Expectations and Satisfaction
What does your institution do to assure that student expectations are being met and that they are satisfied?
Our school utilizes the 'student survey' system to canvas student satisfaction. In addition, each student meets one-on-one with the Director of Education and the Placment Officer at least 4 times during thier tenure with us to discuss grades, attendance, satisfaction and any other issues they may have.
At the end of each term, students are given an opportunity as part of instructor/class evaluations to make comments about not only the instructor, but about any other area of concern. Many students ask questions, provide compliments, and air dissatisfactions. All evaluations are tallied, and all comments are included in the report given to instructors when they turn in paper work at the end of the term. These same comments are submitted to the administration.
In addition to the student evaluations each term, the Noel-Levitz survey has been used on at least one occasion.
Laura, welcome to RT101
Thanks for you input about using student surveys. Do you provide any feedback to students who do more that simply answer to survey questions? Is participation as robust with “upperclassmen†as the entering students?
How useful was the Noel-Levitz survey?
The strong teacher-student relationship, like any relationship, is based on trust and communication. Before a student enrolls at our academy, we take the time to learn about each student: what are their goals and aspirations? What motivates them? What are their expectations? Albeit more time consuming, personal attention makes students want to continue their education.
Right on point, Lily. Students appreciate the extra effort at the front end and feel that the school is interested in their success, not just their money. How do you share this information with faculty and support staff?
Although this question wasn't intended for me, I wanted to jump in here and also suggest that academic advisors can also help build these front end relationships early on in the student's education. I am working in an online education department and we have made this "extra effort at the front end" Loren refers to a huge priority.
Academic advisors reach out to contact students very early on in their program of study, to welcome them to the program, answer questions and discuss not only what the student expectations of the college are but also what the college's expectations of the students are. This establishes a relationship with the academic advisor very early on. (It also helps to de-bunk any potential myths students learned in the admissions process.)
Teri
Lily,
I think it is essential that faculty continue to nurture the relationship you mentioned here. Many instructors build this into the first day of their courses. For example, when providing the syllabus, they will have students fill out a contact sheet that also addresses questions such as:
1. Why did you choose to start school?
2. If you ever start having difficulties in school, what can I tell you to help motivate you?
3. What would cause you to drop out of school?
This kind of information is priceless! Also, I think this type of exercise could be done term after term and not just in the front end courses. This way, students are constantly being reminded of what their goals were and why they chose to attend school in the first place--that cannot hurt!
-Teri
I would be interested in hearing more about this Noel-Levitz survey. Can you tell me a little more about it? What would be the value in using this type of survey over others?
Thanks,
Teri
Bill, our school also uses the student surveys you mention; however, I was impressed by the one-on-one meetings with both the Director of Education and the Placement Officers. That seems like it would be a huge undertaking and time investment. How big is your student body? How does your DOE organize these meetings?
At my institution, our students interact with their academic advisors, but not on such a formal and organized basis. The problem with NOT having them meet in an organized fashion is that those students who don't have any problems kind of slip through the cracks. Advisors end up spending lots of time with problem students and barely any time with the more successful students.
Anyway, it sounds like your method does prevent those students (or any students) from slipping through the cracks. Interesting stuff...
Teri
In on-line programs, it is very important to establish a relationship based on trust early in the program as you suggest Teri. On-line studies require a lot of self motivation. Connecting with an advisor provides a little extra motivation – the student doesn’t want to let them down.
It sounds like your advisors and admissions people are in different departments. I believe in some on-line programs these functions are handled by the same person. This is intended to manage “potential myths learned in the admission process†because the same person will have to face the issues later.
Teri, I'll be interested in hearing about others' experience with Noel-Levitz also. We used their College Student Inventory at my school a long time ago. We discontinued it because it only gave us a snapshot of the student at a moment in time – usually at Orientation when they didn't know what pressures they would face. The drop-out proneness scale simply indicated those people who tend to challenge authority [eg faculty], but did little to identify those people who would struggle in the classroom or who would have transition issues. The pressures in a student’s life are constantly changing and we wanted a more dynamic tool.
On a day I have new starts we always take 15 minutes or so to become aquainted. During this time the entire class fills out a new index card that I keep. On this card is the following info...
name, nickname, 3 phone #, brief history of your life and what are your goals, and what is the one thing that will keep you going...Move you when you dont want to ,or get you up when your down,...When I need to I use this information .
This is a great practice, Jeannette. Do you have students who are reluctant to share or who really don't know what motivates them?
We use student satisfaction surveys just before the middle of the quarter and instructor critiques toward the end of the quarter. We get a lot of comments on those, both good and bad, that we use to improve.
If students believe that you value their input and will make a good faith effort to respond, they will give you some great ideas. However, if they don't see any results from their comments and suggestions, they will quickly tire of the exercise and ignore the surveys. How do you communicate your institution's responses to these comments, Sarah? Who decides what the action will be?
The surveys are read by the school's director and all department managers. Any negative comments or complaints are handled by the manager for the particular department. The student's name is on the form, so we can talk to the student to see what is going on, try to remedy the problem, or explain why the situation is what it is if it can't be changed. The student's do see our responsiveness to their comments, so they know that they are read and handled.
Thanks, Sarah. Seems that you have a well defined procedure in place.
In our school the students are introduced to the Academic Environment at the Admission office and during a Orientation class.Unfortunately, We don't have Professional Advisors. Stablishing an Instructor-Student relationship is very important. It start from the student's first day of class. Adding your qustions to our emergency information form would be a huge help.
Thanks,
Identifying actions that would be helpful is a good place to start, Miriam. How will you take the next step to making this a reality?
