Anthony, do you find these surveys useful for you professionally? Have you changed your performance as a result of these surveys? If not, why not?
Tammy, what impact have these surveys had on the way you do your job? Are they useful to you for professional development?
Paula, what do you hope to achieve by using the surveys? Are you prepared to deal with any and all responses?
Tania, are these issues different than the students will face when they are employed?
Regulations require accommodations for students with disabilities, Brian. Hopefully, everyone is aware of these needs and are following a plan to address these special needs.
What's the intent of the town hall meetings, Melissa? How do the students perceive them? I can imagine this format to be very effective if done right; a disaster if not.
Good to hear, Margaret. It is absolutely essential that Admissions be providing prospective students with accurate information about the program they are entering. How was this problem identified and who took the initiative to fix it?
Have the survey results led to any changes in how you perform your job, Adonis? What sort of changes has the institution made as a result of these surveys?
Jeannette, how does this information fit into admissions' practices? Does every instructor teach across the different learning styles?
Ralph, how effective has this practice been? Have you seen improved student performance and problem solving?
Angela, are the learning modules and syllabi standardized with every instructor essentially teaching the same content at the same time? If so, has this been effective and how have the faculty reacted?
These surveys are affirming and quite helpful. I look forward to seeing what the students have to say, what they perceived as helpful in class and what was not!
Student services and my department chair.
I suppose not. I find that as students they dont always see the reasoning behind where I am placing them, they dont see the big picture, as much as I try to paint with bold colors. As graduates they seem to find their nitch and then are grateful they were placed in as many services as possible, and as many different departments, for a good well rounded training.
Do you have graduates come back and share their experience? This might help the current students better understand the process.
Our institution has numerous items in place such as satisfaction surveys, end of course surveys, etc. As a Program Director, we have board pass rates, graduate surveys and then another survey sent out 6 months after graduation to assist us in determining student satisfaction. I have a very high retention rate and I think it is because we give the students ownership right away. They have assigned duties and these duties are rotated. The others depend on them and know how important it is to take your duty seriously because your turn is next.
Having the students feel needed and an important member of the team is very important in building self-esteem and success and ultimately improving retention and graduation.
Oh yes, we have graduates anywhere from a year ago to within the last few months that still come back to visit and share their experiences with current students. They are able to offer a different prespective now that they have completed the program, and it really boosts the current students morale as well.
The school is well-aware of ADA requirements and such. What I am talking about is addressing the needs of a specific student wherein their situation has somehow changed between enrollment and the start of classes. If the school can address the student's situation, while adhering to the standards required, they will do so. In this instance the student has a 2-year-old child that her mother was to take care of during school hours. 3 days before the start of classes, the mother found she could not keep the commitment. The student was able to line-up another person, but that person was not available early enough to allow the student to be ontime. The student was planning to cancel classes until the administration came up with a plan, with the instructor's approval, that the student would show up no more than 30 minutes late to lecture for the first half of the semester (which is the time the student thought was needed) and would be able to make-up those lost minutes during her normal class schedule (skipping breaks, shorter lunch, etc) so as not to be a further burden. The student accepted and did extremely well in the class and the school was able to retain another student.
Donna, that's a lot of data. How do you evaluate it and set priorities?
Nicely done, Brian. It's good to hear that everyone was flexible enough to solve the problem in a proactive way.
