Wk1 Media Project - Content Proposal

Content Proposal

Retention Web Service: Retaining Students Through Community

EDM-613 Media Asset Creation

Education Media Design & Technology MS Program

Full Sail University

Prepared by:

Isaiah Veale

March 7, 2010

I. THESIS ABSTRACT

     Institutions of all sizes and types have the need for students. Students who are dissatisfied with their current school may look for an institution they feel is better for them. There are key factors playing into these decisions and unless the student is forthright with their concerns there can be little opportunity to effectively impact their decision. The goal is to monitor these key factors, as they happen, in order to address them before the student is lost to attrition. Research of effective retention strategies will be used to design a web service to implement strategies and connect faculty, staff, and students within an online community providing instant information vital to retention.

II. Introduction

Problem Addressed
     Colleges and universities are a business. If a college does not have the funds to continue, it will close and the students will need to find a new place to earn their degree. Of those who enrolled in a four year institution, the U.S. Department of Education (2002) reported only 55% of all undergraduates who began their studies at a given four-year institution in 1995-96 with the goal of a bachelor’s degree completed that degree within six years at that same institution (including 59% of Caucasians and 41% of both African Americans and Hispanics). There are many factors leading to this attrition, but many key factors can be addressed if the right people know the student is considering transferring or dropping out.
     Laurie Schreiner (2009), director of the doctoral programs at Azusa Pacific University in a research study published by Noel-Levitz, Inc., suggests it is important to connect the student with the campus as soon as they arrive on campus, because the college experience has a significant impact on their decision to persist at a university. With the integration of a web service providing institutional networking, monitoring of key factors to student success, and connections between vital departments, colleges and universities can improve the student experience and therefore the probability of retaining them.
Target Audience
The target audience for this project is college and universities looking to improve their student retention and willing to change their strategies and philosophy to create more connections between students, staff, and faculty.
Sharing the project
     My plan in sharing the retention service is to offer it to the university I currently work at as a test subject as well as learning opportunity to learn what needs to be fixed, changed, or deleted. Once the service is proven effective it will be marketed to other colleges and universities for as a fee based service. At the start of the project it will be developed by myself with the help of a few friends who are graphic designers and code writers. It will be created primarily with Adobe Photoshop and web code.

III. Goals and Objectives

Instructional Goal
     This project is not designed to be instructional as much as it is designed to aid institutions by providing the students and therefore financial income to support the programs offered. Through the training process faculty and staff would learn the strategies and philosophies of the institution preparing them to assist their students to succeed and improve retention.
Learning Domain
     If there were a learning domain within this project it would be both cognitive and affective through the training process of why the institution is choosing to use this service and how it will affect their daily process. Faculty and staff would learn what key factors to monitor for student success and how to address them or who to send them to. As the students become more successful the faculty and staff would experience more pride in what they are accomplishing and grow more emotionally attached to their position.
Learning Objectives
     The objectives for the retention service would include:
          * Provide social networking between students, staff, and faculty.
          * Providing structure for the institutions retention strategies and philosophies to be implemented.
          * Provide training for faculty and staff, to clarify their responsibilities pertaining to retention.
          * Provide a site for key factors to be monitored and reported as desired and needed.
          * Provide a single site where retention employees or advisors can track student progress and  
             address needed issues quickly.

IV. Presentation

Instructional Approach
     The approach I am taking for this project is to design a web based service to aid retention strategies by connecting key individuals with students. Through these connections students will desire to succeed in their institution.
Lesson Structure
     Michael Cain (1999), in his book, The community college in the twenty-first century: A systems approach, believes campus life needs to be effective at connecting the student to the college, but that,
the teaching faculty is the key to the ... college's work. Other factors in the system, such as the support staff, administrators, politicians and students might help draw up the route for the trip, but it is the faculty members who drive the bus. (p. 47)
     If the student connects with their faculty, especially in their degree field, they will have a connection with their desired future. Training and equipping the faculty and advisors to connect in a meaningful way with their students is a key to the success of the student and the program.
     The web service I am proposing is designed to accommodate these needs. The format would be built around a social networking platform, but be closed to the members of the institution, able to track and report chosen key factors, provide communication tools with individuals and groups, and offer the college a single site to manage their retention strategies.
     My site will be programmed to connect to existing college programs to run scheduled reports and check for the key factors the college desires to track. This information will be generated and sent to the corresponding individual. Built upon this is connecting these individuals with others who have responsibilities toward the student.

V. Evaluation

     The eventual evaluation for this service is at the end of the semester has the retention improved or not. During the training process faculty and staff will be instructed of the impact their involvement has, and as the semester progresses students will be tracked for certain meetings, showing whether the advisors are meeting with their students and whether students are fulfilling their responsibilities as students. At the end of the semester a report would be drawn showing the percentage of retention per advisor allowing adjustments to be made to the training or accountability.
     As these evaluations are followed the retention staff are able to communicate more effectively with students and faculty, allowing them to be more productive in their field and giving them more time to work with the students and faculty to improve their strategies and revisit their key factors. This service is a tool for reactive assessment of retention by providing reports and tracking, but is also a proactive resource by allowing retention staff to focus on what is and is not working, rather than on constant training.

VI. References

Astin, A.W. (1993). What matters in college? Four critical years revisited. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
     Inc.
Bloom, J., & Kelly, K. (2008). Increasing enrollment of first-time-full-time freshman (FTFTF) in
     STEM majors, year two. Retrieved February 18, 2010, from http://icee2008hungary.net/download
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Cain, M. S. (1999). The community college in the twenty-first century: A systems approach. New
     York: University Press of America.
Inigril.com. (n.d.). Schools on facebook. Retrieved March 8, 2010, from http://inigral.com/
Noel-Levitz, Inc. (n.d.). Retention revenue estimator: Estimator for four-year institutions [Worksheet].
     Retrieved September 18, 2009, from https://www.noellevitz.com/Papers+and+Research/Retention
     +Calculator/
Noel-Levitz, Inc. (2007). Student Retention Practices at Four-Year Institutions. Retrieved January 10,
     2010, from https:// www.noellevitz.com/search/results.aspx?query=student%20retention
     %20practices
Noel-Levitz, Inc. (2009). Benchmark research study conducted fall 2008: Mid-year retention
     indicators report. Retrieved October 20, 2009, from https://www.noellevitz.com
     /Papers+and+Research/Papers+and+Reports/ResearchLibrary/Benchmark-Student+Retention.htm
Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: New tools, new schools. Eugene, OR: International
     Society for Teacher Education.
Tinto, V. (n.d.). Student success and the building of involving educational communities. Retrieved
     January 15, 2010, from http://aiea.syr.edu/vtinto/
Tinto, V. (n.d.). Student retention: What’s next. Retrieved January 15, 2010, from http://aiea.syr.edu
     /vtinto/
U.S. Department of Education. (2002). Descriptive summary of 1995-96 beginning postsecondary
     students: Six years later. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center of
     Educational Statistics, 28-32.