Retention is not a new concept but in the online arena it has been getting a lot more attention over the past two years.  As many schools continue to grow their online course offerings, student readiness for alternative learning environments remains an issue of concern. Many schools are working hard to help students get in the right course and providing them with the necessary tools to keep them enrolled successfully.  Schools taking this proactive approach are noticing a return on their investment.  

Schools are using various strategies to provide students with the help they need.  Most have an orientation course that includes various tutorials and instructions of how to contact instructors.  Some institutions are using a personal touch assigning a mentor or liaison to assist students in communicating their needs.  Adding a readiness assessment to measure a student's strengths and weaknesses such as SmarterMeasure is serving not only as a remedial tool, but also gives administrators insight about their students. 

Companies like Innovative Educators are noticing a spike in interest of their webinars, many of which focus on student retention.  One of their newest resources is called StudentLingo. It is a suite of tutorials and services that offer students remedial help.  For a free trial of the StudentLingo suite click here.

Online Student Retention

I love this video and system of engaging underperforming students. Check out what Cochrane Collegiate Academy is doing with their teachers and students. Be inspired to try new things and make an impact for your students.

Engaging Underperforming Students

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education highlighted what Central Piedmont Community College is doing to help their online students succeed.  Creating a "home grown" assessment that measures student's learning styles is the way they are "getting the conversation going".  It is crucial for student success to know what challenges may lie ahead and for administrators to be to know what to talk about.  Having an honest conversation about a student's motivation, discipline, plan, and ability to take online classes is a responsible move in guiding them to completing courses. 

A home grown learning styles assessment certainly is a beginning step in the right direction.  However, is it enough?  SmarterMeasure includes a learning styles assessment but also measures readiness in other areas including technical competency, life factors, individual attributes, reading rate and recall, and typing speed and accuracy.  It provides a complete profile about a student.  Using a tool such as SmarterMeasure gives administrators insight about what students need while providing the student with strong feedback to build their confidence and guide them in their opportunities for improvement.

Measuring Learning Styles - Is It Enough?

A recent article from the Los Angeles Times reports, California has spent $480 million over the past five years on community college drop outs - citing ill-preparedness, too little support, and lack of remedial help as possible triggers to poor attrition.  The article acknowledges the stats of dollars and cents spent across the country on drop outs but doesn’t provide insight about how to “fix” this problem.  

Accountability is in question for many schools with the question being, who is responsible for these students?  For-profits have been under scrutiny about their recruiting practices over the past couple of years and have begun to make efforts to screen their students more carefully examining their motivation, readiness levels, and financial obligations.  Community Colleges across the country have experienced sky rocketing enrollments with the unstable economy.  Traditional universities are looking for ways to provide flexible options to students having to juggle financial responsiblities, home life, and school work.  So while students are responsible to do their part, prepare for school and commit to completing course work, schools are also having to fund the fall out of those who don't follow through. 

SmarterMeasure is a tool many schools are turning to in an effort to be proactive when it comes to predicting what students may withdraw due to ill-preparedness or motivation and commitment.  Learn more at www.SmarterMeasure.com.

Costly Drop-Outs

We recently released our 2011 SmarterMeasure Integration Report. Over 300 client schools were asked to participate in the survey to identify trends and good practices in the implementation of SmarterMeasure. Among the 72 schools who responded, interesting findings are listed below.

• 73% make SmarterMeasure available to all students.
• 65% go over the scores one-to-one with the students.
• 59% have compared SmarterMeasure scores with grades or withdrawal rates.
• 61% use SmarterMeasure in an orientation course

Clients had a lot to say about our service and product.

• "A really great assessment tool which we heavily promote to studnets in our online, hybrid, and web-enhanced".
• "For the first time we are able to get a clear picture of the students who are coming to this institution".
• "Helped dramatically lower drop rates in online courses".
• "The service is timely and top notch!"
• "SmarterMeasure is a non-threatening assessment of readiness for online learners....they are eager to see their results".
• "We have students write a reflection about what they learned abvout themselves after taking the assessment. They have had some profound discoveries."

To view the full report click here.

2011 SmarterMeasure Integration Survey