Get Your Students Hired
Perhaps I may be a little on the hardcore conservative side of education, but it seems to me that a large part of this is sales and has very little to do with academics. I understand that we cannot educate an absent student; however, are we not necessarily acting in the best interest of students' or the institution by having blind faith in retention as greater good.
I agree with this module in it's connotation (as it does not come out and say it) that retention is best served by providing a quality, valuable, and rigorous education. While we should try to retain as many students as is possible, we should understand that retention is just one side of the dice.
As for taking a class picture, I find this to be an insulting and sophomoric attempt at armchair pychology.
I teach at a technical school taking a class photo probably will not help much with retention.
I really like the idea of a class picture, although not at the begining of class but rather at the end of class. This way we won't see the students that did not make it to the end of the program. The picture is not for the current class but for the future classes to demonstrate that the program can be completed successfully by people just like them.
Jerry--
You are correct--retention starts with the admission process. Actually, it starts with the advertising. It is important to identify those students who are likely to succeed at your institution and be very clear with them about the expectations (e.g. there WILL be homework) as well as a realistic picture of what they can expect from that career field after graduation.
Susan
i dont think taking pictures of the class will help with retension but will give memories after compleation of there schooling. i agree with you that you can not save everyone that attends your school but retension starts with the person (salesman) who enrolls the student some students are not ment for some carrer.
Aaron--
You are not too hard core. I don't think any of us are saying we should retain students at any cost (e.g. passing them when they don't earn it). I think our point is, as you state, to provide a quality, valuable and rigorous education with as many safety nets as possible. All students need an opportunity to succeed. Some need a little extra TLC. Some will never make it. It's pretty much a bell curve on retention. Some will make it no matter what, some will not make it no matter what. It's that large group in the middle we can impact.
Susan
Class picture won't help...life is moving too fast for most of these students; good or bad.