As instructors we will have either a verbal discussion with a student or a formal and documented student advising as soon as a student begins performing in a way that does not meet academic standards. We also try to maintain good communication with our program director regarding the students status so the program director may get involved if needed or if it may be beneficial for the student.
Scott, how do faculty members develop these coaching/advising skills at your school? Is it part of an orientation or professional development sessions?
Our orientation includes an initial training on student advising, and follow up is done as part of the professional development training that we typically do at faculty in-service sessions. I think the most important part of the training is the emphasis that is put on communication. We are trained from the beginning to communicate with our program director whenever there is a potential need for a student advising so we can decide together how it should be done and who should deliver the advising.
Our institution offers tutoing without a limited expense. I tutor 1.5 days a week and seen signicant improvements evidenced by significantly increased scores on exams.
Our program utilizes a progress report that keeps the faculty teaching the course and the program director involved in each student's successes or struggles. This helps for the capability of the faculty to be on the same page and identifies at risk students that may be in need of some extra one on one help in certain areas. Other risk identification techniques include tutoring for struggling areas to be discussed between the student and the instructor.
We have 3 and 6 week grade evaluations where students below 76% will have a schedule meeting with faculty to discuss students grade and how we can improve it.
Glad to hear that the students are taking advantage of this opportunity, Gordon. How many students do you typically see during the 1.5 days? Congratulations on good results.
David, is there a written record of these meetings that the student signs?
We have a heat ticket process, where as soon as the student appears as if he is struggling in the course, the instructor fills out a heat ticket which is sent directly to the Academic Dean. From there, the Dean contacts the Program Director to meet with the student for advising.
Meeting with the students immediately after academic erosion or academic stagnation is identified as a potential problem is key. The instructor can be the first line of defense and if necessary, refer the student to the appropriate school personnel to receive further assistance.
Instructors identify students that are at risk.
They look at things like their grades, inner reactions in the class with other students, absenteeism, body language or the student comes and expresses that they are having different problems.
On Wednesday mornings we conduct the at risk meeting to discuss what we can do to assist that student become successful.
As of now instructors are really charged about the at risk meetings and are seeing a positive results with their students.
Kristine, what's a heat ticket? Does the student get a copy?
Alina, are instructors sensitive to erosion or stagnation based problems? Are they trained in how to handle them?
Ralph, how long have you been having the Wednesday morning meetings? Good to hear that people are responding enthusiastically.
We have an office of student advising where the sole purpose of this office is to help the student with their problems so they can continue their program of study. It works very well.
Our students receive progress reports throughout their tenure. This allows the student to see their personal progress and allows them to see if and where improvement may be needed. Our school has an open door policy that allows a student to voice any concern they may have.
In one of the courses the instructor sets time to meet with each student early in the term for one-on-one advising to go over their accomplishments and areas for improvement. I think if the students can not list areas for the improvements then the faculty can assist them, so they can always strive to learn more and perfect skills. I think that could be one intervention to prevent academic stagnation.
Paul, are your progress reports in addition to normal course grades? If so, how are they presented to the student?
Tyler, how well do the "needs improvement" lists of student and instructor match up? Do the students have a good idea of their strengths/weaknesses?
We start with a verbal advising. If the matter persists then its a written advising. Midterm advisings are done at midterm. Students can also check our campus portal to check their grades and their absences. Unfortunately, there are many complaints from the students that accessing the portal is difficult because of IT issues.
