Enhancing Student Retention

Public

Ask a question from your peers to help you in your professional work. Seek different points of view on a topic that interests you. Start a thought-provoking conversation about a hot, current topic. Encourage your peers to join you in the discussion, and feel free to facilitate the discussion. As a community of educators, all members of the Career Ed Lounge are empowered to act as a discussion facilitator to help us all learn from each other.

tetteh Addy

Call your students by their names

Will knowing your students by thier names help build relationship between the instructor and the student?

Luiz Manzo

Expectations

Many students enter culinary school expecting to become great and famous chefs and TV personalities. However, most will not. Any ideas for how I can introduce this reality without discouraging the students?

John Raimondi

Motivation

I find it extremely important to try and keep the class motivated. Using different techniques with

various students keeps the involved and interested in the material.

John Raimondi

Cultural Diversity

It is important for the Insructor to make sure that the students understand what has been presented before moving on. Often times, I find that if i take a moment and look back on the material, it is clear that not all of the students understood. It is very important to make sure that any student who needs language help gets the needed help before the class progresses too far.

John Raimondi

Age Diveristy

I found this Module to be very useful. It is true that when teaching students of varying ages, the Instructor has to be

mindfull of the various differences in knowledge and life experiences of the students. Older students bring varied and

interesting information to the classroom. It is important for the instructor to make all of the students feel welcome and a

part of the classroom.

Christie Loiacono

Promoting Autonomy in the Developmental Classroom

Often, as an instructor in a developmental English course, I face the challenge of student ability verse student motivation. I find it perplexing in an 8 week course to inidividually get to know the abilities of each of my students, what motivates them, and how to incorporate that in daily lesson plans and activities. After reviewing this course, I am going to actively, with vigor, incorporate activities and lessons that promote student autonomy. This motivational key would work well with the students in my classroom. Working in a secure classroom is something that developmental students need to feel. I always make sure to include student feedback and concern in my daily lesson planning. But, what I would like to do is work on instrinsic and extrinsic motivations, rewards, and decision making that incorporates student input. Allowing them to make a decision on due dates and allowing them to choose topics in writing assignments will help to promote that. It is something I am going to actively pursue in including within my classroom.

Linda Gibson

Laugage barriers with foreign adult students

Having a student from another country that speaks only her language at home. But speaks broken English while at school. At first it was difficult trying to understanding each other. Finally, I got it meaning go with what the she words she using relating to mines. For instance, her word for guideline is layers. After that she's a great haircutter and everything fell in place.

Allison Forbes

Losing Student Interest

I have found student interest in a class can vary depend on the subject that is being taught. Some information is harder to engage students than others. When the energy level goes down in the class, I have them take a break. I then have us talk as a group as to why the information is important and how it relates to the "real" world. Asking students to write down what the find interesting and confusing about the topic is important as well.

Peter Tam

Who are the key players in keeping students enrolled throughout their

The key players are the instructors. The instructors that the students interact with on a daily basis drive the motivation and enthusiasm of the student. Without motivation and enthusiasm students will not have the passion to come back to class or more importantly have the will to graduate. The other key players are the support staff. Everyone else involved in day to day interactions with the students play a role in student success. A positive environment breeds success.

Lisa Bolton

Security/Autonomy and Intrinsic/Extrinsic

This has made be think about being more aware of all 4 of these things in my classes. I do feel that I include some of these things but some need more thought put in to them. Making sure of the non-threatening environment will be one thing to work on. To give more short quizzes may also be something new for me to add. I also need to incorporate more extra-curricular activities in some classes.

Sherri Missimer CHEP

Students choosing assignments and assignment due dates

Depending on the course, I will conduct a business meeting with the students and allow them to input their ideas and concerns regarding the major assignments. Moreover, we pick due dates together as this allows the students to feel secure in their assignments. The goal is to reduce the stress and anxiety of the assignment; thereby, increasing the outcome which is learning!

Sherry Erney

Ummmm

I attended a training session on engaged learning quite a few years ago. We were assigned a task of creating a 15 minute engaged learning activity. The facilitator noted how many times during the presentation the "students" used the words um. It was amazing to me to see how many times we as presenters use this filler word. I started using this tool as part of my classroom observations and the faculty was well was surprised to see how many times they used this phrase and how it can impact their delivery.

Gail Zavala

Rewards

Rewards are a great way to get students involved but if you supply to many rewards it will no longer be successful. Using way of teaching that are internal to the learner is the most effective way of teaching.

Sherry Erney

Instructor Burnout

Instructor burnout can easily occur, but also can be easily prevented. One piece of advice I would offer, would be to continuously look for new ways to deliver the same material. The best part of this process is you can more often than not, turn to your fellow instructors who have a different teaching approach. I have also found that implementing a variety of teaching methods and mixing things up can help prevent burnout.

Sherry Erney

Student Retention

Student retention starts with the instructor. The simple act of taking the time on Day 1 to learn about your students can make a significant impact on a student's completion of their program. It is also important to understand that many of our student's lack outside support to be successful, so that is where we as the educational leaders, can step in and offer the support and motivation to complete.

Sherry Erney

Prior Knowledge

Students with Prior Knowledge can be both beneficial and hazardous to your classroom. Students with prior knowledge can be helpful to classmates who may be struggling and to the instructor as a go to source. however, they can also easily become a disruption to the class as they try to hard to impart their experiences. In cases such as this, I would assign this student to be the "observer" as noted in earlier trainings.

JASON LIBBY

Learning/study techniques

It might sound a little silly but I use repetition through cheering/singing different material in a specific order for remembering different components of the topic matter. It works great! I have had many students come back to me thanking me for it.

Corey Gaddis

Self doubt

I usually teach an Introduction to Automotive Technology class. The first day is usually kind of mixed with students that think they know everything already and students that have the look of "what did I get myself into" on their face. I am usually very thorough in my explanation and give longer then normal breaks so that the unsure students will ask questions. If they don't, then I still try and joke around with them to get the to feel more comfortable and eventually ask questions. It has seemed to help thus far and the self doubters usually end up being my best students in the end.

James Giardina

focus

easy to lose

James Giardina

older students

Need different teaching

Related Learning Opportunities

ED102 - Student Retention Methods

ED112 - Influencing Student Motivation

ED144 - Student Empowerment for Learning Success

ED209 - Students as Customers

ED406 - Motivating Others

ED409 - Gamification in the Classroom

ED410 - Increasing Student Retention by Flipping the Classroom