Attrition
Interacting regularly with studdents helps me to be aware of areas that they need help in.
Our school is a business. Not that they don't care about their students...they do. After admission, it's the education dept that primarily takes over. Sometimes it's hard for the advisor to understand the difficulties of school, homework and balancing homelife. The instructors are not traditional teachers, they are from the field of their choice. Sometimes it takes someone from the field and explain HOW to balance everything. The students seem to relate to that well.....mentoring! Great tool!
Sounds like a good idea. How does this compare to serving as an advisor? Are the students already in the same section? If not, how do you manage to schedule group meetings?
Besides interaction, my supervisor had a great idea. She assigned each instructor to a group of students. We acted as "the go to" person should the student have an issues or concerns. We actually had miniture meetings or group meetings and mentored these students. We talked about all sorts of issues such as balancing school and home life as well as school and work life, stress, personal problems and everything inbetween. It showed the students that we DO care what happens to them and are there to guide the student in the direction they need.
