I my opinion the teachers are a direct player in keeping students in the program. The classroom settling has to provide the studnet with the proper knowledge, relavant information, and a safe environment. All others in the school such as financial aid and other educators or departments are just as important in making sure the studnets needs and ideas are addressed.
Hi Sebastian,
I agree! It is everyone's responsiblity to monitor retention. Some situations are beyond our contol as mentioned in the response. It takes the hard work of everyone to work retention.
Patricia Scales
Student Retention! Some say is the INSTRUCTOR responsibility and only the the Instructor's and others consider is all departments' responsibility when it comes to retention. I would say is everybody's responsibility when it comes to students' retention.
To the people who consider is only the Instructor's reponsibility and an Instructor should be evaluated only based on his students' retention is completely wrong and this practice of evaluating an Instructor based on his retention percentage by the management of a school should stop.
What about students who drop out due to child care issues, or financial hardship ( the need to earn an income while in school), health problems , or the student's family moving out of state,and I could come up with a long list of examples why an adult lerner would have to drop out school. I am not saying that the Instructor and all the other departments in a school don't have an important role in increasing the retention,but there's many circumstances when we can not control the retention,and these situations should be taken in consideration when an Instructor is evaluated by the School Management.
Everyone from the school president, to admissions, to career counselors, to staff, to instructors and students. People decide to go to school for a lot of reasons, and sometimes the student has not thought it through. For example, where I teach, we have "dysfunctional" students who come from abusive lower socio-economic homes with most being single parents, enduring drive-by shootings, abusive relationships and so on, so their focus is not where it should be. We ascribe to policies and procedures to be followed and so when they are called out on those, they develop attitude. It boils down to setting a goal and doing what is necessary to accomplish it. That is why I tell my personal story of being a single parent, going to nursing school and maintaining the grades I did - to meet my goal.
Hi Mary,
Retention is certainly a joint effort! We have to get everyone involved to ensure that we do our due diligience to retain students. Retention is something we have to work at daily.
Patricia Scales
Hi Rebecca,
You are right! It certainly takes everyone to help with the daily battle of retention, but the brunt of retention truly falls on the instructor. As instructors, we have to sell them on coming backing the next day.
Patricia Scales
Hi Jamie,
You are on point! Retention is a constant battle, and it really does take total effort from everyone.
Patricia Scales
Your correct Cheryl, It starts with addmissions, finacil aide and ending with instructors. All of us have personal incounters with the students on a daily basis. Sometime is is nothing more than acknowledging the fact that you care about them that could make the difference.
I agree with your answere; some students don't have a role model and having no one show or expain to you the importance of attendance or completing a task that will end in a possitive out-come can play heavily on the instructors need
for personal guidance.
Student retention is an on going subject that has several answers; Student retention is a collective effort involving the staff and the student. Everyone plays a part and accountability is key on both sides. Instructors and staff play role modles for students and mentors as well. The student has a responsibility also in maintaining his/her attendance as well. This subject could continue to be on going with several answeres from all parties involved.
It takes a village and sometimes a major city to keep students from dropping. But retention always falls back on the instructor. Instructors must continually reach out to the student thru phone messages emails etc. and be available to them for make-up work or tutoring. I could go on and on, but that is the bottom line. We must keep them motivated and excited about their new endeavor.
My thoughts on Student Retention.
ED209
Facilitator: Patricia Scales
By Randall Aungst
12/7/2012
Who are the key players in keeping students enrolled throughout their programs?
Having gone back to school at a late age myself I have a first-hand experience with the trials and tribulations of the adult college student. When I first began as an instructor I was hired to teach a class designed to orient new students to coming back to school. There were, in my view, three issues that were important to integrating a successful school experience into the life of an adult learner. First there must be an exploration of them. Second there must be an understanding of their destination. Third there must be an understanding of the campus. Each of these issues has many facets. The following is how these issues contribute to the topic of retention and what players are involved.
The first and most important player on the field is the student. As such it is prudent to begin with an exploration of them. This exploration is not done by the institution, the instructor, the administration or advising this must be done by the student. Accompanying any player in any sport on the journey to a successful playing career is a proactive, attentive and creative coach. The coach in this case would be the instructor. According to my definition of an instructor, an instructor is a guide. A guide, by the nature of the role, is someone that has not only been there before but is intimately familiar with the terrain. As a first step the guide must address the preconceived notions that all adult learners come in with. The first step to this is to ensure that they realize that they are not alone. The instructor and their fellow students are on this journey with them. Then point out that adult learners make up roughly 75% of the individuals enrolled in college. This takes care of one of the most common preconceived notions, that they are unusual. Second the guide must illustrate to them that IQ, how long it’s been since the last time they were in school and how they did the last time they were in school have nothing to do with being successful in school. Success depends on focus and determination. This deals with the second most common issues. Finally the guide is ready to begin leading them through their self-discovery. In a previous post I discussed the SWOT analysis; this is part of their self-discovery journey. The other part is learning about adult learners and learning styles. Between these two exercises the adult learner can begin to learn how to study effectively for them. This process continues throughout the course I taught.
The second issue is understanding their destination. To begin this it is important that the student have a clear understanding of where they are now and why. It is not enough to say I am here for a degree the student must be clear as to the pressure that drove them to return to school in the first place. That is usually something very personal to them. Once that pressure is understood it is time to understand where they are going. To achieve this they are guided through proper goal setting techniques to ensure proper and timely goals. This process was also illustrated in a previous post. Some of the most important aspects of this activity is identifying the action steps required to achieve the short term goals, the obstacles in the way of achieving those action steps and some solutions to overcome the identified obstacles. At this point in time the student is beginning to understand who they are, how they learn, why they are here and where they are going. The other thing that is brought out when talking about their destination is an introduction to another player in their game, their power structure. Their power structure consists of their family, friends, colleagues and institution assets such as instructors, fellow students, advisers and administration. These players must be made part of the process as they are there to offer support when needed. All too often these players are left out of the process causing them to inadvertently create more obstacles for the student to overcome.
Finally it is important for the student to understand the campus. There are several issues surrounding the campus, be it virtual or brick and mortar. The first issue is one of technology. In either setting there is technology involved and the various technologies must be explored and learned for proper navigation through this journey. The second issue is one of structure and processes. As mentioned before faculty, staff, administration and advisers are all there to offer support and guidance to the student. Also mentioned before is the fact that all too often these players are not utilized by the student to their full potential and in some cases that leads to a counterproductive, obstacle creating outcome. The lack of effective utilization has to do directly with the student’s knowledge of the organizational structure and processes that make up the framework by which these players operate. The final issue regarding the campus is one of academics. As adult learners, by and large, have been away from an academic environment for a period of time they must bring their academic muscles up to speed in the form of writing, test taking and communication. These academic muscles are toned through the various tasks throughout the course with topics covering the aforementioned issues of technologies, campus structure, time management, goal setting and self-analysis.
In the end the players that contribute to retention include the student, faculty, the student’s family and friends, the administration, staff and advisers. All of these players will either assist or hinder the student’s ability to be successful and remain in school. The student is however their own biggest asset and obstacle with the instructor running a distant second.
Just food for thought.
Randall Aungst, MBA
I always encourage my students to come to class. I also find that being spontaneous and unpredictable with my lessons makes them look forward to class. I try to incorporate some fun activities into otherwise "boring" subject matter. Students tend to show up for class because they never know what they might miss.
While I agree that retention is a team effort, I believe that the team is only as strong as it's weakest player. All departments must work together to ensure the success of the student.
If the education process were an assembly line, each department is responsible for a different aspect of the assembly. Instructors are on the front line with students everyday. We should be able to communicate with them effectively and pick up on the signs of struggle early on. If there is a problem, I want to address it ASAP so it can be resolved and the student can then focus on their studies. Students are the product that we, as instructors put out. A distracted student is going to lead to a faulty product.
Career Services is, metaphorically, the "Sales Department". It is important for them to communicate well, not only with students, but with potential employers. I welcome questions from the Career Services reps. about my students and their strengths / weaknesses. I find that it helps them connect students with appropriate employers.
Bottom line, in every aspect comunication is KEY!
I believe the most important player is the student. We are here as instructors and administrators to provide a source for the student. We are a source of knowledge, motivation, accessibility, information, products, materials, forums, and encouragement and correction for the student. We all play key roles and should work as a team but I beieve the student holds the primary responsibility.
Hi Clive,
Rapport building with students is very important. I agree some students do not have role models at home they can look up to. We have to be everything to and for our students.
Patricia Scales
Some students do not have a person in their life that can keep them motivated and education can be a strain.The instructor must not only just be the teacher, but all of the following a coach, mentor, friend and tutor. It takes a lot of work, but when the student and instructor makes that dynamic connection, the student is successful.
Instructors are key to retention because they have the most interaction with the students and are with them most of the time the students are in school. Advisors are also key because they have vital connections to the problems and issues that the students need to deal with.
Hi Mark,
I concur! The institution at large is solely responsible for student retention.
Patricia Scales
The entire campus has a responsibilty to retention. As instructors we may be able to identify an issue a student is having and offer a solution. Since we have a day to day contact with the students.
