Student Success

1. Student Success

2. Creative Problem-Solving for Bottleneck Courses: A Low Completion Rate Course Project • Project Objectives: • Define and diagnose the factors that contribute to specific low completion rate courses. • Define and adopt realizable solutions for managing/solving problems once identified.

3. Group Problem-Solving Method • Working focus group. • 5 Department Teams (Chair and Faculty, N = 10). • Monthly sessions. • Homework for teams. • Final reports from teams.

4. Who is responsible for student success?

5. Stage 1: Emergent Themes • What is a LCR course anyway? • All teams used anecdotal evidence to identify LCR courses. • No team identified correctly its LCR course. • Who is responsible for facilitating graduation? • Students are solely responsible for their success. • Student characteristics delay or interrupt their graduation. • Who is minding the store? • Any monitoring of courses will result in a “community college-like culture.” • We have a campus policy on that issue – who knew? • Why aren’t textbooks and lectures enough? • Active and collaborative learning are achieved when faculty ask questions during a lecture.

6. Stage 2: Defining LCR • Identified need for a campus-wide operational definition of a LCR course. • Is 80% completion rate good? • What percent of non-course completions actually create bottlenecks? • Identified the following course completion terms: • Successful completion. • Failure (non-passing grade with no course credit NC, D, F, or in some cases C). • Withdrawal.

7. Stage 3: Thinking Beyond Student Characteristics • What factors are likely to contribute to LCR courses? • Curriculum issues. • Course content and textbook issues. • Faculty/Personnel issues. • Student issues.

8. Stage 4: Identifying Common Problems • What did the 5 departments have in common? • All LCR courses were multiple sections with large student enrollment (range 120 – 300 students per semester). • No standard course outlines. • No course coordinators or effort to coordinate course goals, objectives, assessment. • No means of faculty communication about the course. • No common learning goals, objectives, signature assignments, assessment rubrics. • No active or collaborative learning. • No tutoring or peer instructional assistance programs. • No on-line tutorials or supplemental material to assist student.

9. Stage 5: SolutionsDepartment Changes • Accounting 300 • Department Chair • Made personnel changes. • Formed a course committee. • Lowered number of students in each section. • Course Committee • Adopted new textbook • Purchased on-line tutorials and other electronic supplemental materials that give students immediate feedback.

10. Stage 5: SolutionsDepartment Changes • Sociology 260 • Department Chair • Made personnel changes. • Formed a course committee. • Course Committee • Developed a new course outline. • Developed a free, pre-semester “prep-camp” for students who have failed or had anxiety about statistics.

11. Stage 5: SolutionsCampus-Based Recommendations • Information about and ways to identify bottleneck courses. • Operational definition of LCR courses. • Unpack & rename campus policy 79-08 (textbook policy). • Include reporting of LCR courses in departmental self-study. • Work with Assessment Office to develop a Course Completion Audit.

12. Who is responsible for student success? • We ALL are!