We hold a "Stitch In" meeting which takes all newly enrolled students and acclimate them to the school and its officers. This meeting sets all student expectations and gives the students an opportunity to solve all of thier financial aide and admissions questions. We then hold an orientation 2 weeks before class and go over most of that info again, and this time introduce the students to the academic team and expectations are given out by the Chairs.
What does this mean, Carl? How does it impact your job?
At our Institution, we strongly adhere to our student surveys.
At our campus, the program directors meet with students one-on-one every quarter. I think that this must be completed every quarter in order to improve retention.
We have our students take surveys midway through a course, and at the end of a course. This way we can continue to monitor and adjust to meet our students expectations.
Has this personal attention led to improved retention? Do your students recognize the special service they are receiving? If so, would they be willing to help in the recruitment process?
We deliver what we promised them when they were interviewed in Admissions. Our faculty is qualifu=ied, we give our students hands-on application of the copncepts they are learning, we make it a point to never turn a student away who has a question. for example, I may not know the answer, but i will walk them to the right person and stay with them as long as need be. In short, we show our students that we care about them and their success.
A mid-term survey is one way to provide the instructor with feedback about how they are connecting with the class. Hopefully, they receive information early enough that corrections can be made, if appropriate.
Do you use advisors at your school? If you do, scheduling mid-term meetings may be one way of doing a temperature check on each student and uncovering issues that are building.
Tough question. Unfortunately, not being connected to others within the system is one of the traits frequently found among students who withdraw.
Some peer mentor programs have been successful in connecting with students before they encounter problems that may threaten their enrollment. Using partners in labs or teams in classroom assignments may also serve to form connections and a support system.
The simple objective of meeting expectations is placed upon the instructors. I say this as an instructor. I feel that we must create a dialogue with each student to ensure they are learning the same information as they originally intended. When expectations seem to differ from the actual curriculum, we inform the admissions department of what should be communicated. The student services department is, of course, in place to help as a liason to the student in these circumstances,as are the student representatives. But, it seems these assets are usually overlooked by those students who withdrawal. How can we bridge that gap?
I completely understand what you mean. The student surveys at my institution are only done at the end of the program. The feedback we receive is always too late for that particular student. When a student withdrawals, paperwork is filed explaining why, but again; always too late for that student. I am still looking for better ways to weed out these students before its too late, but quite often, it seems the most quiet and inconspicuous students are the ones we lose.
In the Student Services department we contact the student body directly by calling them and ask "how they are progressing through the program?" This allows us to keep our finger on the pulse of the population. We have done so for 2 months (new process) and thus far have been successful at uncovering problems, issues, or concerns from the student body. In addition, we are able to find if the expectations the student had coming in to the college have or are being met.
In the past I took part of our new student orientations and they were coordinated to bring the new student and their family together for added support. During the orientation they would have an instructor speak about what to expect during their time in school and most of the staff would introduce themselves and what their positions were to help them while they were in school. It seemed to bring a very positive outlook while helping them to overcome those first day jitters! I now work for a satellite campus and our main campus takes care of the new student orientation and I've only heard positive feedback when our new students start at our campus.
It sounds like you're getting useful feedback from your students. Do you have higher participation rate than for the school survey? Do the students know that you value their responses?
This is the way surveys are supposed to work! Kudos to you and your institution for actually doing something with the data you gathered.
This should represent a real loyalty building opportunity with your students and be something that you can use with prospective students and graduates as well.
How well attended are your orientation sessions, Sally? Do you have a program for the parents and/or significant others?
Orientations are an opportunity to create real enthusiasm for what's ahead, but if the program dwells on reciting the rules it can have the opposite effect on the entering students.
Suzanne, I think this is a great idea. It has been my experience, that sometimes students do not really understand what they have committed themselves to in regards to time commitment and difficulty of program. What a great way to bridge the gap between signing students up and helping them complete their programs.
New Student Orienatation is a way of bringing new enrolled students together to go over all the information they learned of during their initial interview with their representative. This also gives the students a chance to ask any questions they may have forgotten to inquire about during the interview.
Yes, my survey is different from the school one. I use a ranking system of 1 to 5. I ask very specific questions about my lectures, about my availability to them and my teaching style in general. Each quarter, I have gotten some feedback about my lectures. So, I take that information and try to make some changes that I hope will be of benefit.
Our school has recently implemented a huge change in response to the surveys. We were seeing consistant comments in regards to the class time being too long, making it difficult for students to maintain a job, keep-up on school work and juggle family life. Starting in July, our program has changed to the effect of shorter class times and more options for students to take these classes.
