It's important to hire caring faculty. When they start teaching, the curriculum should allow for active learning including group work.
You must have the right people in the right positions
Engagement *mic drop*. Keeping the students interested in their future and helping them plan for it. Having resources readily available at all times and a directory that will point them in the right direction. Invest in employees that want to see students succeed.
There are many programs that support student retention. Offering support programs increases student success. Students need to be made aware of the resources in Orientation, but since so much information is given during Orientation, the information students need should be repeated.
I think my greatest takeaway from this section is understanding that everyone is responsible for academic retention of our students. We all work together to help the students be successful. In order to keep our program and our organization successful, we must have successful completion of the program by students with few retention issues. We must mentor our students and help them gain the necessary knowledge to continue in the program and not give up.
It is everyone's responsibility to ensure that the student remains in an institution. Channeling their needs ranges from the administration to the academy.
Early interventions and a proactive approach can can identify students at-risk. Furthermore, hiring and training staff and faculty to connect and mentor students will assist with engagement.
What have I learned from this module?
- Students need structure
- School culture is very important
- Orientation is the first impression
How do I intend to apply it?
- Develop a structure and be consistent
- Focus more on orientation, the formation given, the message presented and getting to know students.
There are so many ways to assist the student through the learning process.
Instructors play a vital role in student retention, especially in career colleges.
I have learned: Academic preparation impacts persistence
Persistence rates are an indicator of how well you are doing in meeting student needs and expectations.
Students are presented with an enormous amount of information at orientation. Use pictures of staff and faculty, phone numbers e-mails etc. that hey have a way to communicate if they have questions.
The instructor plays an important role in student retention at career colleges.
Many students need additional academic support.
Communication Systems: open door policy, succession box and Newsletters are good tools
Surveys for students
Edwards Personal Preference Survey, and the Noel Levitz College Student Inventory.
Awards, student acknowledgments
Many of the options listed are a bit more challenging to reach students who are spread out all over the area, since our school is a bit more rural. Students struggle with real-life issues, and many do not have the resources needed to achieve success. Since many of our programs are online, many of the instructors and staff are only available through Zoom or Teams-type meetings. We are working on creating a virtual bulletin board where students can go to connect with other students i.e. carpool, class study groups, babysitting etc. We are constantly trying to figure out better ways to address these issues to make the school a positive environment for all students.
I learned that having the right people for each job is the first step in providing excellent student services. I like to t hink that I am a caring individual who has student sucess as my main objective. I agree that no matter how sophisticated an institution's systems may be, it is the people who make them work.
Having a variety of wide stemming services for students can be essential in preventing students from withdrawing from the university.
A couple of the ideas that I would like to try included a Suggestion Box to get feedback from the students on what they like, don't like and ideas they have for our campus activities. I also think a Dean's newsletter would be a good idea to show them what we are doing and what is coming up to include those important deadlines, etc. I would also like to look into creating a Dean's List, which a student had asked me about before.
This has sparked some creative ideas to implement for achieving student success and strive for an enjoyable student experience.
I am realizing that my current professional position has no student governement, no clubs, no appreciation activities which is very odd but it is also odd that no one (including myself) has noticed this either. I will have to investigate this further.
Every day before class the prfessor shoud reveiw his class in order to maintane a high level of enthusiasm.
It is important to build a thorough retention program by using strategies to support students, hear their experiences and build on them, trained professionals, knowledge of learners and how to bring them together, etc.
Improving retention in an online environment encompasses making sure the student is supported, that the staff and faculty care, and they know who to contact and how. Students need to know the school cares about their success and their future.
