Retention is Everyone's Responsibility
I have had the opportunity of being on both sides...I have been a teacher as well as a School Director and Director of Education and I have learned through my experience that everyone in the school should share the responsibility of retaining students. Admissions has the unique opportunity of being the first person that potential students develop a relationship with and therefore should be an active participant in the student's time at the school because I have found that students tend to trust the admissions reps. Instructors are critical in the role of retention because they are with the students for a significant length of time and can develop rapport and can also observe changes in the student over time. While administration is expected to meet "retention" goals on paper, they should also maintain an active role in helping the students to succeed because it does matter to students that campus leadership cares enough about them to stay involved in their education. The more students believe that people care about them, the more likely they will be to think twice when the possibility of dropping arises.
And when a person becomes aware of a problem it important to share that information in a constructive, proactive way to improve customer service.
I agree with htis statement. While the course Instructor may be the person they see the most, other things or aspects may cause the student dis-satisfaction. Whether accounting or scheduling or any other office, the student may become become sullen and withdrawn. Each person that student has contact with needs to treat them right.
Do you mean that the student gives different information to support services than initially shared with a faculty member, Terri? Why would they do that?
Retention is everyone's responsibility; however, many times student services and other departments can not help the individual because they give different reasons as to why they can't stay in school and it does confuse those trying to help them with their issues.
Interesting observation, Melanie. Stereotyping can be dangerous, but did you observe different learning characteristics or level of intensity between the day and evening students?
I wholeheartedly agree with this statement and would add that being prepared goes along with "being present." I teach in an institution that offers a day and evening program and have had the oppurtunity to instruct in both programs. Even though the curriculum is the same, it is very interesting the vast difference between the 2 groups of students.It seems like the evening students are mostly individuals that have a full time day job and the day students either do not work at all or work on the weekends.I am under the understanding that the admissions department attempts to direct the students to the appropriate "program." By doing this it really helps with retention.
I believe as Instructors we set the example for retention by being present and on time for our own classes. It is just as much our responsibility to be in attendance as our students. Lead by example
Roseann, what do you do to gain that level of trust from your students?
Ronda, I agree that retention is everyones responsibiltiy. I find it important to know all of my students and build a trusting relationship with them from the begining. I find that they trust me and come to me before making any major decessions. They know that they can talk with me or with any one of my instructor regarding any matter.
Tough job, Sharon. We all know how important it is for students to stay current with their obligations - financially and academically.
i totally agree it is everybodys responsibility to get involved in retention.
i am the campus account & have the responsibility of collection payments without preassuring the students who are behind & having a diffult time making payments. I realize this can put stess on them.
Isn't it interesting how fast bad news travels, while announcements about actions intended to help students seem to languish. Bad news demands immediate intervention to control its impact and good news needs sizzle to make the point.
I strongly agree that the retention of student in school is the whole staffs responsibility. Students need to feel that everyone on staff, has that students best interest at heart. We as educators need to let our students know that we want them to succeed. Sometimes the school staff is the only support that some student have, and with this in mine we need to continue to be there for our student.
I agree with this statement. Everyone has to do their part on a particular campus. Negativity is contagious, so you make a student unhappy in one area of the campus, the rest of that program will know. Students love to share. Communication is key on a campus in every aspect to continue to gain high retention. We have to start with communication first from the entire staff and faculty on a campus!
Retention begins with the admissions process. As you say, it certainly doesn't end there.
It should be self-obvious that retention is the responsibilty of everyone. While recruiters have the first experience with potential students, retention certainly does not stop there. It is each staff member's duty to present realistic expectations to the students so they do not enter with a false sense of reality about what is expected of them.
Todd, my guess it that your students would tell you that's exactly what they are doing. The pace of technological change hasn't slowed; people are using access to knowledge to create a dizzying array of new things. While a solid education foundation is important, how you get is more varied that ever before.
The first step, good question.
Although as a society we have become more technologically advanced, I feel it has allowed for the majority of individuals to lack motivation to seek knowledge.
What I mean is that because of the internet, access to information is overwhelming, I feel like most people don't see the need to retain or learn new information, when it is so readily available.
Knowledge is power!
For many centuries, reading and comprehension of such reading, was the only driving factor, overcoming circumstances, to better was place in society.
Now, because of its availability I believe it's taken for granted, "There's somebody else I can ask, or that can take care of that" kind of attitude.
I don't know the solution, but when I think about the late 18 and early 19 hundreds, there were so many inventions, and new concepts emerging, BECAUSE MORE PEOPLE HAD TO USE THEIR OWN MINDS, AND RELY ON COMPREHENSION OF PHYSICS, AND UNDERSTANDING OF KNOWLEDGE THAT WAS BEING PASSED DOWN AND THE ACCESS TO SUCH KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION WAS SO GREATLY MORE RESTRICTED THAN TODAY, WE AS INSTRUCTORS NEED TO COME UP WITH A PLAN OF ACTION TO HELP MORE YOUNG MINDS REALIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTINUAL LEARNING, WHETHER OR NOT IT'S IN A CLASROOM SETTING.
WE NEED TO GET THE WORD OUT THAT WITH NEW INFORMATION LEARNED, YOUR BRAIN CAN CREATE NEW PATHWAYS, THAT CAN CAUSE OTHER HIGHWAYS OF INFORMATION TO BE ACCESSED, OR DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO PROBLEMS CAN BE DEVELOPED.
I WISH THAT I WAS GROWING UP , INSTEAD OF JUST EXISTING IN THIS NEW AND EXCITING ENVIRONMENT, I'S NOT HARD TO TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS,
I FEEL LIKE IT'S HARDER TO TEACH YOUNG PUPS AN OLD METHODOLOGY.
TURN OFF THE TWITTER, FACEBOOK, AND YOUTUBE
USE THE TIME WE ALL ARE ALLOTED FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE MIND, NOT THE NUMBING THERE OF.
THE ONE THING THAT EACH AND EVERY HUMAN ON THIS PLANET HAS IN COMMON, 24 HOURS IN A DAY,
MAKE THE BEST USE OF IT!
THERE IS ONLY ONE GO AROUND, LEARN AS MUCH AS YOU CAN ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU CAN, EXPLODE THE NEURONS IN YOUR MIND TO MADDENING HEIGHTS!
Todd, good statement of the objective. What's the first step to make it happen?
