Comment on Susan Wright's post: poor student services can send the same message and affect retention directly.
A student will feel unimportant themselves and lose the drive to succeed if the school makes them feel like they are unimportant to itself. I had a conversion with a student recently who decided to come back to school, having left before when he saw both ends of the spectrum. He was having issues with his attendance due to extenuating circumstances and his instructors and director rallied in support of him, but as he went through the necessary process with the different offices he was treated without care. He was passed around by various people who kept picking up his case without checking the notes given and meeting with him blindly. His program's director pushed to get him the support he needed, and while he ended up getting it, he felt very disillusioned with the school. He saw how much the faculty cared to help him, but what he sees as the school itself (the staff at the offices) could not be bothered. All the faculty's efforts looked like an empty facade to him now. He ended up leaving citing a "loss of interest in the program", as he didn't want to get anyone fired.
It made me wonder how many similar cases have occurred, without anybody looking further for answers.
I'm always reassuring students that additional help is available. We frequently schedule one-on-one help sessions so each student knows that they can get individual help, if needed. Every student is important to us, no one is "unimportant".
Stress can show for students in different ways and sometimes this links to their choice to stay in school or not. If students' needs are not being met, this can also lead to attrition.
In this module, I learned that the University should instill a positive atmosphere to its employees and staff members. As a result, staff members and student support staff will have a more positive paradigm that'll nurture students and instill a sense of hopefulness and community in them.
I see the importance of building strategies to prevent dropout due to stress. We should think about activities that help students strengthen their internal resources to cope with stress through mindset, support networks, and of course, aligning with all staff on values. Have any of you implemented any strategies that you would recommend in higher education?
It's detrimental to the overall students learning experience to ensure that they know they have support. The more support and encouragement they receive, the more the stress or lack of self-confidence diminishes, the better the students can perform and obtain their goals.
Stress is common and we all go through some form of general adaptation syndrome when we experience stress. A critical part of retention for students is the student-teacher relationship. Teachers can help to encourage students by demonstrating caring and concern for the students so that they feel supported by the school.
This confirms seomthing Daniel Pink said which is that people need Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose to be motivated. This section focused on the erosion of that purpose within the individual.
I've done a lot of reading on grit, perseverance, and facing adversity on the individual level. But it is amazing to view school commitment as a remedy for academic erosion and academic stagnation. It really does take the whole team to support students throughout their programs. This module makes it even more clear that we all have a role and the way we interact with our students means so much to their persistence.
Understanding what causes attrition among our students helps us intevene and assist them so they can continue in our schools and achieve their goals.
Refers to the rate at which students leave or drop out of a program or institution. Understanding college attrition involves examining factors like academic challenges, financial constraints, personal issues, and the overall college experience. Institutions may address this by providing support services, improving academic programs, or enhancing campus life to foster student retention.
Attrition has strong emotional and psychological underpinnings for students. It takes a comprehensive effort on the part of staff and faculty to help ensure that students feel a sense of belonging to counteract potential thought of dropping out.
I agree with the statement "stress is real, not just a feeling." Great point.
The entire school/institution must create a positive and productive atmosphere to help students succeed.
Everyone needs to be involved, not just the faculty. You need to show each student that you care and recognize some of the stressors before its too late. Sometimes the students need to see a different point of view and they need to know we support them.
Hello Everyone! To ensure students remain engaged and committed to their program and the institution, commitment, care, understanding, and communication must be consistently displayed and fostered with the students.
It is important to show the students your effort and that you care, so they will adopt the same attitude. I believe that outcomes are created by what you put in.
It is very important for a school to have faculty and staff in place ready to honestly care for all the students. Instructors are not the only ones that should be directly dealing with the stress students may be going through. Administrators should be able to communicate with instructors to provide resources to those students that may need them. Students deal with stress in different ways and having administrators willing to help them is very important. Understanding the General Adaptation Syndrome is important.
Stress promotes thoughts driven by how many resource reserve remain for coping.
