I don't think so. I am contacting graduate students currently to ask them questions about their experience while at our college and if there were any obstacles they had to overcome and how they did that, I then plan to write an article and publish it on our school website.
You list tutoring for students at these different times. How do you set this up in terms of finances. Are tutors paid students or staff? We are looking at creating a system by which our practicum students in our Human Services Program could do a portion of their practicum tutoring other students.
I like your idea of the recording of the test. We have a large ESL population that starts with very little English and the hurdles they face begin with trying to find an employment goal because they can't get grant funding without it. We are tackling this program in a number of ways through our Career Services Department.
What kind of pins are they? What do they say? Are they school pins or a special attendance pin? I really like this idea. I also like the book bag idea. Encouraging students to maintain a portfolio ia a good idea.
When you hold an awards day, where and when would you do this?
Our instructors are paid to stay after or before class to tutor. I record the test and administer the test to the student in a separate room so they do not feel pressure to finish quickly.
There pins that say perfect attendance. Our awards day are held the Wednesday following the just finished module in our student lounge.
Thank you Susan. Do you find that the students wear the pins? If so, what percentage would do so?
The students do not wear there pins.
Thanks Susan. We just implemented a new attendance policy that deals with excused absenses. This is because our students are all on grants in ESL and Academic Upgrading and the rule is 5 unexcused absences and students must be withdrawn. I'm looking for ideas on retention and what value the students place on different things we do to help them stay in school. Does tangible recognition work? I've read the book by Alfie Cohen on Punished by Rewards, so I'm caught between a belief that intrinsic rewards work because I believe in what Alfie Cohen says, and yet I wonder if there are other things that would be valued as recognition.
We just had a contest for perfect attendance. All students for 30 days with perfect attendance would receive black scrubs. We have 300 students and probably 250 will receive black scrubs. We have a perfect attendance award which the students every 30 days receive a certificate. and the class with perfect attendance every 30 days receives a pizza party and a trophy to place in their class, they also get there class picture taken and it is placed on our bulletin board in the student lounge. It seems to work for us. Today attendance was down. Because we are a small school I am able to walk in every class and check attendance.
Lost time (tardy/absent) are hit head on. We intervene at the earliest possible stage to try and ascertain why. we only alow 25 hrs. or 10 tardies in any 250 hr. block of instruction of which there are seven. This obviously adds stress to their lives but it also produces a better qualified graduate. Student Services is constantly active in the student body. We employ a team effort. We provide transportation for those who require it. We provide food boxes for those in an emergency situation, finding themselves without funds. i guess a strong tem approach and listening to what they don't say as well as what they do say aids us in cutting down on attrition.
We have a Student Services department which works with concerns from employment to finances to housing. They comminucate with the instructor staff to monitor student progress in these matters.
My institution is incredable about helping students every week their is a program: food , housing, dress cod, tutoring, toy for tots, intervention programs just a few, all people help from the CEO to the student workers.
We have a system in place where each instructor can summit an online report about any student issue and this is just one of the many things that I can see as a commitment from our school in wich we become aware immediatetly of the current situation and are able to quickly respond accordingly.
In the first six weeks of classes, our students are enrolled in three courses and possibly a developmental math course. Each of the three courses has been so integrated with the others that we can track student progress in each course and all courses. We do this through a "teaching team" program. All of the team members meet on a weekly basis to discuss every student's progress or problems. This gives us multiple views of a problem or problems and allows for a unified approach to the resolution.
The teaching team (instructors and Chairs) operate as an academic triage system to determine what needs to be done, by whom it needs to be done, and ascertains that it gets done. All of ths is monitored by the DOE. This is combined with a daily attendance monitoring program that assures that every absent student is contacted so they know that they are missed.
If we consistently work with students during the critical first six weeks of classes, we have found that the "stress" factors for the rest of their academic careers is significantly reduced. When this is combined with the development of a strong cohort, we create a sense of belonging that also serves our retention efforts. This is costly and time consuming by it is an excellent example of committment, that is "walking-the-walk" which is better than just "talking-the-talk".
I am in my first year at Universal Technical Institute as an instructor. I have seen several practices here that demonstrate school commitment. One of the ways the school has been commited is letting the students know that they are cared for. Especially during this holiday season. For thanksgiving the school prepared meals for students and there families. During Christmas, school staff had the opportunity to play Santa to student families. It showed me that its not just we care until we get your money, the school is commited for the whole time the student is here.
Those are extraordinary practices, Clayton. Do each of the UTI campuses prepare Thanksgiving meals and play Santa?
How often is this online reporting system used? What type problems are reported and who is responsible for overseeing its effectiveness?
Are the instructional objectives of these first courses also integrated, helping the students understand the inter-relatedness of the material?
The classes are very integrated, even to the extent that the instructors are in every class at different times. It is difficult to tell where a class starts and ends as the material and instructors are so entwined that it appears to be a team teaching effort of a mega class. The idea is to create a conceptualization of a single class in the mind of the student. With do this with every block of classes. We also work to integrate the blocks so the sequence of the blocks makes sense to the student.
While this may sound difficult it is really just a massive planning effort. The difficult part is trying to determine if the students view the efforts as we want them to view the effort.
Our campus follows a similar program with a particular faculty member designated to be a students "advisor". The "Advisory Group" meets periodically to form a peer based support structure. Then the instructor/advisor is also encouraged to take a more involved role in the case of the student showing signs of disaffection.
Additionally, ALL instructors are encouraged to contact any student that has not been seen for one week or turned in any coursework. An "Alert" is then sent to the Director of the school and he takes the next step in contacting this person.
The director then makes arrangements with the students for possible leaves of absence and so forth if such is needed.
