I loved the quiz question that dealt with WHY and WIFFM as it related to negative staff members. As a student of change mangement, I thought the example of how to motivate someone simply by explaining the why and how this choice would affect them was well done. In fact, I plan to place the WHY and WIFFM strategy in my tool box for future use. Teachers often offer their students a rational for teaching a concept and offer real life applications in their lessons. This mode of remembering to offer these things is quick and quirky.

What kind of activities do other schools use online?

Does anyone have best practices to share on Online Orientation Programs?

I have found that by learning their names the first noght of clas makes a big impression on the students.

I like to explain to my students exactly what i expect from them and what they can expect from me.

It is extremely important for students to find out where the departments are in the institution they are attending. This can save them time and anxiety.

I have had this experience myself while going to school,and i have seen it in my own classrooms.

We are an online program and managing retention is very much different than on-ground. I am hoping to build best practices in the online environment. Recently I started a Student Support program that has been successful in retaining new starts. Is anyone out there doing an online program they find succesful? What challenges and opportunities have you had? What works and doesn't work? I would love to brainstorm with other online folks.

We were all thier at on time so help out. Go into the computer maybe this is thier first time or a repeat.

Help them out.

so them how to help them selfs.

show how the school can help

While we are certainly all discussing attrition and its relationship to the students' stress, I wonder if our own stress as instructors is a factor in our ability to address these issues. It's a difficult line to walk. As the reading points out, we all have stress and different mechanisms for coping with stress. I do all that I can to understand my students' stress, and I make clear to them early on that I have stress, too. I try to avoid statements like "If I can do this, anyone can." But at the same time, I have to maintain a balance that places the responsibility for learning on the student. This is where it is difficult for me to find a happy medium, I suppose. On the one hand, I want to help the students in any way that I can. But on the other hand, I want them to feel a sense of accomplishment. If I know that I the instructor is going to allow me to submit all of my work on the last day of class, how can I feel good about that accomplishment? I hate the word, but "standards" have to be in place, and they have to mean something. Does that include the student's responsibility? Can we make a system that would allow us to know when a student is playing the system and when a student is actually going through a rough patch that we can help him or her through? For instance, recently, I submitted an assignment on day late. Thankfully, I had a very understanding professor who recognized my typical work habits and did not dock me for being late. However, with most of my students, I have no such knowledge. I even heard of one student several years ago who faked cancer to get the professor to allow him to submit late work. So, if there were a system that would allow us to keep track of a student's habits, that would make those decisions easier. Of course, it might also be a FERPA violation, too.

In the world of culinary education the student comes to school to learn to cook first and then to become a chef second. Many of the students really do not have an idea of what being a chef is about. What they see on tv is fairy tale land. When an experienced chef instructor is able to bring their experiences into the teaching and lessons they are able to engage the student in a way they may not have expected. To share what the industry is about and to prepare them for real world experiences really peeks the interest of the student to a new level. The student becomes so much more interested when they know they are being taught and are learning from someone who has been where they want to go and will help them get there!!

Here in the southwest, the economy has taken a hit harder than most of what I see anywhere. Some of what I am seeing is so tragic it is difficult to combat. For example: when a student's vehicle is out of service s/he simply does not have the funds to make the repair. Because distances are vast and public transportation is wanting, students simply stop attending. There's not much anyone can do about that--as I see it. Additionally, as social service networks fail more situations arise. For example, students cannot find childcare; they cannot come to class. I personaly have no difficulty with a student bringing a child to class in an emergency but my institution does not permit it. Retention is a slippery slope that cannot be handled simply with the advice I have found in this module. Life is more complex than anyone can get her head around. It is like string theory, sometimes... If institutions are truly willing to tackle the multiple and tangental issues of retention with their own support networks they will loose students for reasons that have nothing to do with quality of teaching and reaching out to students.

School activities should revolve around the student population and their needs

I like to tell stories that connect student life with real world success

Pactical applications of skills will encourage students to learn more. Show them how to make money!

Required mentoring programs, which assign students to their mentors, can be successful as long as the mentoring role is an option & NOT A REQUIREMNET.

Admissions reps need to know their product, backwards & forwards.