Armstrong State University-[node:field-date:custom:Y]--Tracking Student Success (DegreeWorks)

High Impact Strategy

Implementation of new technology to assist advisors and students with degree planning and intrusive advising (DegreeWorks, EAB Student Success Collaborative (EAB-SSC), and Grades First).

Goal

4. Implement and expand improvements in advising services for FTFTF and at-risk students

Summary of Activities

DegreeWorks was released to Students in March of 2015. Faculty and staff were trained regarding the use of DegreeWorks, and additional training has been offered in the Fall of 2015. GradesFirst was implemented for all incoming freshmen, athletes, learning support and academic probation students beginning Fall 2014. For Fall 2015, GradesFirst was expanded to include all students under 60 hours with less than a 2.6 GPA and included all students on academic warning, all freshmen, sophomores, athletes and learning support students. We are in a proof of concept phase with the EAB-SSC to develop our risk model for student graduation. If the proof of concept is successful, EAB-SSC will be added to the advising platform by Fall 2016. All academic advising staff, tutor center staff, IT staff, and the Registrar’s office are involved in both DegreeWorks, GradesFirst and EAB-SSC.

Baseline Status

Our baseline GradesFirst data indicates that 15% of students are at risk of failing a course, but, of those students, 48.6% go on to pass the course after intervention by an academic advisor. Faculty respond to Grades First Alerts at a rate of 62%. In the EAB-SSC platform, four majors have been chosen for the pilot, and additional majors will be added in the Spring of 2016, so that we may identify gateway courses and students who are at risk of not graduating in their chosen major. 

Interim Measure of Progress

DegreeWorks will be used to improve advising communication and will see increased use by students. GradesFirst will see continued usage and the number of faculty reports of at-risk students who pass a course will increase. We expect to see increased demand for tutoring services based on Early Alert Interventions. 

Measure of Success

DegreeWorks usage will reduce advising errors and will help students map their path to a degree, resulting in a measurable (10%) decrease in the excess credits students accumulate (Table 10). We expect to see measurable increases in student earned versus attempted hours, as well as both four- and six-year graduation rates as a measure of success, due to early alert interventions. GradesFirst will see continued usage and the number of faculty reports will increase (target 75%), and the number of at-risk students who pass a course will increase (target 60%). Our EAB risk model is predicted to help us identify an additional 5% of at-risk students over a baseline prediction model.

Lessons Learned

In the past, Armstrong has not effectively used available technologies and data to assist us with intrusive advising and academic coaching. The implementation of these new technologies requires significant buy-in from faculty and training for faculty and staff. A small amount of intentional outreach to a student can make a big difference in how the student engages with the campus and is ultimately retained.