1. Discuss rocks in the road for students and brainstorm ways to work around the rocks.
2. Explore the possibility of clubs that focus on career paths.
3. Educate Instructors on methods of giving better feedback on assignments.
Excellent thought! I have a retention committee meeting Wednesday. Our number one item on the agenda is the pregnancy workshop. I will certainly bring this up to the group. Thanks!
Any thought to making it a forum/workshop about pregnancy but including the entire student body? By highlighting the issue, you may be able to address preventive measures and get some sage advice from those who have already been through the experience.
I have just volunteered to be on the campus retention committee. In the next 30 days I plan to do the following:
1. Implement a forum/workshop for students who are pregnant. An expert speaker will be used to cover many of the issues.
2. Develop and implement a new student counseling form that will be used by all faculty, hold the student more accountable, and address follow-ups to insure the student's success.
3. Shadow admissions' representatives as they bring in new, potential students to see what expectations are being given. To see if these expectations are realistic and understood by the education side of the campus.
Communicate with campus leadership the importance of retention during the 1st week of classroom activies.
Admissions does a good job of communicating expections to the student so they are prepared for class.
Daily follow up during the first week by both admissions and campus leadership to ensure that the students expections and commitment level is being met.
1. Meet with administrators
2. Develop retention plan
3. Implementtion of retention plan
Three specific Steps i will take to improve rentntion are: 1. To reach out to students in person once they come back to campus after a call has been placed. 2. make sure students are the focus of what happens on the campus and in my office and 3. Be more aware of students who are at risk of dropping
That's a very important question Loren,
I will ensure that I communicate more effecively with my more difficult students so that they uneqivocally know my expectations. These are the students that miss class too often, and those that do not perform as well as most in the class. I will do this by calling them the very day they miss a class, and/or contacting them when I grade their assignments.
I will work with the re-entry telethon which I do every term, but with a renewed vigor! This event takes place in three weeks.
I will add another weekly live chat session to my hybrid (mix of ground and online) class to ensure that their is even more communication with the students to give them every opportunity to do well in the class.
Thanks!
John Maloney
1. I will make sure I participate in departmental activities to show my face and let students know of my role and my open door policy. I will also conduct activities conducive to student involvement to get them familiar with not only staff and faculty but each other.
2. I will make sure to build a rapport with students so that they are comfortable with talking with me. By building a rapport I can have conversations and ask them about things like their kids and or events. This will show them I am interested in their well being. In turn they will be more willing to come to me with a problem before it's too much to handle.
3. Lastly, I will pay more attention to their tendencies. By doing this I can probably notice a change in behavior or their mood. I believe paying attention is a critical aspect of retention.
It's interesting to hear you report that your institution is revising the orientation course to focus on career paths. The operating assumption is that career school students enter with a clear career path in mind. How does your orientation work to clarify that focus?
1) Our institution is currently modifying its curriculum which will include a revised orientation course focused on foundations skills and career paths. My next meeting is to work with the development committee to define the specific faculty skill sets required of those teaching the course. We need to ensure we have the right people teaching the classes to maximize student engagement.
2) I am part of a working committee to redefine and realign how faculty members are measured with respect to retention. Currently we have report that utilizes quantified data to indicate retention rates but there needs to be integration of qualitative data to avoid the perception faculty are only being rated against a singular value regardless of commitment and outreach efforts.
3) We are testing an automated support tool to assist students in mathematic courses. If successful, our goal is to expand the tool to other classes in statistics, accounting, and finance. The tool provides a place for students to practice skills and receive immediate feedback without concern that they are being assessed by their faculty member or judged by some other party.
Step 1 Be aware of students a bit more in just the beginning day greeting
Step 2 pay close attention to body language or posture in class
Step 3 Watch how interactive students are with each other and plan my actions on other instructors beliefs
(1) I will go to the student servises and become more aware of programs avaiable to them..(2) I will be more listening and attentative to students comments and conversations,(3) become proactive in preventive measures and be more available to student needs.
look for students in need of help and get this information on these students to intervention group
Here they are: 1. to improve transportation to and from campus 2. career development for staff and faculty 3. to hire professional tutors for the student success center
1. Focus on interacting with Students one on one to ascertain any deficiencies and/or to offer assistance if needed.
2. Request to have monthly meetings with Program Director, Instructors and other faculty staff.
3. Promote greater interest in all students on campus.
1) help a student isentify their stressor
2) help lessen academic stagnation stress by showing the student how the lesson can be used on the job and where it can take them
3)help the student achieve self-efficacy
Set class expectations early, usually the first day....use group studies to make sure students can work with there peers...this creates support between students...blend in real world expectations so students can realize there goals...
Sounds like you have a well developed retention program. Are you able to demonstrate improved outcomes as a result?
It sounds like you have a well developed, proactive retention program. Have you been able to document outcomes from these initiatives? Have you seen a change in the attitude of staff and faculty?
