Some colleges have automated “early alerts” to warn students they’re at risk of failing a course, Community College Times reports.
South Texas College (STC) uses “a homegrown system that comprises student portals, e-mails and cell phone texts,” but plans to implement SunGard’s Higher Education’s early intervention system.
The system, Course Signals, allows institutions to combine information already available within campus systems to determine whether a student is at risk of failing or withdrawing from a course as early as the second week of class, said Matthew Hebbard, STC’s director of admissions and registrar.
In Maryland, Frederick Community College (FCC) expanded its early-alert system to all classes in 2008.
With the new system, faculty members had access to an electronic roster for their courses that allowed them to easily tag students who were not attending class or had poor grades. The system provides an automatic form that allows an instructor to identify the concern and make recommendations for services or interventions, such as a student/faculty conference. The information is shared with the student through his or her college e-mail account and the case is assigned an academic advisor.
Some colleges don’t have enough staff to follow up on all alerts, said Debbie McClellan, vice president of student learning services at FCC. If that’s the case, the college needs to decide when a staffer will intervene.
Georgia Gwinnett College, a public four-year institution that accepts all George high school graduates, encourages students to call, text or e-mail professors for help. Professors, who get a free smart phone and service plan, are asked to respond within 24 hours. In engagement surveys, students say the faculty “care about and are accessible to them.” The college has a low drop-out rate compared to similar institutions.
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[...] average for community colleges. If a student is struggling, the instructor can send an online “early alert” to a “retention specialist,” who will contact the student to offer [...]