disinterested students
From time to time there will be a student who is attending school as a stepping stone to achieve a reqirement to reach another training program. What do you do with someone who just doesn't have any interest in the program.
A student that doesn't have an interest in the program can sometime, lacks the motivation, their heart can be into their career goals; however their mind is not quite ready for the dedication. As a career specialist, I would assess this student, by listening to his career goals, and then together we will setup a six month plan for him to follow. I would show a positive interest in him by giving him positive encouragement.
Your sincere interest in your students will have a strong impact on them, Moszetta. When a student feels this kind of support from someone within the school, they will work harder to overcome problems because they don't want to disappoint someone who has such confidence in them. Keep up the good work.
I think that some students loose interest in the programs because they were placed on a career
path that just didn't fit their needs and they are too far along in the program to switch their majors.
I believe that one of the fundamental responsibilities that higher ed institutions has is to assure that our entering students are informed consumers. We have the responsibility to make sure that the student fully understands the commitments – educationally and financially – that they are making. This includes making sure that the student understands the career path they are choosing. This requires good communication between the admissions staff and the educators. Is that the situation at your school?
I think that this is a wonderful way to get a student motivated to become more interested in thier program. I have sat with students in the past and having them verbalize thier goals can help to get them re-excited about thier programs. I believe we all need to be reminded that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and if we press on we will get there.
Steven Covey talks about starting with the end in mind, Louisa. That's the case with students, but you're right, they need to re-visit those objectives periodically to get re-charged.
I agree with you Loren. I also agree with helping the student re-visit their original goals and intentions with the program. During our admissions interview, each applicant is required to write a response to the following statement:
"I want to be recommended for admission to (School) because:"
The student then writes the reasons why he or she wants to be recommended by the representative for acceptance. The serious ones comment on what the program offers them that they want and what qualities they possess that make them feel they have what it takes to be successful within the program. The representative is then required to write a statement that reflects why he or she is willing to recommend the student. Copies of both statements are kept on file and also given to the student as a reminder of our initial belief in them and their own belief in themselves and our program.
We pull it out when to reflect with the student when in doubt during the year. It helps themm formulate discussion on their goals, changes, etc., which is helpful in getting a meaningful point to the problem at hand.
Reflecting upon our mission statement is a must for all employees. It is posted in large poster size prints on campus so all employees and students see it everyday numerous times. It reminds staff to remember the mission and support it and it helps students remember what they came for and how it will be delivered.
Long winded, so much to say. Hopefully, this gets my point across.
It conveys your point beautifully, Tammy. The admissions process you describe is a very powerful one, and establishes your culture at the very beginning of a student's contact with the school.
How effective is the ubiquitous presence of the mission statement? Do you ever take time in staff meetings to re-visit examples of how this is a living concept?
I believe the mission statement continues to make an impact each day. I actually have seen students photograph it, copy it down into their notebooks etc. I know they expect us to live up to it as much as we want to. It means a lot to them to know we care and that we put our statement out in front of all to remind them what they are getting and what we are giving, remind us when we aren't living up to the mission. We still take time to revisit the statement and examples of it frequently. You can't forget it's there or we could fall. Even pro ball players have to get back to basics at times.
I just finished an economics course in which the instructor obviously did not care about her students. The course went from a class size of 48 to 12 by the end of the semester. When the instructor has no confidence and does not try to encourage her students is a huge cause for students to drop courses.
I've always maintained [based largely on my personal experience] that attendance is an accurate measurement of an instructor's ability to engage their students. Your experience suggests that may be true in this case.
How do you monitor this in your school?
There will always be disinterested students and solving all of their issues will never be in our best interest. Students may be in our school because of parental pressures or possibly a lack of understanding concerning a particular career path. Then there are those who are simply immature and still believe that the world revolves around them and lack the work ethic to accoplish their goal. There are many reasons and the list is endless. The goal is to be able to work as a team from admissions to career services. If we put the best and the brightest in front of them and give them all that they pay for and then some, we will still have disinterested students from time to time. These are the students that just make it by. These are the students that go out and give our institutions a bad name and if we are lucky they may just end up in another career. Please don't misunderstand what i am saying. We should always try to motivate where possible and we should always try and get to the bottom of the problem and try and resolve it but, frankly, i beleive that we do have some "low hanging fruit" and we should recognize it for what it is and turn our full attention to those who desire it.
Do you have any suggestions on how to avoid enrolling the students you have described, Stephen? Avoiding the problem would be better than perpetuating it.
While some students are looking for the next step, I teach a class that is actually a history class for thier minds. The subjects I teach are the old technology. I like this class and try to teach it as a stepping stone to the new technology that they will be working on. Also in my field the customer who will be served by my graduates expects thier technician to be more knowledgable than they, the customer, is. My problem is one of some students come for all the knowledge and others are there just for thier personal favorite. I try to tie the lesson to the history and my personal experiances. And face it some classes are just better than others.
