Our End of Course surveys are voluntary so there is a lower response rate. We have examined connecting the release of final grades to the completion of the survey but ultimately decided doing so would result in greater volumes of invalid responses.
For the NPS survey, we have a greater response because it is distributed with lesser frequency and looks quite different from the EoC surveys.
Good points Tammy!
I especially agree with your statement that it is important that the students see that their concerns are being addressed. They expect to see the school take "action"...not provide lip service to their feedback.
John Maloney
At my school, the administration has been very active in trying to raise the bar to ensure that students are satisfied and that their expectations are being met. They do this by being very pro-active to be visible to the students. As an example, the campus president and executive team hold "student forums" the first week of each new term to ensure that the students "see" them and communicate with them. Also, during each new orientation, the full-time faculty are tasked with conducting "break out" session activities to talk to the students about their programs.
Thanks!
John Maloney
Our institution takes care to insure that student expectations are being met. We have multiple departments that make sure students understand the expectations and are meeting those expectations. We have Student Service coordinators that are tasked with working with the students on a regular basis to achieve their goals and understand expectations. The faculty relation team (which includes the instructors themselves) work with student to convey the expectations of the courses.
Lewis,
We recently revised our survey instrument based on a number of student complaints.I hope this new tool will start to give us better insight into our student concerns. With a response rate of about 23% on our student satisfaction surveys, we are having a very difficult time just getting students to respond without force. Any suggestions?
Because we tie our final course evaluations to viewing final grades we have managed to increase our response rate up to about 70%.
We learn from our students by conducting research via student satisfaction surveys. By frequently meeting with students both formally and informally we have an obligation to listen to students and to ask questions regarding their experiences.
Once we are aware of students suggestions or tips to improve their experiences, we need to make sure as an institution that students feel their concerns are being addressed or they are being heard. We make it a point to encourage students to respond with their contact information so that we can make sure to followup with them regarding their expectations of the school's staff, etc.
Hi Shari,
Is there a way your institution measures instructor performance to verify the person is providing the most service possible? My institution conducts classroom observations and annual reviews, but I have yet to find a valid and reliable measurement to assess instructor performance that does not fall back to some aspect of subjective analysis of the person's ability. We have a "checklist" to measure the quantity of actions performed, but the actual quality of interactions varies depending on the assessor, even with a defined rubric.
Having been in education for fifteen years, with roles as educator and administrator, I have often heard the cries "we need to improve retention" only to be followed by the organization devoting a one-day in-service to studying trends. At my current school however, things are changing. We used to simply rely upon student surveys conducted at the end of classes and at academic quarter intervals. The surveys were not mandatory and at times the questions posed were not appropriately written to elicit meaningful data. In short, the surveys seemed to be more of something we pointed to for satisfying accrediting agencies rather than using to improve student experiences. Now we are using third-party surveys utilized by global corporations to establish benchmarks so we not only can measure our performance but compare it to similar entities. The surveys are finely -tuned to gather meaningful data and we, each department to which the feedback applies, must contact students desiring a response. By contacting students, we are sending the message we want to hear what they have to say. We then must follow up our contacts again by disseminating actions plans based on their feedback, which may be positive or negative regarding our performance. We still use our own surveys but the inclusion of the new survey tool will help us continue doing those things students desire and revise those aspects they find as detracting from their experience.
Hi Susan, thanks so much for this extremely well-written and important post! I tried to excerpt some highlights to your comments such as "disconnect," "listening," "perception" and "consistent message." These, indeed, all have a profound effect on the communication process. Sometimes "selective listening" can lead to a misguided perception that in turn causes a student to disconnect from the right information about a program, its given outcomes and requirements. Perhaps, as you reference, the key is the consistent message - if faculty and staff are all on the same page and providing consistent information and resources, then it reinforces the right message to students.
Jay Hollowell
RT101 Guest Facilitator
Communication! It's something we are working to improve. There frequently is a disconnect between what a student perceives to be accurate about attending a post secondary program and what requirements actually are particularly if someone is first generation college. I don't know if people stop listening somewhere during an admissions interview or they simply latch on to what they want to hear. Our goal has been to make certain people are comfortable asking questions. We also want to make certain that all from each team - admissions, financial aid and education are providing the same answers to those questions. Removing silos and making certain leadership is all moving in the same direction closes many gaps. Ensuring facutly is saying the same thing is always a challenge. When you have a diverse full time and adjunct staff, messages can be mixed occasionally. Quarterly, we use a student satisfaction survey which varies in what it covers. We take it seriously and recently added a line, "if you wish to be called about this survey, please leave name and number". Just starting to call back and have found more people want to provide additional positive comments than negative. Students appear to like the fact that we are following up with their comments.
Our institution is currently going through what I would call "intelligence transitional growth"; becoming more aware of what the students expectations are and comparing those expectations to what we have to offer. Our corporate office is investing in each one of the admissions team to re-established a firm and solid foundation for the anticipated growth of our school. We now have what I would consider the best tools in the industry to complete our task of enrolling students, and following through in having those students start in their new career of choice in a matter of 30 days after completing their course work!
We start with the "Interview Assessment". This tool allows us to discover the qualities that the student brings to the table, what his/her employment, education, and personal history pros and challenges are. Through the interview process we discuss what the expectations are and what our school has available to meet those expectations. Wouldn't you agree that it rewards both the prospect and the school meeting the challenges head-on? Knowing ahead of time what might be a problem and knowing what they could do to solve it saves on having to lose school time for the prospect. We also inform the prospects what our expectations are and have the prospects explain to us how they expect to meet the challenge of preparing for an exciting new career.
On the first day of class I greet the class; I review our school's history, discuss what to expect over the next next four weeks, and provide phone numbers and names of key people at the school. I review what is still required from each student and once the paperwork is complete, introduce them to their classroom instructor.
On the second day of class our Student Services Representative introduces themselves to the class. The Student Services Representative explains how to be successful in placement, and re-enforces the fact that we are here to assist them in placement and to help ensure that they will be able to start their new career upon completion of their course; applications for at least two companies are supplied to the student at this time. The Student Services Representative follows up on these applications; and has weekly contact with all of the students.
Every week the three key people at each location have a meeting. This meeting is commonly known as the "Big Three" meeting. The Lead instructor, the Student Services Representative and the Admissions Representative discuss what is happening on the campus. Everything from the prospects, equipment, instructors, class schedules, student count and progress of current students are discussed. when there is a challenge we are able to work on small challenges prior to them becoming big challenges.
Daily our instructions complete progress reports on each student. At the end of the day the instructors talk individually with the students to inform them of their progress.
End of course surveys are completed by each student to evaluate student satisfaction with expectations of instructors, staff, and school environment. The results of these surveys are sent to the corporate training coordinator. The good and bad ones are discussed and shared with the lead instructors of each campus. Positive growth has resulted from these surveys, when presented in a positive constructive manner the school will always benefit.
The method we are currently using does meet the expectaions of not only the students, but those of the school. Would you think that surveys completed by the instructors would show the same?
I am in the online teaching environment and we start from day one of the enrollment process preparing students to take and succeed in online classes. We have developed an online mini-course to introduce students to the online environment and this helps to ensure that their expectations match what online classrooms deliver. We also have all online instructors post a welcome letter and class policies letter so students know from day one what instructor expectations are for each course. Instructors also support the value and necessity for each course by describing what the overall learning goals are for the course and how knowledge and skills gained from the course translate into lifetime or career knowledge and skills. Additionally, we have a technical support system in place to assist students with technical issues or questions.
To gain feedback on how we are doing on meeting all of these goals, students are surveyed at mid-term and at the end of each quarter. They provide valuable feedback about the instructors, course content, student services, technical support, and our organization as a whole. Instructors and management review survey results to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses so they may be addressed, reinforced, built upon, or changed, if necessary.
Do any of your admissions people sit in on these reviews? Students may be pleased to see a familiar face in the classroom as they start their educational journey. Also, keeps the admissions people on point.
I don't think we are! We don't have systematic way for measuring the student expectation at the start and then monitoring it as they progress. I would love to have access to this kind of survey if anyone has one?
At our institution Admissions and Education work hand and hand to understand what we are teaching in the classroom and labs. The first day of each term our instructors review the expectations for that lecture or lab.
Walter, are you willing and able to share the four indicators that the staff monitors?
Our institution uses an established educational survey at course end. During each day of the course, our staff monitors 4 key indicators to determine daily student satisfaction which are reported to management.
The temperature check technique would be a good idea for all managers. Thanks, Ben.
our school uses student surveys , interaction with student services and also useing intervention at instructor level to help those in possible trouble
This school uses the student surveys as well. They also work hard on makeing sure that recruiting isnt selleing something we are not able to deliver. I believi we aare in a time when the student is more aware of whether or not he feels he is getting what was promised, and in atime in wahich they are deffinatelly not shy about speaking out about inpropiety.If you find yourself working at a facility that you are not sure aboout , just hang around just in ear range of a group of students and you will take the temperature of that school real quick..
