The CONSORTIUM for STUDENT RETENTION DATA EXCHANGE
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The UNIVERSITY of OKLAHOMA

An Easy, Cost-Effective Way To Remain Current With Student Success


Twelve presentations are selected from the top rated sessions at our National Symposium on Student Retention each year for live presentation as webinars.

All webinars take place from 1:00 – 2:00 pm Central Time on the designated date, during which time participants may ask questions and provide feedback. An unlimited number of colleagues from the registrant’s institution may attend. CSRDE members and non-members are invited to participate. Each registration includes 5 weeks of access to the recorded podcast.

"We have found the CSRDE webinars to be an essential value-added component of our membership. The menu of award-winning presentations by colleagues who have “walked the walk” makes this option a convenient, efficient, and economical way to maintain both currency and contacts in our field. This webinar platform provides easy scheduling along with - yet another featured bonus! - options to share within our organizations. The level of coordination and support of these programs from the CSRDE staff/team is always amazing, always professional."
John Rollins, Director, Academic Performance Studies
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Webinar Cost
  • CSRDE members:
    One to six webinars are included with membership, depending on level
  • Add'l webinars for members:
    $129 each
    $79 each for blocks of 3 or more
  • Non-CSRDE members:
    $229 each

2012 - 2013 Webinar Series

Clint McElroy, Central Piedmont Community College

This study was conducted to determine the impact of the Central Piedmont Community College Title III-developed faculty training program on the variety of teaching methods employed by faculty members who were teaching developmental reading and/or English courses at CPCC. The CPCC faculty training program addressed in the study was implemented as part of an ongoing five year project funded by the United States Department of Education''s Title III Improving Institutions grant program. Randomly selected students were surveyed to determine whether faculty members who completed the training program were more likely to use 28 specific teaching methods than faculty members who had not yet participated. Instructors who had completed the training were found to use 21 methods more frequently, while seven other methods were used with similar frequency by both groups. There were eight teaching methods for which the results were deemed statistically significant for both years of the study. All of these methods were used more frequently by faculty members who had completed the training program. This study not only validates the efficacy of the faculty training program being assessed, it also provides a model for other colleges and universities to use in assessing the efficacy of faculty training programs.

Gerard LaVarnway, Norwich University

Cathy Frey, Norwich University

We apply a classification and regression algorithm in an effort to successfully predict if a student will or will not graduate. Specifically, the CART (Classification and Regression Trees) algorithm was applied to university retention data. CART is a nonparametric approach to classification and regression problems. It is a very robust method of performing classification. CART has several features that make it attractive over more traditional methods. Traditional methods of dealing with this problem often lack flexibility. Observations for example, are often assumed to be normally distributed. Traditional methods typically cannot deal with observations that contain categorical data or missing data in a natural way. CART analysis often makes progress on high dimensional data sets when other methods do not. The flexible nonparametric approach of CART will be discussed. The classification rules appear in the form of binary trees, which are easy to understand and interpret. Such decision tools may prove useful to colleges and universities trying to improve their retention challenges. CART techniques have been applied to several years of data from a small private undergraduate institution. Academic program specific models for predicting graduation indicate the potential to improve graduation rates by an average of twenty percent across the academic programs investigated. The CART regression algorithm will also be discussed as a useful tool for identifying students at risk.

Holly Helterhoff, Lawrence Technological University

To Be Provided

Jacob Pleitz, University of Oklahoma

Robert Terry, University of Oklahoma

Nicole Campbell, University of Oklahoma

Our institution, like many, is interested in better understanding factors that affect first-year retention, and ways to capitalize on that understanding to bolster our student retention and success. The current research sought to use existing institutional data in more advanced ways to model predicted probabilities of retention and demonstrate the effect of various factors on that probability. Academic admissions criteria for n=6552 students across three cohorts were regressed onto probability of retention into the sophomore year. Predicted probabilities of retention from a logistic regression using ACT scores and high school GPA were used to designate three separate groups of students—those who demonstrated little risk for withdrawal, those who demonstrated maximum risk for withdrawal, and those students who fell in between these two groups. Supplementary contributing factors were added into the regression model allowing us to examine the impact of these factors on students’ overall risk of withdrawal. This research facilitates a better understanding of how additional characteristics outside of academic qualifications may be used to re-evaluate students’ prior probabilities for success. Implications include earlier, more accurate prediction of risk, and the ability to allocate more specific intervention resources to higher risk students.

Serena Roberts, Florida A&M;

Gita Pitter, Florida A&M;

The use of assessment results to improve student performance in the classroom has become a widespread expectation in higher education over the past two decades. However, many faculty members are still uncertain of the way to improve student performance when assessment results do not meet expectations. This presentation provides a checklist of issues to explore in order to improve student performance, and thus retention, through programmatic changes based on assessment results. The checklist will be illuminated by discussions of an institution’s intensive work in attempting to increase student success in barrier courses with high failure rates, particularly science and mathematics.

Kim Sousa-Peoples, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Kristen Christman, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Jessica Quattrucci, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Retention is a campus-wide responsibility. In our current budget climate, it is now more important than ever to cultivate new partnerships and develop creative strategies to address student needs. Essential to the survival of programs, services, and personnel is the ability to demonstrate effectiveness in improving retention rates. As a result of changes to the UNC system funding model and the organizational restructuring of academic and student affairs, two distinct, yet related committees have emerged—the Retention SWOT Team and the First Year Task Force—both charged with the tasks of identifying students at risk for attrition and making recommendations for best practices for first year retention as well as four and six-year graduation rates. Here we discuss the work of these two groups.

Sharon Wright, University of Dayton

Students may share reasons for leaving an institution with a variety of faculty or staff on campus, or nobody at all. To streamline data collection, and ensure no student leaves without at least one administrator reaching out to help, a private, medium-size institution in the Midwest looks for possible indicators that a student may not be returning from the registrar’s office. Communication is initiated with students who have requested a transcript, or not registered for a subsequent term. This presentation addresses how reports may be set up to find target populations, communication with students, student response rates and results, and how this information may be used for data analysis and possible intervention.

Fiona Brantley, Kennesaw State University

Ralph Rascati, Kennesaw State University

The Supplemental Instruction (SI) program at Kennesaw State University was piloted in spring 2006 as one of the initiatives aimed at improving retention, progression and graduation (RPG) rates. This program is an academic support program that targets historically difficult courses. It utilizes a non-remedial, collaborative approach to learning that increases student performance and retention by offering peer-led, regularly scheduled, out-of-class review sessions. SI allows the various constituencies on campus to come together to help our students succeed. This presentation will share details regarding the program’s growth, successes, challenges and evaluation as we continue to impact student performance and retention.

Erika Gillette, Sierra Nevada College

Henry Conover, Sierra Nevada College

Lynn Gillette, Sierra Nevada College

The financial repercussions of losing a student due to academic failure are significant, both for the student and the campus. This webinar will present our peer mentoring program for academically at-risk students that has raised retention rates for these at-risk students by 21% and GPAs for the same students by an average of 26%. We have made significant changes to retain more students that were otherwise at a high risk for academic disqualification. Over four semesters, we have collected a consistent set of data on the percentage of our students who 1) returned to good standing, 2) improved their GPA but still continued on probation, and 3) were academically disqualified, and 4) other relevant data that will be presented. In addition to the tremendous difference the program makes in students'' academic performance, it has also yielded over $4 million in retained revenue, with a 3,053% return on the costs of the program. The webinar will also present updated data from the 2012-2013 year.

Cynthia Demetriou, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

The earliest studies of undergraduate retention in the United States occurred in the 1930s and focused on what was referred to at the time as student mortality: the failure of students to graduate (Berger & Lyon, 2005). Historically higher education research has had an eye toward pathology with a focus on repairing students’ problems (Shushok & Hulme, 2006). To this end, much research exists on why students fail to persist as opposed to why they succeed. Strength-based approaches to the study of undergraduate retention involve studying successful students. Studying what is right with students may illuminate new aspects of successful student experiences which can in turn be applied to supporting all students. This paper will provide a brief historical overview of undergraduate retention followed by factors commonly related to undergraduate retention. Finally, an overview of the recent application of motivational theories to understand undergraduate retention including attribution theory, expectancy theory, goal setting theory, self-efficacy beliefs, academic self-concept, motivational orientations and optimism will be provided. Considerations for the future of motivational theories in undergraduate retention will be discussed with particular emphasis on the value of strength-based approaches to study and practice.

Pat Skinner, Gaston College

Silvia Patricia Rios Husain, Gaston College

Don Ammons, Gaston College

Over the last few years, a college-wide approach to retention has been created at Gaston College. The main concept was the development of a Student Success Center that would house an Early Alert System, Student-Centered Professional Development Training, Enrichment Opportunities (Learn for Life), academic related student development credit courses (ACA), Student Success Seminars (non-credit), and other initiatives in career planning, academic assistance and academic advising. Unfortunately, there was no funding to implement the proposal, but the programs were conceptualized as “jets lined up on a tarmac” ready to take off when funding was secured. All efforts have culminated in the development of a Persistence and Retention Department focused on student success.

Bill Eberle, Tennessee Technological University

Doug Talbert, Tennessee Technological University

At most universities, administrators and counselors are trying to devise sound methodologies to help increase student retention rates. Due to the vast amount of student data that is available, sorting through the data to extract useful knowledge is a daunting task. However, the data may be helpful in predicting future student trends – particularly as it relates to retention. In this webinar, we present several data mining and machine learning techniques that can be used to predict future enrollment. In initial experiments, we applied these techniques to the retention of Computer Science students – a major that historically has significant turnover in the first year of study. While traditional methods may focus on known issues with retention, we emphasize the importance of factors that may only be noticeable through the application of data mining. The goal is to determine which newly enrolled students should be targeted as retention risks. If these students can be identified early in their academic career, this approach may help increase retention rates not only within a specific department, but across an entire university.

Register

CSRDE institutional members sign up for webinars using their membership registration forms. The number of webinars depends on the level of membership. If your institution is a CSRDE member and you would like to participate in a webinar, email csrde@ou.edu and we will put you in contact with the CSRDE representative on your campus. If you are an individual member, your membership includes one webinar. If neither you nor your institution are CSRDE members, you may use this form to register for a webinar.

If you are interested in purchasing podcasts from previous years’ presentations, please review the information using the dropdown box above for each year.

Accessing the Webinar

For each webinar, CSRDE will send the following emails:

  1. One to two weeks before webinar – Confirmation of your registration plus instructions to test your computer for compatibility. You may test your system now.
  2. One day before webinar – Login information and instructions for accessing the webinar
  3. Registrants will have five weeks in which to access and review the podcast and share the link with other colleagues at your institution.
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The Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange at the University of Oklahoma is a consortium of two-year and four-year institutions dedicated to achieving the highest levels of student success through collaboratively sharing data, knowledge, and innovation.