A Personal To-Do List to Deal with Student Retention Issues
We were asked to consider the results of studies that show that on-line college-level courses produce higher student attrition rates than traditional face-to-face courses do. Clearly, this is an issue for potential on-line instructors who will attempt to create a rich learning experience in a virtual setting. Additionally, as pointed out in the course PowerPoint, the amount of government funding for an institution is often influenced by class retention rates as well. What follows is a personal to-do list that will attempt to counter high on-line attrition rates.
1. Weekly communication with my students: In my on-line course I will strive to have weekly contact with my students in the form of email, or perhaps even over the phone in special instances. Sometimes, this communication should be personalized and during other weeks an automated email to all members of the class will likely suffice. The idea here is show students that there is a real person at the other end of the computer screen, one that is monitoring students progress and trying to keep students on pace to complete the semester. Studies demonstrate that student retention is higher when they feel that their instructor is paying attention and cares about their progress. Trulick recommends to keep “virtual office hours” as well; these are times set aside that students know their instructor is available to telephone or perhaps webchat with.
2. Instructor and Peer Introductions: My on-line course will begin with everyone introducing themselves. The course PowerPoint suggested that it may be appropriate for me to telephone each student directly at the beginning of the course. At the least, I will ask all students to introduce themselves via a biographical essay on the course discussion board. Minich (1996) recommends that instructors engage their students early and often---by telephoning (or emailing) each student directly before the course starts this will hopefully be achieved. If students have spoken with me directly (or corresponding via email directly), then they will see that I aim to be presented and concerned about them throughout the semester. Trulick includes this idea in his “best principles for on-line teaching” as well. Studies further demonstrate that students who feel integrated in a particular course and institution are more likely to finish the semester. One of the best ways to accomplish integration is to foster discussion and conversation between students in the class. This will be achieved by regular interaction on a course discussion board.
3. Prompt, weekly feedback: An instructor who gives regular feedback throughout the semester is keeping students engaged and letting them know whether they are meeting expectations or not. This instructor is also satisfying the “engage early and often” principle of Minich (1996). If students receive regular feedback, and the opportunity to discuss this feedback with their instructor, then they are far less likely to feel “left in the dark” and frustrated.
4. Do my own research on the student experience: I am often surprised at how much assumption of the student experience goes on in education on the part of instructors. In my experience, teachers often assume a particular approach works or doesn’t, without collecting any kind of empirical evidence for themselves. Trulick recommends each on-line course end with some sort of exit survey, where students are asked about their on-line experience. If a teacher collects this information, then they can use it to refine the course in the coming semesters. I was impressed by our instructor in this course, Dr. Stanciak, who collected feedback after the 6th week of the course. Not only does this information allow her to adjust the course while it is running (if needs be), but she will also be able to monitor change in opinion at the end of the course when she collects an exit survey. Instructors need to be aware of what the student experience is, be open to both positive and critical feedback, and be flexible enough to change the course if learning is not being optimally achieved.
5. Continue Training: This may seem obvious, but Herbert argues that instructor training in on-line education affects student retention. Instructors who are successful in a classroom setting may or may not be successful in an on-line setting without training. I plan to continue coursework in on-line education, in hopes that I will be able to engage learners in a variety of ways and learn the theory and practice of retaining students in my courses.
1. Weekly communication with my students: In my on-line course I will strive to have weekly contact with my students in the form of email, or perhaps even over the phone in special instances. Sometimes, this communication should be personalized and during other weeks an automated email to all members of the class will likely suffice. The idea here is show students that there is a real person at the other end of the computer screen, one that is monitoring students progress and trying to keep students on pace to complete the semester. Studies demonstrate that student retention is higher when they feel that their instructor is paying attention and cares about their progress. Trulick recommends to keep “virtual office hours” as well; these are times set aside that students know their instructor is available to telephone or perhaps webchat with.
2. Instructor and Peer Introductions: My on-line course will begin with everyone introducing themselves. The course PowerPoint suggested that it may be appropriate for me to telephone each student directly at the beginning of the course. At the least, I will ask all students to introduce themselves via a biographical essay on the course discussion board. Minich (1996) recommends that instructors engage their students early and often---by telephoning (or emailing) each student directly before the course starts this will hopefully be achieved. If students have spoken with me directly (or corresponding via email directly), then they will see that I aim to be presented and concerned about them throughout the semester. Trulick includes this idea in his “best principles for on-line teaching” as well. Studies further demonstrate that students who feel integrated in a particular course and institution are more likely to finish the semester. One of the best ways to accomplish integration is to foster discussion and conversation between students in the class. This will be achieved by regular interaction on a course discussion board.
3. Prompt, weekly feedback: An instructor who gives regular feedback throughout the semester is keeping students engaged and letting them know whether they are meeting expectations or not. This instructor is also satisfying the “engage early and often” principle of Minich (1996). If students receive regular feedback, and the opportunity to discuss this feedback with their instructor, then they are far less likely to feel “left in the dark” and frustrated.
4. Do my own research on the student experience: I am often surprised at how much assumption of the student experience goes on in education on the part of instructors. In my experience, teachers often assume a particular approach works or doesn’t, without collecting any kind of empirical evidence for themselves. Trulick recommends each on-line course end with some sort of exit survey, where students are asked about their on-line experience. If a teacher collects this information, then they can use it to refine the course in the coming semesters. I was impressed by our instructor in this course, Dr. Stanciak, who collected feedback after the 6th week of the course. Not only does this information allow her to adjust the course while it is running (if needs be), but she will also be able to monitor change in opinion at the end of the course when she collects an exit survey. Instructors need to be aware of what the student experience is, be open to both positive and critical feedback, and be flexible enough to change the course if learning is not being optimally achieved.
5. Continue Training: This may seem obvious, but Herbert argues that instructor training in on-line education affects student retention. Instructors who are successful in a classroom setting may or may not be successful in an on-line setting without training. I plan to continue coursework in on-line education, in hopes that I will be able to engage learners in a variety of ways and learn the theory and practice of retaining students in my courses.
Peer Comments
David,I like your to-do list; it is very practical, and I believe many of your points lend themselves to the traditional classroom as well.
I agree with the "virtual office hours", especially in an online setting, however, I don't believe our institution favors that format of
office hours over personal contact office hours. I think both serve a purpose, the the instructor would most likely use both formats.
Contacting students personally at the beginning of a course is a good idea. It reminds me of my children in grade school when they
would receive a cute postcard before school started in August introducing themselves. It's a nice personal touch, especially when there
normally isn't any "real" interaction between the student and instructor.
It goes without saying that prompt feedback is a vital step to student retention; they need to know what their progress is and whether they are meeting the course expectations. Also asking for mid-term student feedback, like Prof. Stanciak did, is a great idea, both for online and face-to-face courses. I think that I will start a more formal feedback method like that half-way through the course, and definitely plan on employing that in my online courses.
Bärbel
Hi David..I, too, like the personal touches that you plan to add to your courses by contacting the students at the beginning of the course, and having frequent contact. I was also impressed with the point you bring up about continued training on online education...we can always learn to better our skills; having such a philosophy of learning also serves to reinforce the message about lifelong learning that we encourage in our students. Maureen
I know the college sends a letter to students in on-line classes, but I think they need contact from the instructors as well. Students have to get over a big "hump" at the beginning of the class--they have to get into the Blackboard world and figure out how to get involved in their class(es). One of the most frequent requests I get at the beginning of any semester is, "I don't know how to get started."
I wish I'd put your #5 on my list :^) This is something we really need to continually pursue--and we need to urge CoD to provide as much workshop opportunity in the electronic options available as possible. Our TLC actually does a fair job of providing training in a lot of things, but I think more could be done. We have a lot of basic Blackboard workshops, but we need some workshops in the advanced features, like wikis, etc. Some of us have a lot of difficulty seeking continuing education away from CoD, so the more we can have offered here, the better. I often feel there are a lot of opportunities to add options to my course that I just don't know enough about to implement. And those innovations can really contribute to the "engagement" quality of a course.
David: Your thoughts regarding student experience, and your surprise about the assumptions that instructors make regarding their students is spot on in my case. I often have used an end of course survey but not used one in the middle of the course. I also have simply assumed that my students are much more technically savvy than I am. However, this is not necessarily true. I have found that the fact that they are lightening fast texters does not correlate to investigative work with search engines. This of course leads an instructor into another facet of education, that of teaching how the new technology is utilized in the discipline that is being taught. It seems that the more technology that is utilized to aid in education the less time teachers have to actually teach their subject. Mike Dusik
I agree with the "virtual office hours", especially in an online setting, however, I don't believe our institution favors that format of
office hours over personal contact office hours. I think both serve a purpose, the the instructor would most likely use both formats.
Contacting students personally at the beginning of a course is a good idea. It reminds me of my children in grade school when they
would receive a cute postcard before school started in August introducing themselves. It's a nice personal touch, especially when there
normally isn't any "real" interaction between the student and instructor.
It goes without saying that prompt feedback is a vital step to student retention; they need to know what their progress is and whether they are meeting the course expectations. Also asking for mid-term student feedback, like Prof. Stanciak did, is a great idea, both for online and face-to-face courses. I think that I will start a more formal feedback method like that half-way through the course, and definitely plan on employing that in my online courses.
Bärbel
Hi David..I, too, like the personal touches that you plan to add to your courses by contacting the students at the beginning of the course, and having frequent contact. I was also impressed with the point you bring up about continued training on online education...we can always learn to better our skills; having such a philosophy of learning also serves to reinforce the message about lifelong learning that we encourage in our students. Maureen
I know the college sends a letter to students in on-line classes, but I think they need contact from the instructors as well. Students have to get over a big "hump" at the beginning of the class--they have to get into the Blackboard world and figure out how to get involved in their class(es). One of the most frequent requests I get at the beginning of any semester is, "I don't know how to get started."
I wish I'd put your #5 on my list :^) This is something we really need to continually pursue--and we need to urge CoD to provide as much workshop opportunity in the electronic options available as possible. Our TLC actually does a fair job of providing training in a lot of things, but I think more could be done. We have a lot of basic Blackboard workshops, but we need some workshops in the advanced features, like wikis, etc. Some of us have a lot of difficulty seeking continuing education away from CoD, so the more we can have offered here, the better. I often feel there are a lot of opportunities to add options to my course that I just don't know enough about to implement. And those innovations can really contribute to the "engagement" quality of a course.
David: Your thoughts regarding student experience, and your surprise about the assumptions that instructors make regarding their students is spot on in my case. I often have used an end of course survey but not used one in the middle of the course. I also have simply assumed that my students are much more technically savvy than I am. However, this is not necessarily true. I have found that the fact that they are lightening fast texters does not correlate to investigative work with search engines. This of course leads an instructor into another facet of education, that of teaching how the new technology is utilized in the discipline that is being taught. It seems that the more technology that is utilized to aid in education the less time teachers have to actually teach their subject. Mike Dusik