Abstract
Student retention plays a significant role in higher education. The primary focus of the current discourse on attrition is on efforts made at the institutional level. Given that the main driver of attrition is a lack of student engagement and support, we argue that shifting the focus to individual units of study will improve completion rates more sustainably. In this paper, we introduce a case study of using personalised emails to improve completion rate in a core statistical unit that is part of a graduate programme. We sent personalised emails to students who were at risk of failing in order to nudge them towards putting more effort and achieving better academic performance. These emails are customised based on in-semester workshop attendance and assessment performance results. We then analysed student performance and engagement in learning before and after the interventions. We have also captured emotional sentiments from student replies. Preliminary findings suggest that prompting students to alter their learning behaviour early in the semester is a more effective preventive strategy for improving completion rates.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | OZCCOTS 2021 |
Subtitle of host publication | Proceedings of the 10th Australian Conference on Teaching Statistics |
Editors | Ayse Aysin Bilgin, Stephanie Budgett |
Publisher | International Association of Statistical Education |
Pages | 85-90 |
Number of pages | 6 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780980595031 |
Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Event | Australian Conference on Teaching Statistics 2021 - Virtual / Online Duration: 8 Jul 2021 → 9 Jul 2021 Conference number: 10th |
Conference
Conference | Australian Conference on Teaching Statistics 2021 |
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Abbreviated title | OZCOTS 2021 |
Period | 8/07/21 → 9/07/21 |