Student Retention - Mott Community College€¦ · emphasize the alignment and coordination required for effective student retention strategies. A recently formed team of retention

Student RetentionAQIP Action Project Team

Recommendation to Executive Cabinet

June 24, 2014

Section 1

Student Retention Project

HLC AQIP Action Project Description

AQIP Retention Team Final Presentation, 6.24.14 Page 1

Action Project

Title: Student Retention

Institution: Charles Stewart Mott Community College Status: Active

Submitted: Category: 1-Helping Students Learn

Timeline

Planned project kickoff date: 2012-12-14 Target completion date: 2014-04-30 Actual completion date:

Project Detail Project Goal Describe this Action Project's goal in 100 words or fewer The goal of this Action Project team will be to study and recommend institution-wide student retention strategies, including broad-based initiatives designed to keep students progressing toward degrees, as well as systems related to MCC's ERP system, Datatel Colleague. While many retention initiatives have existed on our campus, this Action Project team will be a cross-functional work group that recognizes student retention as a college-wide effort that is not located in any single area or department. This new Action Project is an outgrowth of a previous CQI team focused on implementing two Datatel modules, Wait List and Retention Alert. With the Wait List implementation complete, many of the team members working on the Retention Alert module will transition to this new Action Project team.

Reasons For Project Describe briefly your institution's reasons for taking on this Action Project now -- why the project and its goals are high among your current priorities One effective AQIP practice at MCC has been to form CQI teams that use the same structure and process as our AQIP Action Projects (e.g. non-AQIP quality teams). Our Wait List/Retention Alert team has been one such team; it was focused on bringing those two Datatel modules online. These ERP modules have been successfully brought online and the "computer" portion of the project is complete. Because the "student retention" portion of Retention Alert did not end when the Datatel module was implemented, an AQIP Action Project will be formed on Student Retention. A great many comments and survey responses during our February 2012 AQIP Discussion Days related to student completion and retention strategies. In conjunction with our student success work as an Achieving the Dream (AtD) institution and a recent expected decline in enrollment, the retention of students is a top priority for MCC.

Organizational Areas Affected List the organizational areas -- institutional departments, programs, divisions, or units -- most affected by or involved in this Action Project The two major areas of the institution involved in this Action Project are Academic Affairs and


Student Services. The composition of the team, as well as the focus of the project's goal, will emphasize the alignment and coordination required for effective student retention strategies. A recently formed team of retention counselors exists in Student Services under the office of Counseling and Student Development; this team and its leadership will be well-represented on the Action Project, as well the faculty and administrative leaders in Academic Affairs. Among the areas and departments that could be impacted or affected are:

• Academic Affairs • Student Services • Information Technology Services (ITS) • Developmental education faculty • Counseling and Student Development • Institutional Research

When writing its initial charge and business case, this Action Project team will review the charge and outcomes of the previous Wait List/Retention Alert team and create new goals and project scope for the larger "retention" effort.

Key Organizational Process(es) Name and describe briefly the key organizational process(es) that you expect this Action Project to change or improve A number of college systems and processes could be potentially impacted by recommendations of this Action Project. Of particular importance will be the alignment of the Academic Affairs and Student Services areas. Among the processes that are likely to be changed and improved are:

• Datatel Retention Alert (both manual and batch processes) • Attendance reporting • Academic advising • Counseling and case management • Degree Audit • Program coordination and administration • Financial Aid • Student Life

Due to the broad nature of "student retention," it is anticipated that a great many areas of the college will be studied and impacted by the Action Project and its recommendations.

Project Time Frame Rationale Explain the rationale for the length of time planned for this Action Project (from kickoff to target completion) While the proposed completion date may change once the Action Project team begins working on its Charter and Business Case plan, it is anticipated that the Winter 2013 semester and the following 2013-2014 Academic Year will be sufficient for the completion of the project. Some MCC Action Project teams have met during the Spring and Summer semesters, but this team would likely not meet between May and August in 2013. For this reason, this project is anticipated to make its final recommendations in April of 2014, prior to the end of the Winter semester.

Project Success Monitoring Describe how you plan to monitor how successfully your efforts on this Action Project are progressing


This project will follow the 7-Step Plan/Do/Check/Act (PDCA) Cycle:

1. Identify Area for Improvement 2. Define Current Situation 3. Analyze Current Situation 4. Develop an Improvement Theory 5. Implement Best Strategies 6. Monitor Results 7. Adjust, Standardize, or Plan Further

As the scope of this project is the development of recommendations, our work will be completed with step 4 which it is hoped will be the basis for organizational action in step 5.

Project Outcome Measures Describe the overall "outcome" measures or indicators that will tell you whether this Action Project has been a success or failure in achieving its goals As part of the initial stages of the CQI process, the newly-formed Action Project team will establish specific measures for outcomes and assessment of its goals. Among the possible outcome measures that may be identified are:

• Number and disposition of manual Retention Alert referrals • Number and disposition of batch Retention Alert cases • Fall-Winter, Fall-Fall, Year-Year student retention rates • Other metrics to be developed and/or designed by the Action Project team

In addition, the recommendations described in #1 above should be accompanied by suggestions for ways to measure the Step 6 & 7 work that is carried out after the team's recommendations are potentially adopted.


Section 2


AQIP Project Charter


AQIP Retention Project Project Charter - 06/05/2013 Project Overview The focus of the AQIP Action Project team on Retention will be to study and recommend the design of proactive, research-based student retention strategies. These strategies may include the enhancement and use of existing systems, case management for retention interventions, and other means to increase student retention. I. Problem Statement

Problem: Students are faced with many challenges when attempting to obtain a certificate, degree or some other personal goal when attending Mott Community College. These challenges may be social, economic or personal in nature and affect the students ability to be successful. Mott Community College has a desire and an interest in determining which challenges should be addressed and to what level. The current perception is that Mott Community College has low graduation rates. However, the problem lies in identifying what an acceptable rate should be, and recommending ways in which to reach the targeted goal rate.

II. Opportunity

This project allows Mott Community College to analyze what actions are currently underway to assist with student graduation and recommend new strategies as well as improvements on existing initiatives. Mott Community College will also be in line with changing governmental metrics and be able to take advantage of future funding. The overarching concept of this project is that when students are successful, Mott Community College and the surrounding community we serve will be successful.

III. Goal Statement Increase graduation and successful goal completion using existing data, research, term based and long range strategies.


IV. Scope

The current scope of this project will be limited to:

Evaluate existing retention strategies on campus and recommend improvement strategies:

Review current MCC retention and graduation data Determine how current strategies can be evaluated Review existing best practices and literature

Identify new initiatives and/or strategies for successful retention: Degree / goal completion

V. Constraints

Time constraints due to meeting schedule conflicts. Numerous means of defining retention based on the goals of the student and

mission of the college. Not all retention specific data are collected at this point

VI. Assumptions

This team will assume the measure of retention success will be limited to degree and certificate seeking students only, although the recommended strategies would apply to students with other educational goals.

The use of IPEDS definition of graduation will be taken into consideration but the group will not be limited to this definition.

VII. Key Stakeholders:

The following users/groups are important stakeholders in this project: All Faculty - being the eyes and ears on our students, they are the most likely to

identify potential issues with students and be the first line of interaction for retention actions.

Student Services - Counselors and other parties that will need to deal with retention issues, and will be funded and managed by the Student Services area

Academic Affairs - Programs and courses may need to be adjusted to align with retention strategies. New offerings may need to be established to assist with various challenges.

ITS / Informational Research - Data needs to be collected and analyzed to establish metrics for evaluating the effectiveness of a particular solution and help identify areas of opportunity.

Surrounding Community - Increased graduation success also improves the quality of life in the community.


VIII. Project Sponsor(s): Cheryl Bassett - Chief Technology Officer Dolores Sharpe - AQIP Representative - Executive Dean,

IX. Budget and Timeline

The Retention Action Project is tasked with providing recommendations only, therefore budgets required to implement some of the suggested strategies will be evaluated at the time those projects are approved. This team is tasked with providing the recommendations by 04/30/2014.

X. Approach and Organization:

Mott AQIP projects follow the “Continuous Quality Improvement” methodology (outlined below). This team is only tasked with providing recommendations so we will only work up to step #4 in the CQI process. Final meeting minutes and documentation will be shared for public use on the www.mcc.edu site at: http://www.mcc.edu/aqip/aqip_actproj_retention.shtml

Step Action / Step Timeline

1 Identify area for improvement 06/2013 - 11/2013

2 Define current situation 06/2013 - 11/2013

3 Analyze current situation 11/2013 - 02/2014

4 Develop an improvement theory 02/2014 - 04/2014

5 Implement best strategies N/A for project

6 Monitor results N/A for project

7 Adjust,standardize,or plan further N/A for project

XI. Team Members

The project team consists of: Dolores Sharpe - AQIP Representative, Executive Director - Academic Operations Cheryl Bassett - Project Sponsor, Chief Technology Officer


http://www.mcc.edu/

http://www.mcc.edu/aqip/aqip_actproj_retention.shtml

Mike Cieslinksi - Co-Chair, Resource Coordinator - Student Services Kirk Yaros - Co-Chair, Director - Enterprise Services Janis Block - Faculty / Coordinator, Reading Troy Boquette - Executive Dean of Student Services Avon Burns - Coordinator, Criminal Justice Bernard Cunningham - Faculty, Mathematics Mara Fulmer - Coordinator, Graphic Design Dan Thomas - Counselor Emily Varney - Interim Executive Director - Student Financial Services Gail VanEtten - Counselor Lynn Wandrey - Faculty, Biology Patricia Ward - Faculty-Coordinator, Allied Health


Section 3


Supporting Documents


AQIP RETENTION TEAM 2012-2013 Accomplishments

1. Past year's accomplishments

Identified scope of project Identified retention focus priorities Identified areas that could define retention Created charter and approved by Executive Cabinet

2. How people were involved in the work of your team Group was involved in every aspect of the developing project scope Worked as a group, leveraging employee experiences (including Counseling

perspectives, Faculty in-class experience, administrative) Discussion of initiatives that the college is currently engaged in

3. Planned next steps Defined smaller work groups to analyse the various key indicators and determine

strategies to collected and leverage data points to increase student retention 4. Any "effective practices" used by the team

One of first activities to identify member concepts of retention, members wrote 2-3 ideas of what retention meant on post-its, then stuck on white-board for all to view. Committee then grouped by general focus areas

The discussion of current initiatives on campus seemed to be very helpful to the group, bringing awareness of how various areas view/define/impact retention

Use of interactive / online tools allowed for offline collaboration. Inclusive dialogue during meetings

5. Any challenges encountered by the team Time Conflicts / Schedules (getting everyone together) Large scope of project - hard to focus individuals on a particular direction Diverse definition/meaning of retention and methods of measure Separation from prior similar project?


AQIP Retention - Meeting Notes / Summary 10/29/13 Each group discussed the various retention ideas they came up with and these are listed below: Group 1

Implement priority registration Priority reg but with specific gpa requirements

Reward for goal completion Initiative to target African American Males to increase retention in under rep group

AA males are less likely to be retained - anecdotal Create a student ombudsman

Group 2

Student Self-Service / One stop viewing Mentoring Priority Registration

Tied to completed credits 3 tiers possibly

First Year Experience Reward system - (last term free concept) Ombudsman Cohort system - Students assigned to a specific SSS

Group 3

Learning Communities / Cohort Groups Orientation & First Year Experience Information Distribution / Portal concept Student Financial Barriers Attendance / administrative drop


There were definite patterns and overlaps in the ideas, so these were grouped into various “categories” as listed below: Combined groups

Student experience First year experience course

Program related Orientation Mentoring

Expanded Technology Info portal

What resources to make available? Self service/one stop

How feasible / what is possible Financial

Policy Priority reg

How are other Community colleges implementing? Admin drop

Any other schools doing this, best practices? Reward System

Maybe some potential ideas / suggestions Ombudsman

Cohort/learning groups AA Males Programs/area of interest (Mott Middle model) Social/Community

Thoughts / suggestions on what we could do here at Mott Our next meeting is going to be December 3rd, 3:00 PM in RTC1107. At our next meeting we will take one of the above categories and flesh out what the strategic recommendations for that are (what they mean, how would they be measured, etc).


Section 4


Recommendationsto the Executive Cabinet


Student Retention AQIP Retention Project

Recommendation to Executive Cabinet 2014/06/24

Project Team:

Bernard Cunningham Faculty Mathematics

Cheryl Bassett Chief Technology Officer

Dan Thomas Student Success Specialist

Emily Varney Director, Student Financial Services

Gail Van Etten Counselor

Gary Brasseur Manager Enrollment Services

Janis Block Faculty Reading

Lynn Wandrey Faculty Biology

Mara Fulmer Coordinator Graphic Design

Troy Boquette Executive Dean Student Services

Patricia Ward Faculty Coordinator Allied Health

Mike Cieslinski Student Services (CoChair)

Kirk Yaros ITS (CoChair)

Project Overview

Mott Community College students are faced with many challenges when attempting to obtain a certificate or degree, or attending the college to satisfy some other personal goal. These challenges may be social, economic, or personal in nature, and they often affect a student’s ability to be successful. The retention team was developed to determine ways Mott Community College could identify and address these challenges to help retain these students and allow them to achieve their goals.

Student retention is very important and the team strongly believes that if students are successful, Mott Community College and the surrounding community we serve will be successful.

1 of 14


What is Retention

Students attend Mott Community College for a variety of reasons, each with a different definition of “successful goal completion.” These goals can include (but are not limited to):

Seeking a degree or certificate Course completion with Transfer to another institution (4 year) Personal Enrichment

In each of the above cases, a variety of issues may impede student success. To overcome these issues, there are different actions the college needs to take. The group decided to limit the scope of our definition of retention to only degree or certificate seeking students to keep the project manageable and to stay in line with current state and federal reporting requirements. Mott is required to submit various State and Federal reports which provide their own definitions for success. In these reports, Mott is compared to other institutions (see “State and Federal Reports” section of our Mott web site at http://www.mcc.edu/mccfact/IR_State_Fed.shtml). The following definitions are currently used to compare Mott with other institutions:

(As used by IPEDS Graduation Rate Survey GRS)

Rating Definition

Graduation % of fulltime, firsttime degree/certificateseeking cohort students who complete program within 150% of normal time

Transfer % of fulltime, firsttime degree/certificateseeking cohort students who transfer out of college within 150% of normal time (without completion)

Degree Seeking

Students enrolled in courses for credit and recognized by the institution as seeking a degree, certificate, or other formal award. High school students also enrolled in postsecondary courses for credit are not considered degree/certificateseeking.

Other Notes: some latitude exists on how “first time” is defined Our cohorts that fall into the graduation statistic are a very low percentage of our

student population. Cohorts typically range from 300500 students. Our cohorts go through the system slowly in many cases, because of

developmental work, sometimes can take 2 years to complete prereqs. Based upon our existing data, our current retention rates are 70% term to term,

50% for year to year retention. Year to complete may need to be defined For Fall is 6 years too long as a measurement timeframe?

Achieving the Dream (AtD) measures TermtoTerm Retention: students who enroll for courses after the completion of

a semester (e.g. Fall students who enroll for Winter)

2 of 14


http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mcc.edu%2Fmccfact%2FIR_State_Fed.shtml&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFr2QQRu7rDfTdmi_TrVX9LxepPCw

FalltoFall Retention: students who enroll for courses one year after the completion of a semester (e.g. Fall students who enroll again the following Fall)

Significant Credit Attainment (35 or greater): at MCC we defined this as slightly over half the credits required for an associates degree.

Degree Attainment: students who earn a degree.

The AQIP Team on Student Retention settled upon the following goal of what “retention” meant for the purpose of this project:

Goal: Increase graduation and successful goal completion using existing data, research, term based and long range strategies.

However, the team feels that as retention becomes ingrained into Mott culture the other areas that could benefit from retention actions and strategies should also be evaluated.

Attendance For both student retention and student success, of primary importance is classroom attendance. This fact is obvious, and supported by numerous studies. A number of proposals the group has made focus on this key factor. Efforts would need to be made to evaluate the current methods for tracking student attendance and determine ways to improve upon this process for these goals to be successful.

Analysis of Current Activities

Mott currently has implemented some retention strategies and it is important to point out what actions are already being taken. Below is a listing of some highlevel activities already underway:

Type Strategy Impact to Retention

Term Focus Retention Alert Identifies “at risk” students.

Term Focus Tutoring / Math Empowerment / Peer to Peer

Developmental and early math courses are key to many programs and efforts to increase success in these courses will help students long term.

Term Focus Social Media Allow students to become more engaged in a course by peer involvement.

Term Focus External Support Service Referrals: Alternative funding, referral

3 of 14


services, WFD, scholarship opportunities....financial opportunities center (taxes, banking, balance checkbook)....

Term Focus FAFSA Fridays. Helps students understand their Financial Aid options.

Term Focus Licensed Professional Counselors

Gives students someone to talk to regarding personal or academic issues.

Miscellaneous Veteran Services Provide social and academic to veterans...

Miscellaneous Disability Services Provide additional assistance to those with disabilities.

Miscellaneous TRIO Provides various support services to students who are economically and academically disadvantaged with focus on transfer to four year institution.

Degree / Goal Focus Post Graduation Surveys Gathers feedback directly from students on ways to improve as an institution.

Degree / Goal Focus Student Life / Student Clubs (“Otaku”)

Contributes to the growth of the individual student, involving them in clubs, organizations, and associations; Provides the student with opportunities to develop both social and professional networks

Overarching Strategic Initiatives

Student success is already a prime focus for all of Mott Community College Faculty and Staff and this must remain so. However, a broader awareness and focus on student retention leading to graduation/goal completion should also be encouraged and developed. The concept of retention takes what we already know about student success and extends it to anticipate those students at risk of leaving Mott.

This is obviously problematic because it becomes very difficult if not impossible to try and interact with students once they have made the decision to leave Mott and no longer pursue their goal. Previous attempts at contacting these lost students have met with limited success. The retention team feels that the only way to increase student retention rates is to take a proactive approaches such as:

Determining strategies to identify “at risk” students Assisting “at risk” students in many ways before they drop out Increasing the culture of retention at Mott to heighten the awareness of “key indicators” of

a potential lost student.

4 of 14


The team has identified three main strategic initiatives that could be used to improve upon student retention as well as integrate the awareness of student retention into Mott culture:

1. Policy2. Technology3. Student Experience & Cohort Learning

Brainstorming took place on each of the above areas and more specific ideas were identified that could be starting points for further study or action projects. The ideas presented in this document are those that the group felt would provide the most impact, but no specific implementation plan or cost was associated. The group kept focus on what we felt would be most beneficial for students; we did not try to address challenges these ideas would present to our institution.

Policy Initiatives

First and foremost, adopting policies which foster increased focus upon student retention is key to demonstrating a commitment to retention for Faculty and Staff. The team has identified the following measures as possible areas which may benefit from policy additions or changes.

Ombudsman / Representative Advocate: Many of the AQIP representatives have felt that there is an opportunity to provide students with someone (or a department) with a place they can “go to” for any and all issues, both academic and nonacademic. An ombudsman who is impartial to both the academic and nonacademic policies can act as an advocate for students; in addition, such a person can establish a “mentor” type relationship with students. This office would provide a place students can go with questions, complaints, concerns or to understand how to overcome a particular obstacle they are facing.

The key concept of an Ombudsman’s office is that the ombudsman is impartial, acting as a mediator between a student issue and the institution. The primary focus is to resolve issues or provide students with information on how to work within existing Mott guidelines.

Other institutions have established an office of student ombudsman and further information can be found at these websites:

Lansing Community College: http://www.lcc.edu/studentlife/ombudsman/index.aspx Jackson College: http://www.jccmi.edu/ombudsman/

5 of 14


http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lcc.edu%2Fstudentlife%2Fombudsman%2Findex.aspx&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG6P2D9spCr7UeHxg8uTwGseczEzQ

http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jccmi.edu%2Fombudsman%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG8fapKloFOJqhgZK4FGI_5wl3j5A

Lake Superior State University: http://www.lssu.edu/ombudsman/ University of Michigan: http://ombuds.umich.edu/ Wayne State Univeristy: http://ombudsman.wayne.edu/

Administrative Drop: In an attempt to improve the opportunity for student success, the college should consider a policy that would automatically drop MCC students who do not meet certain attendance criteria at the beginning of the semester.

The logic behind this is in line with the studies put forth for Mott’s late registration policy. In this case, if students are not attending a course, specifically in the first one or two sessions, they are reducing their chance for success in that course. Also, this is an “at risk” indicator of a student who may be registering for courses they are not prepared to try and complete.

Many concerns were identified with this concept and many potential issues were identified. This change should be undertaken with the knowledge that we would undergo short term losses for long term gains. It is important to note, however, some of the major concerns included:

This policy would require a more thorough attendance tracking procedure as well asincreased technology to support it.

There are direct short term operational and financial impacts of this policy specificallywith loss of revenue without ability to recoup (due to seats lost beyond the point of ourability to refill them)

Financial Aid impacts upon the student depending upon when and how the drops wouldoccur.

Consideration given to our 8 week and late start terms with regard to when and how thedrops would need to take place.

As an overarching concept, student attendance is a huge factor in their success and more efforts could be placed at addressing situations in which student attendance is poor.

6 of 14


http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lssu.edu%2Fombudsman%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG3JYyUTP95QoB1MWFlOe3HSx-v7g

http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fombuds.umich.edu%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEuwQcYE9TRs0DdS9U63gRh1zHnww

http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fombudsman.wayne.edu%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHGtrHV92YkdPn0QsXPciQh4huxxw

Technology Initiatives

With increased strain on resources, it is always important to leverage technology (especially existing technology) from the onset of any new initiative. Student retention can benefit from a focus on technology in two ways:

By allowing the student to take ownership of their success through increased informationawareness and tools

By providing Faculty and Staff with tools and information to allow them to be proactivewith regard to all student retention strategies

In addition to the direct benefit that increased information provides, Mott needs to stay current with changes in technology in order to remain competitive with other higher education institutions. Student’s expectations about what tools and what information should be available to them is increasing exponentially with the advancement of online and mobile technology and Mott needs to be able to stay relevant in this area.

Financial Dashboard / Portaltype Information The team agreed that giving students as much information as possible with their current school career from both an academic and financial perspective would be highly beneficial. Here are some ideas about what information we should more readily share with our students:

Completed / Attempted credits (how many do they have left until completion)? SAP indications / Financial Aid “gas gauge” how much money do they have left? If

technically feasible, showing them both encumbered and incurred costs would providethe maximum benefit.

Loan or Debt total indicator Financial Literacy / Default Prevention (future FA Blackboard course Loans; ERefund

vendors offer financial literacy options and “virtual wallet”) Student / course planner a huge win for students to know how much they have left to do

would require institution to have course planning information in advance.

Information is likely available due to FAFSA yearly imports and a “dashboard” could be produced for students that meets the following requirements:

Information should be presented in a fashion that is very easy to read and understand.One possible option would be something similar to a gas guage related to how muchFinancial Aid a student has left. This gauge could have green, yellow and red zones thatindicate how close the student is to “running out” of aid. This would put direct emphasis

7 of 14


on how many classes they could potentially take as well as the importance of completing classes successfully.

An ongoing “degree progress bar” could indicate how far along the student is to their goal.The bar could also highlight various actions that are required (such as being admitted to a program or applying for a degree) to help the student be aware of upcoming actions that will require their attention.

These are starting points for information that would be beneficial to students. However, it is recommended that a needs assessment be completed to ensure students needs are properly addressed.

Degree Planning Guide

A “Degree Planning Guide” could be developed with existing software which would allow a student to map out the classes they would need and the semesters in which they could take these courses. This is something that is already being provided by many institutions (and in some programs at Mott) and has proven to be very popular with students.

This function increases student retention by giving them a “map” of where they are at as well as how far left they have to go. Creative options could also be included to provide incentives for reaching various milestones along the way. This “planning guide” in conjunction with the financial dashboard listed above would give students a very quick indicator of:

How much money they’ve invested so far or how much financial aid they have left. Will itbe enough to complete their goal?

A “light at the end of the tunnel” feeling, knowing there is a definite end to help workthrough some of the more challenging times.

A degree planning guide for students also has direct institutional benefits. As students “map out” what courses they want or need to take, this can directly assist with future section planning initiatives. It also helps identify courses that will need to be offered outside of our normal cycle.

Online and Priority Registration Changes

Mott should evaluate current enrollment procedures at an institutional level to identify and resolve any unnecessary barriers or unintended consequences of overlapping procedures. It is likely that efficiencies could be identified to help the student register more seamlessly.

Some areas of opportunity include:

Paperless Instructor Signatures

8 of 14


Currently, courses that need instructor permission require the student to obtain paper signatures from the instructor and to present them in person at the time of registration. Going paperless would streamline the process for both the student (in reduced wait times) and the institution (reduced overhead during registration).

Priority Registration The concept of priority registration has been identified by the team as a great way to provide a better user experience for those students who have been moving along a proper degree path. It allows the student to also have an easier time obtaining the classes they need the closer they are to completing a degree / certificate.

This concept is not new to higher education and has been implemented by many institutions for well over 10 years. However, the concept is somewhat more difficult for Community Colleges because the varied audiences that attend classes. Not all students are looking to complete a degree and so students who are only looking to attend for enrichment purposes should not become part of the “priority pool”. That is, to increase retention specifically for degree / certificate seeking students, we should provide these students with an enhanced experience.

Other institutions that have implemented priority registration have solved these issues by inviting students to priority registration who are actively degree / certificate seeking students and rank these by the number of completed credits. Students are then allowed to register in various time blocks based upon greatest completed credits to least. Then, after a “priority period” normal open registration can begin.

Staggered enrollment will also increase the user experience of ALL students in the following ways:

It will reduce “wait” times for registering students It will allow students to register at “normal” times of the day. Currently students have to

wait until midnight, and then try to register as quickly as possible on the first day ofregistration.

It will distribute the load on the systems providing registration. Currently, whenregistration opens, the system is overloaded and the response times for registration canlag by five or more minutes per class. This is well beyond standard web site wait periods(which are measured in seconds, not minutes). A typical wait time greater than 30seconds is usually something that causes users to exit or it starts to cause frustration.

It is possible that this concept could also provide cost savings. We currently have to licence our systems based upon what we feel our peak load will be and to cover these times when load is great. If the registration load becomes better distributed, the peak load levels will be reduced, therefore saving on yearly licensing costs. Further, evaluation of this will be required after determining specific priority registration conditions.

9 of 14


Key Indicator Auditing “Key Indicators” can be thought of as warning flags that when looked at individually do not directly indicate that a student is at risk of leaving but when taken in a larger picture, help identify students most likely to be a retention risk. The team discussed and came up with the following key indicator list:

Key Indicator Potential Threshold / Source

Low midterm grades Failing midterm grades, would need a consistent source for this information

Repeated Add / Drops Adding / Dropping the same course (across multiple semesters) Adding / Dropping multiple courses in the same registration period

Financial Aid SAP Credits taken threshold Lifetime eligibility threshold

Repeating A Course Repeating a course over 2 times (registration of a course that has been attempted twice already) Dropping a course that was failed previously

Attendance Low attendance, especially in the early part of the semester Data may need to be expanded from it’s current level of tracking

Developmental Education Multiple Dev Ed recommendations Low placement scores

Advisor Visits / Direct Feedback Multiple advisor visits Direct comment or identification from advisors

It is recommended that research is conducted to determine whether the above indicators constitute either individually or collectively a reliable indicator of when a student is “at risk.” This work, in addition to review of the draft batch processes created during the Datatel Retention Alert module implementation, could result in semiautonomous systems that provide help for atrisk students. Various auditing procedures could then be put in place to evaluate these atrisk students on a termbyterm basis and efforts could be made to provide additional assistance.

10 of 14


Auditing can be done with existing systems in place either the current Retention Alert system or through customized reports that could be developed using our Cognos reporting engine.

Student Experience & Cohort Learning Initiatives

The team identified the concept of strengthening Cohort learning in the context of the student’s program of study/educational goal as a method that has a great potential to increase retention. The belief is that when students feel part of a group experience, they are more likely to want to move with and complete alongside this group.

This is evidenced in our Nursing program area where there is a very strong group culture that is seeded from the start of the program and lasts throughout. Students move through classes, seeing familiar faces and interacting with the same faculty, and they are focused on the same aspects of the labor market. This develops a stronger bond between students and thus provides support when it is needed.

Faculty, Advisors, and Program Coordinators already have a direct impact on a student’s progress through required courses and educational experiences, then moving on to completion.

This concept of providing a “support group” or “support net” is the purpose of this particular retention strategy. These groups can be real or virtual. Since the first year of college is an extremely important time for students especially in terms of retention there should be an enhanced focus on what assistance we can offer students during their first year. The various first year strategies are identified below.

First year experience

Achieving the Dream (AtD) describes the “FirstYear Experience” intervention as:

“Students targeted by this intervention are offered comprehensive approaches designed to improve success rates and increase retention of firstyear students. FYE programs may include interventions focused on the streamlining admissions processes, increasing financial aid uptake, community outreach, student success courses, and targeted orientation and advisement.”

Many options were discussed as to how a FYE could be organized to best help students succeed. Program related options could be created for cohorts of students with the same or

11 of 14


similar educational goals. This would enable students to receive both common college information included in a comprehensive orientation and detailed information related to course tracks. It would also provide some introduction to their chosen profession. The added benefit to this cohort group, is that this could assist in developing a community bond among the students.

Health Sciences currently leverages the concept of a “cohort learning group” which has demonstrated how a tight social grouping of students help each other work through their goals and increase retention. The team feels that trying to extend the success of this area to other programs would increase retention in those programs. We encourage an action project be developed around the implementation of these ideas to other programs at Mott.

The benefits of this program include: Time for expanded orientation content spread over longer period of time It helps students identify which career path they are interested in. Many students come

to Mott still unsure of their future direction This gives students who believe they know what career path they are interested in a

chance to fully understand what they are entering. In many cases students find out afterinvesting a great deal of time (and money) that the career path they thought they wantedto take isn’t something they are interested in after all. This often leads to wastingvaluable financial aid dollars towards something they cannot use.

The following questions pose challenges to take into consideration of such a program: What differences would exist between our current College Survival Skills course and a

First Year Experience? How would this course / experience impact the new student orientation? Would this course be mandatory (especially given that “students don’t do optional”)? Would transfer or guest students need to go through this program?

In light of the above challenges, and the thought that this group focused on degree / certificate seeking students, it is likely that a program geared towards specific programs as a beta test would be a good way to validate the success of this concept. Also, it is agreed that some programs are more conducive to such an experience more than others.

A review of other institutions shows that eight other AQIP colleges have had similar action projects that can be seen in the table below. MCC is also an Achieving the Dream (AtD) college, and a review of the AtD knowledge base shows that there are 58 initiatives related to this topic.

From AQIP Action Project Directory 3/5/14 http://www.ncahlc.org/component/com_apdsearch/Itemid,126/

Institution Action Project Title State Year

Grand Rapids Design and Implement a First Year Experience MI 2005

12 of 14


http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncahlc.org%2Fcomponent%2Fcom_apdsearch%2FItemid%2C126%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEgkIbES0cUuEYQXdD5MQeV8UKVzQ

Community College Program for New Students

Hawkeye Community College

Impacting the First Year Experience at Hawkeye Community College

IA 2005

North Dakota State College of Science

Implement First Year Experience course and Intake Advising Model

ND 2007

Inver Hills Community College

First Year Experience MN 2011

Laramie County Community College

First Year Experience (GYE)/ First Year Seminar Integration Pilot Study

WY 2011

Shawnee State University First Year Experience OH 2011

North Central State College

First Year Experience: “Powering Up” UnderResourced Students

OH 2012

Tabor College First Year ExperienceDeveloping New Programs

KS 2012

In addition to the first year experience, efforts towards helping students throughout their entire college experience is also necessary. Some ideas towards this end are identified below:

Expanded Orientation Outside of the first year experience listed above, there is consensus with the team that an expanded orientation program would provide great benefits. The information provided in the current orientation is great, but students often not prepared to take in that much information at the time they are going through that program, and as we know, repeated exposure to information is the best way to retain it. The concept of a noncredit orientation “course” was described to allow the student to be given information about Mott as they progress through their time here. This would help to provide them information on a “need to know” basis such as, information on registration prior to open registration periods or information on financial aid procedures prior to yearly forms are due.

Mentoring The various strategies discussed during the committee meetings revolved around ways in which to connect with students. Many of the issues that impact student retention revolve around influences outside of the classroom. Peer mentoring could provide students with these positive connections because "they have been there". This component could provide atrisk students with positive role models, helping the students cope with the stresses of academic/life balance.

13 of 14


This peer mentor creates another avenue for atrisk students to seek help and talk to someone who is not faculty or paid staff.

The committee focused on identifying ways to deal with social issues, both at home, school, and in the community. A search of the AtD database showed 13 initiatives related to mentoring activities two of which are Michigan schools (Jackson CC and Grand Rapids CC). Most of the initiatives focus on a specific demographic group. Cuyahoga Community College seemed a close fit to discussions in the group.

Additional benefits and considerations of such a program include reducing traffic in the Counseling area, allowing them to reduce wait times and increase service levels. Also, a mentoring program would work under the direction of an Ombudsman (listed above). It could serve as an additional source of referral to ombudsman’s office or Counseling for problems beyond the purview of peer mentor.

Challenges of such a program include: Identifying who could be part of the “mentor population”. This should consist of

sophomorelevel students mentor incoming freshmen. What would be the benefit to the mentor student for this activity? Some possibilities

include providing experiential credit, or conferring an honor/award, pin, or notation on a graduation program. A recommendation was made not to use the “Peer Tutors” title as that is a paid position through the Learning Center.

Important aspects to consider when developing initiatives to influence student retention include, what relationship the support person would have with the student. Is such a person a peer or a mentor? One example would be a faculty member or athletic coach. These are powerful relationships and can have a large influence on a student. Is the college providing a service to the students? Is this service capable of handling the amount of students?

Example student load: Ombudsman 1:10,000 Counselor 1:800 Program Coordinator 1:200 Faculty 1:30 Athletic Coach 1:15

Appropriate resources are needed for each of these kinds of mentors. In the end, the more interaction Mott can have with a student, the greater will be the probability that the student is retained. And with a greater probability of retention comes a greater chance for successful degree or certificate completion.

14 of 14


Appendix 1


Presentation
