Jessica,
Good point about helping students to make applications of the course content into their personal lives. The more applications they can make the more value they see in the course content. This is a win win situation for the students and the instructor.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
An instructor can increase student retention by encorporating real life, personal experiences into their lectures and demonstrations. Students whom might not quite understand the material in the lecture might get a better grasp when an example is given that they can relate to another aspect of their life. Another way is having that personal touch by acknowledging every student by name. Another way is the instructor or TA takes the time to call a student if they have been absent. The students often feel they have a personal obligation to come to class so as not to disappoint their instructor.
Martha,
Letting them know you have been where they are is important. This shows them that you do understand their struggles to be students and manage a life outside of school. This helps them respect you for the effort you are making to support their success in class.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I stressed to them that they should never feel alone. I tell them how I felt the first day I started. How I felt in the middle. What a great feeling it was in the end. Finally with the look at me now I am here doing what I wanted to do. I let them know they probably will all have ups and downs. Supporting each other will help and they will become life long friends in the end.
Kanidrus,
Right you about. If they see the value of the course and are excited about coming to it they are going to be engaged. When they are engaged learning is occurring and everyone is benefiting.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I try to engage students in activities that are exciting and has meaning. Student tend to remember assignments that are exciting.
Kanidrus
Ghaleb,
Thank you for sharing these student retention strategies. You last sentence really captures how we develop rapport with our students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
•Create a structured classroom.
•Display classroom rules.
•Post the daily schedule incorporating color.
•Provide opportunities for purposeful movement.
•Develop classroom cues for settling down to work, getting out materials, and quieting down
Respect and develop rapport with students.
Show them that you care.
Nicole,
True. Instructors need to bring passion for their field and enthusiasm for teaching it. When both are present then it is a win win for everyone.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I agree - if an instructor isn't excited about what they're teaching how can students stay engaged and be interested in what is being taught.
Marvin,
Thank you for sharing your success with us. Teacher passion and enthusiasm really helps to "sell" a class to the students. You are seeing evidence of your passion and enthusiasm through the increased attendance and test scores. Keep up the good work!
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I have natural enthusiasm for the topic of study that I teach, but in my situation (adult learners in a night class)I have had to try several different approches and some have worked for some classes and failed on others. But here lately I have been changing my lecture so that I dont get bored with it and this has really seemed to trickle down to my students. If its fresh and exciting to me then I guess that its fresh and exciting to them. My attendance is way up as well as my test scores.
Jay,
The key is making the course valuable to the students. This is why they need to understand how the content of the course will help them to move toward their career goals.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I believe that an instructor needs to make the class more like hanging out than going to class. I don't mean become buddy buddy with the student, but to make the class rewarding to come to.
Gretchen,
You make a number of good points about what the role of the college should be and is being asked to be. As adults our students subjected to different levels of support than younger students in middle school. They need to understand we will try to help and support them but it is up to them to put forth the needed effort to be successful.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Karen,
You have a good plan set forth to retain students in your program. It is as you have said once the students get behind in attendance and homework they are more likely to drop out. They feel that they never can catch up and be successful in the course. We need to strive to keep the engaged and not let them slip behind to the point they give up. That is easier said than done based upon my own experience in working with high risk learners.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
James,
Great to hear of the value you are getting from this course and how you and your fellow faculty members are using the content to expand and refine your instructional abilities. Keep up the good work.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I try to mix up the methods of teaching with videos relevant to the subject matter, using some of my professional experiences in the lecture as well as my students, using scenarios for the students to work on in group sessions, etc. But most importantly, my students know that if they have a problem they can come to me and I will try to find the right resources for them.
One of the biggest problems I see in the classroom is not the course work but their personal lives. Financial, single parents, caring for aging parents, psychological issues, and inability to cope. Colleges and universities are returning to Loco Parenti because the students look to the faculty, staff and administration to address all their issues. Unfortunately, IHE are no longer held to Loco Parenti and the Board of Trustees, Regents or other governance will have to define and develop stronger boundaries and policies or provide more resources to address this problem.
Our program is almost two years long. In that amount of time, many of our students encounter problems other than accademics that cause them to drop out of the program. During our students' orientation, before they start the program, we ask them to have back-up plans for transportation and child care; these are two common problems. We also tell our students to plan on spending one hour outside of class for each hour in class, to devote to reading and studying. We point out that this leaves very little time for things such as a job. We discourage our students from working full-time, unless it is in the field for which they are training.
We also stess the importance of doing homework. Students who are dropped from the program due to poor grades are usually the ones who have missing and/or incomplete homework assignments. Although the homework itself is worth a small portion of the course grade, doing the homework helpd reinforce the knowledge.
Of course, we have to strive to make the classroom and laboratory settings fun, as well as educational. I plan in-class activities that break up the monotomy of lecture, and encourage student interaction and manipulation of new material.
In a recent faculty meeting, we discussed how big of a role our instructors play in the success of our students. We identified that the first step in improving retention is admitting that retention needs improvement. Secondly we identified that the instructors need to look at how they are entering the office that they share. Are personal issues and attitudes having an effect on the team? How easy is it to carry that energy into a class full of students whose fault is isn't that you had a fight with your significant other, or are you having a neffect on how another instructor enters their classroom. This course has given me great insight for conversations with my team, and how to make positive changes to effect the outcomes that they so desperately desire.
