Gordon,
These are tried and tru methods that usuall work. What are some ways that your team inspires students to participate in co-curricular activities like tutoring? Many career colleges struggle to get students, especially evening students, to avail themselves of tutoring and other "out-of-class" services.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Our institution is very big on tutoring.
We awards for attendence and non-tariness.
We call students immediately if they are absent.
We have student appreciation lunches and desserts.
Teresa,
These are tried and true practices of successful career schools. Thanks for the reminder.
Jeffrey Schillinger
We offer a wide variety of services and recognition to students to showcase our attention. Awards for academic achievement, perfect attendance, first module and midpoint program completion. We also offer services for students that may be dealing with difficulties outside of the campus to support and encourage them to persevere and stay motivated to succeed.
Terri,
Sometimes colleges lose students during breaks. One good practice is I have seen is to have the next term faculty members send a note or call students during finals week or break week. This is an effective extension of what you described as part of a "no show" program for new starts.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Beth,
Lots of teachers call their students with varying degrees of success. The difference is the attitude the teacher brings to the call.
Jeffrey Schillinger
We start retention before the student starts school with a couple of events that get the enrolled students to meet their classmates and answer any questions they might have. these are run by different faculty or staff and allow for more personalized attention by the time the first day of school comes around. we also do emails after missed classes, phonecalls after missing more than once, and recognition at graduation for grades and attendance.
there is always more to be done, and i look forward to picking up more best practices here.
As a campus, we try to make the students feel like they are a priority. Students who feel important or that someone cares tend to work harder and less inclined to leave the program.
We call them if there is any absence and speak to each student, but I like the idea of finding out one important thing about each student.
Esperanza,
The most effective retention tool is compelling instruction. Lot's of research indicates lecture is not as effective as active learning activities.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Our school has renewed our campaign for improved student retention. They expect the instructors to be fully on board with owning the topic and making it interesting for the students, so that their attention is captured and retained and that they will want to keep on coming back to the class to learn more.I make sure that I make eye contact with the students when I am lecturing and I give each student a chance to ask and/ or answer questions. I also ask them frequently to contribute to the learning process by including them in the discussion.I make sure there is at least one opportunity for small group discussions during the class to break up the monotomy of just pure lecture all the time.
Latika,
Well saud. Thank you for sharing this.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I make sure so individualize each student, to interact with each one based on the students personality. This way, I will know how to approach a student in the best regarding the situation. It is very important to learn and understand each student as an individual. This way you are in position to prevent a student from dropping their course.
Cherie,
This is a good example of the type of attention the author of the course is referencing. Thank you for sharing.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Our students are assigned a faculty advisor that meets with the student every 2-3 weeks within their program of study. These advisement sessions serve multiple purposes; students are kept current of their academic progress in each of their courses, any concerns are tabled and addressed in a respectful, caring manner, and goals are discussed. Most importantly is that encouragement and a genuine sense of caring is delivered.
Mark,
Thanks for this post. What are the most common "student needs" you address each day?
Jeffrey Schillinger
We consistently set aside time on a daily basis to identify any students who may need special time set aside that day.
Shana,
These are great ideas. Thanks for sharing them.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Our school does a combination of "attention = retention strageties" to connect with our students. For example, the program director calls each student a day before orientation to answer any questions from the students. Next during orientation the student is introduced and given a picture of key personnel on campus that the student will interact with while on campus. Also, the program directors daily visits the classroom during the first week to answer any student or instructor questions. After the first week the program director continue to visits the classroom to assist any student with questions. Program DIrectors also call the student 3 days after the first day of school to address any concerns and call within 6 hours if the student misses class. We have an involved student center department. If the student is absent more than a day,not only does the thee instructor calls, but the program director, student services and possibley the Dean calls the student. We are concerned.
We respond to their feedback from student surveys through classroom visits by the DOE to respond directly and we have a "You Asked We Listened" board in the student lounge that shows what we have implemented based on survey feedback. If there are items that we could not implement we also expain why.
Addtionally, we try never to pass a student in the hallway without saying hi and asking how things are going.
