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- Who is the nontraditional student?
- Why do they drop out?
- Institutional Culture
- Learning Community
- Motivation
- Support
- Methodology
- Action
- Analysis & Results
Session Overview
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Online Retention Keeping the Nontraditional Student Connected - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Online Retention Keeping the Nontraditional Student Connected - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Online Retention Keeping the Nontraditional Student Connected Susan Adragna, Ph.D. Sara Malmstrom, Ph.D. Session Overview Who is the nontraditional student? Why do they drop out? Institutional Culture Learning Community
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- 73% Female
- 53% Black, Hispanic, or Multi-ethnic
- Varied Professional Experiences
- Returning/Retooling
- Working
- Families
- Age 28+
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Loss of Job, Increased Work Responsibilities, Change of Hours Existing Condition or New Health Issue Time Management, Technology, Isolation Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Flooding Imposter Syndrome
Why Do They Drop Out?
Health Academic Dismissal Employment Natural Disaster Program Rigor
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Institutional Culture
The Culture of Retention Blame vs. Ownership Larger purpose, meaningful experience, being connected (Senge, 1990) Open Discourse (Bean, 2005) Flexibility and Creativity
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Learning Community
Involvement as a predictor (Tinto, 2001) Attendance Shared learning (Tinto, 2001) Common venue Cohort Connected learning (Tinto, 2001) Common thread
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Motivation
Building Bridges (Coley & Coley, 2010)
Faculty-identify at-risk students, caring approach Staff-communication Students-perceptions
Team, Value, Ownership
Academic failure=stress=drop out
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Commitment
Institutional
Mission—Students first Resources
Faculty
High standards Communication Support Know your students
Students
Time Communication
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Support
Academic
Tutoring Resource Courses
People
Instructors Classmates Advisors Family
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Methodology
Action Research
Purpose: To inform and improve practice
Goals
Identify the Problem Plan of Action Implement the Plan Assess Effectiveness (Craig, 2009)
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Plan
Data Sources
Monthly Drop Reports Start Date Drop Date Admissions Counselor GPA 2.7 Reasons for Dropping
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Plan (cont.)
Actions
New Student Orientation (revised) Late Student Orientation Week 1 and 4 Student Calls Revised Week 1-Book Independent Advisor Meeting—Shift in Focus Repository for Resources APA Writing Resource Socialization
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Analysis and Results
Analysis of Student Status Change Report
51% dismissal 18% financial reasons 1% health or family crisis 1% program too difficult 29% reason unknown/miscellaneous
At-risk students
75% students with 2.7 GPA left first semester First semester drops were 58% of term drops, 40% second term, 25% third term
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Analysis and Results
Treatments
Late Student Enrollment—None dropped (previously not tracked) Week 1 and 4 Phone Calls-88% students reached Retention Meetings-LDA reduced by 28% (problem solving to proactive)
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Analysis and Results (cont.)
Persistence Data (Fall 2009 Baseline)
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were calculated.
Figure 1. Student drop trends by month. January+44%, February -33%, March +66%, April -55%, June no change
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Summary
Early, continuous, intensive interventions (Seidman, 2005) 8 Interventions: Targeted at all students Student satisfaction: Phone calls, resource center (KUGSCAE), APA course Retention meetings: All on the same page 28% decrease on LDA report and 47% decrease in drops
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Questions?
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References
Bean, J. P. (2005). Nine themes of college student retention. In A. Seidman (Ed.). College student retention, pp. 215-241. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. Coley, C., & Coley, T. (2010). Retention and student success. Staying on track with early intervention strategies. Malvern, PA: SunGard Higher Education. Craig, D. V. (2009). Action research essentials. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Seidman, A. (2005). College student retention. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Tinto, V. (2001). Rethinking the first year of college. Higher Education Monograph Series, Syracuse University.
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