Boosting Online Course Success with an Embedded Success Coach Approach

This session concerns student success related to embedded academic support offered within a community college’s online courses. In this session, we will describe a new online success coach program, sharing how the coaches work with students within targeted online courses to support their academic success. These coaches are not conected to student affairs and do not advise students about program requirements. Participants will walk away with an understanding of how this initiative has been implemented and supported by the community college and the steps they can take to implement a similar program at their own institution. Details will include the selection process of online courses, the access and visibility the coaches have within the LMS, the targeted outreach and engagement strategies they conduct with their students, and the collaboration involved with faculty and others at the college. The goal of this program is to increase student completion rates for courses that have a larger success gap between online and in-person modalities.  We will share recent initial qualitative and quantitative data as the program is in its second year. 

Participants will be engaged by participating in an interactive tool the coaches use to share information with students, as well as a Kahoot game that uses real-time assessments or check-ins that will walk them through process questions to help them create an implementation plan for their own institution.

Session Goals:

1. Understand how this coaching program is different than other similar coach roles offered within the community college.

2. Learn how to implement an online success coach program by utilizing your institution's learning management system, support resources, and collaboration efforts between departments to proactively increase online course success.

3. Begin a SWOT analysis related to implementing a similar program at your institution.