Instructors cannot be all things to all people. When you have the knowledge and expertise to handle a student concern, then by all means do so. However, when the concern is beyond your ability to help, always leave the student with options (hope), by using the referral process. Maybe you cannot personally resolve a student concern, but there is another resource person or agency that can.

Retention strategy begins upon admission by group orientation that educates students on proper study habits, test preparation skills, editing term papers, fostering a sense of "learning community" consisting of supporting the academic success of your peers and receiving support from your peers.

I taught in middle school in Africa for several years and discovered that when the student were getting squirrely that if we got them up and out of their seat and had them sing a nonsense song they could again concentrate for another hour. I tried this with a university group and it work just as well.

I think it is very easy for instructors to forget our student are customers. We tend to think of them as people who should be wanting to learn, forgetting that they may not know 'how' to learn or how to study. I am frequently surprised at how busy and crowded my students homes are and how little time they have to study; let alone know how to organize sufficiently enough to study well.

I know that I myself respond very well to positive feedback from others, praise or 'good job', but was raised with critism and find myself thinking critically. It is something I have found I need to watch with my students.

How can we continue to motivate students if jobs are not readily available?

I believe the establishing a bond with every student is key to retention. Before the start of each class, I like to share stories about my day at my dental office and would ask if anyone has anything they would like to share. This opens the communication door.

I feel the orientation process is a great way for the student to gain information about the school their about to attend. I also believe the instructors need to be involved with the orientation so that the students can meet the instructors.

I like the idea of having an admission check list. However, I feel the check list is sometimes set aside to fill a seat. When this happens you get students that are really not motivated to be there, cause problems, and often interrupts the learning process of other students. Everyone deserves an education, but where is the line drawn to eliminate what we know will be a problem student. I like the idea a an admission check list, but I like the idea of a motivation check list even better!

It is very easy for one negative person to tear the team apart. How can you encourage positivity to someone that is so negative and not interested in anything? Even after surrounding that person with positive people.

I noticed one of my students (who is normally engaged in my lecture) was having a bad night. I pulled this student aside and asked if she was ok. She explained to me that she was having issues at home. I told her to take five minutes to gather herself and not to worry about the things that are out of her control, and if there was I could do she could come to me. She was very happy that I allowed her to take care of home first so she could focus of her education.

Our students are our customer. So as instuctors or what ever your job title, we need to be great at selling our product, which is education.

Without question, I try to be more than just an instructor to my students. By doing so it makes it easier for them to come to me when they have an issue in or out of school.

As program directors we should take the lead in developing resources for students that exhibit testing anxiety.

By using past clinical experiences we will refresh or remind students of their initial goals.

We must work towards reducing student anxiety issues and have them more comfortable to present issues affecting them.

Society benefits from better graduation numbers by having more students successfully enter the work force and decrease those needing government assistance.

I believe that when the students bond together as a team they can support each other and are more likely to stay in the program. I teach composition and one of the tactics I incorporate into the classroom is working on the student's public speaking skills. I provide weekly topics and ask them to organize their thoughts into 3 talking points and share them with the class. I review elements of good public speaking skills in accordance with Toast Masters. After the student presents on a topic the audience then critiques the speaker by pointing out what they did well to keep them engaged and offers suggestions on how to engage the audience better next time. I have found this to be very helpful because the students get to know each other better and bond as a unit. They also learn that they can seek each other for academic and personal friendships.

We as a team works to promote retention, success and gain the knowledge. School of nursing is a challenge for everyone who is enrolled. Faculty- students need to be focused, use adequately our time and resources. Its an accelerated program. A good tools is always motivated students with a real life experience, where they see reflected the topics we are teaching. Also students loved break down concepts on the board instead of just following slides. Challenge questions and lab skills support classroom lectures.

Mystery Shoppers at our institution are common. It actually keeps the staff on their toes. Every new potential student is viewed as a Mystery Shoppers. So to make sure that we always bringing our "A Game" we provide always the best customer service possible from the moment that individual enters the door the till the moment that they are hired by an employer. Not to mention we hate negative reviews even though they are positively charged for our benefit.