Retention team targets “ghost” students from day one

Research by Charles Sturt’s Retention Team has been critical in developing a strategy to support ‘ghost’ students and improve their outcomes for study and course completion.

Thanks to research by our specialist retention team, Charles Sturt has a strong, evidence-based approach to targeting “ghost” or disengaged students, particularly those from structurally disadvantaged equity groups.

As a result of the research, which was shared at the 2021 Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE) conference, our retention team works closely with subject coordinators to identify disengaged students pre-census. By monitoring early assessment submission, at-risk students can be targeted and offered one-on-one or small group tutorial support. First-year students who accessed and incorporated tutor feedback in the early stages of their studies were more likely to perform better in later tasks without a tutor.

Charles Sturt’s student retention research continues to investigate how we can better support our first-year students from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds.