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.

No matter what gender, social economic status you are who relaxed and perfect you may try to be...stress will never go away and will always be present. The brain never stops entertaining the very things that you try to suppress. That even though you may not express it out loud how your feeling or dealing, your body also can get the best of you and make you have a mental and physical break down. So yes, taking necessary breaks away from my desk, getting off campus, running an errand, listening to music whatever you must do, to heal you relieve some of the stress is very helpful than nothing at all.

Externship is a valuable ground for student job readiness. The process helps students to prepare and builds on their personal goals. But it should still start at campus, with faculty enforcing postive retention.

Student "Bonding" is very much a retention value. Students start sharing their fears and experience and support each other. I think all faculty should encourage these types of integration.

I think its important to recognize great efforts amongst a team involving customer service. I know amongst my team that we often sit and have a breakfast and discuss challenging situations and how we faced them. As important as it is to give excellent customer service- I think its just as important to reward you team for efforts well done- so they can continue to have the positive effective attitude. How would you work with your team to keep the positive effective attitude they need to provide the best customer service possible?

Career services during school enrollment is important in assisting students to find jobs at the end of last semester and post graduation.

Student involvement with school associations are important. This experience will help in feeling a part of a group and that your role as the student will cause the student to feel important.

Retention can be improved by implementing a well thought out plan before the class starts. Have clear goals and easily understood expectation. I also wonder if it would be beneficial to allow the students to make choices so they feel more in control with the course. For example, if it is an English class, let the students choose topics for the papers.

Introducing mentorship during the orientation process would have a positive feedback on student retention.

We need to intervene early. Time is of the essence and if you wait too long it makes the situation worse.

In addition to providing efficient instructors, you need programs in place to assist struggling learners. There needs to be programs in place to assist students with additional academic needs.

The length of time a prospective student spend researching the school does affect the retention process positively.

Working together as a whole is always going to make the school as a whole a much better place to work

I feel that students are our greatest customers because as a school we are creating a wonderful place for them to shop with their minds and dream of bigger things

Faculty has a lot of course preparation to deal with. Yes, retention is important. However, the main role a faculty should have to play is identifying the at risk students and inform the right personnel. This should be done if the problem the student is having might affect them academically.

I like to mentor my students as much as possible. to me this is the key to teaching success.

I believe the students should be exposed to this conversation at orientation. Here at the orientation we should have the necessary personnel at the orientation to introduce themselves and their roles so the new students can know the go to person....

Although retention starts in the admissions process. It's in orientation that you build in the foundation for retention strategies.