Academic alert allows instructors teaching all course modalities to submit a referral if a student is not academically performing at the level they should be in a course. The program is designed to proactively intervene with students struggling academically earlier in the semester. The program functions within a trifecta of support programs at UNG to help students, including, Flight Support and Behavioral Intervention.
Evaluation Plan and measures:
The Academic Intervention team tracks students served through the alerts program as well as end of term metrics, including academic standing, number of courses withdrawn, term and overall GPAs, and credits earned.
KPIs: No KPIs have been approved internally.
Baseline measure (for each KPI)
- Persistence:
- Academic Alert students only
- Fall 2022-Spring 2023: 55.3% (add/drop data)
- Spring 2023-Fall 2023: 49.7% (add/drop data)
- Academic Alert students only
- Count of Students on Academic Warning
- Fall 2021: 923
- Spring 2022: 394
- Count of Course withdrawals:
- Fall 2021: 6,826 (Banner COMM 2000 report data)
- Spring 2022: 5,231 (Banner COMM 2000 report data)
Current/most recent data (for each KPI)
- Count of Students on Academic Warning:
- Fall 2022: 764
- Spring 2023: 312
- Count of Course withdrawals:
- Fall 2022: 6,123 (change from fall 2021: -703)
- Spring 2023: 4,708 (change from spring 2022: -523)
Goal or targets (for each KPI): Specific KPIs have not been set. The focus in the last year was launching the program; however, the number of academic alerts has increased each semester through a communication socialization plan in academic affairs
Time period/duration: ONGOING
AY 2022-2023 was the first year for this program. During the academic year faculty and staff submitted 1306 alerts. First-year students made up 41% of the alerts submitted. UNG is attempting to scale and refine the program for more efficient interventions with students and to improve overall outcomes connected to persistence and credits earned by students. The steering group for Academic alerts is also refining the data reporting process to support additional interventions with students.
- Refine data process and metrics for action/intervention.
- Identify opportunities to support students between academic terms.
- Refine program assessment process by defining KPIS and refining reporting capability.
Challenges
Resources continue to limit the extent of interventions possible. Demands on resources from data analysis to student facing offices makes it difficult to support all students reported through the alerts process. The number of students identified exceeds the number of staff available to provide individualized attention and support
Support Needed
Technical assistance could make a substantial difference, especially when it comes to more timely interventions. For instance, ensuring the institution continues to have access to D2L Insights, which provides data on student engagement as well as grades, is critical to the implementation of intervention strategies.
