Keeping Students from Going AWOL: The Link between Pedagogy and Student Retention

Teaching and learning research typically focuses on learning outcomes relating to the acquisition of knowledge. In this article, we shift focus to a different outcome: student commitment to, and thus successful completion of, a course. By examining the relationship between instructor pedagogical chokes and rates of student retention-as measured primarily by withdrawal rates-we hope to help instructors think about ways to limit the incidence of their students "going AWOL" How strong is the evidence that an instructor's teaching behavior influences student retention or attrition? If an instructor's decisions do seem to matter, exactly which patterns are evident? To begin answering these questions, we report results from a major data collection effort, which involved undergraduate research assistants attending a wide variety of courses and recording details related to the instructor's pedagogical approach-such as the extent to which the instruction was student-centered or instructor-centered, the extent to which the classroom environment was regulated, elements of entertainment incorporated into class sessions, and efforts to facilitate rapport with students. Comparing this information to end-of-semester grade and enrollment statistics, we identify the relationship between how a course is taught and the retention of its students. We find a pattern of lower retention in courses where class sessions are heavily structured, in the sense that students are "cold-called" to participate or discouraged from such behaviors as phone use. We also find a relationship, weaker but still significant, between higher retention rates and both the showing of videos and the use of active learning.