Our institution has student to student advisors as well as advisers at all levels to help the students from the beginning to graduation. The instructors are always willing to come in early or stay late to help students.
Blinker system: With the Blinker system, instructors input the student's name with a color that attributes to the student's actions in class. For example, red--help now, yellow-warning--help now. Once the Blinker is received, Student Services and Department Chairs step in to see how we can assist the student. I like this system because our instructors are on the "forefront" and see first hand that a student is having challenges. They can relate to the "Responders" that a student has specific challenges and possibly his/her needs.
An alumni committee seems like a good idea with a lot of potential and uses. Who sits on the committee? What activities does it initiate?
We are in the current stages of an expansion to improve the class sizes.We bought new equipment and we are streamlining the curriculum so that every student gets the same experience.
Our institution has many commitees and clubs that demonstrates school commitment. One in particular is the Alumni commitee that reaches out to current students and grads.
students are able to view the information on the student portal. They are also informed by their instructors and of course, they will be able to see all the upgrades as they occur. I believe schools will always have to deal with the fact that students think it is "too late" for them when it comes to construction improvements. All we can do is continue to reinforce the positives for everyone.
How are the students reacting to construction? In my experience, some will complain about the inconvenience and those who are nearing graduation will complain that the improvements are coming too late?
How are you communicating with the students about progress and future plans?
What format do you use for the quarterly critique? Is it face-to-face or done as a report?
Laura, I e-mail students each week after grades are posted to get students looking at where they are in the course. If problems are occurring they usually show up in responses to that mail.
One of the best practices of course is insuring the student’s success. This starts with recruitment and orientation but never lets up once a student starts classes. We have retention reports which indicate from a given course the percentage of students that continue at the University. That percentage is compared to a baseline (expectation) and all other instructors teaching the course that session. There are other factors than what the instructor is doing, or not doing, that affects a decision to continue, but the report reminds us to look for ways to be effective with the student personally and facilitate the entire university’s efforts during our watch with the student.
Right now one of the first things that comes to mind are the various construction projects we have happening around campus. The facilities are being updated with new equipment, lab space, and a new restaurant. It is very exciting knowing that the corporation is committed to the development and betterment of our school, which in the end best serves the students.
A practice at our school that demonstrates school commitment is the student critique that goes out to every student every quarter. We use that feedback to help the students have a more positive experience with our institution.
contacting st's regularly.
There is one student per class per term that is recognized by their fellow students. All the students gather for this ceremony at the beginning of each term.
Do all the students attend the success ceremony? How many students are recognized for going above and beyond at each of these ceremonies?
At our school we have a student success ceremony at the beginning of each term and recognize the students with perfect attendance. We celebrate their committment to their education and reiterate how important just showing up every day is to their success in the classroom. We also have the class vote and select a student to be recognized for going above and beyond their call of duty and that students gives advice to incoming students on how to be a successful student.
At our institution we have a person dedicated to calling students who do not attend classes. In addition, we have regularly scheduled tutoring sessions. The schedule for tutering is posted in many places clearly visible to students.
Blinker has been mentioned by several forum participants. How long have you been using this system? How effective has it been in improving retention and communication? Is it at one campus only? If multiple campuses, do the results vary widely?
We have the Blinker system currently up and running. This is a system of early detection and intervention with high risk students who may not pass, have challenges attending class, and/or other issues. We have a interdepartmental group of staff/faculty that intervene with the troubled student.
"...have one of the cohort make a call" Do you mean a classmate of the missing student? If so, do you provide any preparation for the call? How do they feel about making the call?
