Hi Nadine,
Stick with your rules to be fair to everyone.
Patricia Scales
I agree with you 100%, but it is also very hard to try to be flexible and help the student out. Because we have to floow such strikt guide lines wer can not bent any rules, ther is no excused absents. Therefore if we know the student is in trouble how we are going to help them when we really cant.
Hi Kevin,
Students want to know how they are going to benefit. If we share the benefits, they are more likely to buy in to the course.
Patricia Scales
I try to keep my students thinking about their future and how this project we are working on will benefit them once they enter the field. Students seem to be motiveated by relevancy. If they feel what they are learning can benefit them they usually pay attention.
Hi Joseph,
Everyone is involved in retention. It takes a village to work retention.
Patricia Scales
The instructors, the faculty, and the students themselves are involved in keeping the students enrolled in post secondary education.
Hi Fredrik,
You are on point! The moment you notice a change in students, you should talk to them so that you can help them as early as possible to try to get back on track. Life happens, and some students really need us.
Patricia Scales
I belive that we as instructors play a major roll.
We can sense if a student is having a problem. We can see if their mood or studies change and talk to them or send them to another department for help.
Hi Allen,
You are right, our students make mountains out of mole holes. They simply do not know how to go about solving problems. We have to help teach them how to solve problems. They want to make little things into big things.
Patricia Scales
As an instructor, i am continually watching students for changes in behavior because sometimes helping them to be successful means mentoring them during troubled times . Sometimes being able to get them to open up about a problem can save it from snowballing out of control eventually leading them into failure in school. Most times simple problems , simple fixes.....
Hi Darren,
You are right! It takes team work to make retention work. None of us is as good as all of us...TEAM WORK!!
Patricia Scales
the entire business is responsible for it, depends on students needs, if you dont work as a team it is hard to help anyone.
Hi Karen,
Wow, I love how your instructors interact with your students outside of class time. What a great way to bond with students.
Patricia Scales
Every member of the school community has a role. The President down to the purchasing dept. Interaction is essential.
The instructors are key and must be approachable and available before and/or after classes.
What makes a huge difference on our campus is the activites with instructors that take place out of the classroom. Examples: Ronald McDonald House, the local food bank, field trips to local markets on weekends, culinary clubs. This helps the students know their and other instructors on an alternative basis.
Hi Brent BK,
You are definitely on point! Our Career Services gets involved early with the students, starting with the second week so that they can know what career opportunities are available if they graduate. Our Career Services meet with our students three times, at the beginning, in the middle, and the end of their education. Great retention tool!
Patricia Scales
There are three (3) key groups of players: #1 is Admissions, the front end of the house, begins the process to enroll students and encourages attendance on Day 1. However, from Day 1 until graduation, the #2 key player in keeping students enrolled throughout their programs is Academics. That includes, Academic Advising, Instructors, and the Registrar. The folks in academics are tasked with providing an education to students and ultimately are accountable to lead students to graduation. Finally, #3 is Career Services. Meeting with students before graduation to assess internships and/or placement preparation.
Hi Chrissy,
Quality across the board certainly promotes better retention. Students know quality when they see it, feel it, hear it, and touch it. Students will stick around if quality is great.
Patricia Scales
I agree with others here in the everyone plays a part. If students are customers, then thinking about this from a buisness model, every aspect of their interaction with the school will affect their desire to stay. The product (education) has to meet their needs and their interactions with all staff will influence whether or not they find value in being a student.
With that being said, the reseach I have done on retention points to the fact that rather than having a bunch of different retention strategies, the retention efforts should be focused around finding areas to improve quality (whether that be the education itself, resources for students, or interactions with students). As the quality of the experience improves, higher retention should be a natural outcome.
Hi Jeff,
Based on the difficulty level of your subject I understand how hard it is to retain students. You may want to try offering review/tutoring sessions, give study guides, review material before a test in the form of a game. Continue to do all you can so that students are successful in the course, yet they know the material. There are some courses that are just difficult. You may want to even use guided notes.
Patricia Scales
I agree that the responsibility of retention falls on the shoulders of all that come in contact with the customers. As an instructor, I feel that I am under constant pressure to ensure students overall success. I deal with very technical material which some students find difficult if not frustrating to learn and master. This leads to a very complicated situation with retention in my classes. What advice do you have for an instructor who has the "most difficult" material to teach in a program.
