I think acting immediately to pinpoint the early signs of erosion and stagnation is crucial. Attendance is a very good measure of this.
In our institution, we focus on keeping a good and open communication with our students.
First, attendance is take every day to track students' presence or absences.
We also have created a student action report that can be written at any time to help student understand their current situation. While this document is mostly written at mid-term, anytime we anticipate academic issues, the faculty can write one and deliver it to the students.
As an on-line campus identifying Erosion and/or Stagnantion can be difficult. We attemt to identify these at risk students as ealry as possible through both attendance and academic progress reports. Students are contacted by student services via phone, e-mail and paper mail for any failure to attend as well as mid class failing grades. Instructors are guided to be in constant contact with students regarding weekly discussion forums and assignments as well as attendance. By providing multiple deparmental contact the goal is to provide the students with a stronger connection to the school and overcome a potential isolated feeling which can quickly lead to Erosion.
We have a College Success class that the students take during the first semester. In the class, we have different assessments regarding the students' strengths. When teaching the course, I try to call on the students that meet the strengths of the area and highlight them as a person to consult for ideas. Often, the students feel like they have a contribution when they may not have felt that they are at the top of the class.
Our school contacts students when they are absent. We try to find out whether they are sick,family emergency, etc. We make an effort to direct them to necessary services when applicable.
The main intervention strategy is the role played by the instructor to anticipate potential issues with students and maintain a clear, concise and on-time communication with all parties involved in the problem solving process.
The main idea is to have everyone informed about a student status in a timely manner.
It seems that the "blinker" system is used by many. We also call each student who is not in attendance who has not contacted us saying that they would not be in class. I think it is a good system, but I would like to be informed, in a timely manner, when and if a student decided to drop. It seems like a waste of time to be making notes and comments and calling a student when that student has made the decision to take a leave of absence or even drop out of school. If the time comes when the student has made the decision not to attend school, it is almost an evation of privacy to keep calling them.
I agree! I do not get informed of drops or
L O As either. What i do is as soon as they have a couple of days in a row absent i contact student services to find out if they know anything. And i have to ask about that person everyday to find out if there is any status change.
We approach intervention as a team effort. Intervention starts with the instructors Keeping "an ear to the ground." They wil very often hear the first inklings of a student's desire/need to withdraw. Once an instructor has heard the suggestion of a withdraw, the Program Director, the Academic Deans, and the Director of Student Services work together to try to help the student. If the student is a recent start, we'll also include the Director of Admissions and the student's Admissions Representative. If Financial Aid need sot be included as well, we'll include them. At times, it is also appropriate to bring in the Director of Graduate Education--especially if the student has an externship as part of their program.
Keeping our core value of Teamwork in mind, intervention can be more effective if we work together.
Asking the student if they would hire someone just like themselves is a real eye opener, and I think will have more of an impact than anything else you can say to them. I am going to try this and see what types of responses I get.
Sounds like a great system, Rebecca, and I imagine it took time to evolve to the point that it works smoothly and each player knows their role.
Do you have any advice to other Forum participants who aspire to reaching this level of cooperation?
This sounds like a system that isn't functioning as well as it might. What are the barriers that keep you from being informed about a student's change in status? Do you contact the student after you learn of their change or is that another person's responsibility?
At our school we call those students that are not in class that have not contacted us with the reason that they will be absent. I tell them that employers need to be contacted when they will not be in and this is a good time to get in the habit of contacting their instructors.
How do your students respond to these calls? Does their attendance improve? Do they understand that they will have to notify their employer when they can't get to work? It seems that this is a foreign concept to many students.
I make a point of learning all of my students name by the third day of class, this shows that I care about them as people and has gone a long way towards laying the ground work for a relationship that allows them to come to me when they have problems so that I can help advise them. Becoming a mentor of sorts has saved a number of at risk students from being lost just by being a person they feel comfortable talking to.
Learning students names by day three sounds like quite a challenge. Do you have some techniques that you use to learn the names so quickly? Do you involve the students in a classroom exercise to help with the process?
Our school has in place a service which compiles resources for students to tap into to solve various life issues. The service is separate from the college and confidential.
Is this a third party group or do you have a separate business unit that provides the support services? How are they compensated?
All instructors at my institution are required to contact students who are absent by both phone and email. A simple message from the student’s instructor sends the message that we care. We have to be careful when leaving messages (FERPA) on their phones. We simply identify ourselves and ask them to call back, no more details.
I was a proponent to contacting students at first. I felt that in college we should not have to call students as they are adults, but since implementing this strategy I have experienced a rather large drop in overall attendance in my classes.
I personally have learned that if I identify attendance issues early and "call the student out", as the students call it. Attendance issues in many cases can be corrected. I of course do this privately and professionally.
I try to remind the student of the dream that they had on the first day of class. Bring them back to the long term and not short term. Talk about the future and the all good that can come out of thinking forward.
I'm confused by your entry, Jeff. Do you mean that attendance has improved since you started calling students? Your entry says that attendance has dropped [gone down] since implementing the calling strategy.
