Retention can be defined in many aspects at any institution. The responsiblity to retatin students are placed upon faculty, staff and school administration. Additionally, the student has a responsbility to work with staff and faculty to maintain school work and reach out for adequate resources when needed. We all are responsibile for assuring the proper education of each student at the learning institution. Resources should be readily made available through departments.

One of the key requirements that I often find in job openings posts is "ability to work well individually and as a team." I believe that by promoting group activities in the classroom, not only will this give students the opportunity to work together as a team, but it will also give them the opportunity to learn more about their classmates and interact with them. I prefer assigning groups instead of allowing people to choose their groups because they will automatically group up with people they are familiar with, thereby limiting their chance of getting to learn more about their peers. Also, a student would be more likely to ask support from a classmate who he or she is familiar with (whether it's help on homework, a ride to class, or further explanation of the classwork). Whatever the case, I believe that group interaction in the classroom promotes the sense of feeling like a family, and fosters student retention.

It is important to maintain high retention rates. Some withdrawals are necessary and avoidable, and there is nothing that the faculty members or the institution can do to avoid the withdrawal. However, it is the unnecessary withdrawals that these modules focus on. The key to avoiding unnecessary student withdrawals is early detention and prevention. Unnecessary withdrawals occur because of stressors. There are hordes of organizations and services setup to deal with these stressors. The instructor has more contact with the students than any other faculty on the campus. Good faculty will make themselves available and accessible and show that they care about their students. They do this by building rapport with their students. Once rapport is built, the faculty member will be able to pick up on certain things, even when the student keeps the issue to him/herself. For example, someone who usually participates a lot in class suddenly becomes quite, more disinterested, as though there’s a lot on his/her mind. This is a flag indicator that something has happened in this student’s life, the onset of a stressor. The instructor may not be able to solve the student’s problem, but as long as s/he is knowledgeable of the services that the institution offers, the instructor can put the student in touch with the right person. Right person, right place, right time equals alleviated stressor and greater potential at the student remaining and succeeding.

Customer service skills are very important. It should be explained to student the importance of customer service in their future endeavor.

We should get to know the student as a whole. A student can not be effective if we do not address other issues that may inhibit the student from learning. Comprehension with our adult students can be an issue can be an issuen. If they are involed with students of younger ages, they may not grasp the informatuon as a quick.

The presence of faculty during the initial orientation is of greta important to most students. A brief contact with faculty could go long ways with the future students. Actually, that can be the convincing factor in getting the individual to accept it's new reality as an "student". Unfortunately, in our industry (for-profit) only a selected group of faculty is ever present during orientation. Mainly the administration and departments chairs are the main event performers at orientations. Various entities used different aprroaches to the handling of students and the information distributed during orientation. Is this type of operation help out students with acclimatization? Most certainly the answer is "NO". Sometimes a brief tour of the campus and departments does not arouse the curiousity of the future students. But what about the interaction with instructors baking some cookies and letting the future student take there product home. Now, that is awakening to a major experience. In conclusion involvement needs to be at a deeper level than just tour the facilities.

I had been a academic administrator in the education private sector for the last eight years and I have to say that sometimes our handling of students expectations are shortsighted. We promised the world to our studentd during the enrollment process and once reality sets down after the hand-off from admission to academics stories quickly change. Adult learners are usually returning to school in response to changes in their life and after many years of not been enroll in an educational program but this two factors do not make them less knowledgeable or deserving consumers. In all actuallity because of their life experiences they demand a lot more from the institution when it comes to quality of education and services provided. In summary we must be certain of what we offer our students and that we have what it takes to deliver education and services that meet the expectations of our student. Remember they are the reason that we are in business!

I really liked the diagram and intervention cycle. I do this process with my students naturally, but it is great to see why it is effective. I have had plenty of times with student that were stuck and had difficulty reasoning out alternative to current life circumstances. How have you handled it?

I think all of us as managers have discovered June, July, and August to be the most significant drop in retention. For the most, part there are issues concerning child care and finance. Most of our students are the sole providers of their families and most work during times kids are out of school during summer months. In Texas, a child cannot stay alone in a home unless they are 14 years old. This is a huge factor when it comes to a student making a decision to stay in school versus their children compliance to state laws as well as their safety at home.

What does one suppose to do during economic crisis to create student activities to reduce retention? Most of us have problem faced extremely tight budgets because of our country's economic crisis. Give me some ideas, please to assist with this acute problem.

Identify 3 specific steps you will take within the next 30 days to improve retention at your institution. Step 1: Contact each learner in one’s classroom in at least three different ways each week. This might include an email, an Announcement, and a response to a discussion posting. Other options include assignment feedback or emailing an Adviser if a student has stopped participating and responding. The key here is to either know that all students are participating, or to alert the student’s Adviser that the student may need special attention. Step 2: At the start of each term, send out a welcome email that answer common questions, offers clarity about the class expectations, and encourages questions and comfort. Make sure to receive a response from each learner. Step 3: During the first week of class, personally email any leaner that is not active. If that learner cannot be contacted, alert the Adviser to pursue the student further.

Academic Erosion (AE) and Academic Stagnation (AS) Instructors can offer significant assistance to help students to avoid AE and AS. When I look back at my PhD program, I can remember moments of struggle, of frustration, of stagnation, and of apathy and erosion. Achieving and adhering to a long-term academic program, completing each progress, adapting to new requirements, avoiding GAS, and maintaining confidence and determination can prove to be one of the largest struggles a person might face. Yet, students face these struggles every day. They wonder, “am I doing the right thing?”, “am I not spending enough time with my family?”, “do I really need to do this right now?”, and so on. These doubts, combined with the pressures of learning and making time in an already full life, can often lead to depression, erosion, stagnation, and then if not addressed, attrition. How can teachers prevent attrition? We can understand, sympathize, empathize, and assist. We can offer guidance and can let learners know that they are not alone. Constant communication and positive feedback and great starting points; when students know that they have someone who understands and someone they can count on, they feel less inclined to give up. I often email my students to check on how they are doing and feeling. Manny Academic Institutions offer support groups, learning labs, student services, and counselors and advisers who are also there to help.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) So often, we find that low retention and GAS can coincide, and can create strain. The first step is to recognize that GAS can occur at any time and to any learner. While we cannot always stop GAS, we can certainly offer methods to lessen its affects both on the learner and on others. It must be realized that GAS can not only affect a single learner, but can create a cascading effect that can result in lower spirits. For example, many courses contain teams or groups. If even one learner in a group is suffering from GAS, the remaining group members can immediately feel uncomfortable. A fellow instructor posted, “The same thing that affects new student also effect new hires within the career filed. We call GAS reality shock in the nursing field. Most grads burn out the first year. We build in our curriculum achievable mile markers to encourage the students to continue to work hard and learn. We also discuss reality shock, as a normal process to growing and learning and coping strategies to manage it; such as, our new students are taught skill by our mature students in our program (since they can enter anywhere in the wheel). The mentoring helps the new students develop camaraderie.” This excellent example notes that any area of study, especially those that require a significant or new effort, can easily cause GAS in learners. How can we avoid GAS or help to mitigate it? From an Instructor Viewpoint, GAS is always a possibility from any learners, whether new to the program, or a veteran. As such, our best line of defense is “shock reduction”. If learners understand and can relate to a program that they are entering, through kindness, communication, and discussion, perhaps in many cases, GAS can be avoided.

A Commitment to the Students Academic Institutions generally offer wonderful resources and services for students. These include Student Services Offices, Student Learning Labs, Student centers, Student Teams and Clubs, Student Outreach groups, Student Financial Aid programs, Student tutoring, and more. Most Academic Institutions spend a considerable amount of resources on creating a student-centered learning environment with mutual respect, flexibility, clarity, special programs, and a multitude of majors and learning options. Similarly, students often have the choice to attend school traditional, online, or a combination of both – depending on the program. Many schools offer short term lengths and accelerated programs. Schools have additional programs or flexibility for military learners, challenged learners, and special needs learners. In short, the entire focus of most Academic Institutions is the learner and the learner success.

Customer Service is a phrase that is used to describe the process of taking care of our customers in a positive manner. I believe customer service is a number one priority that brings more students to our institution.

What does your institution do to assure that student expectations are being met and that they are satisfied? First, it is important to define student expectations. In most cases, students have realistic, important, and progressive expectations. They expect clarity, communication, honesty, integrity, flexibility, and availability. As such, many Academic Institutions take special care to talk to each student personally and help them enter the program. Next, most Academic Institutions offer or require a student orientation; an area in which a student can learn about the platform, the expectations, the requirements, the navigation, etc. Students are general told that they can expect frequent and variable form communication from their instructor, email responses within 24 hours or less, interaction in the classrooms and discussion areas, grading feedback, and clarity of policy. Similarly, students are told what cannot be expected. For example, students cannot expect to earn a grade without completing the required course elements at a certain level of requirement, even if that student has paid for the class. Each Academic Institution explains not only what can be expected but also what it expects. This wonderful balance maintains a high degree of integrity and success.

What are some strategies to manage retention of adults in higher education and adult learning? Our problems with many students are what was discussed in the course RT 101: socio economics, first college students of their generation, unpreparedness for college.... What can we do when the student fall into these categories of stress?

I began my career as an instructor in a traditional classroom. I greeted my students with a smile at the door the first day of class, called when they were absent, and used break time to get to know individuals on a personal level. Once they completed my course, I would regularly run into students in the hall or library and check in with how things were going. Since moving off campus and online, it has been a struggle to create and maintain these same connections with students. I respond to each student's introduction, send welcome messages/emails, make contact if so many days pass between their participation posts in discussion, and post encouraging responses in discussion as well as quality feedback for assignments. However, if a student has chosen to not contribute to discussion or sign in, I have limited means with which to get a hold of the student and no ability to "run into" them. How might we translate the role of model, mentor, and monitor more effectively in the online setting? To what extent does an asynchronous environment allow these techniques to be employed effectively?

I always try to make a good connection with our students, either from a shared experience (our median age for students is very close to mine), similar background, taste in music or more importantly my time as a student in the same school. I've found that one conversation at the right moment can be monumental in motivating a student to achieve more.

As an educator, I personally believe that administration needs to make sure we "know why" they are implementing policies or procedures. More often than not, business partners or admin will come out with a new initiative and, for whatever reason, fail to explain why it is needed (or their explanation is insufficient). If you keep us informed, give us an opportunity to be heard about what we think of these changes (heck, make us think we have some say in it even if we don't!), then new goals, policies, etc., will be easier to accept and transition to.