Student Retention Efforts

At LIM College, our mission is to support every student in their journey toward graduation. To that end, we have several initiatives, including hybrid student clubs, in-person and virtual industry-led presentations, and workshops geared towards academic success. These programs foster a sense of community, ensuring that our students feel deeply connected to the College.

In the classroom, we ask faculty to focus on peer engagement through active learning strategies. However, when a student begins to struggle, faculty intervention is critical.

In this section, we share two primary tools that we use to support student retention: one that monitors student activity in Canvas (e.g. assignment submissions, etc.) and the other centered on faculty support.

Dropout Detective

Dropout Detective, by AspirEdu, is retention software that helps our Academic Team team quickly identify struggling students. Once identified, the team reaches out to the students to check in, to provide support and guidance. Dropout Detective is built directly into each Canvas course and the tool looks at variables such as the student’s last login into Canvas and the course, missing assignments, grades, and more to determine the student's risk factor. Throughout the semester, faculty are encouraged post notes regarding struggling students in the Dropout interface. These notes are used by the Academic Team to facilitate conversations with the students.

Best Practices for Posting Notes

  • Be mindful of FERPA regulations - not including anything that is personal, private, or confidential.
  • Include any one-on-one meetings with students regarding missed assignments, classes, or failing grades
  • Include any extensions granted on assignments as well missed extension deadlines

General Best Practices for Faculty

  • Keep their gradebook up-to-date so students are aware of the course grade; Dropout syncs with Grades on Wednesday mornings.
  • All graded assignments should have set due dates.
  • Enable the Late Submission Policy feature in Canvas to set automatic zeros for assignments not submitted. The zero can be overwritten once the assignment has been submitted.

Instructor Insight

Instructor Insight by AspirEDU is a faculty-support tool designed to help departments enhance the quality of online and hybrid instruction. It works by creating dashboards using data pulled directly from Canvas courses. These dashboards offer a snapshot of how faculty are engaging with their students—making it easier to celebrate strengths and identify where additional support might be helpful.

Our team uses Instructor Insight to better understand where instructors might benefit from additional resources or guidance. For example:

  • If grading appears to be delayed, we can check in to see if there are workload or technical issues.
  • If assignment feedback is limited or missing, we can offer strategies for delivering impactful feedback quickly.
  • If discussion board engagement seems low, we might share engagement techniques that have worked well for others.

The goal is to collaborate, not monitor. Instructor Insight is built in each Canvas course so the dashboards are available to faculty with the intention of empowering them to better understand their own teaching. It also helps us ensure that they have the support they need to thrive in online teaching environments.