2008 Session Descriptions

Using Data Effectively in Retention and Recruitment Initiatives
The competing environment within higher education requires universities to target and yield ‘best fit’ students effectively while efficiently managing both human and financial resources. A data-driven approach to enrollment management can help a university accomplish this by developing a more detailed and informative view of the students throughout the entire funnel (prospective through graduation).

This workshop focuses on data and analytic best practices essential for recruiting, enrolling, and retaining students. Analytic methods and predictive modeling in the areas of prospecting, inquiry prioritization, financial aid leveraging, and student retention are discussed, as well as results and success stories from implementing such procedures. Participants will engage in a “check-list” discussion that can be a used as a guide for developing and implementing on-campus activities.

 

Affirming a Diversity-Friendly Campus Community
Our ever-shifting cultural landscape can be a complex backdrop for higher education administrators striving to establish and sustain a diversity-friendly campus environment. Through learning skills and strategies that equip you to respond to the forces, systems, and structures that perpetuate cross-cultural divisions, this workshop will help you to maximize the benefits of a culturally-diverse campus community. A framework is provided for building and affirming a multicultural campus community—a community in which members are able both to gain a better understanding of diversity and to develop effective modalities for expression.

 

Keeping It Real: Practical Approaches to Recruiting and Retaining African-American and Hispanic Students
In this highly interactive session, participants have the opportunity to discuss the difficult issues and seemingly intractable problems they face in recruiting and retaining African-American and Hispanic students. Guided by proven research in the field, participants engage in activities that help them identify common sense, cost-effective approaches to getting their recruitment and retention plans on track. Finally, participants will draft a code of conduct that their respective schools may use to achieve greater success in meeting their enrollment goals for students of color.

 

Building Momentum—Keys to Supporting Persistence and Graduation among Underprepared College Students
Drawing on lessons learned from the massive U.S. Department of Education study described in "The Toolbox Revisited" by Cliff Adelman, the workshop will explore meaningful strategies for supporting the success and persistence of underprepared students in their first and second years of college. An interactive exercise helps participants conduct an examination of their own campuses and learn from others. Workshop content is equally pertinent for attendees from 2-year and 4-year higher education institutions.

 

Faculty Engagement in a Retention Initiative
Retention is a measure of the quality of students’ college experiences. Though many variables contribute to decisions to withdraw or remain at an institution, teaching and learning are fundamental factors. Numerous studies document the important role that faculty play in encouraging student learning, success, satisfaction, and persistence. Efforts at improving the quality of instruction not only promote improved student learning, but are an imperative component of any successful retention plan. Participants in this interactive workshop will gain an understanding of the influence of the faculty on student success and retention, learn about classroom “best practices,” and return to campus with strategies to increase faculty engagement in increasing student success…and therefore student retention.

 

Build It and They Will Stay: Creating a Retention Plan
Are you engaged in a retention initiative but feel that your efforts are fragmented? That many faculty and staff are only marginally involved?

This session provides a step-by-step process to address both these issues. By creating a data-driven retention plan that engages stakeholders, these goals—creating a cohesive, prioritized retention plan and gaining engagement of more retention advocates—can be achieved simultaneously. Learn how to prepare for, conduct, and follow up on a Retention Planning Retreat, an event that has tremendous transformational potential for your institution.

 

Recruitment and Retention of Adult Learners
Is your institution interested in better understanding enrollment management of adult learners? Do you wish to utilize contemporary enrollment management practices to enroll more adults? And to retain the ones you have?

The population of adults attending higher education institutions is exploding across the country. To meet this demand, traditional four-year institutions, for-profit higher education, and community colleges alike are scrambling to enroll their share of adult learners. Institutions are re-examining their academic programs, pedagogy, and learning modalities. Adult learners differ from traditional learners in many more ways than age, and in order to enroll and retain them, we need to understand their unique patterns of enrollment behaviors.

 

National Trends and Best Practices in Retention
Whether new to retention or a seasoned veteran, participants find this popular session, which combines research with action-level suggestions, invaluable in improving their institutions’ retention efforts. Participants engage in guided, facilitated conversations with experts and attendees, working through exercises that encourage thoughtful institutional reflection. A checklist of 40 strategies and their implementation considerations provides participants with a suite of proactive opportunities following their returning to campus.

 

Utilizing High Tech to Maximize Personal Touch in Recruitment and Retention
The reasons why colleges and universities often fail to utilize all available technological resources for recruiting and retaining students are many: cost considerations; lack of expertise by in-house staff; intimidating hardware or software requirements; and, perhaps most of all, fear of losing personal connections with students. While these concerns may appear daunting, many institutions have found ways to surmount them, and schools that place a high value on “personal touch” are frequently surprised to discover that technology can be used to automate recruitment and retention efforts while increasing personalization and maximizing efficiency. In fact, time saved through technological solutions makes possible more personal time with prospective and current students. In this session, we discuss current, innovative options in technology for recruiting and retaining students and discuss how best to weave those together with your institution’s current enrollment management plans, while sharing ideas with each other on best practices.

 

Student Success in e-Learning
This session has a roundtable format, with very structured exercises designed to assist participants in reviewing their own status in terms of supporting student success in on-line or hybrid courses. Participants share their challenges and solutions related to topics in worksheets that cover best practices in:

• Instructional design
• Preparation activities to assist students in understanding expectations
• Instructional delivery that supports student learning and success
• Organization of online format and design
• Assessment
• Support for instructors

Participants return to campus with a “checklist” to use to improve their services, as well as solutions from other institutions.