Great idea! We were just discussing this today. We are going to "advertise" that we are looking for students interested in being a mentor. We are going to require that the student have a minimum of 85% attendance and we are thinking about requiring a minimum grade point average. We would like each mentor write an essay telling us why they believe they would make a good mentor. We plan to evaluate the student by interviewing them. I have faculty and staff that have volunteered to be advisors.
We will just keep trying until we find something that works.
Have you considered having the mentors being nominated by peers and faculty/staff? Also, some of the best leaders may not have the highest GPA.
Our school uses student surveys at the end of each period; and at the beginning of each next period (two months) the Academic Director or Academic Coordinator meets with each group to ask them personally how they're doing. They have the opportunity to express themselves and give us feedback of what they been learning and how that learning process is helping them in a day-to-day basis.
At our school one of the methods used is the student survey. A student completes a small course of study every 3 weeks and fills out a survey which may be anonymous or not. If the student expresses disatisfaction and identifies themselves on the survey, a member of education management visits with the student to find out more. This can sometimes be very helpful.
What I find however is that the overwhelming majority of surveys say 'excellent' across the board whether the instructor felt it was or not.
Students that had a problem say poor for every catagory (there are 12). All this with no coments whatsoever as to why it was great or poor. So we know someone is unhappy but not who or why.
What can be done to see that the surveys more acurately identify what is going on with the students?
You have summarized the usual problem with course surveys, Harry. Filling them out every 3 weeks only brings more attention to the process.
To be effective, students have to believe that it is confidential and there won't be any retribution for negative comments. They also have to see that it is a useful tool - that something will be done if comments are given. Too often students complain about poor teaching practices but don't see anything done to improve the instructor's performance.
Have you considered actually meeting with students for 15 minutes to get their thoughts? Again, confidentiality is critical as is an honest response to their concerns. If you are unwilling or unable to take action, you must tell them that and explain why.
You must always be ready for any answer to the questions you ask.
This was a good review of what we need to watch for and pratice. Any time you improve your skills you help not only yourself but your students also.
In my experience, I have seen different people do different things to achieve student satisfaction, and hence, work toward student retention.
In our case, the student body if untraditional. The students are coming to the the school to grab one second chance to succeed. Majority of them, do not want to fool around and they want some serious work done. I take my cue from that and I push and challenge the students as far as I can without frustrating them. They feel a sense of achievement & have confidence at the edn of the the day. I do not beleive in wearing a clown's hat, and entertain them. This is my take. What's yours?
It takes a particular type of person to use the clown's hat as an effective classroom tool. And clearly, it can't be the only method used.
That said, I also think that students want to know that their instructor has a soft side - a sense of humor - and knows when to push the class and when to relax a bit.
Each student has a different frustration point that changes depending on many variables. How do you monitor your students to know that you have pushed and challenged them as far as you can without frustrating them? Do you focus on the mid-range student? Slower students?
We use an evaluation that the students fill out at the end of each 3 week course. The students evaluate the instructors, the curriculum, support services, and the quality of what they have recieved at that time. These evals are then passed along to our dirent Education Managers so that they can then follow up with students that request a follow up. The Education Managers then give the Technical Team Leaders of the course a breakdown of the evals that the TTL can then bring back to the individual course instructor for review.
Does the instructor ever see the evaluations?
Some evaluation systems have a mid-term evaluation that goes directly - and only - to the instructor so they can get a sense of how things are going and make adjustments as needed. Another evaluation is done at the end of the term that goes to the Director of Education for review and follow up.
At this school it is and on going review of student input in an evaluation form. There are also meetings conducted biweekly that raise issues from constant contact with the students one on one. This awareness has brought about on going change to better the student experance and solve problems that could hamper the student from reaching his or her goals. This over all out look has given instructors a new awareness in dealing with issues in a more timely manner to help solve some problems that can lead to a students choice to leave the program. The end result? Satisfaction in seeing he or she obtaining there goals at graduation. Far from perfect it is having an impact, and a good one.
From the instructional side, if we find we are giving unnecessary information in class, we write to a forum to discuss it with the other campuses to aee if they have the same problem and we make recommendations for changes. If there is agreement among the campuses, they are submitted to curriculum for acceptance and change. It is a slow process, but it is a process we have at hand.
We also offer tutoring every day and try to work around the students work schedule to help them as much as possible.
Robert, would you share an example of an issue that was raised at the bi-weekly meetings and the resolution? Who attends these meetings? Is there any limit on their authority to make decisions and changes?
They have a survey at the end of each course asking the students 12 questions on how they feel about the course,rating from poor to excelent. This is a good feedback for the teacher. These are looked at by our supervisors and ourselves. We act according to what we find.
Not all are true measures of the class but if the majority say one thing, this is good to go on.
This helps adjust the instructor and shows where we need to improve and what works for them.
Ronald, it sounds like you have a common curriculum across many campuses. How do you accommodate local differences in business practices? How long does it take to agree on a change to the core curriculum?
Have you considered doing a mid-term survey to see how your doing with the students? The feedback could allow you to make adjustments and improve outcomes by the end of the semester.
Students attend an oreintation for the campus and at the begining of each course we explain what will be covered in that course also what is expected from the student and ask what the student expects from the course.
We start off with an end of course survey that starts off anonymously with provisions for the student to make comments. The student has the ability to be recognized by simply adding their name. They also have the ability to request a follow-up meeting with an education manager. The meeting is logged and turned in to our home office.
Our school also has a student council that meets monthly. The students come up with great ideas and proposals for consideration that are reported to the campus president, with feedback to the council. We cannot make everyone happy all of the time, but we are more than willing to listen and act as we can. We also try to meet their expectations or provide the reasoning behind why their expectations may be a bit lofty.
Why do you ask students what they expect from the course, Michael?
We use the student survey and follow up on that.
