Students that are at the right school but dont want to be there
At my school we run into the problem that a student is in the right place for what he wants to become in life, but after a while (mainly when the program becomes difficult) they tend to loose interest, we try to encourage the student and remind him of why he is there. These are normally talks with the student.
Does anyone have more suggestions on how to reach a student and not have to repeat the conversion?
I started learning from this experience right away. I noticed how it made me feel to have Instructors that did not seem to care, and quickly decided that this was not the way I wanted students to perceive me.
It must have been an interesting experience to have the roles reversed and be the one sitting in the student seat. How will you use this experience to improve your classroom technique?
I agree with your comments. I recently finished a program with the University of Phoenix while working my regular full time job. I know that my experience taught me that not all Instructors are great at their jobs, and that it takes alot of work to finish a class with a heavy load and busy work schedule to go along with it. I think that sharing experiences like this with students helps them understand; that it is not just them, but all of us struggle with these things. I do think that it is how we overcome the struggle that makes the difference.
Great summary, Brenda. Please spread the word.
First of all, I believe we have to keep our lessons intersting and exciting. We also need to keep making a connection to the lessons they are learning to what career they are trying to achieve.
We have to remind the students about setting priorities in their lives. I find that a lot of my students are lacking in class because they are working full-time jobs, have a family, and a lot of activities in their lives. They are constantly unprepared in class and not doing their homework. We have to constantly let them know that if they want to succeed, they have to put aside some amount of time to prepare, study, practice, etc. If they do not, they will continue to get frustrated.
Once we do see that a student seems to be disinterested or lagging behind, we need to meet with the student, as was done in your case, and find out the problem and sincerely try to offer suggestions. After we have talked, we have to monitor the situation. We have to see if the student's grades get better, if their attendance gets better, if their attitude gets better, etc.
If not, we need to follow up on some solutions that were discussed.
Success stories can be very compelling and motivational. Are your examples from within the school/community or do you draw on famous national examples, Ryan?
Do you have any of the "success stories" come to the class to share their story personally?
I think sometimes a student needs to be reminded of why they are where they are and where they can possibly go. I like to talk to my students about some sucess stories of people in their field. It really helps to keep them motivated and on track.
Tell us more about the pep rally, Kristin. Have you done this yourself? Who is involved? How do you determine when to have this event? How do you measure its impact?
A pep talk for the entire class on reasons why they are at the school. Remind them everyone hits a wall but to push through til the end.
What can you do to help students achieve the balance that you refer to? How and who should be involved in helping lead and shape the students' vision of the future?
Often I find that students want to be at school, they know they are at the right school, but they do not know how to balance life/ home and school to be able to get to school. Leading and guiding the vision of keeping the end in mind (the new career) may help get them to school everyday.
Martha
Great effort, Aaron. What sort of things have you found out by making these close connections? Have you made any changes to the way you do business as a result? Have retention rates improved?
We let our graduates take a lead. Our Career Services Department schedules at least one graduate guest speaker and one employer guest speaker for each progam offered every quarter. This keeps the light at the end of the tunnel visible to current students.
All my managers including myself are required to conduct classroom visits every week and we are always out in the student break areas when the students are on break. You have to take the time to really get to know your students and know what is going on with your students. There is a reason why they are losing interest you just need to find out why.
Thank you very much for your ideas. I really like the idea of using recent grads to help with current grad interviewing, especially from a student who is completing the same program! I feel as though it would really give authenticity to the suggestions that we're giving our students to use in their interviews. In addition, it would appear to be the most up-to-date!
Sara, I'm disappointed that other participants haven't responded to your request but let me offer a few ideas.
Job interviews are always a concern for students. You might consider having graduates do simulated interviews to prepare those who are about to graduate. Another variation: have last semester students interview the students in the group immediately behind them. This will require the 'interviewer' to consider the types of questions that are asked in an interview.
To encourage students to read the help wanted section, placement could place a 'blind box' ad for a fictitious job. Provide a reward to the first student to respond.
Give students an assessment that helps them understand different communication styles [Myers-Briggs, Paragon Learning Style, DISC, etc] Do a workshop that shows them how to 'get on the same wave length' as strangers.
I hope this will trigger some conversation for your and your colleagues.
10 workshops! What topics do you cover? Are these workshops disbursed over the entire program or concentrated at the beginning and end?
I work at a career college and I like the idea of monthly classroom workshops/activities. What are some of the things that you do with students to keep them interested? We have a few activities that occur, but I feel as though they're losing they're oomph! Fresh ideas to share with our career services department could be very beneficial in sparking the student's interest a little bit more.
At our campus of 500 students, we have a placement director and three representatives - I'm not sure how that stacks up in comparison to other schools. The entire department is trained to deliver workshops and shares the responsibility for doing them.
I do not have any hard data on the effectiveness of placement being in the classroom, as a former placement director, I feel that it does have a very positive impact on placement rates.
The current program of 10 workshops was field-tested in several of our company's schools and found to be very successful.
Now that's a proactive placement department! It would seem that you must have more people working in that department than is typical. Are these workshops/activities delivered by all the members of the department or do you have someone who specializes in this? Have you been able to measure the impact on retention and/or placement rates?
