MURFREESBORO — MTSU’s
drive toward greater student success is now part of a national online course to
guide other institutions toward more efficient advising.
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities is
offering the six-lesson, self-paced course titled “A SMART Approach to Student
Success: Strategic Management of Advising Reform and Technology” on its
website, www.aplu.org.
Content for the course was gleaned from interviews and
information from five institutions of higher learning: Austin Community College
in Austin, Texas; Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado; Georgia
State University in Atlanta; Whatcom Community College in Bellingham,
Washington; and MTSU.
Some 20 members of the MTSU community were interviewed and
videotaped for the course, which helps institutions restructure their advising
models.
“The course is at minimal expense,” said Rick Sluder, vice
provost for student success. “It’s not something you’re going to spend tens of
thousands of dollars to do, but … it’s the starting point.”
Because the five institutions chosen to provide course
content represent a variety of research universities, community colleges, urban
universities and institutions serving largely Hispanic populations, Sluder said
the course is equally applicable to colleges of all sizes.
“If it really was just about a size issue, those small
schools would be sailing,” said Sluder. “They’d have retention rates of 90
percent. Their completion rates would be 75 percent. They’d have everything in
order.”
Since increasing its total number of academic advisers to 78
in 2014 and revamping its approach to advising, MTSU has received exceptional national
recognition for its approach to that aspect of improving retention and graduation.
Selection for participation in a course that shows other universities how to
follow suit is a point of pride for Sluder.
“To be recognized as a national model means everything,”
said Sluder.
For its participation in the national APLU course, MTSU received
20 site licenses at no charge and a $15,000 stipend. Sluder said the money was
set aside for student microgrants. Students facing financial emergencies can
apply for microgrants of up to $250 each.
For more information about the APLU course, go to www.aplu.org/smart. To find out more about
MTSU’s approach to improving student retention and graduation, go to http://www.mtsu.edu/studentsuccess/.
No comments:
Post a Comment