Do you have a student who mid-semester stopped showing up to class, and yet they are still enrolled? You have emailed them numerous times expressing concern and you have not heard back? Consider the following next steps: 1) Record your recommendations and observations in the Student Engagement Roster (SER), and 2) Submit a Care Report through the Division of Student Affairs.
These two next steps alert others on our campus to your observations and can help connect students with resources that might support them.
Student Engagement Roster (SER)
This CITL blog post, Providing Feedback Early and Often with the Student Engagement Roster, describes how faculty can use the SER to reach students and their advisors to express positive, neutral, and constructive feedback throughout the semester. To address attendance concerns faculty can use preset options within the SER to record their observations and make recommendations. To express an attendance concern, I first navigate to the Recommendations tab, “Assistance Needed” and select “consult with instructor” as well as “consult with academic advisor.” I then expand the “Observations” tab and navigate to “Attendance.” Here I can select “Stopped attending” and enter the last date the student was in class. Once these have been recorded, select “Submit”—this is an easily overlooked final step! Once submitted, these recommendations will be sent via email to both the student and their advisor.
Care Report
Through the Division of Student Affairs Care Team, any member of the IU community can Submit a Care Referral. According to their website, a care referral can be submitted concerning personal issues, health or wellness issues, behavioral issues, or bias issues. They state that your submission “will be reviewed by the members of the Care Team in the Office of the Dean of Students, who will follow up with the student and connect them with appropriate support and resources.” When submitting a Care Referral concerning an attendance concern, I state the name of the student who has stopped attending and indicate the date they were last present in my class. When submitting a Care Referral, do not expect the office to follow up with you regarding the outcome, as information between them and the student is confidential.
If you need assistance learning how to navigate through these two steps, reach out to citl@indiana.edu for a consultation.
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