Peggy, you're right about admissions staying involved with the students. Do you have a plan that will help the admissions people be more aware of their responsibility?
Your entry seems to have been cut-off. I'd like to encourage you to finish your point. Thanks.
Along with providing incentives to get teachers involved with retention, there needs to be recognition from admissions that they are still involved with the students. Teachers often see that their first responsibility is to cover the subject matter. Problems with retention often do not surface immediately and w
Do you have the next steps planned, Julie? How will you make sure that the marketing message aligns with the education you provide?
Thank you for your question regarding how can we help those faculty to have a change of heart about student success issues? Open discussion about the student's expectations between the admission dept. and the instructor should take place, and should help. Student expectations are set by the school's marketing materials and admissions practices, so the two sides should work together.
Greater information received, would help the faculty to care more about the student success issue.
Thanks,
Julie
I agree, Loren, that some faculty members believe they were hired to be "gate keepers" and keep the unqualified out. However, in the career college environment, our students already feel "unqualified" so we as faculty need to listen to their problems and be prepared to give them guidance to help them succeed in school. Several years ago, I was in a position of hiring instructors for a career college, and I always tried to point out some of the personal problems a typical career college student faces. Some candidates for the positions were surprised with the types of students enrolled in our programs. Upon hearing about some of the problem, a few candidates decided they did not want to be considered for the position(s).
What specific actions do you intend to take, Joseph?
Steve, taking a proactive interest in students is an important part of a school's culture. Rapport with faculty and support staff is often a critical part of a student's decision not to drop. Most students also understand that it isn't in their long term best interest if they aren't held accountable to reasonable standards.
I agree with you, all teachers need to be open-minded and listen to their student problems, not just their academic ones, but also their problems outside of school.
Teachers must realize that many students who did not have home support while they were attending elementary and high school still don't have it today. When these students were in public schools their teachers were the only ones who cared.
We as teachers in the college arena need to know that these students can continue to depend on us for many types of answers, direction, or guidance. If we as teachers close them out, they will feel that this too is a lost resource. We need to show by actions, that your teachers were there for you when you went to public schools, and we are here for you as well in your new college environment.
I have had to take several students under my wing that I really felt had a lot of potential despite their fears of not being able to make it in a class. I feel we have to develop a good working rapport with students, holding students accountable for learning job skills but also being cheerleaders offering encouragement for students to "hang in there."
Not everyone is motivated in the same way. One of your challenges, Teri, is figure out what drives each faculty member. Is it the gratification of teaching? Money? Sharing the excitement of the subject? Obviously, some can be reached more easily than others. However, peer pressure can be a powerful motivator. If you agree on departmental goals and identify an incentive amount associated with the goals, allow the department members to evaluate the relative contribution of their members and recommend the amount of the incentive to be paid to each person. Student survey results and attendance rates are objective tools that may help with the evaluation.
Thanks for the response regarding incentive compensation for faculty. I think we have all encountered faculty who feel it isn't "their job" to help students with anything other than course content...obviously, this relates to one of the points made in this unit's readings about hiring practices. However, my question is how can we help these faculty to have a change of heart about student success issues once they have been hired?
Thanks,
Teri
Some faculty members seem to feel more responsibility to the “field†than their students. They are the gate keepers whose mission is to keep the unqualified out. They are the ones who resist retention efforts if they perceive them as enabling marginally qualified students. Also, be sure to check state and federal regulations for incentive compensation for your faculty.
