Frances, many complain about the poor response of students to campus emails. Have you found a way to engage them? If so, please share some of the details.
I have a JR ACF competition team that I coach here at LCB Scottsdale. We do a hot food four course and cold food platter for eight. They are all students that I work with and am able to mentor and watch them grow as individuals. I really enjoy it.
I have competed myself at the Professional level for the last five years.
Our admissions team visit our students routinely during their programs to check on them and let them know they are still interested in their success. This makes the student feel like their enrollment was much more than a number to hit or goal to make. Our managers make it a habit to learn names of the students and use them during Student Appreciation Days (where students interact with staff other than faculty as food or beverages are served and shared). As a student misses class days, instructors are required to make contact directly with the student to let them know they were missed in class along with an expressed expectation to see them in the next class session. This way the student knows their absence was noticed and followed up on.
Mid-term evaluations run both ways. Students evaluate the courses they are taking and the effectiveness of the instructor. Instructors give evaluations/updates to students re. status and offering advice for the second half with options for individual counseling or tutoring if needed or requested.
Great to hear that the admissions team stays engaged with the students. How do they [the students] react? Does this practice yield referrals for new prospects?
The students enjoy the follow up. I think it acts like a bridge between people they (students) know and the new people in the class. It also builds another support system for the student to use if the comfort level isn't quite there yet with the instructor. I'm not sure how many referrals this yields but it certainly can only help.
With new students program directors meet with the students each week for their first month or so to let the student get to know the PD and vice versa. By knowing who their PD is and knowing that we are there to help when stress starts or the events of life cause them to loose focus has increased our retention of 1st term students which has traditionally been where many of our losses have occured.
We also meet with all of the students once a term and many of us hold open times in our schedules to help any students who just want to talk or have a problem they need help with.
At my institution when our students are absent, we make it a point to call students everyday that they are absent to find out what is going on with them, and what we can do to help them, if possible.
We have the same as well as an independent outside service for our students with resources and counselors they can depend on yet keep the privacy. Many students are reluctent to share with someone on campus they see each day. This provides for the privacy as well as numerous resources to aid our students with event he most severe stressors.
Students who miss class are contacted by their instructors to determine the cause and to make sure they stay current in their class work. Our instructors are very dedicated to our student's success. This contact as well as taking the time to listen to student concerns has helped many students to continue, when they felt they couldn't.
Cindy, how often is this outside service used? How does a student connect with them? Is there a fee to the student or does the school cover the cost?
We have a contract for success that each students signs at the beginning of each new term. This contract clearly explains what is expected from the student and what the student should expect from their instructors. This contract can be referred to if an issue, whether student or instructor related, is not in compliance with the contract and can be dealt with accordingly.
I don't have an answer for how often it's is used as this goes through our student resource person. With our student population, I do know that we as instructors frequently advise students that this is available not only to them but their family members as well.
This service is free to the students and their families and is totally confidential even to the staff and faculty of the school.
As an instructor, we call the students when they miss, whether it's the first time or the fifth. Each department communicates with the other so that we are all on the same page with each of our students.
Our school also has a policy where faculty staff are expected to either call or email a students if they have missed classes, clinicals and/or externships. Usually this personal, individual contact with a student would lead to them verbalising personal problems and thus gives the educator the opportunity to assist and advise the student.
The various departments are all involved in the students commitment to success. The instructors call to follow-up on missed days of class...Student appreciation activities are planned throughout the mod. Admissions follows students progress and success throughout there enrollment.
Jerry, is this contract developed for each course or does it cover the overall competencies? How many instructors would be involved? Does the contract for a specific term change very often [is the contract for the second term the same for the Fall, Winter, Spring, etc]?
Tiffany, have you seen a change in behavior because of the calling program? How many absences may a student have before they are terminated from the course?
Mignonne, when a student verbalizes a problem, who is responsible for taking the next step toward a solution with them?
We as a school work very close to make sure the student feels wanted and that we all want them to be successful. We have student services, which will call the student, then the instructors call each student when they miss, and then we send out post cards from the instructor letting them know they are missed and we would like to hear from them. We also take our students opinion very seriously, in that each of the student surveys are looked at and we all work on ways to improve scores which are low.
