With the upcoming Orientation, I make it a point to personally welcome as many students and families as I can. Asking them if they have any questions. In conversing with them I pump up their excitement by mentioning fun activities that are planned for the calendar year and also fun things to expect in their classes. I will also e-mail all of my student advisees after the first day of class to ask them how they are liking their new course and if they need any help. Finally I will try and volunteer for more activities in order for the students to see my presence and deduce that I care.
I tend to use SurveyMonkey.com a lot to survey my students about random issues. It seems to help out a lot.
Becoming more available to my students before and after class to help them with what ever they may need
Pass on information about students that may need help form other departments
Support other deparments in their attemps to help students in my class by being flexable
After orientation where students meet key personell, the Program Chair visits all new classes to inform the students what to expect from the college, from the industry and the importance of daily attendance. Goal setting is discussed and encouraged. Also the fact that students need to become "active learners" is discussed.
1. Locate the main campus administrator responsible for retention
2. Determine which retention efforts and measures have been successful on the main campus
3. Speak to executive administrators at my campus to discuss retention as a specific target of investigation and improvement on this campus
1. Develop a news letter - showcase new and exciting campus life, like clubs and events, to get students involved.
2. Set up a email system that can email students, through out all stages of their education, to say hi, wish them well and invite them to come see me and check in. Show that I care about their success and progress.
3. Set up a suggestion box outside my office, not in view of my sight, but somewhere there is high traffic from student, to encourage feedback.
This module provided some best practices that I have considered before, but now will take action.
1. Establish health and wellness days/weeks where outside organizations are invited to present information to students on a healthy lifestyle
2. The DOE will meet with all students who withdraw from the school.
3. Have the student board create a "What it takes to be a successful student" presentation that can be given to new students in their first term of courses.
1. Set up a meeting with our Program Directors to see if there are issues and concerns that need to be addressed and then set the time and place for a forum.
2. I have already spoke to my supervisor about a possible reunion between students and admissions as was suggested by another participate in this course. I felt that it was a wonderful idea and I will be following up to see if we can move forward with this idea. I felt this concept would have a powerful effect on our students.
3. Attend more meetings established by our retention committee to determine other means of making our retention better.
Having a shared basis on information is a good starting point for developing an action plan. Hopefully, RT101 will give you and your colleagues some ideas to discuss and implement.
Are there are particular actions you would like to champion?
The 1st step will be to ask the campus president to take this course in hopes he will understand that no one department can do this with out all of the other department also making their efforst as well.
The 2nd step to request that all department managers also take this course, as you know, if there is not buy in there will not be any real impact.
The third step will be to use this as a group lesson with my buisness unit and we cover and discuss this as a group to get ownership on their part as they come up with ideas.
I don't see it as challanging but more as interesting. I offer a variety of subjects and see which one they are more interested in. I give them assignements to do research and we share the results with the class.
Keeping retention on a daily to weekly basis can be challenging. I like to provide resources that are fun for their assignments and relates to their career.
Easier said than done - I know from personal experience.
There are commercially available systems [ex. Campus ToolKit's stress barometer] that allow you to implement this idea quickly.
Well stated, Martha. You are right that many faculty mistakenly believe that they are expected to compromise academic standards to "save" a student. When that happens it only prolongs the pain for the student and postpones the inevitable for the school.
The process you outline when aligned with adequate support resources is a winning combination.
I have only been teaching for 2 months so far and since our courses rotate on a 3 week cycle, I get to deal with a new group every 3 weeks.
1) I keep a careful watch on attendence from day one if a pattern starts developing in the first week I will talk to the student and see if there is anything I can help with to increase attendence.
2) Since we have 3 tests a week I agaqin look at the scores from day one and any student that may seem to struggle I will work with them on a one to one basis.
3) I am always available before and after class for any one on one work the student may need.
1. Provide detailed mid-term reports for students who have a D or F to their academic advisors.
2. Use faculty office hours for student mentoring and tutoring.
3. Host an event where students from different programs cold meet each other.
our instittution has implemented and continues to use the following objectives to improve retention:
1. Weekly Leadership meeting to discuss current population status for retention.
2. Instructors have implemented a 'blinker' system to notify the Education office of student attendance issues on a daily basis. Calls are made to students daily.
3. We have several vehicles for the student to promote more student involvement in the school, such as success seminars, student clubs, alumni clubs and meetings,etc.
Set up online access to Student Services staff on our school home page. Post notices in the computer room and on bulletin boards and web site letting students know emailing requests or questions is an option for them
i agree, Develop and use a web based system to ask students what has happened in their lives on a periodic basis.
