Student Retention

1. Create classroom identity

• The first assignment of my semester is that students write a short bio. These are posted to the website. Optionally, students add pictures, provide a favorite quote, personal website, and other details. It's a way for students to get to know each other even though there's less classtime. And it makes the web interface more personal.
  
• At some point in the semester, I hold "Bring Your Stuffed Animal to Class Day." On this day, we take a picture of the whole class with our stuffed animals, which I post to the website. It's silly, but it's also a bonding experience. And it makes the website more personal.
• I've created MySpace and Facebook pages where students can find and "friend" each other.

2. Demonstrate that you see each student as a real person

• Before the first class, I sit down and study the names of the students enrolled in my class. On the first day, as I take roll, I have a mini conversation with each student (How was your break? Where are you from originally? Why did you pick this class? What's one thing you want to get out of this class? Seen any good movies lately?). By the end of that first class, I can usually call on each student by name. It's a lot of effort on the teacher's part, but my theory is that it begins to build a relationship with each student.
• I ask students to email me when they're going to miss class. The first time a student does this in the semester, I mention this in passing in class to other students and ask if someone would volunteer to email the student class notes. My theory is that it sends two messages: students are aware that I'm aware when they miss class, and students know that every class session includes important information.

3. Make students "content producers"

• I use more group activities and rely heavily on discussion-based learning in my hybrid classes. This is partially because I'm profoundly incapable ofdelivering riveting two-hour lectures. But even though it seems counterintuitive to spend the scant classtime in groupwork, it forces students to be their own best teachers.
  
• This semester, I've allowed students to provide input on course policies, such as weighting individual essays and how many absences should be allowed before they're dropped. This draws on Freirean pedagogy of empowerment, but it also creates teachable moments about the educational institution and time management. By making grades a conversation rather than just a policy on the syllabus, students are much more conscious of their absences and their priorities. And interestingly enough, the numbers students choose are always quite close to what I would pick.
• At the beginning of the semester, I ask each student to write down one question they'd like to have answered in my writing class. I collect the questions, list them on my website, and address a couple each class. In this way, the students help determine what a writing class should be about.

4. Tweak the classroom environment

• I currently teach a hybrid class that meets once every other Saturday from 8am-noon. That's right, Saturday, 8am. A cold, stiff classroom is probably the last place we'd all want to be on a Saturday morning, so I've instituted a rotating snack/drink schedule. I bring my electric teapot each week, a student who works at Starbucks volunteered coffee for everyone, and other students bring donuts, fruit, and other snacks. They probably still don't want to show up, but at least being there is a little more bearable.

5. Communicate

• One new way I've made myself available to students is through instant messaging. When I choose to be online, students can write me with questions and concerns and can get an answer back immediately. AOL instant messenger is easy and free.