Students that are at the right school but dont want to be there
At my school we run into the problem that a student is in the right place for what he wants to become in life, but after a while (mainly when the program becomes difficult) they tend to loose interest, we try to encourage the student and remind him of why he is there. These are normally talks with the student.
Does anyone have more suggestions on how to reach a student and not have to repeat the conversion?
I don't think it's that they really don't want to be there or that they lose interst; I think they get scared. Nobody wants to fail. Does your school have a tutoring program? We offer free tutoring to our students in the afternoon and on Saturdays. You could try to form a student to student tutoring group.
I also think that the excitement wears off and reality sets in. Most of the time they are working, going to school and trying to take care of a family. There is a lot on their plate and they may be overwhelmed. Again, students may be able to help each other.
When the pain exceeds the perceived gain, students leave. You can manage this situation by attacking either or both sides of this equation.
Pain management involves staying tuned in to what is happening with each student - both in and out of the classroom. The sooner you are able to provide support when a student encounters problems, the better your chances of avoiding 'pain'.
Do you track the points of your programs when students frequently become frustrated and drop out? You may find that there are specific danger points in the program. Re-examine how you deliver content, searching for ways to improve. You also may discover that you have a staffing problem, with faculty working to weed out students.
On the 'gain' side, routine reminders about the improved future are useful. Visits from graduates, mentors, and visits to work sites are just a few ways to keep current students connected with their dream. Are you doing these things? What else might you do to energize your students?
We have found that having a gradually intensifying program that starts with an on campus admissions interview, with an upper level administrator, sets the right tone for the student as they progress through the program. Past mistakes we have made include not having admissions interviews with administrators as the last part of admissions and having the program jump from a slow start to much more difficult extremely quickly.
Some of our programs require that the students take a National Exam after graduation in order to get licensed. We ask the students to come back to the school and let us know the results of the test. When they pass, we have them ring a really loud bell up and down the hallway. Usually, all the staff members, faculty and students come out in the hall and clap and cheer. Current students will surround the graduated student and ask them all sorts of questions about the test and how they studied for it and so on. It shows the in school students that success is close and lets the graduated student bask in the accomplishment at hand.
The idea of getting an administrator involved in the admissions process is intriguing. Please tell us more about it - who is involved, how long is the interview, what are they looking for, has it changed your acceptance rate, etc.
It is important to keep students focused on their dream. For students who enroll in career colleges, the dream is typically a new career, something more than just a job. Having placement involved from the very beginning goes a long way in helping keep students focused on that end goal. At our campus, the placement department does workshops/activities starting at orientation and occuring in every classroom every month. Workshops are designed to be fun and interactive and help students with everything from how having a plan enables them to be more successful to identifying their unique talents and skills to being successful on the interview.
I have known instructors who ask new students to write a paragraph or two about their dream. When the student is discouraged, this can be pulled out and given to the student to read to remind them of why they are in school.
Now that's a proactive placement department! It would seem that you must have more people working in that department than is typical. Are these workshops/activities delivered by all the members of the department or do you have someone who specializes in this? Have you been able to measure the impact on retention and/or placement rates?
At our campus of 500 students, we have a placement director and three representatives - I'm not sure how that stacks up in comparison to other schools. The entire department is trained to deliver workshops and shares the responsibility for doing them.
I do not have any hard data on the effectiveness of placement being in the classroom, as a former placement director, I feel that it does have a very positive impact on placement rates.
The current program of 10 workshops was field-tested in several of our company's schools and found to be very successful.
I work at a career college and I like the idea of monthly classroom workshops/activities. What are some of the things that you do with students to keep them interested? We have a few activities that occur, but I feel as though they're losing they're oomph! Fresh ideas to share with our career services department could be very beneficial in sparking the student's interest a little bit more.
10 workshops! What topics do you cover? Are these workshops disbursed over the entire program or concentrated at the beginning and end?
Sara, I'm disappointed that other participants haven't responded to your request but let me offer a few ideas.
Job interviews are always a concern for students. You might consider having graduates do simulated interviews to prepare those who are about to graduate. Another variation: have last semester students interview the students in the group immediately behind them. This will require the 'interviewer' to consider the types of questions that are asked in an interview.
To encourage students to read the help wanted section, placement could place a 'blind box' ad for a fictitious job. Provide a reward to the first student to respond.
Give students an assessment that helps them understand different communication styles [Myers-Briggs, Paragon Learning Style, DISC, etc] Do a workshop that shows them how to 'get on the same wave length' as strangers.
I hope this will trigger some conversation for your and your colleagues.
Thank you very much for your ideas. I really like the idea of using recent grads to help with current grad interviewing, especially from a student who is completing the same program! I feel as though it would really give authenticity to the suggestions that we're giving our students to use in their interviews. In addition, it would appear to be the most up-to-date!
We let our graduates take a lead. Our Career Services Department schedules at least one graduate guest speaker and one employer guest speaker for each progam offered every quarter. This keeps the light at the end of the tunnel visible to current students.
All my managers including myself are required to conduct classroom visits every week and we are always out in the student break areas when the students are on break. You have to take the time to really get to know your students and know what is going on with your students. There is a reason why they are losing interest you just need to find out why.
Great effort, Aaron. What sort of things have you found out by making these close connections? Have you made any changes to the way you do business as a result? Have retention rates improved?
Often I find that students want to be at school, they know they are at the right school, but they do not know how to balance life/ home and school to be able to get to school. Leading and guiding the vision of keeping the end in mind (the new career) may help get them to school everyday.
Martha
What can you do to help students achieve the balance that you refer to? How and who should be involved in helping lead and shape the students' vision of the future?
A pep talk for the entire class on reasons why they are at the school. Remind them everyone hits a wall but to push through til the end.
Tell us more about the pep rally, Kristin. Have you done this yourself? Who is involved? How do you determine when to have this event? How do you measure its impact?
I think sometimes a student needs to be reminded of why they are where they are and where they can possibly go. I like to talk to my students about some sucess stories of people in their field. It really helps to keep them motivated and on track.
