Brian, you organized your steps sequantially and I like that. Great!
The 3 steps will likely include enrolling students who are more likely to graduate, while identifying and mentoring those who might drop out. I believe we can provide more academic advisors and programs in attrition, and streamlining the path to graduation by ensuring that students don't take on excessive course loads. For at-risk students, use vertical probing to get to the real problem.
It's very important for someone to look at retention on almost a daily basis. We must know the intentions of out students, use events as motivators, provide surveys to faculty, on curriculum, and students experience. Last but not least, exit interview – what was right and what they would change.
Tiffany
1.) Identify At-Risk students
2.) Communicate with At-Risk students to let them know they have outstanding assignments that must be completed to pass the course.
3.) Work with these students and provide them with sufficient time to submit all past work.
The 1st step I will take and that I currently use is the Open Door Policy, as an instructor I keep communication open with all of my students via email and often times phone calls to ensure that they are understanding the material and I am easing any fears that they may have.
The 2nd step is providing Career Awareness,in the courses I teach it is a very demanding career that most people who take my course need the course for their career. In my discussions with my students, I explain to them what to expect in this career and the "real world" experience they have to look forward to.
The 3rd step is keeping my students motivated and staying abreast of their academic progress and speaking to each student in regards to what can be done for them to successfully complete the class. I often let them know in announcements how I want them to be successful in this course and my support to them for any questions they may have.
I teach online, so it's harder to "get a bead" on students and their reasons for missing assignments or lack of activity. To try and help my retention rates I will:
1. Email students immediately as I see their work for the week wasn't completed.
2. Contact the admissions counselor assigned to that student if they are missing work and do not get back to my email within a week.
3. Email my students that are showing good & improved performance to acknowledge and encourage their achievement, rather than just contacting those that are in the "danger zone".
Talk with other instructors and dean.
1) I am going to review the retention areas from this past quarter and meet with any faculty that have missed their goals.
2) Review my retention by program and look for any areas of concern.
3) I am going to figure out who is just as committed to our retention cause as I am.
1. Meet with the Director of Admissions to learn more about the admissions process and how I can partner with them to resolve student issues.
2. Hold discussions with fellow instructors to discuss common student issues and best practices.
3. Reach out to new instructors to help them understand the culture of the college and offer assistance when dealing with student issues.
The biggest challenge for a online instructor is to see or feel how a student is feeling. These visual clues are not present. In order to overcome this it is vital to increase the communictations with the student and ask how they are doing and take additional care in the follow-up when assignments or testing seems to be lacking. I send out weekly emails to those students who are falling behind in their work. I ask if there are any concerns that I can assist them. As stated in the training module I probe to see if there are issues that can be addressed before they become a "mountain" when they are just an "ant hill". Continuing to reassure the students is key and helping the student problem solve will help the student build confidence in allowing them to solve issues in the future.
I also must agree that this is one of the greatest areas than an instructor can have an impact with the students. Because of the relationship that you built in the classroom students are definitely more prone speak with the instructor. The instructor on the other hand, must definitely spend the time answering their questions and guiding them in the right direction.
1) Keep or increase communication with the students.
2) Have a meeting with my advisees to let them know me and to discuss with them their particular situation.
3) By Implementing a monthly meeting with students communication will improve
1.Have instructors send delayed emails to students during long breaks like spring break letting them know that they are thinking of them and looking foward to their return on that first day.
2.holding a welcome back get together with popcorn and drinks with Instructors
3. Follow up phone calls on the first day to those who did not make it back
Three steps I will take to improve student retention would firstly be to talk to the administration about when they recruit new students, to give the students a realistic account of what they can expect, when they start to study at the school. This will help a lot with dissappointments in the first few weeks.
The next thing i would do is to make time to talk to all my students as a group to discuss any issues they have with the class. I would do this at regular times to ensure that we are on the right track and to catch problems early.
The third thing i would do is to make time to ask my students individually how they feel about the course and what they are not happy with.This will help those students who are shy to talk in groups or feel more comfortable with a one on one situation.A lot of problems I know can be avoided with proper communication ,connecting the students with the correct staff who can help fix any problems they may have.
This is a great practical question, one that will help me hone my abilities to serve my students better:
1. Email and call struggling students with supporting and encouraging words.
2. Post a weekly message in the class' portal page, giving them the strategy for success for the week.
3. Review each and every week the tasks, assignments, test, etc. due that week.
Our department trys to identify the at risk students with weekly meetings on student classroom performance
At mid term I sit with each my students and discuss their performance up to the current date.
I give as much 1 on 1 time to my students as amethod to improve the student instructor interaction.
At our school, we call students when they are absent more than one day in a row. I also will proceed to encourage students who are continually absent to be in class and also explain the importance of not missing numerous days. I will ask other instructors how to connect with students who become stressed from school and how they handle those students.
It must be rewarding to have students come back to you for support. That's an indication that you have earned their trust and that they value your insights. Keep up the good work.
I will contact those students who are at risk of failure, with a positive attitude and expect success.
I will continue to study cultures so as to improve my communications skills with at risk students.
I will make sure that the ciriculium continues to be relevant and that relevance regularlly expalained to the students
Great comment Teri,
I absolutely agree. Being an instructor is not only to be prepared with the all the class material but also to be ready and available before and after class to adress students concern, I found out that in most cases students in your class have tendency to feel more confortable with their instructor than other staff members and therefore the instructors are usually the first people the student is going to seek guidence from and if we as instructors do not offer the time to help these students at that time, that is when they start to feel like no one cares and start to second guess themselves about the reasons why they are here in the first place. I personally have built a great raport with all the students who come thru my classes to the point that even when they are taking another class with other instructors they still feel confortable coming to see me about advice or just help, my response to these students is let's schedule an appointment before or after class and lets see how I can help, and in most cases just the fact that the instructor is willing to make time to help them, well that's just make them feel special and already they gain confidence to solve their issue.
1. Create a student survey to be given at regular intervals.
2. Involve the school organizations to develop activities to attract students to form a social bond.
3. Require representatives from all institutional departments be involved in the retention committee.
