retention
Alex McCormick
ASHE-L have relatively light traffic and both AERA Division J & ASHE have
so many people who study retention, persistence, & attrition? Seems like
the existing lists would be appropriate for and would benefit from the
discussions you propose for retention-l.
Just curious,
Alex
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Alexander C. McCormick, Ph.D. E-mail: amcco...@mprinc.com |
| Senior Research Associate My office: 802-436-2484 voice/fax |
| MPR Associates, Inc. MPR's office: 510-849-4942 voice |
| Berkeley, California 510-849-0794 fax |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Alan Seidman wrote:
>Dear Colleagues:
>
>It is my pleasure to announce the creation of a retention list serve.
Hosted
>by West Chester University, the list is intended for non-commercial
purposes
>and is open to all those interested in the area of student retention and
>attrition in higher education. The purpose of the List is to provide the
>educational community, federal and state governmental officials and the
>general public a vehicle to explore and discuss the complex issue of
student
>retention and attrition.
>
>[...]
>
>Dr. Alan Seidman, Editor
>Journal of College Student Retention
>Assistant VP for Enrollment Mangement (Oct.'98)
>West Chester University
>West Chester, PA 19383
>Asei...@aol.com
>www.collegeways.com
Alex McCormick
attention and benefit to the community (my only affiliation with those groups is
as a subscriber). I've been following AERA-J and ASHE-L for years, and
honestly don't see any benefit to splintering off specialized groups devoted
to sub-topics. It would be different if the present lists generated an
overwhelming amount of substantive traffic but they don't. At the least you
lose the added perspective and visibility you might get from those who
don't identify as primarily interested in retention issues and don't
subscribe. I just think it's a pity to segregate discussion and limit your
audience and the pool of potential participants.
Re: the number of subscribers. There are lots of joiners out there.
That's not to say these 400 aren't sincerely interested in a discussion about
retention, but it would be a mistake to infer that they will be active
participants or that this number signifies unmet demand.
Alex
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Alexander C. McCormick, Ph.D. E-mail: amcco...@mprinc.com |
| Senior Research Associate My office: 802-436-2484 voice/fax |
| MPR Associates, Inc. MPR's office: 510-849-4942 voice |
| Berkeley, California 510-849-0794 fax |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
ASEIDMAN wrote:
>Alex:
>I am not, nor do I want to be in competition with any other group. There
seems
>to be a need since almost 400 have signed on in a little more then a
week. I
>believe that a discussion group devoted just to retention/attrition
issues
>would be beneficial to higher education just as I believe my new
scholarly
>journal devoted to the topic will be also.
>Alan Seidman, Editor
>Journal of College Student Retention