I have found in my College Success class, the first class students take, that offering extra credit truly motivates them to try. After reading through Module 1, specifically with Fact 3. Retention can be enhanced by making changes in the campus environment, I realized how much my extra credit options help students better and voluntarily connect to the class and thus the school. We all feel more motivated after we do well on a test, paper, or assignment. I discovered that extra credit is a way to improve student persistence and came up with more options for them. Most recently I gave them the following extra credit options. In order to get the information, instead of handing it out in class, they had to email me to request it. The topic for the weekend h/w was Time Management, and having them think about the class, and plan for it all works together. So here it is, what I emailed my students that requested the extra credit assignment. Extra Credit Options – 50 points possible First…read chapter 3 in your text…that's your homework and the extra credit is related to time management and prioritizing. 1) Music: Bring music and or the lyrics that relate to time, wasted time, spend time, money or both time and money. All music is based on timing. Write a ½ page – 1 page summary. Can find lyrics at letssingit.com; 2) Nature: Explore how nature has changed overtime. Write a ½ page – 1 page summary on your findings; 3) Quote: See the quotes below; paraphrase each one (what do each mean to you). You can find 4 more quotes related to time and paraphrase them, or you can research -Horace -Spanish Proverbs -Parkinson's Law and H.D. Thoreau; 4) Movie: Watch Broadcast News (I've never seen it, but imagine Blockbuster has a copy), and write a summary discussing the aspects of planning and prioritizing in the movie. Quotes: “Live mindfully of how your brief life is.” -Horace “Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the year.” -Spanish Proverb “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” -Parkinson's Law “You cannot kill time without injuring eternity.” H.D. Thoreau Let me know if you have any questions. Tara

I was thing of having a health/stress mgmthealth fai. How helpful will that be?

I am interested in having a second orientation during the 1st week of class small group setting. Any ideas?

The main concern we have at an online school,is that by the time students are ready to drop, they may have been thinking about it for quite some time, and have been ignored for even longer. The thing we do is we start contacting students after four days of inactivity to try to be proactive in this.

What is typically called the 11 to 1 Ratio?

What are some ideas to create a comfortable campuswhere the students are relaxed and the atmosphere is positive?

What is the EduPreneurial Spirit?

How does Attention = Retention work?

I have great faculty but most do not see the connection between creating an active learning environment and the impact of retention. Meaning, they have a difficult time realizing that if the classroom is not enaging and active, they will lose students. How would you approach "training an old dog new tricks?" Please bare in mind that I am faculty as well but I get the connection :)

Is it beneficial to do some sort of rewards program as an added bonus if students complete with a set period of time?

How do you assign students, and who contacts them? Do you do it by major, category of study, etc? Or do you let the student come to you...

So is there a certain time frame in the semester when you should be looking for contact with the student? Is it closer to mid-way through the semester...?

Our college offers programs that are self-paced, and thus it is harder to raise retention. Is it okay to charge a fee if you take longer than a certain period of time, or will that do more harm than good?

I had over 35 years experience in my field before I started teaching it. It really helps to be a "content expert" when you have day-to-day experience you can share with your students. Also sharing blunders on the job as well as successes lets them know they will learn even more when they actually get into the workplace.

Older students who are afraid they won't fit in or won't do as well as those students who are 18 or 19 and fresh out of high school - They need to know they have strengths that will benefit the entire class. Older students usually have more focus. They are a settling influence on the younger students who many times look up to them and ask for advice.

Curious to hear success stories with this application!

If so, how has it been effective in reducing or relieving student related stress? Who would direct such a program?

Attrition/retention training is never complete. In order to improve we must train our faculty over and over again to gain a better outcome.

We need to know what motivates our students.

We find that our new students are often less engaged at the beging of their program and often drop from their program within their first month. What sugestion do we have to wove them in enaging them the minute they first set foot on campus?