reconect with students.
The visitors are asked to restate their role, affirm their commitment to the student's success, and offer encouragment and praise students for what they have/are accomplishing.
One of the things that we do on our campus to show school committment is conducting an awards ceremeony every 12 weeks which rewards those students with perfect attendance,high GPA's, and overall campus leadership through volunteerisim and work ethic within the classroom. These awards rewards student not only for thier academic and attendance performance, but it also rewards students who simply are good stewards of thier time through volunteering and working hard in the classroom. Those nominations are given by the instructors only.
As someone who has worked as part of a tutoring service in an online environment, I always had trouble getting students to use the service. Similarly, my onsite students are often reticent to get help when they need it--or they wait until it is too late. Is there some way that you present this option to students to help them make the most of these services?
Tara
