Northern CollegeStudent Retention & Success Strategies

Northern College of Applied Arts and TechnologyTimmins, Ontario

Mary-Anne Martin– Coordinator / Professor

Tina Thibault-Lambert– Professor

Northern College

Fast facts (Fall 2004)– 4 main campuses – students

1,276 full-time 7,298 part-time

– faculty 80 full time 120 part-time

– Communities – Graduates

Northern College

Michael Hill, President Vision-Mission Statement

– Vision: A Northern Educational Community Network– Mission: To ensure accessible, quality educational

experiences that meet the unique needs of our communities.

– Motto: Transforming your future.

Northern College

Commitment:

– Supporting, nurturing and celebrating learners’ and employees’ contributions and accomplishments.

– Maintaining a caring, friendly atmosphere.

Attrition Rates *

Fall 1999 9.95%

Fall 2000 9.8%

Fall 2001 2.65%

Fall 2002 2.2%

Fall 2003 2.1%

Fall 2004 0.7%* Based on November audits

Current Student Success Strategies

Student Success Centre Study skills workshops Peer tutors / Community tutors Faculty-lead tutorial sessions Study group formation Consult with Centre for Students with DisAbilities Individual learning plans New initiatives for fall 2005

The Student Success Centre (SSC)

Created as a result of our new vision-mission Created to address unacceptably high drop out

rate among first semester students Began programs and services September 2001 Reduced our attrition rate to well below the

provincial average. Assisted students to realize their academic goals

Student Success Centre

Location

Staff

Learning Resource Centre

Student Success Centre

Student Success Centre

Student Success Centre

“When You Succeed, We Succeed”

SSC PHILOSOPHY

Every student can be a better student Every student has his/her own definition of

success We help students in whatever way we can We make referrals to other college and

community services

Faculty in the SSC

The SSC is staffed by faculty for 20 to 35 hours/week as part of their workload

Students can ‘drop-in’ or make an appointment to speak with faculty

Our function is two-fold– Content resource (tutoring and mentoring)– Student success resource

PERIOD MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

08:30 1

09:20 Shirley

Deleurant

Liz Hughes

Trish Gibson

Lana Guscott 09:30 2

10:20 Des

Quinn Des Quinn

Trish Gibson

Neal McNair

Des Quinn Candice Kosick 10:30

3 11:20

Jim Andrews

Angie Giguere

(Student Liaison)

Des

Quinn

11:30 4

12:20

Neal McNair

Candice Kosick

Mary Ann Martin

12:30 5

01:20 Tina

Lambert

Jim Andrews

Angie Giguere (Student Liaison)

Tina Lambert 01:30 6

02:20 Neal McNair Student

Development Liz

Hughes

Angie Giguere (Student Liaison)

Sue McGirl 02:30 7

03:20 Neal McNair

Sue McGirl

03:30 8

04:20

04:30 9

05:20

05:30 10

06:20

FALL 2003

STUDENT SUCCESS CENTRE

STAFF SCHEDULE

SSC - Summary

The Student Success Centre is a student, faculty, and support staff-driven initiative that is fully endorsed and supported by our administration.

Study Skills Workshops

Orientation workshop

– Study and test taking skills– Time management and anxiety management– Introduction to and tour of the SSC and Northern

College

Study Skills Workshops

Test skills seminars– test / exam taking strategies offered twice each

semester

Tutor seminars– Introduces nature/scope of tutoring position – Offers tutoring/teaching strategies training

Tutoring

Peer tutoring services Community tutoring services

Tutoring Statistics

Fall and Winter semesters (2003-2004)– 185 tutorees and 75 tutors

Fall 2004– 106 students requested tutors– 96 assigned tutors

Winter 2005– All students who requested tutoring were

assigned tutors

New Initiatives

Summer 2005– Math tutoring

Fall 2005– AccuPlacer

Faculty-lead tutorials

Faculty-lead math tutorials in technology (on SWF)

Fall 2005– Faculty-lead remediation

Individual Learning Plan

Initiated by coordinators Student Plan 14 – 29 – 44 Learning Plan for at-risk students

Final Thought

“In the future, the new illiterate will be the person who has not learned how to learn.” (Anonymous)

We must do all we can to help students to become successful learners.