Retention
One aspect of good retention is student interest and satisfaction. Students persist because they see value in the material they are learning. The challenge of an educational manager is how to get the faculty to make their courses or presentations interesting. What can be done in the classes that will make a student want to come to school the next day?
Students have the uncanny ability to see through instructors. They quickly decide who is truly engaged with the subject material and his/her students. I believe that it is important to create an environment within the school for faculty members to share best practices and have the opportunity to feed off the success and enthusiasm of their peers. Participating in outside meetings and forums can also be a reward for performance as well as source of new ideas.
Does your institution have an active classroom observation program? When instructors know that they will be observed and evaluated on their instructional techniques and how they interact with students, they get the message that these skills are important and are valued.
Our faculty director use to visit classroom ramdomly every part of term. But all of the instructors are evaluated in every course they deliver. Based on evaluation results an intervention is programmed and action plan for the professor
The faculty receives training and seminar since the first time. our modules are based on constructivism, soinstructional techniques are very very important.
Students not only want to see value in the material they are learning but also want to know how the classes relate to their chosen field. It is important for the instructors to bring in examples from real life situations and incorporate them into their discussions. This gives the students a better understanding of why they have to learn the subject, makes it interesting, and encourages the students to return to hear more.
I certainly agree with you, Louise. Students routinely challenge faculty about why they need to know subject matter. The days of "because I said so" are gone.
It also seems that students eventually discount or ignore things that an instructor says. We found that having outside speakers - recent graduates, employers, etc. - was an effective way to re-inforce and validate points made in the classroom.
What do you do to make the material interesting?
I teach Lab Courses in Microsoft Office. After the students have completed an assigned lab, I ask them "What is it that they have created, and how would it be used?" This makes them think and increases their interest. Also if a Chart or Graph is part of the assignment, I ask them to interpret the information that it is trying to present. The above seems to help the students internalize and appreciate the material presented rather than just following the steps presented on each exercise.
Hopefully the interest created and association of practical use of the information will cause the students to want to be in class and thus help with retention.
Every activity that validates the purpose for being in the classroom is positive for the student. Do you get resistance from students about being able to interprete the charts and graphs because they don't see that exercise as relevant to their objective?
