I think my institution stays at the leading edge of technology and traing which ensures satisfaction and meets expectations.
We talk to them, we try to find out what the student expectations are then adapt our program as best we can to meet the student needs within the guidlines of the program.
The student is given a tour from the sales. Then the teachers are constantly meeting with each other to get the help to the students as well as given awards when they have perfect attendance and good grades. We have a president's list and a director's list. The students walk past the DOE office and you hear comments on how they want to be on that list. We have updated equipment in the clinical and the teachers keep up with the updated material.
Teamwork is essential and we show how we all can work together to make it more relaxed atmosphere in learning. We raise money for various charities with the help from the student council.
Occassionally we have field trips so they can see how former students working in their field. Sometimes we have a former student to come back and tell them how their extern went and how they were hired.
I keep an open door policy especially during their breaks. I walk around the school before it starts to see if the students are getting settled and if not what can I do to make it a better day.
constant communication throughout the institution is integral to acomplish this.
We have an extentsive orientation called Jump Start to prepare new students for school, and address their concerns. In the classroom we continue to relate our work experiences as it will relate to their future careers.
We try use a variety of evaluation tools to ensure that student expectations are being met. However measuring satisfaction can be tricky, when you ask a student if their expectations are being met, they may not answer honestly, particularly if they are disgrulntled. They may choose to just withdraw from the school. A new Web-based intervention systems is a great way to create a non-confrontational, non-judgmental, confidential, way for students to express their true feelings.
However, the best evidence of student satisfaction can be answered with one simple question:
Would you recommend this school to a friend or family member?
This question can be asked in a survey or exit interview.
Quite a list of things to do, congratulations. Our school has over 1000 students so I don't know if our DOE has the time for all of this. A lot of the responsibility falls to the Program Directors. As in all schools the front line, the faculty, are the ones that we relieve on to keep current with what is happening with individual students. We than put a plan of action in place with follow-up on our level if necessary.
Well done. I hope these meetings and communication have been effective.
... and then. How has this feedback impacted what you do or how you do it?
We use a survey at the end of every rotation (3 week class) that gets their feed back. The survey covers everything from the instructors preparation and attitute to the interactions they have with our office staff and other personnel as well as the cleanliness of the school. We address any issues that arise. We also talk to any student that put his name on the survey, as a way to get more clarification from them of what they meant and to answer any questions they may have about what we have or can do about their issue.
We give our students written material to read, lecture and demonstrations on how to do the projects, hands on practice with the projects along with any answers they may have about the projects while the are working on the projects.
Sounds like a pretty typical format, Choppy. How do you measure the effectiveness of the model? Student performance on assessments? Survey responses? Observation?
Point well taken, Tracy. Open ended survey questions tend to ask "what's bothering you?" and call for a response. Students who have no complaint are led to identifying a problem.
A more proactive approach is to ask if they would like help with ...
Faculty are indeed the primary of point of contact with students. What does your school do to encourage them to be proactive in identifying students who need some form of support?
Are the feedback questions the same each rotation or do you vary the areas of inquiry? What is the threshold for action - ie how many students have to identify a problem before action is taken?
One of the methods employed by our institution is the use of a critiques. Critiques are filled out by students at the end of every cours. This allows us to obtain student feedback and asses satisfaction levels. Critiques are kept anonymous unless a student requests a follow up and then the source is kept confidential except for those in management. Any dicontent voiced by students is addressed. Follow up interviews are conducted and allow a more personal touch and further understanding of the students concerns. Critiques are conducted every three weeks.
At the end of each three week rotation the students are asked to critique the course content, instructor knowledge of subject matter and overall class experience.
I have noticed that giving advisments. (Witch is a written paper that tells the student they have missed time or have been late to many times as well may be given for other reasons). This document seems to help with informing the student where they stand. Weather it means that he/she is falling behind to the student is just not paying attention in class. We believe a lot in one on one comunication there are several of us instructors that are graduats from this school and to be able to know how they feel is very helpful and what they are going through.
We are working closingly with admissions to make sure we are all on the same page with what the student will see and do.
