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
2019 - 2020 Webinar Series
Michelle Bombaugh, Leslie Tod, & Kim Williams of University of South Florida
In Spring 2017, University of South Florida implemented a Deferred Probation procedure to redress the issues first-year students often face in their transition to the university. Under the previous procedure, first-year students could be academically dismissed prior to completing two full semesters at the university. Summer admits were particularly disadvantaged as they could be dismissed as early as fall without having a full academic year to demonstrate their academic abilities. Due to Winter Break closures, the university was challenged with a reduced timeframe to assist these students, particularly those who had extenuating circumstances that might reverse their dismissal. As a result of the Deferred Probation procedure, first-year students were granted one additional semester to address their academic standing. This webinar will discuss the origins of the procedure, current data on this population of students, and the potential of this procedure as a strategy to increase first-year persistence and graduation rates.Patricia Bice of Purchase College, SUNY
Research on student retention and persistence has often overlooked organizational behaviors of colleges and universities as an impactful construct, instead focusing more on precollege characteristics of students or characteristics of the college rather than its behaviors. In their comprehensive model of influences on student learning and persistence, Terenzini and Reason (2005) place the organizational context of the model before the student peer environment, indicating that organizational behaviors can be powerful tools influencing the peer environment and student outcomes. The organizational context framework assisted the researcher in developing a deeper understanding of the complex nature of internal organizational structures, practices and behaviors through the experiences of students, faculty, and administrators. Through the presentation and discussion of the findings and recommendations from this study, educators will develop an understanding of the potential impact institutional behaviors may have on student outcomes.Robert Terry, George Bogaski, & Nicole Campbell of University of Oklahoma
To facilitate success in students’ initial encounter with college-level mathematics, many Universities require incoming freshmen to take a mathematics placement (MP) test before enrolling in mathematics courses. For the purposes of this study, our goal was to examine the efficacy of augmenting a MP test score with additional, readily available academic success predictors for predicting freshmen DFW rates (D, F, or Withdrawing) in mathematics courses. To accomplish our goal, we built one model predicting overall DFW rates from the MP score and additional academic success predictors, and we built another model predicting students’ MP test scores with academic success predictors. Both models only use information from incoming students’ application process, which makes it a no-cost extension of the MP test scores. Our findings indicate models with increased information about students better predict DFW rates, suggesting possible improvement in the placement of freshmen in math courses and reduced DFW rates.Reginald Simmons & Alexandra Castillo of Central Connecticut State University
Initiatives supporting the persistence of incoming freshmen are a staple at many colleges and universities. However, the transition from sophomore to junior status can be a time of great attrition. There is increasing recognition that pairing successful undergraduates similar in background and experience with other undergraduates in a mentoring relationship can be effective, particularly for enhancing the academic success of under-represented and first-generation students. This webinar will introduce the audience to Success Central, a university-supported intervention where junior and senior undergraduate students use coaching techniques to mentor freshmen and sophomore first-generation college students. Student coaching has demonstrated results in enhancing the persistence of undergraduate students (Bettinger & Baker, 2014). The audience will learn how mentors are chosen, trained, and supervised. They will also see case-studies that demonstrate the intervention and data pertaining to the mentees who have completed Success Central. The presenters will also facilitate a Q&A session.Sheri Wischusen & E. William Wischusen of Louisiana State University
Retention of college students in STEM majors is strongly linked to their experiences and success in introductory courses. The Biology Intensive Orientation for Students (BIOS) bridge program, a five-day pre-freshman program at Louisiana State University (LSU), has consistently increased the success of students in introductory courses, their retention to the second year of college, and four-year graduation rates. In addition to overall gains, this program has led to specific gains for underrepresented groups – ethnic, socio-economic and first-generation college. Data show that biology majors who participated in BIOS immediately prior to their first semester were more likely to be successful in an introductory science course, more likely to remain in the major than their peers at LSU, and more likely to graduate in four years as biology majors.Joanne Goldwater of St. Mary's College of Maryland & Ross Conover of Hood College
St. Mary''s College of Maryland has found success by building partnerships between Institutional Research, Retention and Student Support Services, Registrar''s Office, Wellness Center, ADA, Residence Life, and other offices on campus in building impactful student success networks. Join us as we share how we built collaboration among departments to implement our early alert system four years ago, and continuing with our advising programs, Academic Probation system, mentoring programs, outreach to students, response to mental health issues (which significantly impacts retention), and identifying, collecting and using our data all while on a small college budget. Participants will engage in thoughtful introspection and walk away with programmatic ideas, tips for improving communication, strategies for creating buy-in and building collaboration, as well as a useful list of questions relating to collaborative efforts.Andrea J. Keith & Lauren C. Bell of Randolph-Macon College
The transition to college is among the more difficult transitions a person experiences during their lifetime. Fraught with emotion, new students—particularly those who are first-generation college students—often find themselves unsure how to navigate the challenges that await them. The myriad support services and personnel that colleges and universities have put in place to assist new students can exacerbate the problem; the sheer number of people available to provide help to new students may lead them to be unsure of how to access the support they need. In this webinar we discuss a successful effort at Randolph-Macon College (Ashland, Virginia) to provide each new student with a peer mentor—a New Student Transition Captain—who serves as the principle point of contact for managing the college transition, and who, alongside other mentors, helps to form a community of upper-level students that is invested in new students’ success.Phil Moore & Marla Mamrick of University of South Carolina & Megan Schramm-Possinger of Winthrop University
Despite the importance and emphasis placed on college outcomes, retention and graduation rates have stagnated nationally. As a result, early alert systems have gained in popularity. These systems attempt to detect groups of students who have lower than institutional average retention or graduation rates, and then prescribe and implement strategies to assist these students. This study investigates using a measure of academic work ethic derived from admissions test scores and high school GPA to detect students at-risk. The group of students with low academic work ethic is less likely to return each year and is less likely to graduate. Academic work ethic also appears promising when used with existing admissions decision indexes, and can lead to higher retention and graduation rates and an increase in enrollment numbers for minority, Pell eligible, and in-state students.Wendy Robinson of Inver Hills Community College
This webinar will explore the findings from two recent independent and nationally representative surveys: one for parents with children not yet in college and one of current undergraduate students. This research investigates how messages students get about college from their parents may influence their persistence and retention by shaping their pre-entry expectations for college. Attendees will be encouraged to consider how overtly their college or university addresses incoming beliefs (from both students and parents) about the value and importance of not only enrolling in college but also completing.Melissa Irvin & Lisa Landis of University of South Florida
On-time graduation continues to be an elusive area of improvement for many institutions; research by Complete College America shows that only 38% of students enrolled in four-year research universities graduate in four years. Many institutions are implementing complex data systems to track student progression to discover opportunities for improvement; however, it has become increasingly clear that universities must be intentional about supporting front-line staff, particularly academic advisors, in the effective use of this data and the accompanying technologies. This webinar will examine a case study within the University of South Florida’s College of Behavioral and Community Sciences (BCS) exploring this college’s transition from a paper-based, prescriptive advising model to a technology-mediated proactive advising model, resulting in improved graduation metrics. Participants will start the process of institutional self-evaluation to conceptualize technology-mediated advising reform while discussing lessons learned during this implementation.Peggy Whaley, Cindy Clemson, & Jeff Henry of Murray State University
Murray State University has piloted student success discipline-specific freshmen transitions courses in which academic affairs and student affairs personnel collaborate as partner instructors. Faculty who are assigned to teach their disciplines’ one-credit- hour transitions course are paired with student affairs, library, or graduate student volunteers. Discipline faculty deliver discipline-specific content and volunteer instructors deliver content on time management, strategic learning, resiliency, managing college life and successful student behaviors. This webinar will highlight the results of four years of data indicating the success of this collaborative model for students and instructors.Rory McElwee, Rowan University; Sean Hendricks, University of California at Berkeley; Penny McPherson-Myers of Rowan University
Although many retention initiatives focus on the early years of college, considerable attrition also occurs in the later stages of the student lifecycle (in the second half of the degree program). This webinar will address programs and policies at later stages to facilitate retention, progression, and graduation in the context of the national completion agenda. A set of guiding questions will enable participants to assess and improve their institutions’ later-stage retention initiatives, with a focus on availability of relevant data and completion-supportive policies, services, programs, and campus culture. A '"Completion Toolbox'" containing a data-driven suite of programs, policies, and practices to support later-stage retention and completion will be presented. Strategies for campus culture change to support later-stage initiatives for diverse student populations will also be discussed.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:
- One to two weeks before webinar – Confirmation of your registration plus instructions to test your computer for compatibility. You may test your system now.
- One day before webinar – Login information and instructions for accessing the webinar
- Registrants will have five weeks in which to access and review the podcast and share the link with other colleagues at your institution.