Get Your Students Hired
I think some involvement activities could include:
1. more student recognition based on programs
2. contests
3. holiday program contests
4. increase tutoring programs to help retain students
5. programs to help struggling students be successful
I think these are some important aspects to bring to the school to help students be more involved and retain them.
Zena,
Keeping it all in house makes for a more engaged school community.
Ron Hansen, Ed. D.
Some of the involvement activities are:
Holiday activities such as dinner for students during Thanksgiving
Celebrating Halloween with costume contest
We used to have our annual fashion and portfolio show organized by an outside group. For the past two years we have done everything in house and it has been extremely effective. Everyone gets involved doing the video and photography as well as all the graphics.
We also track student birthdays which are celebrated and do many field trips out into their relative fields.
We have just started community outreach with local non profits it’s fantastic industry experience for our students and I would like to see it expanded.
I'm an instructor at an Automotive technical college and I hear over and over how the students want us to have an event where they can show off their cars. Our school has had some car shows and it really does show off our school and brings the students to a different level of respect for the school they attend.
Megan ,
Tie activities into the learning some how. I've come to believe that there are students that will participate in almost anything and there are the introverted that find it difficult to participate.
Ron Hansen, Ed. D.
I think we need to more consistently do the activities we already do: attendance awards for cohorts, spirit week, thanksgiving dinner/ice cream socials. And the ice bucket challenge!
I teach at an automotive school, so interests are similar. We have drag races, car shows, car trivia challenges and so one. It works very well.
We have BBQ's, ice cream socials, and numerous volunteer activities in the community to improve school involvement and retention activities.
Scott,
Another well put post. Are all these in place at your campus? What would you improve? Add? Take away?
Ron Hansen, Ed. D.
Some ideal activities include a well planned and organized orientation followed by thorough preparation by faculty and staff on day 1 of class. A student mentoring program is important and currently used at our school. Community activities and field trips help with retention as well allowing students to get involved in helping others and seeing what their work environment might be like. Job fairs really encourage students to complete school and give them a real encouragement that their hard work will pay off. Graduations must be a special celebration of students hard work that really recognizes each graduate and allows current students to have another part of the end in mind while they are going through their classes.
Alissa,
Using Social Media will very shortly be expected by students as a learning medium.
Ron Hansen, Ed. D.
Student involvement is important and can be created by having special events throughout the year. Our students love when we cook hot dogs and serve them for lunch. Also, scavenger hunts are fun. I think a cell phone picture scavenger hunt could be really fun. This could involve social media posting of the pictures to help people outside the school see how we treat our students and how much fun it can be to attend school.
Kristie,
All good but is it setup going on at 3 in the morning or something else?
Ron Hansen, Ed. D.
I agree. It is very important for Instructors to participate in activities. It shows that they are people too! Sometimes students forget that staff and facutly are "people" too. I think they like to see us participate in activities!