Retaining Students
I have found most of the student drop out of the course due to other family of life issues. I have found contacting these students by phone and encouraging them and offer an extension helps to keep their committment to the course.
Stacy,
Thank you for sharing your contribution.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Students will leave for any reason. As an instructor we always want to prevent this by having professionals in the class, monitoring classes and asking students how they are doing not just acedemically.
When a student does deceide they need to exit the course, there should be follow up to see if the institution can help the student with encouragement or access to resources. Sometimes showing a student how far they have already come may be enough for them to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Michelle,
Good advice for colleges and instructors to follow. I strive as an educator to always let the student know that even by leaving the class and/or college the door is always open to them. All they have to do is reestablish contact with us. This way they don't leave feeling abandoned but leave knowing we will welcome them back should they ever want to return.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Michelle,
I totally agree. Students will drop for any reason. I also try to stay ahead and abreast of issues or struggling students early and work with them. While we all have issues; it is important to retain students so they can feel that e-learning is fun and also that we as instructors do care about their success.
I agree Stacy, reaching out can help however many times online students get involved in online education thinking it will be "easier" than a traditional school. I have found many students are put off by the fact that they will need to devote a good amount of time to classwork and rather than use this as the reason to leave, use other life circumstances.
I work for some schools that are now sharing time management tips in first term classes. This is helping students to understand how to juggle this added task and to know there will be hours needed to do their classwork.
Karen "kam" Maiorano
Karen,
Have you ever used online learning prepardness inventories with your students. These allow students to answer a few questions to see if they are "ready" for online classes - search for free online assessment tools. Typically they look at your organization skills, are you a self-starter...things that would make them aware of what will be expected and debunk some of the myths.
Herbert Brown III
