We have a student senate, with members elected by students, who bring concerns to administration. We also have student surveys every term. I ask my students what their goals are at the beginning of each term.
The student advisor serves a big role in making sure that student expectations are met and that the students are satisfied. The advisor gives the students someone to talk to when they have questions about their courses, or issues at home. The advisor can work as a liason between faculty and students to help bridge that gap and to show the students that the whole university is committed to working together for their success.
As an instructor on the front-lines, I find a primary focus of my job to be making sure students' expectations are being met.... I try to talk to students frequently about their goals for the course, and to revisit those goals during the short five week session to make sure we are making progress. When students show dissatisfaction (by not submitting work, for example), we are trained to send friendly emails reminding them of their coursework, and usually asking if there are any extenuating circumstances we should be made aware of. It helps the students feel that they have someone on their side, and responses to those emails are always favorable ('thank you for caring!')
We are all responsible for responding to student inquiries within 48 hours, and all faculty seem to make it a priority to respond much more quickly than that. We aim to be there for the students pretty much around the clock! Students get so used to the fast response time, the few times it has taken me close to the 48 hours they have let me know it....
As a faculty, I am provided with the necessary tools to ensure that my student expectations are met. From the onset, I am provided with a task list that the students must follow. The task list will pretty much identify the objectives of the course and provides the students are I with a road map to success. Several tools are provided including, live chats, discussion boards, notes, lectures..etc.
The combination of all of these tools contribute to the student's success and most importantly to the objective of meeting their expectations.
Tarik
I'm not sure why but how do you propose to dramatically improve students' grades and knowledge?
What's the procedure to enhance the Orientation course? Is that something you can do or does it require a formal adoption process?
What makes you think that ensuring a greater level of understanding and application of the topics will change the student's focus from their gpa/course grade?
Once the students grades & knowledge have dramatically improved, the retention rate will dynamically improve as well...
Our institution first provides an Orientation course to the students so they will be familiar with the Virtual Classroom environment & the Virtual Portal features.
In my opinion, the Oreintation course could use a great deal of improvement such as interactive tests that require them to identify crucial parts of the Virtual Classroom environment, as well as identifying the tools available to them on the Virtual Portal (ie., library).
Once a student is actually familar with this Virtual environment and all of the available tools, their success rate in each class will be dramtically improved.
I remind my students in my Announcements & in the Live Chat sessions that the use of the Course Materials, Live Chat Archives, Ebook, and Instructor Files will greatly improve their understanding of the material while also improving their success in each course.
By ensuring a greater level of understanding & application of the topics covered in the course, the student will leave the course feeling able to use the information in a real-world environment.
This will also change the focus of the student's from thier gpa or course grade to the actual content being delivered. Then, it should become apparent to the students, that once they know the material, their grades will not be an issue.
This will also ensure that the student's expectations have been met to their satisfaction as they see their grades & knowledge have greatly improved.
How does this impact retention?
We normally have students fill out an evaluation of their clinical sites and and review any imput regarding their site.
At the moment I am teaching my first 'probationary' class, so I have no specific support responsibilities. Eventually I hope to have enough of a role with the school that I will be able to advise students. That was a big part of my last job, and one of the most rewarding aspects. The new school has an impressive network of support services, it's just difficult to learn it all since it is online and I don't have anyone to talk with in real time.
I am fairly new to the faculty at this institution so I am still in the process of learning and understanding the methods used to assure the students expectations are being met to there satisfaction. However I would like to share my thoughts on this topic as I understand it. I believe that this process must start with the student's instructor having an "open door policy". This should facilitate a good open line of communication in which the instructor can filter the issues which may be affecting the student's expectations and satisfaction. I can relate to the "one bad apple" who has taken all the time and focus from the instructor and has left the rest of the class at a loss. The "chain of command" as I understand it for these situations is to let the director of student services become involved. At this point the campus director may get involved and if necessary the regional director may also be involved. A contract may be created between the student and the faculty to resolve the issue. This will give the rest of the students in the class the time and focus of there instructor back to them which should increase the satisfaction level.
Does the admissions adviser build any sort of profile for you to work with when advising your online students? Do you use any personality/temperament assessments during the admissions process that would give you some insight into how best to communicate with your students?
Are you responsible for delivering support services or do you refer your online students to other resources? If so, do the referrals go to another person or to a virtual reference source?
I am the Team Leader for an Online Student Services department, and this is an issue that we face regularly. While the Admissions Department is certainly educated on our programs, they are not expected to be the "experts" as the Student Services Department is. This can lead to things being explained less than fully - and we all know that students can sometimes hear only the information they want to hear. They then come to us with "my admissions advisor told me..." We work very closely with the Admissions team to determine what was really said, and what was only "heard" by the student.
I know that we would love to reach out to all students within the first term of their program, but the size of our student body makes this prohibitive. For the institutions that are able to do this, I would be curious to know what your student to advisor ratio is.
My current institution seems to be very good at keeping students in the loop. From their very first login to the web site there is immediate live support and information available. The faculty training was very focused on meeting student expectations. We were given very specific instructions on how to respond to student questions and to grade their work is such a way that they are constantly being encouraged and receiving detailed, positive feedback.
I just started at this institution and it is a radically different environment from my last job. That campus has very little meaningful interaction between students, faculty, and administration. I saw many students who were very quickly alienated and expressed to me that they were not getting anywhere near the kind of experience that they had been led to believe they would. I was very impressed with my training for the new job and look forward to working with the students there.
I think that would be a fabulous idea. They could have an informal forum to discuss things that the grads. feel could be improved.
Have you considered adding follow up to the rep's job description? Obviously, their primary focus must be on enrolling new students, but could you identify periodically schedule a "reunion" where reps and their enrolled students have an opportunity to meet socially?
I couldn't agree with you more. The instructor certainly is the first line of defense. I am fortunate that I have a great group of instructors who really look out for their students to ensure their success. I do believe that there has to also be someone like the DOE keeping an eye in case an instructor either doesn't realize there is an issue or doesn't care.
It sounds like a great policy. I think all schools should model after yours.
I agree, however; the first line of defense so to speak is the teacher. I f he/she notices the upward swing in low attendance then they need to be the first ones to speak with the student. Then bring it to your attention.
