This class was extemely helpful in my retention efforts with students.  I have been teaching for 7 years and it is very true that once they decide to drop -- there is not changing the student's mind.  Proactiveness and connecting with students at the very start of class is key.  I've had students who were rocking along doing just great when all of a sudden a family crisis hits and they're ready to drop the class. 

The practices provided in this class as to how to deal with students and the way to ask questions I found to be extremely helpful and I will put these recommendations to use.

Joyce Hladky

We have students that may have varied levels of experience, in terms of, their choice of academic pursuits. It is important to use your interpersonal skills to approach a student and identify the way you may want to deliver information in a way that the student may be able to comprehend and not feel intimidated and belittled. It is important to use your interpersonal skills, including, but not limited to active listening, conflict resolution, empathy, and communication.

I just love MaxKnowledge.

RT105 - Raising the Bar to 'First-Class' Customer Service is a great course.

This online course will help me and my company to develop a perfect customer service.

I look forward to apply what I've learned, not only in the professional sphere, but also in the personal.

Thank you so much.

I feel that we are obligated to our students to connect with them from the very first day of class. If students feel as though they are a part of something good, then they tend to stay engaged and want to come to class.

Faculty should be involved with students from the first meeting at orientation. If faculty get to know each individual student, retention does improve.

As instructor, my job is not exclusive to teaching only.  I also believe that I play an important role in keeping the numbers up.  However, retention to me is not only about keeping students.  It is about keeping students, making them happy and making sure they stay happy.  I have former students who still contact me to tell me that their bosses are impressed with them and they thank me because I helped make it happen.  Then they recommend the school to their friends.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets this kind of feedback. 

I also taught in an institution that had to have two graduation cermonies in one day because the place could not hold more than 500 graduates at the same time.  Out of the 500 and so graduates, only a few got the education and training that they needed to keep or at least get a job.  Retention numbers were high because students chose to stay where things were done their way--the easy way.

Retention is often over looked at our facility I have found working within a group to put the students first has helped with the retention at our facility.

Sincerely,

 Ms. Ginell Agnew

Regarding Necessary retention in RT 101..... 

What can be done to rescue these at-risk students who withdraw, due to personal, family, academic,  financial or substance-abuse issues?

Intervention

Can there be a wellness person/referra agencyl who tracks these students and their progress, before, during and after their issues are resolved to remediate them back into the programs? 

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Regarding Unnecessary retention in RT 101..... 

Social Skills

Can we erode the interest in pop culture/social media/electronic devices during school hours (that distract) by offering students incentives to aquire skills instead.  They could "earn" credits for:

1) 1 no homework pass

2) 1 "leave a half hour early" pass

3) Wear"jeans" day pass

4) Other

These would be only for students who achieved their goals.

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Any thoughts?

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Nancy

Most of what was covered in RT102 are things we already do with our orientations. It did, however, get me thinking out of the box about how to further involve faculty and how to help students during their first week. As a Business College, we give our students flash drives at orientation, pre loaded with all the school information. Many of the students never take the opportunity to look at them before coming to class. I don't like the idea of going back to paper. Any ideas on how to get them to use this as an opportunity to learn about the college? Maybe an on line scavenger hunt?

I learned a lot from this training and plan to use it at my school.

Really learned valuable information about these two theories in RT101 and how they relate to retention.  Also, I feel I can apply them to my personal life with family and friends.  Really glad I finished this course.

If you’ve just completed a training course, please consider responding to the three self-assessment questions below. Your responses will help you and other participants to get a head start on the transfer of training process.

1. What have you learned? Write a brief summary of what you’ve learned.

2. How can you apply it? List one or two ways in which you can apply what you’ve learned in your professional practice.

3. What support do you need? Identify any support or additional information that you may need to apply what you’ve learned.

Really enjoyed this module. It validated how I work my class in the first week. It also gave me some fresh ideas and some food for thought.

Students need to feel that the instructor cares about whether they master the material or not. They also need to see that what they are learning has value to their educational process.

One of the topics not addressed specifically with more input in our RT-101 course, was the retention issues of students with special accommodations needed.  (And whether, given FERPA, faculty would be allowed that insight, etc.)  In the past,  (I teach online courses) I've had students who explain their efforts to work with dyslexia, hearing impairments, visual needs, Attention Deficit Disorders, and other needs.  Often, this information from the students comes later in the class, after they are at risk and facing the all too familiar stressors that lead to their academic erosion and stagnation.  Typically, especially if newer students to college, they are not familiar with what resources are available to them. 

I agree! Students need the on-going support of their instructors.  The instructors are usually the ones who can retain a close relationship with the students.  I try to maintain a close relationship with all of my students to help them understand that I care about their success in school and their futures.

It was interesting to find that each department plays an important role in student retention.  I knew that retention was important in career colleges; and how it impacted the funding of the school when enrollment is down.  However, I did not know that each department was involved in the process.  Now  I can understand why so many added responsibilities are placed on faculty, other than what we were hired to do.  In the past, I have always tried to go the extra mile to do whatever is necessary to see our students successful in completing their program.  Now I will be willing to do even more; because if our students fail, the we all fail.

A little over three years ago I was hired to start a new program with my present employer. I was a rather tall order due to the fact that it was a program to be deliver in Spanish. After countless hours of translation and reviews we finally implemented the new program. To my personal and professional pride today that program as a Hispanic that program has a retention rate of 86% even better than the overall institution retention rate.

We attribute that success to the fact that the instructors and I keep constant contact with all the students in the program. During the initial orientation I place great emphasis in the relationship between attendance and academic success. We also point out the need of staying in contact with the instructors at all times. The team of instructors works together to identify and assist the slower learning students. I do believe that the overall success of the program is due to the neat closeness that we are able to develop within the instructors and students. We always know the whereabouts of all our students and I also managed to know all of them by their first name.

Openness and availability are crucial in the success of a great program.

The university for which I teach offers all of its programs online in a highly-accelerated format--we complete 3 and 4-credit courses in 5-1/2 rather than 12-15 weeks.  While retention is improving (thanks to instructors and student advisors), the dropout rate and number of 'ghosts' are still too high.  I'd love to learn about others' experiences with accelerated learning and retention, whether online or in the classroom.