Online Faculty Development to Increase Student Retention

These titles are available in the Faculty Development online course.

• What Can I Do to Increase Student Retention?
• How Do Master Teachers Create a Positive Classroom?
• Learner-Centered Teaching - Where Should I Start?
• How Can I Communicate to Engage Students and Encourage Learning?
• How Can I Get Students to Take Responsibility for Their Own Learning?
• How Do I Get Students to Come to Class Prepared?
• How Do I Build Community in My Classroom?
• How Do I Create a Climate for Learning in My Classroom?
• How Can I Assess Critical Thinking with Objective Items?
• How Can I Effectively Teach Unprepared Students?
• How Can I Effectively Use Class Preparation Assignments?
• How Can I Make My Course Content More Accessible?
• How Can I Transform My Tests into Learning Tools?
• How Can I Use Frequent Student Feedback to Improve My Courses?
• How Can I Use Low-stakes Quizzing to Enhance Learning?
• How Can I Use Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) Online?
• Beyond the Discussion Board: How Can I Engage Online Students?

• Enough Time to Make a Difference in Students’ Lives: Faculty Focus
• How Teaching Makes a Difference in Students’ Lives: Association for Psychological Science
• 10 Ways Teachers Make a Difference: Study.com
• 63 Steps Faculty Can Take to Improve Retention: WASCARC

The library has additional resources on student retention. Check them out.

• Davis, Barbara Gross. (1993) Tools for Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Palomba, Catherine A., Banta, Trudy W. (1999) Assessment essentials: Planning, implementing, and improving assessment in higher education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Silberman, Mel. (1996) Learning: 101 strategies to teach any subject. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
• Sylvester, Robert. (1994). How emotions affect learning. Educational Leadership, 52, 60-65.
• Yelon, Stephen L. (1996). Powerful principles of instruction. White Planes, NY: Longman.

• Ask students to sit in the same seats for the first few weeks, while you learn to match names with faces. Create a seating chart to match.
• Ask students to write their names on nametags or table tents. Table tents can be made from index cards or card stock.
• Take pictures of your students or have them send you a photo so you can create a photo roster.
• Create frequent assignments early in the class. When you call names out to pass assignments back, you will be able to associate a name with a face.
• Call roll. When students answer, look at each one to put a face with the name.
• Do an icebreaker where students add an adjective before their names to describe themselves. Tell them to use an adjective that begins with the same letter as their names. Examples: Antsy Adam, Marvelous Mandy, Rockin’ Rick, or Basketball Bill.

More Resources on Learning Students’ Names

• Tips for Learning Students’ Names: Carnegie Mellon University, Eberly Center
• Not Quite 101 Ways to Learn Students’ Names: University of Virginia, Center for Teaching Excellence
• Learning Your Students’ Names: Stanford University, Center for Teaching and Learning

Increase retention by communicating clear expectations.

• Discuss course policies, such as attendance, participation, and academic integrity.
• Invite students to visit you during office hours if they need help.
• Identify textbook and materials needed for this course.
• Provide a course calendar or schedule.
• Explain how grades will be earned.
• Describe expectations for participating and completing the course successfully.
• Tell students how much time to expect working outside of class time.

More Resources for Communicating Clear Expectations

• Six Tips for Successful Communication with College Students: Cengage
• Best Practices and Expectations for Online Teaching: Penn State
• Professor’s Expectations: Northern Essex Community College (examples)

• Vary instructional techniques. Use examples, demonstrations, practice, active learning, and feedback.
• Teach creatively.
• Think about new ways to teach the content. Use a strategy that fits the content.
• Use humor, suspense, and surprise.
• Use stories and “real life” examples.
• Provoke curiosity.
• Take periodic breaks. For example, lecture ten minutes, then have a short activity to reinforce what was just discussed.

More Resources on Teaching Techniques and Strategies

• 150 Teaching Methods: University of North Carolina-Charlotte
• Teaching Strategies: Merlot (lots of examples)
• What is Your Teaching Style? 5 Effective Teaching Methods for Your Classroom: Concordia University

Ideas for designing, creating, or enhancing interaction in the classroom.

• Divide the class into teams of six and ask them to create a 30-second television commercial that advertises some aspect of subject material of the class, emphasizing its value to the world. Ask each team to present its commercial.
• Divide the class into teams and have each team teach a concept learned in class.
• Student-Centered Case Studies
• Have students pair up and share lecture notes, evaluate material, or discuss essay questions.

More Resources on Interaction in the Classroom

• Student-Student Classroom Interaction: Carleton College, Teach the Earth
• Building Student Engagement: Classroom Interactions: Faculty Focus, Magna Publications
• Interactive Classroom Activities: Brown University

Multiple choice quizzes are not the only way to evaluate learning, though many faculty rely heavily on these types of quizzes. Provide students with alternate ways to demonstrate what they have learned.

• Testing: Short answer and essay questions, matching, true/false, ranking, multiple answer
• Writing: Research papers, abstracts, journals, wikis, free writes, reflection papers, one-minute paper

More Resources on Providing Options for Evaluation

• Alternatives to Traditional Testing: Berkeley
• Assessing Student Learning: Stanford University
• Assessing Student Learning: University of Washington

Giving feedback throughout the year may encourage students to try harder. At the very least, it helps students know where they stand and not find a nasty surprise at the end of the semester. Below are suggestions for keeping students informed on their progress throughout the semester.

• Give students a sense of what their score means for each assignment. If every assignment is worth 100 points, for example, but you weigh certain assessments more heavily, students may not understand why a 100 on an assignment does not raise their grade average much.
• Show the range and distribution of points.
• Indicate what level of performance is considered satisfactory.
• Provide correction, feedback, guidance, and recognition (verbal and written) that will enable a student to improve.

More Resources on Continuous Feedback

• Continuous Feedback: Learning in the FitBit World
• How to Provide Constructive Feedback—That Won’t Exasperate Your Students (pdf): Columbia University
• To Improve Student Performance, Start Thinking Like a Coach: Faculty Focus

• Arrive early and greet students by name.
• Give explicit, constructive, and timely feedback.
• Make learning relevant
• Avoid negative statements that will make students feel like they cannot succeed, such as “Only one in five of you will successfully pass this course” or “That’s a stupid question.”
• Always be positive.
• Begin and end class on time.
• Reinforce positive behaviors.

More Resources on Creating Positive Classroom Environments

• Seven Strategies for Building Positive Classrooms: ASCD
• 32 Strategies for Creating a Positive Learning Environment: Edutopia
• Building a Positive Classroom Culture and Climate: Colorado State University

Reflection helps students articulate thoughts, and self-assessment helps students appraise how well they understand the material presented. Below are few examples of questions to ask to assess students’ learning.

• What is the most significant thing you learned today?
• What question is uppermost in your mind?
• Jot down three or four key concepts or main ideas from today’s class.
• What did you learn today that you think is totally unimportant?
• What did you learn today that you will use or apply?

More Resources on Reflection and Self-Assessment

• 7 Reflection Tips for Assessment, Empowerment, and Self-Awareness: Edutopia
• Strategies to Enhance Student Self-Assessment: Assessment for Learning
• What Are Some Strategies for Reflection Activities: University of Missouri-St. Louis

Encourage students to succeed. Ask students how you can help them succeed. Inspire confidence.

• Encouragement: The Key to Reforming Classrooms: ASCD
• Motivating Students: Teach
• Encouraging Positive Student Engagement and Motivation: Tips for Teachers: Pearson
• 10 ways to encourage students to take responsibility for their learning…: What Ed Said blog

• Ask students how you can make them feel less anxious about exams.
• Put old exams on file in the library.
• Give students practice exams.
• Before the exam, explain the format to students.
• Give students advice on how to prepare for exams.

More Resources on Preparing Your Students for Exams

• Preparing Your Students for Final Exams: Colorado State
• 7 Tips to Prepare Students for Exams: The Educator Blog
• How Should I Prepare for Tests and Final Exams?: St. Lawrence University (provide this information to your students)