This session will encourage an interactive discussion regarding specific strategies implemented at UW-Stout to foster learning effectiveness, retention, and enhance support for post-traditional distance learners. Strategies promote a holistic, integrated support model by utilizing best practices in instructional design and development, integrated accessibility, innovative tools and technology, and engagement practices.
This session will focus on the seven retention strategies developed to promote retention of distance learners, while encouraging an interactive discussion regarding these strategies.
Session Outcomes
Outcome #1 – Participants will be able to identify four engagement strategies to promote retention and student success.
Outcome #2 – Participants will be able to compare institutional/unit, online course review processes in order to make enhancements to the course review tool available to them.
Outcome #3 – Participants will be able to modify institutional/unit online course student orientations in order to increase student preparedness and retention.
Outcome #4 – Participants will be able to appraise online course learning objects in order to design and develop engaging, online course activities.
Stout Online at the University of Wisconsin Stout (UW-Stout) consists of a team of dedicated service providers who seek to provide innovative and engaging experiences to its learners in order to increase retention, positive outcomes, and success. The team is comprised of an instructional design program, student services providers and program managers, and an accessibility professional. Our mission at Stout Online is to be a leader in advancing innovative, high quality services and learning experiences that engage, inspire and challenge.
The Instructional Design Program (ID Program): 1) Works with faculty on whole course development; 2) Delivers professional development opportunities to faculty; and, 3) Collaborates with faculty on online innovations and research. The Instructional Design Team (ID Team) has recently researched instructional design-related online student retention strategies that were implemented in the course design process.
The research yielded three areas of importance: Quality Matters, Online Student Orientation, and Course Activities. As a result, the ID Team: 1) Researched and developed a formal post-course development course review process for the ID Program; 2) Built a student orientation module that is aligned with the ID Program’s course template to a) increase student preparedness and b) increase student retention; and, 3) Designed and developed custom Reusable Learning Objects, using Computer Based Training software, to increase the engagement of students in online courses.
Stout Online’s student services and support team provides traditional services to learners, from inquiry to graduation. Additionally, the team encourages continuous improvement practices and consistently works to develop more efficient, effective, and engaging practices to foster retention and increase communication. As a result, recently, new student services-focused retention strategies were researched, piloted, and fully implemented within the team. The outcome was four integrated engagement strategies that encourage student success: a holistic introduction to distance learning, an email engagement campaign, response time standardization, and providing access to additional student resources.