How often is the advisement tool used? Is there a limit to the number that a particular student can receive before some action is taken? Who tracks the system?
Specifically, what are you doing with admissions? This is important and it would be useful to other schools who want to set up a system.
They, the administration or department heads, are willing to meet with a student when asked to by the student who may have any questions. An instructor, like myself, will do the best to teach them so that they learn and can take what they learn with them and use in their next class and in their life.
Setting students expectations begins with the impression you make on a prospective student. This could be the physical appearance of your school and the demeanor of your employees. When we bring in prospective students the first person to meet with them is there Admissions Representative, so this individual can set student expectations. At our school our admissions department is trained on what the expectations of our students are in the classrooms so they can set the correct expectations for our prospective/incoming students. This includes explaining to prospective students the time commitment they are making which includes homework outside of class. We had some issues a few years ago with a few Admission Reps telling students they would not have homework outside of class. Obviously the students expected no homework but were sorely surprised when every class had homework and with different degrees of difficulty. When this was reported to our Administration department this issue was immediately corrected and they changed their training and intensified on-going training which includes instructors as special guests at some training sessions to give classroom insight to the Admissions team. After the student begins classes it is the instructor’s job and other employees ensure the students’ expectations are being met. One way to help instructors gauge this is by reading student evaluations. If any issues arise they can be corrected.
Our school uses student surveys asking specific questions such as if the syllabus was explained, did class start and end on time, was the material presented in a organized manner, and were your expectations met. It also asks questions about the instructors knowledge of the subject matter, accessibility, and did the instructor give constructive feedback.
We do the following:
1. Student satisfaction surveys every term. I collate them myself from SurveyMonkey.com and distribute to Program Directors for discussion with their faculty.
2. Real-world experience in the classroom.
3. Externships
4. Guest Speakers and Field Trips
5. Student services department (we call them our fairy Godmothers)
6. Faculty buy-in to the mission of Changing Futures, Changing Lives
We communicate daily with students and listen to their concerns. We relate text materials to onthe job duties, which will prepare them for employment.
Our school has started a student group that they use to survey the student population to find out about the students' experiences and expectations. They then work with our Retention comitee to relay this information to the staff.
Constant evaluation and monitoring and keeping open lines of communication.
We have a meeting weekly that includes program chairs,admissions,financial aid,DOE ,etc. We discuss each student that has been absent and the result of our communication with them.We are assigned students we are responsible to communicate with via Campus Vue. we are held accountable for each student in our school and work as a unit to determine the best way to help each student.
This is checked through Campus Vue which gives details of student/instructor interaction.
We have a chain of command that first involves the instructor;then Program Director;then DOE;and finally Campus Director. We communicate closely with each other and have a weekly meeting that formally addresses retention and other topics.This system seems to work realy well in keeping small issues from becoming overwhelming. We catch things in the early stages and try to develop an action plan that satisfies the student and the school. The ultimate gaol being graduation and employment.
We use a student survey after each course completion.
Our institution utilizes several different modalities to ensure that student expections are met. We have quarterly student surveys that provides insight into individual student experiences. We ensure availablility of staff members with a complete open door policy. In addition to the open door policy faculty members are encouraged to "get to know" each student by name to establish an instant raport with each student. Instructor led mid-term evaluations are done to identify at risk students who are then referred to the proper staff member to address indivual concerns. We are encouraged to work as a team to maximize student satisfaction and to collectivly attempt to meet all student expectations.
We incorporate many of the techniques provided on this website such as student appreciation day, student services center, student mentoring program, externship program to name a few. We could improve on student entrance exams that would measure their true skill sets.
We too have an "open door" policy. Students are able to bring concerns to their instructor (or any instructor they are comfortable with). They also have the option to go beyond that to the lead instructors, the VP and even the president. They can also take their concerns to any department they feel necessary, registrar, student services, admissions, etc.
My Institution works to set expectations during a student orientation and instructor orientation for online courses. Further we provide rubrics for grading and have consistent means for calculating grades and attendance so students are treated fairly across instructors. The trick though is getting the student to understand this and actually follow it.
I do know that we are looking to expand upon our orietation courses as I believe too many students still don't understand what expectations are for online courses. Meaning - they don't understand what an effective discussion response is, what APA format is, How often they should post messages, what a quality response should be for assignments, etc.
The school administers evaluations of the faculty and courses but I'm not sure they survey students re. overall satisfaction. While new-student orientation starts establishing expectations, I don't know exactly what those expectations are.
It is set in motion with listening to student expectations voiced during student orientation. From there, assurance is provided through a number of avenues, such as monitoring by accreditation agencies, complying with what is stated to the students through the school catalog, course descriptions, curriculum delivery, following syllabi, responding to student feedback provided through evaluations of classes and faculty, and embracing loyalty metrics such as Net Promoter scores.
We always maintain open lines of communication. Our admissions department works hand in hand with the instructors as well. As a Program Director I am responsible for meeting with the student from the moment the Admissions Rep. takes them on a tour of the school. I also encourage the students to stop into my office no matter what their issue is and discuss it with me and let them know that we are here to help them come up with an action plan for their success. We also do student surveys of their instructors and they comment on things the do that work and what their dislikes and likes are. This is very important throughtout their time at our school. We also do an academic advising meeting every semester to help them along the way.
