Engaging Faculty in Student Retention

1. Engaging Faculty in Student Retention Presented by: Dr. Jim Black President & CEO SEM Works

3. What the Research Says • Students are highly satisfied with: • The quality of instruction • The relevance of courses • Interactions with faculty • Preparation for careers or further study • The overall quality of the educational experience

4.  û The Tyranny of Faculty Retention Myths Myth Reality • Faculty must participate in campus-wide efforts to contribute to retention • Faculty do NOT value their role as advisors • Faculty understand their role in retaining students • The best contribution faculty can make to the retention cause is being effective teachers and mentors • Institutions rarely value faculty advising • Faculty want their students to be successful

5.  û The Tyranny of Faculty Retention Myths Myth Reality • Faculty should lower expectations to allow students to succeed • Faculty should solve student problems • Faculty should coddle students • Faculty should have high expectations and hold students accountable • Faculty should guide students in solving their own problems • Faculty should meet students where they are developmentally

6.  û The Tyranny of Faculty Retention Myths Myth Reality • Faculty are satisfied with the students they teach • Faculty effectively manage classroom behavior • Academic failure is the cause of attrition • Faculty generally desire to teach more academically able students • Classroom behavior and civility, in general, are growing issues on most campuses • Academic failure is often a symptom of attrition

7. Retention Impact Faculty Retention Impact

8. High-risk Student Experiences • Insufficient section or seat capacity • Delayed time-to-degree • Poor quality of instruction • Lack of student/faculty engagement • Program atrophy • Not challenging students • Poor classroom management • Inconsistent or poor advising practices

9. High-risk Student Experiences • Absence of an academic plan • Protracted remedial education • Enrollment in high-risk courses • Class attendance • Late academic feedback • Underutilized academic support services • Brutal academic policies

10. Conditions for Student Success • RELEVANT, VALUE-ADDED student engagement • Academic and social integration • A sense of belonging • Meaningful connections with peers, faculty, the community, and industry

11. Conditions for Student Success • Provide early academic feedback • Require students to show up • Surround students with mentors • Ignite their passion • Deliver on institutional promises

12. A shared definition of student success An awareness and engagement campaign Concrete opportunities to engage Systematic efforts toward creating a cohesive, transformational student experience Professional development and information sharing Improving Faculty Engagement

13. Common good Autonomous Systems-focused Discipline-focused Cognitive dissonance Buy-in Unit-oriented Integration Academic freedom One voice Natural Tensions Academic Culture SEM Objectives

14. Faculty Culture

15. The Reasons Retention Efforts Fail • Making a case for faculty engagement based on institutional urgency • Institutional failure to value faculty contributions to student success • Misunderstanding resistance • Faulty mental maps • A lack of concrete opportunities for engagement • No feedback loop

16. Overcoming Resistance to Retention Engagement • Education and communication • Participation and investment • Facilitation and support • Rewards and recognition

17. Teaching Challenges • Teaching the Net Generation and Gen Xers • The classroom dichotomy • Increase of emotional, psychological, and behavioral issues • Increases in student diversity • Changing student expectations • Declining student motivation • Teaching digital natives • Multitasking

18. Faculty Support Support individual faculty in their teaching responsibilities through one-on-one consultations.

19. Teaching and Learning • Active learning • Experiential learning • Simulations • Gaming • Multimedia • Teamwork • Learning communities • Interdisciplinary instruction • Service learning • Supplemental Instruction • Early academic feedback • Frequent academic feedback • Aligning teaching and learning styles • Open learning labs • Blended delivery • LMS systems • Clicker technology • Skype • Twitter • Web chat

21. Faculty Mentoring Model

22. Early Intervention • Front loaded • Referrals • Assessment instrument • Systems • Analytics

23. Other Faculty Retention Strategies • One place for referrals • Front-load the best instructors in first-year courses • Address high-risk courses • Required study sessions • Front-load an introduction to academic disciplines and related career opportunities • Sponsor an adopt a student program

24. Other Faculty Retention Strategies • Offer academic unit socials • Provide advisors with a holistic advisee profile • Ensure advisor caseloads are small enough to provide individual attention and mentoring • Decouple advising and mentoring • Consider protective scheduling for at-risk students

25. Q&A