Halifax Community College Early Childhood Education Instructor Sithah Campbell recently completed the North Carolina Network for Excellence in Teaching (NC-NET) course, "Helping Students Succeed: Broad Strategies in Student Retention."

The class examined the reasons why students leave college including academic, personal, economic, and cultural factors. It also provided an overview of strategies that instructors can implement that lead to improved student retention.

"Even though there are many students in online classes, few are completers," Campbell said. She enrolled in the course because she was curious about the reasons for low student retention for these classes. "I discovered that I was not the only one who lost students. I had thought it was just me. I wanted to know what I could do differently to help students succeed," she said.

In looking at student retention, according to Campbell, it is important to know that everything matters—it is about the whole person.

Reaching students, even at the basic level, is a monumental task. "You can provide books, transportation and other things, but that’s not all. You have to consider what other responsibilities students have when they go home," Campbell said.

She added, "I wanted to be able to help them to feel successful and be the best they can be."

NC-NET offers community college faculty in the state a collaborative, statewide professional development system that is committed to sharing best practices, leveraging resources, and avoiding duplication. It organizes its resources into six program areas: teaching and learning, discipline-specific, career and personal development, technology in the classroom, online teaching and serving special populations.

The North Carolina Community College System Office established NC-NET in 2003 to create an infrastructure to support a comprehensive approach to faculty professional development. It catalogs, warehouses, and disseminates quality professional development resources developed by institutions across the state and creates new resources such as online courses, workshops and tutorials.