IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Fall 2006
Adoption and Diffusion of Early Alert System
at the University of Missouri at Saint Louis
By Fon Sundaravej and Jessie Cheng
College of Business Administration
University of Missouri at Saint Louis
Saint Louis, MO 63121-4400
1. Introduction
The early alert system, a new campus-wide program, has been implemented in
2006 by the Center for Student Success to obtain students’ attention if they are at risk of
academic failing. Students at the University of Missouri at St. Louis are expected to meet
the academic standards of the courses in which they are enrolled. These include
participating in classes through physical or virtual attendance, completing assignments,
portfolios, and presentations in a timely and professional manner consistent with the
discipline, and/or successfully completing the evaluation components of a course. If a
student is not meeting these expectations, they will be made aware of this through the
early alert system. The earlier a student is made aware of faculty concern for regarding
their performance, the sooner interventions can be initiated to increase the student's
potential to achieve academic success. Multiple resources are available on the University
of Missouri at St. Louis campus to assist students to achieve success. By referring
students through the early alert system, faculty members inform students of their concern
and connect them to resources designed to support student success.
Even though the early alert system is designed to identify, report, and provide
feedback for students who are at risk in a course, not every failed student is referred. It is
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optional for faculty members to use the system. Faculty members are able to use the
system as soon as they identify a student at risk to provide the earliest intervention
possible. Faculty members are able to base the risk of a student’s failure on seven
warning signs, including excessive absences, missed assignments, failed exams or
quizzes, missed portfolios or presentations, and other issues. In addition to report
categories, faculty members may provide additional comments regarding their concerns.
Faculty members may also opt to receive the e-mail notifying the referral progress and
result or to review the referral report by themselves. Screen shots to display the system
interfaces and functionalities can be found in Appendix A.
Relating to the system process, early alert referrals are made from a faculty
member to the Center for Student Success. Students are simultaneously notified of a
referral via campus e-mail and are encouraged to meet with the faculty member to discuss
the concerns further. Within twenty-four hours of a referral, the Center for Student
Success will make contact with the student, and offer a meeting to the student to discuss
the concerns and to connect the student to campus resources appropriate to the student's
needs. As appropriate, the faculty member completing the referral will also receive
feedback regarding the referral outcome.
The pilot system was launched for the first time in spring 2006 semester for the
College of Nursing and was claimed to receive a good success based on an administrative
archive report from university assembly committee on recruitment, admissions, retention,
and student financial aid. According to the reported results of the pilot program, of 68
total referrals, 65 were failing at the time of referral. 36 students did not respond to their
referrals. From the number of these students, 7 received a final grade of B, 17 received a
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final grade of C, 5 received a final grade of D, 5 received a final grade of F, and 2 were
excused from the course. 26 students, on the other hand, met with the Retention
Coordinator and/or their professor. From these students, 7 received a final grade of B, 11
received a final grade of C, 7 received a final grade of D, and 1 received a final grade of
F. The rest of six referred students refused assistance and stated that they had obtained
other assistance. All these six students successfully passed with a B or C. Based on this
success, the school administration, as a result, has a desire for the implementation of the
early alert system for entire campus.
2. Purposes of Research
Based on the aforementioned system process, the success of the early alert system
considerably depends on the system acceptance of faculty members. We believe that a
study on the adoption and diffusion of the early alert system by faculty members who
adopt the system can predict the system success or failure. The objective of this research
is to investigate the influence process from influencers to potential adopters and from
potential adopters to others. At the end of this research, we should be able to answer the
following questions:
1. How and why does a faculty member, who is considered as a potential adopter,
adopt the early alert system innovation?
2. How and why does or does not a faculty member diffuse, tend to diffuse, or refuse
to diffuse the early alert system innovation to other faculty members?
3. Background Theory
The study replicates Anand Jeyaraj’s research on the Effect of Influence Tactics
and Contingency Factors on the Adoption and Diffusion of IS/IT Innovations in Social
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Networks. His research focuses on the processes by which individuals are influenced to
adopt innovations or influence others to adopt innovations within organizations. Research
questions, conceptual model, study content, and sample interview guide are clearly
defined and become a useful guideline for the current study.
The conceptual model of Anand’s study includes three major factors: the potential
adopter, influencer, and organizational context. He identifies definitions for these three
factors. The potential adopter is known as the person who accepts the innovation or the
target users of IS/IT innovations. The influencer is the person who influences a potential
adopter to accept the innovation, is responsible for upholding organizational policies, or
is themselves early adopters of the innovation. Lastly, the organizational context is
defined as the situation in which the potential adopter and influencer perform their
activities to determine their responses and behavior.
A series of actions enacted by both potential adopters and influencers within an
organization is elaborated into different categories: actions aimed at the entire
organization, influencer actions aimed at the potential adopter only, pre-adoption actions
of the potential adopter, and adoption actions of the potential adopter.
Actions aimed at the entire organization are actions that affect the entire
population of the organization and generally managed by upper management. Influencer
actions aimed at the potential adopter only are actions above the influences that the
potential adopter may experience from the organizational context. Pre-adoption actions of
the potential adopter are actions performed by the potential adopter prior to adoption of
the innovation to help potential adopters clarifying the use of the innovation, including its
benefits and limitations. Adoption actions of the potential adopter are performed by the
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potential adopter in adopting the innovation and happen toward the end of the innovation
adoption process. The description of a series of actions is shown in Table 1.
Action
Description
Actions Aimed at the Entire Organization
Awareness
The introduction of the innovation by venders, external consultants, or
Creation
the IS department through different mechanisms such as sales
presentations, announcement, etc.
Issuing of
The enforcing of norms for obligatory use of the innovation by
mandate
organizational members or groups.
Withdrawal of
The retraction of norms for obligatory use of the innovation by
Mandate for
organizational members of groups.
Use
Development
The design and development of new innovation or customization of
existing innovations by vendors, external consultants, or the IS
department through formal or informal processes.
Implementation The placement of the completed or customized innovations in
production for use by organizational members or groups.
Training
The formal instruction on using the innovation given to organizational
members or groups by vendors, external consultants, or the IS
department.
Changes in
The introduction of new personnel at the senior management levels of
Personnel
the organization such as executives or managers.
Influencer Actions Aimed at the Potential Adopter Only
Building
Includes obtaining support of co-workers, requesting action at a
Coalitions
formal conference.
Appeals to
Includes making formal appeals to higher levels, obtaining informal
Higher
support from higher-ups.
Authority
Bargaining
Includes offering an exchange, reminding past favors, offering to help.
Acting in a
Includes threatening to stop working, engaging in work slowdown,
Clandestine
distorting or lying.
Manner
Presenting
Includes explaining reasons, justifying ideas, using logic.
Rational
Arguments
Applying
Includes threatening job security, threatening unsatisfactory
Sanctions
performance evaluation.
Using
Includes making others feel important, acting in friendly manner,
Friendliness and praising, acting humbly.
Ingratiation
Being Assertive Includes checking, repeatedly reminding, simply ordering, pointing to
rules, expressing anger.
Pre-Adoption Actions of the Potential Adopter
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Review
The potential adopter engages in learning through a variety of
reference materials such as books, manuals, user guides, online help,
handouts, etc.
Observation
The potential adopter engages in learning by observing other
individuals.
Inquiry
The potential adopter engages in learning by seeking information from
other individuals through direct or indirect questions.
Seeking
The potential adopter engages in learning by seeking assistance from
Assistance
other individuals through joint learning or walk-through sessions.
Developing
The potential adopter develops own solutions to overcome limitations
own…
of the innovation.
Requesting
The potential adopter requests for new or enhanced solutions to
for…
overcome limitations of the innovation.
Adoption Actions of the Potential Adopter
Full Adoption
The potential adopter using the innovation to is fullest possible extent.
Partial Adoption A use of only a subset of features of the innovation or use of the
innovation for only a restricted set of tasks.
Experimentation Playing around in it attempting to understand the features and/or
functions of the innovation or using the innovation for only a limited
time.
Non-Adoption
The potential adopter rejecting or not using the innovation.
Table 1: A Series of Actions in Anand Jeyaraj’s Research on the Effect of Influence Tactics and
Contingency Factors on the Adoption and Diffusion of IS/IT Innovations in Social Networks
4. Reasons for Qualitative Research
The current study deploys the qualitative research method due to two main
reasons. First, the qualitative research helps understanding how personal experience of
faculty members who deal with the early alert system is created and given meaning.
According to Denzin & Lincoln (1994), in qualitative research, researchers study subjects
in their natural settings, attempting to understand the meanings of actions. This socially
constructed nature of reality allows an intimate relationship between the researcher and
the studied subject. As a result, researchers can capture the individual’s point of view in
detail by using the qualitative research method.
Apart from the rich description of the social reality provided by qualitative
research, this study does not seek to report findings in terms of complex statistical
measures. Only small numbers of randomly selected cases are interpreted and analyzed.
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Owing to a short introduction of the early alert system to the campus community, the
major audiences who are the school’s administrative officers only look for a descriptive
report of findings rather than statistic records from the maximum number of subjects.
Consequently, qualitative research is sufficient to serve our needs.
Qualitative research engages multiple modes of data collections and analyses
(Myers, 1997). The current study uses interviews, observation, documents, and records to
collect data. As for the qualitative mode of analysis, semiotics which is primarily
concerned with the meaning of signs and symbols in language is considered in this study.
According to Myers (1997), with semiotics, words and signs can be assigned to primary
conceptual categories and these categories represent important aspects of the theory to be
tested. This study exploits one form of semiotics which is content analysis. This
technique makes replicable and valid references from data to their contexts. The
researcher searches for structures and patterned regularities in the text and makes
assumptions on the basis of these regularities.
Lacity & Janson (1994) analyze the content analysis into the following steps:
develop a coding scheme, map the text into the scheme, calculate frequencies or
percentages, and conduct hypotheses tests. The steps of research methodology with
content analysis using in the current study are explained in the following section.
5. Research Methodology
5.1 Research Design and Data Collection
The interview guide of the current study replicated Anand’s study. More
questions analyzed from a series of actions were added to the current study. There are 21
total questions. The questions can be separated into four distinct sections: lead-in
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questions, influences to adopt questions, influence to diffuse questions, and an end
question. The interview guide of the current study can be viewed in Appendix B.
After a completion of the interview guide, the data collection process started. The
data were expected to gather from at least ten faculty members who were using the early
alert system. A list of these professors was taken from the school database system.
Therefore, an information release form needed to be approved from Assistant Vice
Provost for Student Affairs who is in charge of the early alert system. After an approval
had been received, an e-mail invitation was sent to 17 faculty members who were
experiencing the system. A list of the faculty members was randomly selected based on
the following criteria to reduce biases and generalize the results:
- Faculty members who teach in different departments
- Faculty members who refer many or few students
- Faculty members who are seeking tenure or non-tenure track.
Out of the 17 faculty members, 10 of them from 10 different departments agreed
in the interview participation. A list of all 10 interview appointments can see below. All
interview appointments were conducted through e-mail. An e-mail reminder had been
sent a day before the interview appointment to the faculty members who scheduled the
interview in the following week to ensure their availability. Only one faculty member
requested a list of interview questions ahead of time. Only the first faculty member had
two interviews, whereas the rest of nine had a single interview. The follow-up interview
with the first faculty member was conducted due to the addition of the interview
questions. The first interview was conducted at the first week of October 2006, while the
last interview was conducted around mid of November 2006. Before each interview, the
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research topic, research objective, and confidentiality policy were specified to every
participant. All interviews were tape recorded and notes were taken by either one of two
researchers. Interview periods lasted from 7-27 minutes. Interviews were transcribed and
reviewed by both researchers to ensure data correction. All interview transcriptions are
found in Appendix C.
Name
Professor 1
Position
Lecturer
Department
Department 1
Professor 2
Lecturer
Department 2
Interview Date/Time
Monday Oct 2nd, 06 at 12-12.30 PM and
Monday Oct 16th, 06 at 12-12.15 PM
(follow-up interview)
Thursday Oct 19th, 06 at 3-3.30 PM
Professor 3
Senior Lecturer
Department 3
Tuesday Oct 24th, 06 at 3.30-4 PM
Professor 4
Associate Professor
Department 4
Tuesday Oct 31st, 06 at 12.45-1.15 PM
Professor 5
Assistant Professor
Department 5
Wednesday Nov 1st, 06 at 1.30-2 PM
Professor 6
Lecturer
Department 6
Thursday Nov 2nd, 06 at 11.15-11.45 AM
Professor 7
Curators Professor
Department 7
Thursday Nov 2nd, 06 at 3.30-4 PM
Professor 8
Lecturer
Department 8
Friday Nov 10th, 06 at 10-10.30 AM
Professor 9
Instructor
Department 9
Wednesday Nov 15th, 06 at 1.15-1.45 PM
Professor 10
Lecturer
Department 10
Thursday Nov 16th, 06 at 8.30-9 AM
Table 2: A List of Interview Appointments
5.2 Data Analysis
The data were individually analyzed by each researcher to strengthen the content
validity. Researchers later compared the analyzed results and discussed conflict issues to
obtain an agreement. The data had been analyzed until both researchers agreed in the
same interpretation appeared in the text mapping table and content analysis table in
Appendix D. From the content analysis table, frequencies or percentages of data were
summarized in the descriptive data analysis section, whereas data patterns were described
in the cross data analysis section.
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5.2.1 Descriptive Data Analysis
Tremendous interpretations from the gathered data generate many insights in the
current study. We are able to view data in different angles, categorize them, and present
them as follows.
•
Demographic Data
As expected, we obtained ten participants from different departments across
campus. Four of them earn Ph.D. degree. Three out of ten are male and seven are female.
•
Job Title
The following table demonstrates the number of participants’ tenure seeking
based on their job title. There are seven non-tenure track faculty members and three are
tenure track faculty members.
1 Instructor
7 Non-Tenure Track
5 Lecturers
1 Senior Lecturer
1 Assistant Professor 3 Tenure Track
1 Associate Professor
1 Curators Professor
Table 3: Number of Tenure and Non-Tenure Faculty Members
•
Job Description
Based on the tenure type of faculty members, the job descriptions between tenure
and non-tenure are varied. For seven non-tenure faculty members, their main job
responsibility is teaching, while the three tenure faculty members’ job responsibilities are
teaching, publishing papers, and providing campus services.
•
Work Experience
The average teaching experience of all ten participants is 8.4 years. The least
work experience is half a year or only one semester; whereas the most work experience is
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35 years. Their teaching experience includes both part-time and full-time experience at
the current school.
The work experience of participants can also be differentiated into three
categories. Five out of ten participants belong to the first group. They are all young
faculty members who have 0-3 years work experience. Three of the participants, which
we call junior faculty members, were categorized into the second group, according that
they have 4-10 years work experience. Finally, two participants have more than ten years
work experience; therefore belong to the third senior faculty member group.
•
Number of Classes per Faculty Member
Each participant has varied number of classes taught at the current semester. The
average number of classes per faculty member is 1.9, which are almost two classes for
the current semester that we conducted the interview. The least number of classes is one,
while the most number of classes is four.
If we separate the faculty members who teach only one class for the current
semester and the faculty members who teach two to four classes for the same semester,
we will find that there are equal numbers of faculty members for each group.
•
Number of Students in One Class
Besides the number of classes that the participants were teaching while we
conducted an interview with them, we are also interested in the number of students in
each class. The average number of students in one class is 66. The smallest class has 9
students, while the biggest has 231.
The total number of classes that the ten participants were teaching is 19. From
these 19 classes, we are able to group them into three different class sizes. We used a cut
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off at 20 students or under for the small class. We determined 21-89 students for the
medium-size class and 90 or more students for the large-size class. This is because we
have classes that contain 9, 9, 15, and 16 students, and jump to 22, 23, 30, 35, 35, 40, 45,
50, and 50, and again jump to 90, 93, 110, 200, and 231 students. As a result, there are
four small classes, nine medium-size classes, and five large-size classes.
•
First Hear
There are three adoption modes of the early alert system. Four participants
claimed that they first heard about the system from the Provost’s campus wide e-mail.
Five participants first heard the early alert system from a meeting, conference, or
presentation on campus. Only one participant stated that she first heard the system from
her colleague.
•
Influencer
Based on the data, we observe the influencer in terms of the number of
influencers that an adopter adopted the system from and the authority ranking of the
influencer compared to the adopter. As for the number of influencers, we can divide the
participants into two groups: the participants who have only one influencer and the
participants who have more than one influencer. Six out of ten have only one influencer,
whereas three have two influencers. The last participant can not determine her influencer.
The below table, in addition, represents the influencers in terms of their authority
ranking compared to the adopter. Provost and Department Chair are accounted of the
influencers with higher authority than the adopter. It appears that there are six counts for
this category. Director of Teaching and Learning Center and the presenter in a
presentation, meeting, or conference are counted as Senior Administrators on campus.
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These Senior Administrators have different authority from the adopter. In other words,
they are not direct supervisors of the adopter. There are four counts for the second
category. The last group of influencers is colleague who has the same authority as the
adopter. They appear only two counts. As a result, influencers from higher authority are
the champion influencer of the early alert system to the surveyed faculty members.
Provost: 3
Department Chair (Direct Supervisor): 3
Senior Administrator from Different
Department: 4
Colleague: 2
Higher Authority: 6 (Champion
Influencer)
Different Authority: 4
Same Authority: 2
Table 4: Authority of Influencers Compared to Adopters
•
Adopted Action
Participants had learned the success story and objectives of the early alert system
before they decided to adopt it. Some of them claimed that they heard the successful
results of the pilot system in the previous semester before starting to use the system.
“It demonstrated some successes from the initial semester that it was used at the
College of Nursing”.
“That was an e-mail from some times ago and said something that the system
was design to improve students’ success and to help the student retention, and quoted
some statistics I think from preliminary test program and said something like 28 percent
of people that had excuses or dropped courses and managed to be salvages so they did
not leave the university”.
Many influencers asserted to the adopters that the system can help the students
who have potential failure in class.
“The discussion was involved around the issue of retention here in UM at St.
Louis. The fact is that students who do not do well in class are far more likely to return. It
is certainly a critical issue of the university”.
“They just said it was a new system. They were very concerned about the student
retention of the university and wanted to increase or enhance the students’ performance
in classes and showed us a demonstration of how it worked online and showed how to get
in with, explained basically how it would work”.
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“Just said it’s a method to help students stay on track or get on track when they
are kind of losing it”.
“She, I think, faxed me or something like that and mentioned there is a new way
to send out alerts to the students that are potentially gonna fail your class or there is a
problem in communicating with them just like a paper tracks a record. And, so then I
started using it”.
Based on the adopted action data, we can divide the adoption mode into two
categories: face-to-face and non-face-to-face modes. However, keep in mind that one
participant may adopt the system from more than one influencer. Thus, numbers in the
below table are amounts of communication mode in each group. Meeting, conference,
presentation, and conversation are accounted of the face-to-face communication, while email and fax are determined as the non-face-to-face communication. The below table
demonstrates that participants adopted the early alert system from both mediums: six
counts for face-to-face mode and four counts for non-face-to-face mode. There is only
one participant who cannot determine the influencer and the adopted action.
Meeting/Conference/Presentation: 5 Face-to-Face: 6
Conversation: 1
E-Mail: 3
Not Face-to-Face: 4
Fax: 1
Table 5: Adoption Modes
•
Other Sources
There are three participants relying on information from other sources to learn
more about the early alert system before their adoption. The first participant admitted that
she first heard the early alert system from a campus wide e-mail sent by Provost.
However, she stated that nobody really influenced her to adopt the system. Instead, she
learned the system by herself from the Provost’s e-mail. Almost the end of the interview,
however, she admitted that her influencer to the system was one of her colleagues.
Therefore, even though she first heard and learn how to use the system from the Provost’s
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e-mail, we decided to put e-mail as the other source of information for this participant
because she claimed that her colleague was her main influencer.
“Either Dean or somebody sent out a faculty wide e-mail regarding the early
alert system. That was how I knew about it”.
“Um…who influenced me? Really, I mean nobody”.
“You know Dr. Paul, one of my friends, down the hall. She mentioned about the
early alert system. She actually influenced me to kind of do it too”.
The second participant first heard about the early alert system from a new faculty
orientation and also paid attention to a campus wide e-mail regarding to the system.
“All new faculty members are required to attend a faculty orientation at the
beginning of the semester. And during our training, they introduced us to the early alert
system and encouraged that we should try to use it”.
“I have been sent a couple of e-mails early on this semester. One by Peggy Cohen
and one by somebody else probably. I think I got more than one e-mail. Again, it was a
kind of announcing that they gave us a wrong Web address for it”.
The last participant also heard about the early alert system from the new faculty
orientation. Apart from the orientation, she did search more information regarding to the
system from MyGateway.
“I did do searching online, you know, MyGateway and the faculty piece of that to
look”.
However, the rest of seven participants claimed that they did not rely on
information from other sources to learn more about the early alert system.
•
Source Dominance
Based on the above three participants who relied on more than one source for the
early alert system information before their adoption. Two participants affirmed that
people played more important role than the information they gathered by themselves in
order to adopt the system, while the other participant had an opposite opinion. As you can
see from the below message, he stated that for him information played more important
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role than people in order to adopt the system. However, this particular participant also
admitted that presenters in the orientation in fact encouraged him to use the system. Thus,
his answer implied that both people and the information given by such people influenced
him to adopt the system.
“It would be the information that I was given in the orientation and the
suggestion that they (presenters) had that we try to use it. They really encouraged us to
use it”.
•
First Adoption Period
Nine participants adopted the early alert system for the first time at the current
semester most likely after the first exam. Only one participant used the pilot system in an
earlier semester.
“The first time I use the early alert system was…um…I am trying to think if I used
it last spring…but I know I used it last summer for sure. I might not use it last spring”.
•
Adoption Reason
Participants named a variety of reasons to adopt the early alert system. Some
participants gave more than one reason to adopt the system. Four participants believed
the system might be useful for the students.
“I think the students appreciate that we notice that they are not doing well. And I
think I have noticed that once I put them on alert, they start coming class again. They are
coming up to see me”.
“One (reason) was because it might be useful to the student. That might help them
get their works in order in time to improve by the end of the semester”.
“And a part of an aware of the student retention is the problem here in the
university”.
“I was happy to try it to have some helps to rescue some students that are doing
very badly”.
Two participants said the system was good for large-size classes.
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“I have a big lecture room. I have a hundred fifty students in my auditorium. So,
now we have a structure to let them know that they are not coming or they are not
performing well, that I care. I want to know who they are when they come up to see me. I
think it is very important for the students”.
“You know, I teach large classes and there are always lot students that seem to
get lost. By the way, there is a site, so may be it is something that I can try… I used it in
one of smaller classes that I also teach and those classes are far more likely that I can
have contact with the students. And for larger classes that I teach, sometimes I only know
the student names. That is about it”.
Another two participants admitted that they used the system because they had a
lot of failed students in their classes.
“You know forty-one people failed my first midterm, out of about 200. That’s
high. So, immediately when I saw that a lot of people have failed. I said you know, we
have to do something to help these people. And though I was not exactly sure about what
the early alert system is gonna do. But I thought at least it worth a try”.
“I have some students who did not pass the test and they needed help”.
Three participants admitted that the system was paperless or had less processing
time.
“It does not take a lot of time to do it”.
“Because it is more efficient than what we did before. What we did before
requires a lot of paperwork, and spend time filling out, it really did not do any good”.
“Because it is fast. And I do not have to look for the paper form to fill out. To
send to the students, I just get online and pull it out and attach to our department
gateway page, I think, for faculty, to pull up the link and then get in to my classes and fill
out the report and get sent to Jen and she can handle it from there. That pulls off less
works for me compared to the past”.
And the rest of reasons that the participants adopted the early alert system are the
department chair’s encouragement, faculty’s duty, system availability, and student’s
ignorance.
“And the other reason was because my Chair asked us to. So, you know, you do
it”.
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“Well, partly because we were encouraged to do so as a faculty”.
“First, it was made available”.
“Well, I contacted the students myself. I talked to the mass of class, concerning
about their attendance, not turning things in, and actually one of them that I submitted
was not attending class at all, and so I had emailed them, but I have not got any
response, so I’ve tried to using that system”.
•
Satisfaction Level
In this study, there are five satisfaction levels for the system. On a scale of one to
five, one represents no satisfaction and five represents complete satisfaction. The average
satisfaction level of the early alert system is 3.72, which is above average. One
participant rated it one. None rated it two. Two participants rated it three. Up to four
participants rated it four, with which one of them said four or five. So, we rated it 4.5.
And two rated it with full scores of five. There is one participant said that he could not
judge it now.
Based on this rating, the satisfaction level is divided into two categories: low
satisfaction level which is the scale of one to three and high satisfaction level which is
four to five. There are three participants belonged to the low satisfaction level group and
six participants in the high satisfaction level group.
•
Preference
Participants elaborated reasons in both directions of why they like or dislike the
early alert system. They liked the system because they appreciated hard working of staff
at the Center for Student Success. The system was easy to use. They were glad to have
someone helping the students. They liked to receive feedbacks from their referrals.
Finally, they liked to keep records of communication for the future reference.
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“I was pleased with the partners that are working in the system, you know, sent
out an e-mail to the student. I am happy with that. The system is easy to use. The
interface on the Web is easy to use. It runs efficiently, I guess, in the follow-up e-mails
from people that are working in the system”.
“I think it’s a great idea can help somebody makes an effort to find out what’s
going on to the students, and helped them solve the issues…I think that opportunity for
them to attend the classes… is time management is probably one of the main problems
with students who are not attending or not getting things done, and I think having those
opportunities to help class to solve problem is something that I can’t offer. So something
like that is the Early Alert can offer but I can’t”.
“And I especially like the feedback that I get from the counselors. Like I submitted
an early alert for a student and I get three days later an e-mail back from a counselor,
saying I have contacted the student or I am not able to contact the student. They have
details of the student”.
“I like that now we can get in and see if the students have been contacted by
anybody, if the students have calls and made appointments. To find out what the followup is, I can just look into it. And I like that I have a record of our communication to the
students. You know, if there is an issue, if I have any kind of issues, I fill out on the early
alert for the students that I have a record of it. It just makes my life a lot easier once the
students want to appeal grades or, you know, whatever”.
“The piece that the way they do the follow-up for me was helpful to see which
students lost, which was not”.
In the meantime, participants stated many reasons why they disliked the system.
For example, they did not like to receive too many e-mails notifying every single step of
communications between staff at the Center for Student Success and the student. They
had a concern on the students’ ignorance. They were not sure that the end result of the
system would be successful. They claimed that the school still did not have enough
resources to help the student. They experienced a miscommunication at the early stage
while they used the system. Finally, they had a concern on the student privacy issue.
“The only thing irritating me is all the email… I don’t have time to read all of the
e-mails. But that is a nice thing. I click the e-mail notification when I thought it was just
notify student via e-mail. I did not realize that system letting me know every single step
along the way. So, that’s the only thing”.
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“It’s not about the early alert people, cuz I think they really done well, you know,
the people over there, students success center. But the students don’t respond well, they
are sending them emails and calling them, and the students, some of them, just not
respond it”.
“I have not really seen any significant result, although it is probably too early to
tell. I do know that a few students that I referred take active participation in the process.
So, that is good but, on the other hand, what I know is the report that I get back from the
system is that it does not seem to be a lot of follow-up. Like if the student does not return
the email, then it seems that things get stopped. I am not saying that is the fault of the
system but it is just one of the problems”.
“When I triggered the system, they had, they sent me an e-mail back, I guess, the
student does not going. This was two months ago. The thing that happened last two
months. They sent me an e-mail that the student should contact them. In my opinion, they
are going to contact the student. That e-mail got me confused. In the long run, they did
contact the student. So, that first e-mail was a little misleading. That was what I dislike
about it. And we will see at the end of the semester how much it really helps”.
“To my knowledge, it does not do anything. I do not believe there is any
significant amount of resources over there actually helping the students… So far I do not
like anything about it. The thing that I dislike, I guess, mainly is the lack of resources.
And there is also a real problem with the message sent to the students, which is that this
is really high school and I am not responsible for anything”.
“I am not sure it is very effective and gets the student to do anything. I had, may
be, nine or ten students that I asked, you know, kind of get notification about. And only
one of those came to my office and talked with me. And I have another one, you know,
talked with me for a couple of minutes after class. And the other of them, I never heard
from. So, the student’s responsiveness is an issue and I am not sure how they can address
that issue. My another concern about it is that I am not sure how well it used to as a
privacy lost regarding the student grade exposure because university is not supposed to
expose the student grade to anybody but student without any consent permission.
Basically, the system alerts other party about the student grade. And I do not know they
thought about that or aware of that. May be Peggy thought about it and cover legally
because she said it is in one of the university programs. That may be something that
would be a problem”.
•
Difficulty
None of participants experienced any difficulty while they used the early alert
system. Many of them admitted that the system is very easy to use.
“No, it’s really easy”.
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“No. I think it’s very easy to use”.
“No. It is actually a lot easier to use than what I anticipated”.
“No. The computer aspect of it is fine”.
“There is no difficulty on that”.
“No, it was very easy to manage”.
“No, I haven’t. It is really straight forward, really easy”.
•
Function Utility
As mentioned earlier at the beginning of this paper regarding the system
functionality, a faculty member can perform four different functionalities on the early
alert system, which are checking the warning sign checkboxes, checking the notification
checkbox, writing comments in the comment box, and viewing the referral report to
discover the referral progress and result. The answers from every participant tell us that
-
Every participant checks the warning sign checkboxes.
-
Eight participants check the e-mail notification checkbox.
-
Seven participants write comments in the comment box.
-
Five participants view the referral report. Interestingly, two out of ten
participants do not know the existence of the referral report.
Based on the above findings, we can categorize participants in terms of function
awareness and function utilization. The function awareness can be divided into two
groups.
-
Complete function awareness: There are eight participants who have complete
function awareness of all four function existence on the system.
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Not-Complete Function Awareness: There are two participants who do not
know all four function existence on the system.
The function utilization refers to the degree of function numbers used by a
participant. There are three groups of the function utilization.
-
Complete function utilization means the participant who uses all four
functions in the system. There appears to be two participants who have
complete function utilization.
-
High partial function utilization means the participant who uses three out of
four functions in the system. There are up to six participants belonged to this
group.
-
Low partial function utilization means the participant who uses less than or
equal to two functions in the system. There are two participants in this group.
•
Frequency
There are eight participants who admitted that they used the early alert system to
all students who had potential failure in class. The other two participants said it depended
on their judgment of whom they should put into the system.
“Well, see that, a matter of judgment. I turned over the name of anybody who got
an F, or who has missed a lot of classes. For those people who got a D, I didn’t turn them
over. Because I thought, well, that’s kind of marginal, they were not really failing, I
wasn’t sure they were one of the figures people who got a D or not. If I go to the
workshop, I think I need to ask that”.
“Well, not exactly. I made a kind of arbitrary dividing moment, based on the
grade of the first test and those that I felt really had done very poorly and I had to do
something or else they are not gonna survive in the course”.
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Diffusion to Others and Diffused Person
As shown below, three out of ten participants diffused the early alert system to
their colleagues by face-to-face conversation. The rest of them did not influence anybody
to adopt the system.
“Actually I talked to couple of people. I talked to Peggy and she had turned over
a smaller too. And I did talk to Steve Belly do you know him? So yeah, I talked to people
(other professors) about it, afterwards”.
“Not formally. Informally, in conversation with colleague, like the lady who is
teaching Spanish, Diane. Her office is across from me. We talked about it. They don’t
have as much as experience with technology, so I can show them on how to do it. And
they are using it now. And they do not have problem”.
“I encourage other people to use it like my (department) faculty members when
they have an issue with one of their students…Because I am a course coordinator, so I
have some (department) faculties that are out on site. So, when they have issues with the
students, I encourage them to fill out the early alert or to let me know and I can fill out
the early alert so that I have a record of what the issue is and the student has been
notified and an appropriate action have been taken to record the situation”.
•
Diffusion Plan
From the above mentioned seven participants who did not diffuse the early alert
system to others, only one participant seems to be proactive to approach others in the
system diffusion.
“Yeah, I will talk with people about it. I do not know if people use it or not but I
will ask. I want to find out how effective other faculties think it is. So, I probably talk with
someone about that”.
Another four participants are inactive to influence people to adopt the system. All
these four participants stated if someone asked questions, they would recommend the
early alert system to that person.
“Um…all of us, instructors, we work on our own. You know what I mean? So, I
do not know what other people do, but whenever we kind of commiserate about the
students who is doing so poorly, oh…you should put them on the early alert. Yeah, and
that’s pretty much how I influence it”.
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“I guess I cannot say that I have any plan to do that, although I certainly share
my experiences and feel very positive to the outcomes that seem to be developing. I do not
think that I will just go up to another faculty member and say hey you use the system”.
“If the professors tell me that they are having troubles with students that I would
ask them if they had put them on the early alert system”.
“If one came up, I probably would”.
The rest of two professors claimed that they would not diffuse the early alert
system to anybody with the following reasons.
“I will not influence someone to use or not use it at this point because I do not
feel that I have enough information”.
“Not that I know. Everybody has the same opportunity that I have. They all got
the same e-mail. If they decided they do not want to use it, nothing I can say to let them
use it. Actually, I have not discussed about it with anybody, maybe I should have done
that but I have not done that. I have not discussed about it with any of my colleagues”.
•
Diffused Action
From the above three participants who admitted that they already diffused the
early alert system to others and five participants who stated that they would diffuse the
system, they elaborated a variety of their diffusion reasons. For example, many of them
believed the system was a helpful tool to help the students who performed poorly,
especially in large classes. Some of them demonstrated how to use the system to their
colleagues.
“If students are not doing well, I think it is much helpful in a large lecture class.
Because in a small class, you might not need it. You can talk to them in small classes. But
in such a larger class, it’s quick and easy way to let everybody who didn’t perform well
on the exam, who aren’t coming that you are noticing. Also, for the instructor who does
not interact with the students, it is helpful”.
“I just told them they can turn people over, and they were a lot of actions going
on, really, they got ride on it, I was impressed”.
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“But if we have a conversation that is talking about a student who is having
problem, I will not hesitate to mention that the system is available and potentially
useful”.
“Well, I will mention that I have been using it and kind of describe the experience
in terms of the responses that I got from the system or program and also, you know, my
responses from students that I brought them in the system. And I will probably ask them
about their experiences, especially the student responses in an effective way to deal with
the students who potentially have some difficulties”.
“It’s a certainly available option to help students who are not being successful in
class”.
“It was not very technical like I am able to play computer”.
“I just directed them towards the link and briefly described what I would say in
the comment section and what they need to do in order to use it”.
However, one participant seemed not to clearly understand how the system
worked. She believed the early alert system could be used by the students, which is
incorrect. The professor in fact is the one who interacts with the system by referring a
student to the Center for Student Success. Then, staff from the Center for Student Success
will contact and work with the student to solve the referred issue. Basically, the student
does not directly interact with the system per se.
“I do not believe that some of my students have utilized it and helped through it”.
•
Help Action
Aside from the verbal diffusion of the eight participants who diffused or tend to
diffuse the early alert system to others, four of them admitted that they directed or would
direct people to MyGateway site where the link to the early alert system existed at. Some
of these four participants also demonstrated others how to use the system.
“Just tell them to use it. If they have questions, I’ll tell them to get into
MyGateway”.
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“Just direct them to the site that is easy to find. It’s pretty self-explanatory, very
easy to use”.
“And say it is on MyGateway site. You log it through here and you do this and
you do and then they come and say they are using it”.
“I just directed them towards the link and briefly described what I would say in
the comment section and what they need to do in order to use it”.
•
Comment
At the end of the interview, many participants shared several useful concerns,
comments, and suggestions regarding to the early alert system. The participants
expressed both negative and positive thoughts. For example, a participant was skeptical
on the end results of the early alert system.
“I’m interested to know about the turn-around rate once the students get the
advising coordinator. It would be interesting to see how many students actually go and
see that person. By doing that, I don’t know how that person actually does. Does that
person just yell hey are you attending class? What does that person actually do? A lot of
those people on the alert just come to see me, which is great. I don’t know, contact
advisor, coordinator, or advisor, I kinda need to know what they are saying to these
students. Is it more than just are you attending? Or are you going to class? Or actually
giving advice for my class? That’s all I wanna know”.
In addition, a participant concerned on the student ignorance by the referral or the
student may miss the notification. With this problem, nothing could help the student
become successful in class.
“I was trying to think of some ways that it could be more useful but I think it is
still a basic problem of communication. On one level, we are compounding the problem
because you are bringing in another node to communicate between the faculty member
and the student. But I guess, on the other hand, the reality is it is not bad in many
situations. That might be necessary to kinda wake the students up. The biggest problem
that I see is that the students do not check their e-mail”.
Moreover, a participant believed the school did not have enough counselors or
tutors to help the student individually.
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“The main thing I like to say is give us some counselors, give use some tutors.
You know, I thought it would happen after I refer a student. Someone who sits down with
the student and says do you have a place to study, do you have sufficient life”.
Another participant concerned on the current system unfamiliarity. However, he
believed if the students became more familiar with the early alert system, the system may
be useful in the future. His explanation implied that the students are still unfamiliar with
the current system; however, he believed the system may be more helpful in the future.
“I think if the students become more familiar with it and more used to having
teachers use it in classes in regular basis, it will be a good system and helpful”.
A participant, additionally, put his concern on the system resistance at the early
age of the system usage. However, he still believed that the early alert system may be
more popular in a long run if the system could be proved useful for faculty members and
students.
“I was around when the gateway was first arrived. There was a lot of resistance
in using it. You have to learn new thing. You have to login. Your format has to fit in.
Every professor has different ways. I was reluctant also but I got into it, I think, in one
year. I start using it. And I began rapidly using that. So, yeah, everything like that gonna
have some kind of resistance. Now the gateway is on us completely, especially a large
course. Yeah, that is gateway. I do not know. It is probably not your topic”.
In the meantime, many participants expressed their positive impression on the
early alert system. One participant liked the idea of having tutors to assist the students.
“I actually talked to some guy ever there, I forgot his name already, some guy in
the students’ success workshop, cuz he left me a phone message. I guess maybe I turned
over more people, you know, a lot of people actually I don’t know, anyway he called me.
And I talked to him about it. He told me that they were doing, they were suggesting tutors
for people, and they were inviting them to give study skills workshop and time
management workshop. I think that’s great. A lot of them are because of time
management I think”.
Some participants liked the system in terms of tracking results and all
communication records among faculty members, administrative staff, and students.
“The early alert system is tracking the results, the final results. You know that
they can find everything that what happened to each student”.
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“I give a lot of information in my narrative to back up my documentation. So, if
there is an issue going on, I can just, you know, they were told. And then also, the
students know exactly what the problem is, so they can seek help to clarify the situation
because sometimes it is not there when it really is”.
There was one participant who did not have any thought to share with us. Also, a
recommendation from another participant to alert the students for all academic deadlines
such as the last day to register or withdraw classes seems not to be able to become
practical in the future update of the early alert system because the students are not the
system users. Only faculty members and staff who are in charge on the early alert system
can log into the system to perform tasks. The deadlines are meaningless for these users.
“Maybe they could find a way to alert all students of the deadline, like dropping a
class without a grade or excuse”.
5.2.2 Cross Data Analysis
The cross data analysis in this study both creates and does not create patterns to
prove our assumptions. We are presenting what we found as follows.
•
The authority of influencers does not determine the adopter’s satisfaction
level.
Below table demonstrates no pattern between authority of influencers and the
adopter’s satisfaction level. The column differentiates higher, different, and same
authority of influencers, while the row defines high and low satisfaction level of the
adopter. Keep in mind that one adopter may have more than one influencer, mentioned
earlier in the descriptive data analysis section. Therefore, the number in the below table
determines the influencer quantity across authority and satisfaction level. There is no
pattern found from this table.
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Satisfaction/Authority of Influencer
High
Low
Fall 2006
Higher
3
2
Different
2
2
Same
2
Table 6: Authority of Influencers and Satisfaction Level of Adopters Pattern
•
The adoption mode determines the satisfaction level.
The following table tells us that the non face-to-face adoption mode can
determine the high satisfaction level. In contrast, based on the analyzed data, we may be
able to assume that the face-to-face adoption mode determines low satisfaction level.
However, due to limited numbers of subjects, this data should be interpreted with caution.
The difference between high and low satisfaction level for the face-to-face adoption
mode is only two counts. Further investigation is needed in order to confirm the findings.
Again, keep in mind that one adopter may have more than one adoption action
such as through colleagues, Provost’s e-mail, or presentations. Thus, the number in each
cell represents the amount of adoption interaction across satisfaction level and adoption
mode.
Satisfaction/Adoption Mode
High
Low
Face-to-Face
2
4
Non Face-to-Face
3
Table 7: Adoption Mode and Satisfaction Level Pattern
Our interpretation to find out why non face-to-face adoption mode results in high
satisfaction level might be because our participants who have some degree of computer
or technology competence are open to adopt some other innovations such as the early
alert system. Contrarily, the participants who adopt an innovation through traditional
face-to-face mode may tend to decline a new system adoption due to their lack of
technology ability. This may answer the reason why the above data look like what we
have. However, further investigation is needed to prove our assumption.
Below is a quote of a participant who adopted the early alert system though a
Provost’s e-mail and seemed to positively accept the early alert system even though he
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stated during the interview that he could not rate a satisfaction level. Such participant
admitted that he was reluctant when he first started using a previous technology called
MyGateway but he had been using it. For him, the early alert system may be in the same
situation as MyGateway early on. This case shows that a participant with some degree of
technology competence is easy to adopt a newer innovation.
“I was around when the gateway was first arrived. There was a lot of resistance
in using it. You have to learn new thing. You have to login. Your format has to fit in.
Every professor has different ways. I was reluctant also but I got into it, I think, in one
year. I start using it. And I began rapidly using that. So, yeah, everything like that gonna
have some kind of resistance. Now the gateway is on us completely, especially a large
course. Yeah, that is gateway. I do not know. It is probably not your topic”.
•
System ease of use determines the satisfaction level.
The below table shows a pattern between the system ease of use and satisfaction
level. However, there is no pattern found in this table to conclude that the system
difficulty of use determines the low satisfaction level because we have no data to make
this assumption. We only can see that if a participant has an easy-to-use system, his or
her satisfaction level tends to be high.
Satisfaction/Ease of Use
High
Low
Yes
6
3
No
Table 8: Ease of Use and Satisfaction Level Pattern
•
Function utilization does not determine the satisfaction level.
The analyzed data below does not show any pattern across function utilization and
satisfaction level. We used to believe that the participants who have high partial to
complete function utilization tend to have high satisfaction level. Meanwhile, the
participants who have low partial function utilization tend to have low satisfaction level.
These assumptions seem to be incorrect based on the gathered data from the current
study. The column tells the different levels of function utilization, and the row represents
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the different levels of satisfaction. We found no pattern to conclude that the function
utilization can determine satisfaction level.
Satisfaction/Function Utilization
High
Low
Complete
1
1
High Partial
3
2
Low Partial
2
Table 9: Function Utilization and Satisfaction Level Pattern
We might be able to explain this situation from our interview conversation. One
participant, who rated high satisfaction for the early alert system, admitted that one
irritating function is the e-mail notification. She stated that she should check off the email notification box to reduce her e-mail reception generated by the system because of
her tremendous numbers of her student referrals. To avoid her problem, she should
instead use the report review function when she wanted to know the referral progress for
her students. This can imply that the number of functions used does not have any
relationship with the satisfaction level. Instead, awareness of function suitability may
better determine the satisfaction level. That means, if the participant knows how and
when to use a function appropriately, his or her satisfaction level should be higher than a
participant who does not clearly understand how or when to use it.
“The only thing irritating me is all the email… I don’t have time to read all of the
e-mails. But that is a nice thing. I click the e-mail notification when I thought it was just
notify student via e-mail. I did not realize that system letting me know every single step
along the way. So, that’s the only thing”.
Another example from a different participant who did not have complete function
utilization but had the highest satisfaction level seemed to gain a full knowledge on how
to utilize the system to enhance her job and to meet her maximum satisfaction level. She
was aware that she might receive tremendous numbers of e-mails by making a lot
referrals and checking the e-mail notification checkbox. Consequently, she used the
report review function to find out what was going on to her referrals. The finding from
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this participant confirms our assumption that the awareness of function suitability better
determines the satisfaction level rather than the number of function utilization.
“The e-mail notification…yeah…er….no, I don’t. I do not get the e-mail
notification system because I fill with e-mails everyday. So, I don’t do that. What I do is I
go in the system and look and find out that things are going”.
•
Class size does not determine the satisfaction level.
We believed that the participants who taught large or medium lecture classes
tended to satisfactory adopt the early alert system rather than the participants who taught
small classes. Based on the analyzed data in the below table, on the other hand, we found
no pattern to confirm our assumption. The amounts in the below table is the number of
classes across different class sizes and satisfaction levels. Again, the numbers of results
we have here are too small to prove the hypothesis. Further investigation is needed.
We still cannot reject the assumption that class size might have some patterns
with the adoption of the early alert system, though it does not show any pattern across
class size and the satisfaction level. However, we can not find any proof from our current
data, since all participants in this study are adopters of the early alert system. In order to
find a relationship between class size and the adoption action, we need to gather data
from non adopters as well as adopters of the early alert system.
Satisfaction/Class Size
High
Low
Small
3
1
Medium
4
5
Large
3
2
Table 10: Class Size and Satisfaction Level of Adopters Pattern
•
Diffusion action or diffusion plan determines the satisfaction level.
The below table shows that diffusion action or diffusion plan of participants can
determine the satisfaction level. The column determines if the participant diffused or
tends to diffuse the system to other or not, while the row shows the different satisfaction
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levels. Below data tell us that the participant who diffused or tends to diffuse the early
alert system have high satisfaction. However, due to a low number of subjects who
refused the system diffusion, we can not determine that the participants who did not and
do not plan to influence anybody else to adopt the early alert system have the low
satisfaction level. What we found here confirms our original assumption on the
relationship between the diffusion action or diffusion plan and satisfaction level.
Satisfaction/Diffusion Action or Diffusion Plan
High
Low
Yes
6
2
No
1
Table 11: Ease of Use and Satisfaction Level Pattern
6. Conclusion
Even though the cross data analysis from above section does not represent many
patterns as we expected, the descriptive data analysis at least answers our research
questions. From our analyzed data, we found that the faculty members adopted the early
alert system mostly from the influencers who have higher authority than them, for
instance, Provost or Department Chair. In many cases, the faculty members adopted the
system from more than one influencer. The faculty members adopted the early alert
system from both face-to-face and non face-to-face communication modes. Interestingly,
we learn that the faculty members satisfactory adopted the early alert system through non
face-to-face communication modes such as e-mail or fax, but tended to unsatisfactory
adopt the system through face-to-face modes such as meeting, conference, presentation or
direct conversation. However, their overall satisfaction level of the system is above
average. The faculty members named a variety of reasons why they liked or disliked the
system. Most of them adopted the system with a concern on the students’ academic
success and failure.
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In addition, we found that most faculty members diffused or tend to diffuse the
early alert system to their colleagues by direct conversation and demonstration to
MyGateway Website. They believed that the system was a helpful tool for the students
who were performing poorly in class. In the meantime, some faculty members refused to
diffuse the system to others because of a lack of enough information and a faith in
individual preference.
7. Limitations
The current research contains many limitations needed to mention. First, the study
requires more subjects to strengthen the findings. To be optimum, every faculty member
who adopted the early alert system should be interviewed. However, the cooperation
from subjects is a primary concern. Moreover, the time limitation to conduct the study is
another problem.
Second, one more researchers should be involved in the research to strengthen the
validity of the results. Although, one of our two researchers who is the developer of the
early alert system can contribute many insights regarding to the system, there is a
possibility that her ideas might dominate the research design and data analysis. Even
though two researchers independently analyzed the data and could resolve disagreements,
the third researcher should better help reduce bias and domination of thoughts.
Third, pilot interviews should be conducted to improve or correct the interview
questions in the interview guide before a real interview. To do so, the researchers can
also have opportunities to practice the interview in order to be familiar with the interview
process, interaction with the interviewee, and disruption during the interview. Due to the
limited time of the current study and lack of interview experience by researchers, we had
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to conduct one follow-up interview to ask more added questions and to confirm the
previous answers. We believe the second interview can be waived if we had conducted a
pilot interview.
8. Implications to Researchers and Practitioners
There are several implications from the current study to both researchers and
practitioners. For further investigation of the current study, researchers can utilize the
analyzed data to conduct a questionnaire for the quantitative measurement to increase a
volume of subjects and generalize the results. In addition, the current study could extend
into an action research by taking an advantage that one of our researchers is the insider of
the information technology department who develops the system. Additionally, if the
study has to be conducted again, the computer literacy of each participant to mediate the
relationship between adoption mode and satisfaction level is encouraged to add into the
future study. With the computer literacy measurement, we may be able to tell if a
participant with computer competence satisfactory adopts the early alert system through
non face-to-face mode, or if a participant with minimal computer competence satisfactory
adopts the system through face-to-face mode. The current study does not explain this
issue.
Practitioners can also learn from the findings of the current study in different
ways. In terms of the adoption of the early alert system, we learn that the champion
influencers are school administrative staff with high authority such as Provost or
Department Chair. As a result, these people should further encourage the faculty
members to continue or start using the system in the following academic years. The
analyzed data also demonstrate that the faculty members adopted the early alert system
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by both face-to-face and non face-to-face mediums. That means both communication
methods are effective to influence the faculty members to adopt the early alert system.
Regarding to the diffusion of the early alert system, the data tell practitioners that
the faculty members diffused the system because they had perceived the success from the
pilot system. Thus, influencers should emphasize the previous results and keep track on
the current results for the next following years. Apart from the previous success of the
pilot system, the faculty members saw the early alert system as a potentially useful tool
for failing students. Therefore, the statistical results that can confirm that the system can
in fact help failing students to maintain their classes should be mentioned to the faculty
members. We also learn that the diffusion mode of the early alert system from a faculty
member to others is face-to-face only. Consequently, the administrative staff, especially
who have high authority, should open a discussion about the system among faculty
members who experienced and have never used the system. The system demonstration
through MyGateway is found to be another way to diffuse the system by faculty
members. The influencers should discuss about this source as well. We believe that our
implications can help improve the early alert system in next academic years and
ultimately enhance teaching and learning of the faculty members and students at the
University of Missouri at Saint Louis.
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References
Jeyaraj, Anand, The Effect of Influence Tactics and Contingency Factors on the Adoption
and Diffusion of IS/IT Innovations in Social Networks, Dissertation Research.
Denzin, Norman K., Lincoln, Yvonna S., “Introduction: Entering the Field of Qualitative
Research,” Handbook of Qualitative Research, CA: Sage, 1994.
Lacity, Mary C., Janson, Marius A. “Understanding Qualitative Data: A Framework of
Text Analysis Methods,” Journal of Management Information Systems, 11 (1994): 137155.
Myers, Michael D., “Qualitative Research in Information Systems,” Internet. (1997)
Available: http://www.qual.auckland.ac.nz, January 2007.
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Appendix A: Early Alert System Screen Shots for Faculty Members
Picture 1: Login Screen
Picture 2: Course List Screen
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Picture 3: Student List Screen
From the student list screen, the faculty member can perform the following
functions:
- Mark a checkbox(s) for a warning sign(s) such as failed quiz, failed exam,
excessive absence, missing assignments, missing presentations, missing lab, and others
- Mark a checkbox to receive a notified e-mail for the referral progress
- Add a comment in a comment or note box.
Picture 4: Report Screen
From the report screen, the faculty member can view the course report for the
referral progress after a referral submission.
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Appendix B: Interview Guide
Specify Goal of Research to Participant:
We are Ph.D. students in the Philosophy of Science & Qualitative Research
Methods class, taught by Dr. Mary C. Lacity from the department of Business
Administration. As a class requirement, we need to implement a qualitative research
project to gain experience in using the qualitative research methodology. The topic of our
study is to learn influences that faculty members in the University of Missouri at Saint
Louis adopt the early alert system. During the course of the interview, we will be asking
you to explain your own perceptions and experiences regarding to the system.
Explain Confidentiality Policy:
We tape record the interviews for our own research purposes. Only professor and
both of us review the transcripts. Your identity will be kept confidential. We do not
identify you or your title on our research paper.
Questions for the Interview:
Before we start asking questions about the adoption and diffusion of the early
alert system, let me ask some specific questions about yourself.
Lead-in questions:
1. What is your official job title and your job description?
2. How long have you been working in this position?
Influences to adopt questions:
3. How did you first hear about the early alert system?
4. Who influence you to adopt the system? [This question would be based on the answer
number 3 by the interviewee.]
5. What did he/she/they say or do to influence you to adopt the system? [This question
would be based on the answer number 4 by the interviewee.]
6. Did you also rely on information from other sources in adopting the system?
7. If someone influence you to adopt the system and you also rely on information from
other sources in adopting the system, which one plays a more important role for you to
adopt the system between the influence from other people or the information gained by
yourself about the system? [This question would be based on the answer numbers 4 and 6
by the interviewee.]
8. Once you heard about the system, when did you first start adopting the system?
9. Why did you decide to adopt the system?
10. On a scale from 1 to 5 (1 represents no satisfaction and 5 represents complete
satisfaction), what is your satisfaction level with the system?
11. What do you like or dislike about the system? [This question would be based on the
answer number 9 by the interviewee.]
12. Have you experienced any difficulty while using the system? If so, how did you solve
the problem?
13. Have you used the following functions in the system?
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- Mark a checkbox(s) for a warning sign(s) such as failed quiz, failed exam, excessive
absence, missing assignments, missing presentations, missing lab, and others
- Mark a checkbox to receive a notified e-mail for the referral progress
- Add a comment in a comment box
- View the referral report for the referral progress after a referral submission
14. Do you use the system for every student who has an academic potential failure?
15. How many classes are you teaching this semester?
16. How many students are there in your classes?
Influence to diffuse questions:
17. Did you influence anyone to adopt the system?
18. If you did, who are the people you influenced to adopt the system? If you didn’t, do
you plan to influence anyone to adopt the system? Why or why not? [This question
would be based on the answer number 17 by the interviewee.]
19. If you did or plan to influence people to adopt the system, what did or will say or do
to make them adopt the system? [This question would be based on the answer number 18
by the interviewee.]
20. If you did or plan to influence people to adopt the system, what did or will help them
to use the system? [This question would be based on the answer number 18 by the
interviewee.]
End question:
21. Are there any other items related to the early alert system that you would like to add?
Thank you very much for your time. We really appreciate your help.
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Appendix C: Interview Transcriptions
Interview 1 on Monday October 2nd, 2006 at 12.00-12.30 PM
Q: This interview is for our course Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research
Methods which is taught by Dr. Mary Lacity. As our course requirement, we need to
implement a qualitative research project. For our study, we want to know about how the
faculty members in UMSL adopt the early alert system.
A: Oh, yeah…that’s right…the early alert system. Ok.
Q: We want to ask your perceptions and experience about the system.
A: Yeah, sure.
Q: Can I ask you some questions specific about yourself? What is your official job title?
A: Biology Lecturer and Lab Coordinator. I teach introductory biology majors and
coordinate all the TAs.
Q: Do you have a business card?
A: No.
Q: That’s fine.
A: I just have a bunch of students. I don’t give my card.
Q: How long have you been working in this position?
A: Ten years.
Q: Ten years…Now let me ask you some questions about the influence to adopt the early
alert system. So, how did you first hear about the early alert system?
A: Either Dean or somebody sent out an e-mail. So, that all I learned about it. Either
Dean or somebody sent out a faculty wide e-mail regarding the early alert system. That
was how I knew about it. And then, I went trough the steps on the computer and it was
nice, especially for the large class.
Q: We want to know who influenced you to use the early alert system.
A: Um…who influenced me? Really, I mean nobody. I learn about the early alert system.
I have a lot of student who did not do well on the first exam. I also teach a video course,
which is basically independent study. Those students have to learn on their own what the
course is about. And I just supervise and give the exam, and some of them did not do
well. It is just a very nice and easy way to let them know that I notice that they are not
doing well and they need to come to see me if they need any help.
Q: So you gain the information about the early alert system by yourself? You adopted it
rely on those information?
A: Yeah, though email, really.
Q: We want to know when did you start adopting the early alert system?
A: Just this semester. I have no idea before this semester about it. So, yeah, just this
semester. Just couple weeks ago.
Q: So, when did you hear about it?
A: It was early this semester. May be either late August or early September.
Q: We want to know the satisfaction level, what is your satisfaction level on a scale of 1
to 5? One represents no satisfaction and five represents complete satisfaction. What is
your satisfaction level?
A: This is five. Or either 4 or 5. I think the students appreciate that we notice that they are
not doing well. And I think I have noticed that once I put them on alert, they start coming
class again. They are coming up to see me. I have a big lecture room. I have a hundred
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fifty students in my auditorium. So, now we have a structure to let them know that they
are not coming or they are not performing well, that I care. I want to know who they are
when they come up to see me. I think it is very important for the students.
Q: What do you like or dislike about the early alert system?
A: The only thing irritating me is all the email. I just need to unclick it because you’re
just telling me…I’ve given an advisor or coordinator whatever. That’s fine but I just…I
don’t have time to read all of the e-mails. But that is a nice thing. I click the e-mail
notification when I thought it was just notify student via e-mail. I did not realize that
system letting me know every single step along the way. So, that’s the only thing.
Q: Did you refer anybody else about the early alert system?
A: I don’t think so. You know Dr. Paul, one of my friends, down the hall. She mentioned
about the early alert system. She actually influenced me to kind of do it too. But for me, I
don’t know if I will influence someone to use the early alert system.
Q: Do you plan to introduce it to someone?
A: Do I plan to? Um…all of us, instructors, we work on our own. You know what I
mean? So, I do not know what other people do, but whenever we kind of commiserate
about the students who is doing so poorly, oh…you should put them on the early alert.
Yeah, and that’s pretty much how I influence it.
Q: If you plan to influence somebody else, what are you going to tell them?
A: Just simple what I said. If students are not doing well, I think it is much helpful in a
large lecture class. Because in a small class, you might not need it. You can talk to them
in small classes. But in such a larger class, it’s quick and easy way to let everybody who
didn’t perform well on the exam, who aren’t coming that you are noticing. Also, for the
instructor who does not interact with the students, it is helpful.
Q: What are you going to do to help them use the system?
A: Are you talking about me with the students or other instructors?
Q: Other instructors
A: Um…I mean that’s all I would do. Just tell them to use it. If they have questions, I’ll
tell them to get into Mygateway. It is very easy to use. So easy.
Q: Do you have any item relating to the system want to add or to make a comment?
A: I’m interested to know about the turn-around rate once the students get the advising
coordinator. It would be interesting to see how many students actually go and see that
person. By doing that, I don’t know how that person actually does. Does that person just
yell hey are you attending class? What does that person actually do? A lot of those people
on the alert just come to see me, which is great. I don’t know, contact advisor,
coordinator, or advisor, I kinda need to know what they are saying to these students. Is it
more than just are you attending? Or are you going to class? Or actually giving advice for
my class? That’s all I wanna know.
Q: I think that is pretty much it. Thank you very much.
A: You are welcome. You are welcome. No problem.
Follow-Up Interview on Monday October 16th, 2006 at 12.00-12.30 PM
Q: Thank you for meet us again. Last time we talked about who influence you and
whether you relied on some information about the Early Alert System. What we want to
know is which one played a more important role, the people who influenced you, or the
information?
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A: Probably the people, more than information, at first, I mean, because I knew without
they I heard a lot of emails that were there, and I am so busy with my courses. I have
overloaded this semester. That, I don’t have all the information in front of me. And if
somebody, my friend just goes “Hey, you should put them on the Early Alert”, and I was
like, “oh, yeah, that’s right! I forgot about that.” So, I think people would probably be
more influential. With other people, you know.
Q: How many classes do you teach this semester?
A: Hmm, I was involved in… one, two, three, four different courses. And so I do lecture
or the discussion sections, and lab supervisor for the introductory biology course. And
then I supervised lab of the other entri-biology course, and I am the supervisor for the
tele-course, for the non-majors. And I grade for the distance-learning course.
Q: So did you use Early Alert System for every course?
A: I did, yea. I did it for my video course, my non-major tele-course, and for my…
ya…so any course that involved grading on my part I use the Early Alert System.
Q: and I want to ask you about your experience about the following functions in the
system. Do you use the check box(s) for warning sign(s)?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you use the check box(s) to receive a notified email for the referral progress?
A: I did, I wish I didn’t, because I’m getting all these emails.
Q: You can go back and …
A: I know, I know. Because I have like two hundreds students, so I keep getting
everything for everyone of those students when I checked on I am like oh god…so….
Q: and do you use the comment box to add a comment?
A: I did for one student, so just occasionally.
Q: Do you view the referral report for the referral progress after a referral submission?
A: No, I mean my direct is the interactions to the students, I just care they are progressing
well, I want them to know that I care, that I can see their progress, expects and some
others. So I don’t want to say that I don’t care what other people do to help the students, I
just have to be aware of how were the students performing in my class. You know, it’s
great that other people are trying to help the students in a positive way, and so, I think if
it can help the students to approach me and ask some questions about what they are not
doing and what they need help on and then I think it’s great. But regarding the other stuff,
I don’t really care how they are getting to me as long as they are getting to me.
Q: So the time you used this system, have you experienced any difficulties?
A: No, it’s really easy, ya.
Q: Great! Do you use this system for every student who has a potential failure?
A: Oh, every student who is not doing well, who preformed poorly on my exams, I have,
every student I used it. That’s why I wish I didn’t check that box. Send me a lot of
notification each time when you do something, oh my god…two hundred…
Q: You can go back and uncheck it.
A: ye, ye, next time I will. But I, you know, I think it’s great. I think they are honest. The
students has come up to me and said hey I got the early alert notice. One student was
crying, and she was really upset. She thought it might be the truth she was in trouble. And
I said well you are troubles on the way that you are not doing very well, but come to see
me if you have questions. That’s good.
Q: I think we are done. Thank you very much!
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A: You have to see a lot of people?
Q: 10. We have 9 more people that need to interview.
A: 9?
Q: Yeah. Before Thanksgiving.
A: This is for your Ph.D.
Q: Yes.
A: Oh, really? What is your dissertation on?
Q: Adoption of the early alert system.
A: Both of you? The same?
Q: Yeah.
A: I don’t know you can do that.
Q: This is for seminar class.
A: Oh, okay. I thought this is for your dissertation.
Q: No, this is just a term project.
A: What’s about your dissertation research?
Q: It’s still long way to go.
A: Oh, you’re not there yet.
Q: This is my first year and this is her second year.
A: No, not too long. I did it after I had my second baby. Those are all my babies (pointing
to picture frames of her six boys). I have six boys.
Q: Wow. Did you get pregnant while you’re doing your Ph.D.?
A: I had one of my babies in January and I defended my dissertation in March. And I got
a job offer here the same month. Just two months later.
Q: All boys…
A: All boys.
Q: You kept having because you wanted a girl?
A: No no…I like my boys. I like girl too but I mean I like what I got.
Q: Thank you for your time.
A: No problem. Good luck.
Interview 2 on Thursday October 19th, 2006 at 3.00-3.30 PM
Q: This interview is for our course Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research
Methods which is taught by Dr. Mary Lacity. As our course requirement, we need to
implement a qualitative research project. For our study, we want to know about how the
faculty members in UMSL adopt the early alert system.
A: Oh, yeah…that’s right…the early alert system. Ok.
Q: We want to ask your perceptions and experience about the system.
A: Yeah, sure.
Q: First I would like to ask you some specific questions about yourself? What is your
official job title and your job description?
A: Lecturer in finance. Yea, Lecturer is my official title. I teach four sections of the
BA3500 every semester
Q: How long have you been working in this position?
A: Actually this is my fifth year doing a full time, I got 4 years as a part time, and I…so
this is my fifth year for full time.
Q: Thank you. Um…how did you first hear about the early alert system?
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A: um… there was email from Glen Cope. She sent emails talking about it and getting
seminars and I never actually made to the seminars or workshops, but I thought it was a
really good idea. I read them. And I just thought it was a really good idea. I think the
more you can do to help students, you know, catch the problem early on it can be.
Q: So who influenced you to use the early alert system?
A: Glen Cope. She is the Provost, ya. I remember when we discussed with, you know,
like the coordinator, a coordinator next door, I just thought it was a really good idea.
Q: Did you rely on some information about this early alert system when you adopted it?
Any other resources?
A: Any other resources? No just the email from Glen Cope.
Q: ok…um…so when did you start using the early alert system?
A: After the first midterm, this semester.
Q: This semester?
A: yeah. You know forty-one people failed my first midterm, out of about 200. That’s
high. So I, immediately when I saw that a lot of people have failed. I said you know, we
have to do something to help these people. And though I was not exactly sure about what
the early alert system is gonna do. But I thought at least it worth a try.
Q: That is the reason you adopt it?
A: Yea, that’s the reason. I might have done this anyway, but it was just really high this
year. I have as many as 38 failed my first mid-term, but most semesters it seriously like
20 out of 200, it used to be about 10%, but this semester it was high. So I started using it
right away.
Q: So, when did you hear about it?
A: ya, I got the email during the summer, so I knew about it. I was on campus in summer.
I knew about that and I sort of plan to go to one of the workshops, but I’ve never got
around to it. And I knew I thought it was a good idea, but then when my first midterm
came out, and I got more graded, that forty-one people have failed. I said …that’s too
high. That’s what… a forty percent….oh, 20 percent.
Q: So what is your satisfaction level of this system? On a scale of 1 to 5? One represents
no satisfaction. Five represents complete satisfaction.
A: um….I would like to say it about 4…and it’s not about the early alert people, cuz I
think they really done well, you know, the people over there, students success center. But
the students don’t respond well, they are sending them emails and calling them, and the
students, some of them, just not respond it. And I started looking at just now I have
midterm two, and 19 people got an F again. So about half of them, didn’t, I mean, I want
them to do something different but they….. they failed again . ya, out of the 41failed the
first time, 19 of them failed again.
Q: and those people didn’t response?
A: Well, I don’t know. Cuz I have just noticed a lot of emails and the students just ignore
them at all. I don’t know who will be the correct one…
Q: Have you experienced some difficulties when using this system?
A: No. I think it’s very easy to use. I just had a little survey and picked … most of mine
were from the first exam, I gave about three people who haven’t come to class, and they
didn’t take the first exam. I have a make up date at the end of the semester for people
who, you know, their jobs, ….. for coming, or their baby sit or the coverage sick or
something, and I let them take a make up. About three people who did that for the first
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exam, but they haven’t been answered so much. So I was worried about their passing.
The survey was very easy to use.
Q: What functions have you used in the system? We have like, mark a checkbox(s) for a
warning sign(s) such as failed quiz, failed exam, excessive absence, missing assignments,
missing presentations, missing lab, and others
A: Yes, I marked the boxes of …. Exam failure or something like that ….
Q: Do you mark a checkbox to receive a notified e-mail?
A: um…you know, I must have, because I’ve been getting lots of emails, so yea, I guess I
did. I’ve been getting a lot of feedback from them.
Q: Did you add a comment in a comment box?
A: No, I didn’t add any comment.
Q: Did you view the referral report for the referral progress after a referral submission?
A: Oh, no I didn’t do that. That’s a good idea.
Q: So….you didn’t even realize that you can do that?
A: I didn’t. I didn’t realize I can get a report. I kept record of mine, who I turned over and
didn’t, I get a folder. Why? Because I think the students may come to me and ask, and
know really have that I have a record anyway.
Q: So do you use the system for every student who has a potential failure?
A: Well, see that, a matter of judgment. I turned over the name of anybody who got an F,
or who has missed a lot of classes. For those people who got a D, I didn’t turn them over.
Because I thought, well, that’s kind of marginal, they were not really failing, I wasn’t
sure they were one of the figures people who got a D or not. If I go to the workshop, I
think I need to ask that.
Q: Did you influence anybody else to adopt the early alert system?
A: Actually I talked to couple of people. I talked to Peggy and she had turned over a
smaller too. And I did talk to Steve Belly do you know him? So yea, I talked to people
about it, afterwards.
Q: So what did you say to those people you influenced?
A: I just told them they can turn people over, and they were a lot of actions going on,
really, they got ride on it, I was impressed.
Q: So how many people do you have already talked to? Who are they?
A: Oh, other professors
Q: What did you do to help them using the system?
A: Um…actually Peggy helped me, because she told me that we can just mark up. When
I talked to her about it I said, well, I want to use the early alert system, and she told me
we have to go to the website and whatever. And then she said who you turned over and I
said 41 people failed in the exam so I started a little bit. And then Steve Belly started the
conversation, he just came along when I was doing something and asked about it. So.
Q: Are there any item about the system want to add?
A: Um….I actually talked to some guy ever there, I forgot his name already, some guy in
the students’ success workshop, cuz he left me a phone message. I guess maybe I turned
over more people, you know, a lot of people actually I don’t know, anyway he called me.
And I talked to him about it. He told me that they were doing, they were suggesting tutors
for people, and they were inviting them to give study skills workshop and time
management workshop. I think that’s great. A lot of them are because of time
management I think. So I discuss with them different alternative and that is the thing I
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discussed with people in the past also. But I just think it’s great to have a program. I
guess that’ll really help, or really do. A lot of people, you know, the 41 students and the
people who got Ds, they came to me, and said, you know, I need…well, I am quite
encourage to do that, when I give the message I said, “if you need to see me, please come
and talk to me?” Well, some people do and I am actually tutoring some people
individually myself. I do as many as I can. You know, if they come to see me, I make
time for them. Yea I think it’s a good program, but I think whatever they can do to assist
us… I mean I have 200 students.
Q: yea, it’s a lot.
A: It is difficult, but I just gear up and they needed, if they make time for me, I make time
fot them, it’s that way.
A: good!
Q: but usually, they don’t have time for me. [laughing] Because they have jobs, they have
families…yea, so.
Q: I think that is pretty much it. Thank you very much.
A: all right. Ok. Just see how things go.
Interview 3 on Tuesday October 24th, 2006 at 3.30-4.00 PM
Q: We are Ph.D. students in the Philosophy of Science & Qualitative Research Methods
class.
A: Okay
Q: The topic of our study is to learn influences that faculty members in the University of
Missouri at Saint Louis adopt the early alert system.
A: Okay
Q: First, I want to ask some questions specific about yourself. What is your official job
title and your job description?
A: I am a senior lecturer in Sociology. My job description is basically teaching.
Q: Thank you. And how long have you been working in this position?
A: I have been here at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, technically, since 1990.
But I have been full-time here since 1994. I have been teaching in Sociology since 1976.
Q: For this school?
A: No, not for this school, for different. I taught here in 89 or 90.
Q: How did you first hear about the early alert system?
A: Um…I guess …I think I heard about it first actually in the policy committee meeting
in College of Arts and Sciences. I am trying to think who it was. I think it was Robert
Harris from the Department of Psychology who was…. I think the university faculty sent
a committee of the student retention came to do a presentation. That was the last year.
Q: So if I ask you who influence you to adopt the system, you will say Robert Harris?
A: Um…no one particular individual influenced me. It was couple sites in the college
that the system was available. You know, I teach large classes and there are always lot
students that seem to get lost. By the way, there is a site, so may be it is something that I
can try.
Q: When did you first adopt the system?
A: Just this semester. I think this is the first semester that it is really available. I know
they tested it at the College of Nursing. May be last year. So, the general faculty uses it
this semester. I used it after the first round of my exam on my class.
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Q: Did you also rely on information from other sources in adopting the system?
A: No. I don’t think so. Outside the presentation that Rob Harris did, that is really all. I
really knew about it. It demonstrated some successes from the initial semester that it was
used at the College of Nursing. I cannot remember some other departments may be
participated it. Seems like it is Social Work. There was a report that it was useful. Well, it
encouraged me.
Q: What did they say in the presentation to influence you to adopt the system?
A: I cannot remember anything specific that he said. I know the discussion was involved
around the issue of retention here in UM at St. Louis. The fact that students who do not
do well in class are far more likely enough to return. It is certainly a critical issue of the
university. And I am always supportive and encourage students to stay in school. It
became another tool that I thought it may be useful, potentially useful.
Q: The reason you decide to adopt the system because you teach large-size classes?
A: Mainly, it is because of that. I used it in one of smaller classes that I also teach and
those classes are far more likely that I can have contact with the students. And for larger
classes that I teach, sometimes I only know the student names. That is about it.
Q: How many students are there in your lecture?
A: I have two classes. One is the Introduction to Sociology and the other is Alcohol
Drugs and Society. And one of the Drugs has around 110 students and the intro class is
about 140. And I also have…there is a kind of multiple sections. One of the sections that
I teach is an Internet only course section and those are the students that they are off
sometimes. More likely they have problems and others. And those are the students that I
typically have left and do not know how to contact with. So, this is a kind of a nice
system to bolster about.
Q: What is your satisfaction level with the system, on a scale from 1 to 5? 1 represents no
satisfaction and 5 represents complete satisfaction.
A: I have to say at this point…may be just 3. I have not really seen any significant result,
although it is probably too early to tell. I do know that a few students that I referred take
active participation in the process. So, that is good but, on the other hand, what I know is
the report that I get back from the system is that it does not seem to be a lot of follow-up.
Like if the student does not return the email, then it seems that things get stopped. I am
not saying that is the fault of the system but it is just one of the problems.
Q: Have you experienced any difficulty while using the system?
A: No. It is actually a lot easier to use than what I anticipated. I thought there is a lot
processing that makes it difficult to navigate the students. But it is really simple.
Q: Have you used the following functions in the system? Mark a checkbox(s) for a
warning sign(s) such as failed quiz, failed exam, excessive absence, missing assignments,
missing presentations, missing lab, and others
A: Yes
Q: Mark a checkbox to receive a notified e-mail for the referral progress
A: Yes
Q: Add a comment in a comment box
A: Yes
Q: View the referral report for the referral progress after a referral submission
A: Oh, yes. Go back to the report the check the results.
Q: Do you use the system for every student who has an academic potential failure?
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A: Yes, I did. For the students who failed the first exam or missed the first exam, sure I
do. Whole bunch.
Q: Did you influence anyone to adopt the system?
A: I do not think I influence anyone. We did talk about it in one of the department
meetings. That might go back to the early question. We do have a department chair
encouraged us to use it.
Q: Do you plan to influence anyone to adopt the system?
A: Um…I guess I cannot say that I have any plan to do that, although I certainly share
my experiences and feel very positive to the outcomes that seem to be developing. I do
not think that I will just go up to another faculty member and say hey you use the system.
But if we have a conversation that is talking about a student who is having problem, I will
not hesitate to mention that the system is available and potentially useful. Overall, I am
not overly satisfied but I am positive about it.
Q: Are there any other items related to the early alert system that you would like to add?
A: I guess not really. I was trying to think of some ways that it could be more useful but I
think it is still a basic problem of communication. On one level, we are compounding the
problem because you are bringing in another node to communicate between the faculty
member and the student. But I guess, on the other hand, the reality is it is not bad in many
situations. That might be necessary to kinda wake the students up. The biggest problem
that I see is that the students do not check their e-mail. [laugh]
Q: Or they check but they do not response.
A: Yes. We do not know that they may check it all the time but do not response.
Q: That is pretty much it.
A: Okay
Q: Thank you very much. Thank you.
Interview 4 on Tuesday October 31st, 2006 at 12.45-1.15 PM
Q: The research is about the early alert system adoption. Because you request for the
interview guide before hand, we can pretty much go to the first question.
A: Yeah. Are you Ph.D. students?
Q: Yeah.
A: Excellent.
Q: This is for our seminar course to learn the qualitative research method. First, we
would like to ask your official job title and your job description.
A: I am an Associate Professor. And my job description is to teach, offer classes, do
research, and provide university services.
Q: You are a professor in History department, right?
A: Yeah, but I am an Associate Professor. It is the different rank from Professor.
Q: How long have you been in this position?
A: About six years.
Q: How did you first hear about the early alert system?
A: I believe I first heard about it through the Center of Teaching and Learning that Peggy
Cohen runs.
Q: Is it a presentation or conference?
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A: Yeah, they have regular conferences or speakers come in and I often go to those. And
I believe that was I first heard about it. Or I might hear about it form the Student Success
seminar. I think it was also talked about there.
Q: So, if I ask who influence you to adopt the system, what will you say?
A: Two influenced me. One was hearing about it, I think, through the Center for
Teaching and Learning. One of those has been educated teachers over the Millennium
center. And the second was the Chair of my department that brought it up during a
department meeting and said that he would like us to use it at least for introductory
courses.
Q: Did you also rely on information from other sources in adopting the system?
A: I do not believe so. I do not know any other teachers right now who are using it. I
mean I am sure some of teachers that I know are using it but I have not discussed it with
any of them.
Q: When did you first hear about it? And once you heard about it, when did you first start
adopting it?
A: I am not sure when I first hear about it. It may be last semester. I am not sure because
they started talking about it for a while before they started doing it. And then the
beginning of this semester, they just write you an e-mail, telling you about it. And I first
use it right around the sixth week of classes because by that time I had graded for
everybody. You know, I have something to look at.
Q: Why did you decide to adopt the system?
A: Two reasons. One was because it might be useful to the student. That might help them
get their works in order in time to improve by the end of the semester. And the other
reason was because my Chair asked us to. So, you know, you do it.
Q: What is your satisfaction level with the system, on a scale from 1 to 5 (1 represents no
satisfaction and 5 represents complete satisfaction)?
A: Which is the lowest?
Q: One represents no satisfaction.
A: I guess I will say one now. And it may go up if I frequently use it by the end of the
semester. I don’t feel like I have a settled opinion yet. But at this moment I would say
one.
Q: Because you have not seen the result?
A: To my knowledge, it does not do anything. I do not believe there is any significant
amount of resources over there actually helping the students. So, what happened is I write
an e-mail, I make a note in the system about the problem that generates an e-mail to the
students, notifying them that sometimes get the students to speak with me. When it
actually reaches someone over there, what they do is they write to the student,
encouraging the student to come to talk with me. And so, that is fine but I do that all
semester long and I do not need to go that extra trouble, reporting to over there and
having them come back with nothing happens in between. I thought they would help the
student. You know, do something, encourage them for a study habit.
Q: It looks like adding an extra step for you?
A: Yeah, but for no reason. I mean I knew from the start that it is adding an extra step but
I thought I would get something from it or my students would get something from it.
Q: What do you like or dislike about the system?
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A: So far I do not like anything about it. The thing that I dislike, I guess, mainly is the
lack of resources. And there is also a real problem with the message sent to the students,
which is that this is really high school and I am not responsible for anything. Because I
have a student comes to me after he met with a counselor or got an e-mail back and
fourth with the counselor occasionally in seventh or eighth week of class, saying they
have not been studied or they have missed a lot of classes which I already knew because I
am taking attendances, and so what should they do. If the students are working and they
are having troubles, there are all kinds of things that you can do. May be they need more
visual works. May be they need to do something practical. You know, because people
learn in different ways. But if someone does not try to learn or not do any of the work,
someone can give any reason like they can be sick, they have new job responsibilities.
They are real reasons. But if they have not been trying, I do not know what to try next
because all I can say is do the practice quizzes. People failing the quizzes do the practice
quizzes. But they don’t do it.
Q: In terms of application, you experienced any difficulty while using the system?
A: No. The computer aspect of it is fine.
Q: The system provides a lot functions. I just want to know if you have used the
following functions in the system.
A: What number are you on?
Q: 13
A: Oh, yeah. Quiz…all those checkboxes. I did not mark the checkbox to receive a
notified e-mail for the referral progress. I did not do that. I have done the comment. I
have viewed the referral report. And do you use the system for every student who has an
academic potential failure…Um, it is yes and no. I hope that I have. Giving my grade is
not set up to generate a midterm grade and the course grade. So, for example, in one of
my courses, the final project is 45% of the grade. So, even the students are doing well on
the early part of the course but they have not started on the project, then that midterm
grade is really deceptive. How can I go from a B in the midterm to a D in the final? Well,
it is because you did not do anything on the term paper. So, anyway, I have been trying to
first use for the student, yeah. I first did in the introductory course as we have been asked.
And then, you know I thought what the heck. I still have to do all of them.
Q: So, did you use it for every course you are teaching?
A: Yeah. For all my courses.
Q: How many courses are you teaching this semester?
A: 3
Q: How many students are there in your courses?
A: My total number of students this semester is about 120.
Q: In each course?
A: No. I have about 50 students in one course. And then I have 35 each in two others.
Q: Did you influence anyone to adopt the system?
A: No. I did when I asked the professor next door to me if he was doing it. And he said
oh I forgot. And he said he will gonna go to do it for his introductory class and I have not
checked back with him. I mean, I did not influence but I were just curious to know if
anyone else is using it.
Q: What did you tell him to use it?
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A: No. At that point, I was just using it and I did know what the result would be and he
has been told to do it by the Chair. So, I know once he remembers, he will do it.
Q: Do you plan to influence somebody to use it?
A: I will not influence someone to use or not use it at this point because I do not feel that
I have enough information. But if the information I have by far came out, I will use it
because I have been committed to use it. You know, if the Chair says to use it, so I have
to use it. I do not know if you will go for the university or will you go to become a
professor. Two of you. Yes?
Q: Hopefully.
A: Yes? Professors have three jobs: teaching, research, and services. That is being
committee, being part of parking problems, all those things. The only one for what you
get paid is doing research. OK? Teaching is a punishment. No..no…it is true. The reason
I have so many students now is because my scholarly production is not what it should be.
And that is true. I am not publishing as much as I should be. So, what happens when you
do that is you have more teaching added on to punish you and get you trough doing your
research. So, that is my goal in life is to get more on my research published. So, I can get
my teaching load reduced. Then, I can do more research. I have no raise for six years.
And I love my students. I am very involved with them and I care about them but I also
have to think about my family and the way they calculate pension. And teaching is the
dead end track. The more time you put in your teaching, the less time you do your
research. Earlier in my career, I have less teaching assigned. And if I spend less time with
the students and concentrate on my own projects, then I still have less teaching. This is
what you have been told when you are hired and get reviewed. I am not saying oh this is
unfair. This is the university that is trying to become tier three research institution. We
are currently in tier four research institution. And so, they need to do things like setting
up an early alert system. So, when the university gets evaluated, they can say oh we just
start it. At least, we are trying it out. Noone is going to expect the result like it is in a
place for only one year. When they come to evaluate next year, the administration can get
a brownie point for having it in place. It is a lot of things like that going on campus right
now. I am on several committees. The only purpose is to prove to the high education
counsel that we are working on this problem. Sorry girls. I do not want to…It is an
important career. You just have to know what kind of institution you are at. If you are
placed in a community college, for example, evaluation is based on teaching. You
published. Yeah, fine. Your payment is based on teaching.
Q: How many publications do they expected?
A: For historian, in terms of books, it is pretty light. For example, a published book is
like about every four years and then a couple of articles in a year. That is because our
articles or books tend to be long. Are you Psychologist?
Q: No. Business.
A: Business. I do not know what it is like in Business. You know, for example, in
Economics, the papers are much shorter and they expect a lot more of them. I am not
familiar enough with the Business. I like the Business school here a lot, though. They are
doing a good job. Alright, I am the one who is talking too long.
Q: Do you have any other items to add?
A: No. I do not anything to add until I know more about the early alert system. The main
thing I like to say is give us some counselors, give use some tutors. You know, I thought
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it would happen after I refer a student. Someone who sits down with the student and says
do you have a place to study, do you have sufficient life. You know, all of those that they
should think.
Q: Anything else do you want to add?
A: I hope you will get an A on your paper.
Q: Thank you.
A: I want to be honest with you. And we will see.
Q: Thank you.
Interview 5 on Wednesday November 1st, 2006 at 1.30-2.00 PM
Q: Our research topic is about the adoption of the early alert system. We are Ph.D.
students from the Business Administration department.
A: Okay
Q: And this is for our seminar in Philosophy of Science & Qualitative Research Methods.
A: Okay
Q: We have to interview at least ten faculty members and you are the sixth.
A: Alright [laugh] Sounds good.
Q: So, first we would like to ask your official job title and job description.
A: Um…okay. I am Assistant Professor in Anthropology. That is my official title. I am a
new faculty member here. I am trained in Archeology and that is my specialty in the
department. I am one of three Archeologists that we have here. Here I do my research in
Mexico and I am teaching in Central America. And my job description, I guess, will
include teaching a variety of undergraduate introductory classes mainly in introduction to
Archeology classes, some method classes, and both regional and tropical classes to deal
with Archeology and Anthropology in Latin America. I also, I guess, parts of my job
description include grant gaining, obtain research funding, and publication writing,
serving a committee. I do student advising. For all of our major, we have to do senior
theses. I have to advise students.
Q: This is your first semester?
A: Yes, this is my first semester.
Q: How did you first hear about the early alert system?
A: All new faculty members are required to attend a faculty orientation at the beginning
of the semester. And during our training, they introduced us to the early alert system and
encouraged that we should try to use it.
Q: Do you remember who influenced you to use the system?
A: Peggy Cohen from… I can not remember…
Q: The Teaching and Learning?
A: Yeah, she was in charge in the teaching and learning orientation and I am not sure it
was her or somebody else to actually introduce us the system. I believe it was her,
though.
Q: What did she say to influence you to use the system?
A: They just said it was a new system. They were very concerned about the student
retention of the university and wanted to increase or enhance the students’ performance
in classes and showed us a demonstration of how it worked online and showed how to get
in with, explained basically how it would work. They told us we would, I guess, notify
the system about our students that start having a difficulty in classes and then they would
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be notified by somebody who is parts of the early alert program. And there is an option of
going to that person or coming to me or doing nothing about it. That is, basically, how
they explained to us and they suggested us to try to use it. And if we want to use it, we
should let the students know ahead of time and I put it on the syllabus and they will be
aware of what was supposed to be in place.
Q: Did you also rely on information from other sources in adopting the system?
A: Did I what?
Q: Did you also rely on information from other sources in adopting the system?
A: Um…I have been sent a couple of e-mails early on this semester. One by Peggy
Cohen and one by somebody else probably. I think I got more than one e-mail. Again, it
was a kind of announcing that they gave us a wrong Web address for it. I think nobody in
the department or Chair suggested us to use it.
Q: If you compare between the information you gain by yourself or the people who
influence you, which one place a more important role?
A: And how I adopted it?
Q: Yeah.
A: Er..it would be the information that I was given in the orientation and the suggestion
that they had that we try to use it. They really encouraged use to use it.
Q: Once you heard about the system…
A: Um-hm..
Q: When did you first start using it?
A: Er…um…kind of mid of October. After the first exam in my class.
Q: Why did you decide to adopt the system?
A: Well, partly because we were encouraged to do so as a faculty. And a part of an aware
of the student retention is the problem here in the university. And I do support programs
or methods that are designed to keep students learning and kind of aware of their own
progress. Mainly, I think it because a lot of students who are doing poorly… When I am
teaching in another university, the students who do poorly do not come for help, unless
you find a way to kind of connect to them. And the class I am teaching is a kind of big
class with 90 people and it is hard to make you to know everybody personally and have
time to talk individually with the student. And they early alert system is a kind of one
way to let the students know how they are doing and encourage students to come and get
help without forcing them to do so. It is a kind of making as an option available to them,
so they can have a choice whether they want to come for additional help or not. They also
know that you are expecting some concerns about their grade and their performance. So,
it gives a teacher feel like I am doing something to help them if I cannot connect a
student in the class.
Q: What is your satisfaction level with the system, on a scale from 1 to 5? 1 represents no
satisfaction and 5 represents complete satisfaction.
A: It is hard to say right now because I just use it for one time. I want to just say it is
about 3. I was very pleased with the…um….I think…may be I place it 4 [laugh]. I was
pleased with the partners that are working in the system, you know, sent out an e-mail to
the student. I am happy with that. The system is easy to use. The interface on the Web is
easy to use. It runs efficiently, I guess, in the follow-up e-mails from people that are
working in the system. I am not sure it is very effective and gets the student to do
anything. I had, may be, nine or ten students that I asked, you know, kind of get
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notification about. And only one of those came to my office and talked with me. And I
have another one, you know, talked with me for a couple of minutes after class. And the
other of them, I never heard from. So, the student’s responsiveness is an issue and I am
not sure how they can address that issue. My another concern about it is that I am not
sure how well it used to as a privacy lost regarding the student grade exposure because
university is not supposed to expose the student grade to anybody but student without any
consent permission. Basically, the system alerts other party about the student grade. And
I do not know they thought about that or aware of that. May be Peggy thought about it
and cover legally because she said it is in one of the university programs. That may be
something that would be a problem.
Q: Have you experienced any difficulty while using the system? If so, how did you solve
the problem?
A: Not yet. No. Not at all.
Q: The system provides a lot functionalities. I will just go over each function and learn if
you have used these following functions.
A: Okay.
Q: The checkbox for a warning sign such as failed quiz, failed exam, excessive absence,
and others.
A: Yeah, I checked that.
Q: The checkbox to receive a notified e-mail for the referral progress.
A: Yes.
Q: The comment box.
A: Yes.
Q: The icon to view the referral report for the referral progress after a referral submission.
A: I have not done that. No.
Q: Do you use the system for every student who has an academic potential failure?
A: Yeah, I did after the first exam. I just graded the second exam. I have to grade them. I
have to see how the grade is and I probably... I will look at who is doing poorly in class
and I will alert the student.
Q: How many class are you teaching this semester?
A: This semester is just one.
Q: 90 students?
A: Yeah, 90 students. Normally, I teach two classes but this semester is, partly, my first
semester. So, I teach only one class.
Q: Did you influence anyone to adopt the system?
A: Not yet. I probably talk to some other faculties about it at some points. So far I have
not done that yet.
Q: Do you plan to?
A: Er…Yeah, I will talk with people about it. I do not know if people use it or not but I
will ask. I want to find out how effective other faculties think it is. So, I probably talk
with someone about that.
Q: What will you say or do to make them adopt the system?
A: Well, I will mention that I have been using it and kind of describe the experience in
terms of the responses that I got from the system or program and also, you know, my
responses from students that I brought them in the system. And I will probably ask them
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about their experiences, especially the student responses in an effective way to deal with
the students who potentially have some difficulties.
Q: What will you help them to use the system?
A: The students or other faculties?
Q: No. Other faculties.
A: Well, probably just talk to them, individually one on one, saying that I have been
using it and it is effective tool and it is working, for me, in some degrees to the students
that come to me for help. You know, may be when more people start using it, it might
become more widely recognized and accepted by the students as well. This is a kind of
what everybody is trying to deal with it. And not everybody is feeling comfortable with
it. One of the things, you know, that is trying to encourage people to believe. But it seems
like an idea, especially with a large class, I think. There still be an interaction going on.
Q: Do you have any other items relating to the early alert system to add?
A: I cannot say that I do. No. I have been curious just to know if, um…I do not know if
you know it or not. Outside classes that teachers are told in classes that students are
generally aware of the system as another media. Do you know? Anyway, no, I do not
have any comment about it. I just use it for one time. I probably use it again after this
exam and I will continue to use it for this semester to come up with a better idea how it
works. I think if the students become more familiar with it and more used to having
teachers use it in classes in regular basis, it will be a good system and helpful.
Q: That is all we have. Thank you.
A: Okay. You are welcome.
Interview 6 on Thursday November 2nd, 06 at 11.15-11.45 AM
Q: The research is about the adoption of the Early Alert System, and you are using the
system, right?
A: Yes.
Q: First we want to ask your official job title and your job description.
A: um… I have been hired through the Special Education Department as Lecturer.
Q: English Department?
A: Special Education, which is under Teaching and Learning department.
Q: So how long have you been in this position?
A: um… I was an adjunct last year, and so I’ve been hired full time this year, this fall.
Q: So how did you first hear about the early alert system?
A: um… During orientation, I went to orientation sections in the beginning of May
described it.
Q: Is the orientation for the faculty?
A: um.
Q: If we ask who influence you to adopt the system, can you tell?
A: um…I guess the person, I don’t even remember, because we saw a lot of different
people during the orientation, but whoever presented the information.
Q: Do you remember what did he say about the system?
A: Just said it’s a method to help students stay on track or get on track when they are kind
of losing it.
Q: Did you rely on some other information, information from other sources?
A: No.
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Q: Once you hear about the system, when did you first adopt it?
A: Well, I contacted the students myself; I talked to the mass of class, concerning about
their attendance, not turning things in, and actually one of them that I submitted was not
attending class at all, and so I had emailed them, but I have not got any response, so I’ve
tried using that system. Oh I think I turned in three students.
Q: So…when did you first adopt the system?
A: um….it was early in the year, that I had a student, you know, has missed I think three
out of the four classes, so…
Q: in the year or the semester?
A: This semester. Yea, probably the third week of school.
Q: Why did you decide to adopt this system?
A: Because the student doesn’t response to me, my efforts to get them do what they’re
supposed to do.
Q: What is your satisfaction level of the early alert system? On a scale from 1 to 5, 1
represents no satisfaction and 5 represents complete satisfaction.
A: um…I guess I would say… maybe a 3, cuz I haven’t seen yet what, you know, the
results….out of the three students I have…e…that I was referred, one of them was still
very shaky, one of them was doing well and one of them just dropped my class. It’s kind
of mix review, I guess.
Q: What do you like or dislike about this system?
A: Well, I think it’s a great idea can help somebody of the class, making effort to find out
what’s going on to the students, and helped them solve better issues…I think that
opportunity of them attend the classes… is time management is probably one of the main
problems with students who are not attending or not getting things done, and I think
having those opportunities to help class to solve problem is something that I can’t offer.
So something like that is the early alert can offer but I can’t.
Q: Have you experience any difficulties in using this system?
A: No.
Q: The system provides a lot of functions, just go over each and ask you if you have
experienced each function of not.
A: ok.
Q: The checkbox for warning signs? Like failed quiz, failed exam…
A: Yes
Q: Checkbox to receive a notified e-mail?
A: um~hm
Q: Comment box?
A: I didn’t use it, but yes, I’m glad they have.
Q: View the referral report for the referral progress after a referral submission
A: Yea, I got a few of them.
Q: Do you use the system for every student who has a potential failure?
A: um…Yea.
Q: How many classes you teach?
A: Three.
Q: Three? How many students in each class?
A: Um, I have 30 in one, 40 in another and 15 in the …so.
Q: Did you influence anybody else to adopt this system?
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A: I don’t think so.
Q: Do you plan to?
A: I’ll say those professors, and if the professors tell me that they are having troubles
with students that I would ask them if they had put them on the early alert system.
Q: If you want to influence other people to use this system, what would you like to say to
them?
A: um…woo…I do have, you know, meetings for classes and, you know, it’s a certainly
available option to help students who are not being successful in class.
Q: What would you do to help them in using this system?
A: um…just direct them to the site. It’s easy to find. It’s pretty self-explanatory once you
get there. It’s very easy to use.
Q: Are there any other items you would like to add to this system?
A: um…the early alert system is tracking the results, the final results that they can find
everything that what happened to each student that ….
Q: That’s pretty much it. Thank you for your time.
Interview 7 on Thursday November 2nd, 2006 at 3.30-4.00 PM
Q: This is a qualitative research. It is about the early alert system. First, we want to ask
your official job title and your job description.
A: Ok, I am a curator professor of Physics. And my job description is to teach Physics
courses which I do, and to do research and publish papers which I do, and to go to
meetings, and to perform services which I also do, services means going to be a member
of the community to help running the university, I supposed.
Q: How long have you been working in this position?
A: 35 years.
Q: That’s such a long time. How did you first hear about the early alert system?
A: First heard about what system?
Q: The early alert system.
A: Er…I got an e-mail from the Provost, Glen Cope. She said we are going to institute
something called the early alert system. Yeah ok.
Q: Can I say Glen Cope is the person who influences you to adopt the system?
A: I am pretty sure of that. Provost Cope, C-O-P-E.
Q: Alright. What did she say to influence you to adopt the system?
A: I can not remember. That was an e-mail from some times ago and said something that
the system was design to improve students’ success and to help the student retention, and
quoted some statistics I think from preliminary test program and said something like 28
percent of people that had excuses or dropped courses and managed to be salvages so
they did not leave the university. I do not remember really perfectly, but that was
something like that.
Q: Did you also rely on information from other sources in adopting the system?
A: I did not ask from anyone else.
Q: Once you heard about the system, when did you first start adopting the system?
A: First, I was using this semester. The day would be in my…err err ok…about
September 25th. It was the first time I used it because that was after a test. I thought some
students are doing very poorly.
Q: Why did you decide to adopt the system?
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A: Well, because it err…,I guess, two reasons. First, it was made available. Second, I was
happy to try it to have some helps to rescue some students that are doing very badly.
Third, it did not take a lot of time to do it. Ok, it does not take a lot of time to do it, so…
Q: On a scale from 1 to 5, what is your satisfaction level with the system?
A: I do not really know on how to answer that. Err, the participation of the early alert
system that I had added is simply to identify a set of students out of my course that were
in danger…very much in danger of failing that something benching was not done. So, I
sent their names to the office, I guess. I have never met anyone from that office. I sent the
names in. And as I understand, that office contacted them by e-mail and informed them
that I made that statement or judgment or something and asked them to coming to that
office or I do not know what they did. They said something to them over there and asked
them to make an appointment with me to see me from the list of…err err, excuse
me…[He was looking for a list of students from his computer.] I have 93 students in this
class and the early alert system that I sent the early alert notification online to 7,8,9,10,
11, 12, 12 of them.
Q: So basically, you teach one class this semester?
A: Basically, yes, I teach one class this semester.
Q: And 93 students, you referred 12?
A: 12 students of 93, yes, I did not understand your question.
Q: Did you refer 12?
A: Yes, that is what you are asking. Yes.
Q: What do you like or dislike about the system?
A: Well, I cannot really say. I cannot really say because I have not kept detail specific
record on what percentage fraction of my students failed. Now, we have to quantify that.
I do not and rarely rarely give a F grade. Very rarely. What happened is most students
who are ahead of failure just stop coming to the class or they dropped it or they do
something else. They just not there at that time by the end of the semester. That is usually
what happens. Now as what I understand, the early alert system can save few of them.
That would be very good. But I am not sure in this case it is working very well because
out of all those 12 from early alert, I received from the students only two e-mails, saying
that they had been contacted by the office. Out of twelve only two and out of those two,
only one made an appointment to come and see me. So, that one, who made an
appointment comes to see me, I sat down and analyzed her test and gave her some
materials that she had to have to get ready for the test and we figured out more less what
she can do to improve as far I can not remember her name. I usually see 8 or 10 students
everyday. I do not remember her name…er…whether she will do that and survive, I do
not know. The others…I can tell you these…what?...those 12 students, 1, 2, 3, 4, four
have been excused and decided not to continue this course. So, they got excused.
Q: Have you experienced any difficulty while using the system?
A: Well, I have not done very much. All I did is send them in. There is no difficulty on
that. Now as I understand there are some other things you can do, but I never take time to
read those.
Q: Have you used the following functions in the system? Mark a checkbox for warning
signs?
A: Yes
Q: Did you check the checkbox to receive a notified e-mail for the referral progress?
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A: Yes
Q: Did you add a comment in a comment box?
A: Yes, I said that I thought I was wrong that person had failed the first test
Q: Did you view the referral report for the referral progress after a referral submission?
A: No…no.
Q: Do you use the system for every student who has an academic potential failure?
A: Do I do for every student? Well, not exactly. I made a kind of arbitrary dividing
moment, based on the grade of the first test and those that I felt really had done very
poorly and I had to do something or else they are not gonna survive in the course, yeah.
Q: Did you influence anybody else to adopt the system?
A: Did I influence anybody else? You mean my colleague or faculty members?
A: No.
Q: Do you plan to influence anyone to adopt the system?
A: Do I plan to influence?
Q: Yeah, recommend or…
A: Not that I know. Everybody has the same opportunity that I have. They all got the
same e-mail. If they decided they do not want to use it, nothing I can say to let them use
it. Actually, I have not discussed about it with anybody, maybe I should have done that
but I have not done that. I have not discussed about it with any of my colleagues.
Q: Are there any other items related to the early alert system that you would like to add?
A: I would like to add, err, Physics is hard science. It is different from most Humanity
courses in the following aspects. And that is that every lecture builds on previous
information, ok, develop a formula , prove equation, that something describe some
aspects. And then the next step is building upon that, leading to another formula, or
another equation, or another principal. I believe the students that do very poorly are ones
who think that they do not have to come to class and think they can wait until it is almost
a time for test and they can study very hard for a day or two and they can catch up or
learn everything. I think you can probably do this when you just have to learn material
and skip the material back out. Now parts of my test are that way: simply how much did
you learn and you know what this is, but no all of these. Much of them depend on
reasoning and the ability to reduce a thing which is true from proposition which is given
to you, yeah. Do you understand on what I said? You guys are science major or
something like that?
Q: Business.
A: Business, yeah. So, I think that that may account for some of the problems. Other
problems that a few of them have had are really identifiable. They are not prepared
mathematically. I have calculus, some kind of calculus as core requisite for this course.
That means every student in this course has to have fulfilled all the prerequisites. They
have to take calculus. Most of them, more than half of them, have already had calculus
one level or another. But there are always some students in every semester did not have
anything and I do not know. I kept sending e-mail to dean that you can not let student
take this course without knowing any sort of calculus. They are not prepared for
Mathematics. They have to at least have college algebra and geometry. Some kinds of
calculus are so important. I do not require students to use calculus in solving the
problems on the test, but I use in the lecture how it develops. And that is about the level
of this course. You did not ask me what I teach. May be you knew it already. It is
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important because I do not teach other courses in the same way. I teach Physics 101, 102
for some times. They are introductory Physics. They are gear towards Biology major and
Health Science major, not for hard sciences. All chemistry or mathematic major, they
take more rigorous Physics. The same course content, but much more rigorous,
absolutely, calculus is prerequisite for solving problems.
Q: Alright, any other comments?
A: Can I ask a question?
Q: Um-hm.
A: What are you guys doing? Why are you collecting this information?
Q: This is for our seminar in philosophy of science and qualitative research method.
A: I see. So, are you interviewing a large number of professors?
Q: Ten. We are interviewing 10 faculty members. We analyze content and see the result
of the adoption rate of the faculty members on the early alert system.
A: Well, I would say that…let me ask you a question Are you responsible for sending me
the e-mail? Somebody sent me an e-mail in this afternoon for an appointment and I said
that is fine. Is that one of you?
Q: Yes.
A: Let me ask you a question. How many e-mails did you send to different faculty?
Q: So far I have sent 12, I think.
A: 12. And you have ten interviews. Have you received satisfactory responses from
faculty, says oh yeah…I am willing to help. Come in and I am happy to talk to you?
Q: Err, you are the seventh. Four of twelve did not response my e-mail at all.
A: At all. So, 7 are more than half.
Q: Yeah, I need 3 more professors before thanksgiving.
A: Ok, err, well, you know like all such things, I think professor are very much busy and
care so much about their time. Anything like this comes down to the administration. It
has to be some kind of doable. You know what I mean? Minimal demands of extra time.
If it demands a lot of extra time, it will fail because very few faculties will do it. Me, I
guess, I am willing to do that and send the names in. I also encourage that office to let the
students make appointment to see me but they did not do it. But at least one or two did
out of the twelve. I have a feeling that by that time of our first test which was September
19th that was 3 or 4 weeks in the semester, most of those people who got such a poor
grade had already decided to drop the class and get out.
Q: The result of this research will not only for the class, but also present to the project
manager of the early alert system. She wants to see how professors response and how
professors think the system, then she can improve the process of the system.
A: Well, I understand. You know. I was around when the gateway was first arrived.
There was a lot of resistance in using it. You have to learn new thing. You have to login.
Your format has to fit in. Every professor has different ways. I was reluctant also but I
got into it, I think, in one year. I start using it. And I began rapidly using that. So, yeah,
everything like that gonna have some kind of resistance. Now the gateway is on us
completely, especially a large course. Yeah, that is gateway. I do not know. It is probably
not your topic. I also have discussed with Dr. Cohen. I have a presentation about how I
teach the large course. Why I do that, basically, because to me it is challenging and I
really enjoy it. And I took a lot of time to learn on how to do it. There was a problem
with a course like this, the introductory to Physics courses, especially for Biology or
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Health Science people. People who are for sure not gonna be a hard scientist. When I
took this course, they have been talked for several years by different one of us. And it has
been for us that have taught like you would teach any Physics courses: a lot of problem
solving. I notice that these biology major (students) in this course, many many of them
were senior. In other words, this is a course that they are supposed to take in their
sophomore year probably, you know. But they put it off, put if off, put if off until their
senior year and they come in with rigid fear. And I used to have something same from the
school of education. They put it off, put it off. They want to be a science teacher in high
school. I set myself a task trying to figure out how I can make this course less threatening
and they will not put it off. But at the same time, I have been aware that I have to teach
content because most of these people, most of these students, prepare to go somewhere
else after UMSL. They will get a BS degree, for example, in Biology and try to go
medical school, nursing school, occupational therapy, and all kinds of those schools. All
of them have clear idea what they want to do. The entrance exam in all of those schools
has Physics section. I collected these Physics sections from as many entrance exams as I
could. I realized that I have to teach them to do that. In addition to do that, I have to write
a letter for them, letter to get admitted to some places. And I asked them to give me
feedback after they had taken the entrance exam on what they thought they are well
prepared to do and not so well prepare to do. So, I was getting those feedbacks and I
continue to modify the course. After eliminating the rigidly fear problem, I realized that
after a while most of these come from a fear of having to memorize formulas and
equation. Physics, like all hard science of any kind, is a discipline which tries to develop
reasoning ability, reductive reasoning. So, I start with teaching a science method, observe
data from the physical world around you, then, the formation of hypotheses about what
that data mean, test those hypotheses, it can be either accepted or rejected, maybe you
cannot come the conclusion, and you realize that you have to collect other data. That is
what science is. What is predictable not emotional: the thing that changes data day to day,
time to time. Over the course of years, I think I have a success. I really have a good
student evaluation. I work really hard with them and help them. That is why this early
alert people I am ready to help them and be with them, almost any student no matter how
poorly he or she has done, up until the third of the way through the course I can help if
they just come and let me do it. But it is just like I said, there are core students in class
from 93 students. I guess, I got a core about 15 which come very regularly. My office
hours are all the time. I work very hard. I have research projects going to. But if a student
knocks the door, I open it.
Q: Your office is so huge.
A: It is a laboratory. It is not an office. I do have an office upper stair. I almost never use
it. It does not have a blackboard. Do you see that blackboard? Student comes in and asks
me a question and I help them. They can sit down and I help them on the black board.
Q: Alright, I think that is pretty much it.
A: I do not know whether I can help you out or not.
Q: Sure. You do. Thank you very much.
A: You are very welcome. Tell me again. Are you in school of education?
Q: Business.
A: Are you in a Ph.D. program?
Q: Yeah.
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A: I see, wonderful, I wish you the very best of luck.
Q: Thank you very much for your time. We really appreciate your help.
Interview 8 on Friday November 10th, 2006 at 10.00-10.30 AM
Q: We are Ph.D. students from Business Administration department and we are doing
this for a quantity research about the early alert system adoption by faculty member. We
have to interview ten faculty members who use the early alert system. First we want to
ask your official job title and job description.
A: I am a Spanish Lecturer and I teach Spanish in the foreign language department from
fall 2003. What lecture do is, we are non-regular faculty. We are faculties who teach
Spanish full time or teach language full time but we are not tenure track. And we are
required to teach between 11 and 15 credit hours per semester.
Q: How many classes do you teach this semester?
A: Okay…er…I am teaching 4 classes this semester but one is an overload. Usually, I
only teach 3 because some of our Spanish classes or French classes at the beginning level
are 5 credit hours. So usually lecturers teach two classes at the lower level. That means
10 credit hours. And we teach another one in addition to that but usually 3 credits. So
usually, we teach around 13 hours per semester. But this semester, a teacher is retired and
we have to cover her classes. So, I will have to teach overload but we got more pay of
course but how many I am teaching. I teach three 3 credit hours and one 5 credit hours.
Q: So how many students are there in your classes?
A: It is varied from semester to semester. But the one 3 credit hour that I have, that I have
been teaching here since I started, is conversation class. Their top allowance is 20
students because, you know, the foreign language conversation is hard to do if more than
that. But this semester I have 23 because there were too many in the waiting list. In
Spanish 2, on the other hand, usually it allows 23 students. Usually, we have more than
that with waiting list, but this semester may be because I am teaching at 2 o’clock. That
time is not popular. I only have 9 students. [laugh] And I have 9 in Spanish for Business
which is advance or junior level course. And that is usual. It tends to be lower number. I
also have 9 in that class. And the other one, Spanish 3, third semester Spanish, I have 22
students, I started with 25 and couple of them have dropped. So, I now have 22.
Q: Regarding to the adoption, how did you first hear about early adopt system?
A: First, through the e-mail that was sent to all faculties about the system. Because last
semester we had a little piece of paper that we fill out by hand to report students who
absent more than three days and that will send to the students just tell that students that,
you know, teachers have been aware that you miss more than three classes and they may
or may not affect your grade. It was very informal and very short. This semester, first,
anyway, one of the main persons who developed that, I think it was from the office of
student success. They sent an e-mail to all faculties, letting us know about that. And then
our department chair here sent us an e-mail with instructions on how to use it. And then it
is shown in mygateway site. It is very easy to access from mygateway, just go to faculty
and staff and you see early alert there.
Q: Who actually influenced you to use it?
A: First, the office of student affair, then the department chair. I mean they let us know.
And last week we received the reminder from one of our faculties who have been using
it. I have already been using it. But she said to us how great it was to make sure we use
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that because it is more formal than what we were doing last semester. So, we were
encouraged by everybody here to use it.
Q: What did they say to you to encourage you to use it?
A: They just felt that UMSL was adopting additional processes and we are gonna work in
close contact with the students to help them to succeed. And the office of the student
success will contact the students. Every time I use it, I feel a student, for example, the
student who has missed so many classes, has failed a quiz, has failed to take a quiz, or
something like that, I put it there and I know I need to get feedback. The counselor says I
contacted the student or the student can not be contacted because their student mailbox is
full [laugh], have to leave a message by phone, whatever. So, all the counselors get back
to me, and the students lost but student gets scared at first. They think they are failing the
course. I have to let them understand to let them know that we are aware and the system
is working. Later on, he gets the lower grade than he should, he thinks he should have.
Then, he knows the reason.
Q: Did you also rely on the information from other sources in order to adopt the system?
A: No, I check my e-mail every day, you know, I was aware of that, actually. I respond to
the students who have problems. I kinda report them that. And it has been good so far.
Q: So when you heard about the system, when did you first adopt it?
A: I say about 5 weeks after the semester started. I mean it was available before then, but
before the fifth week we really do not know what students are going to fail the class
permanently. So, we can’t start saying this student is not coming to class that they may
have dropped. We do not know about it. So, I wait until all the students up to the fourth
week for the students who gonna drop the class have already dropped. So, the one that I
have is the one remaining, is the one I has to keep an eye on. So, I start using it.
Q: Why did you decide to adopt system?
A: Because it is more efficient than what we did before. What we did before requires a lot
of paperwork, and spend time filling out, it really did not do any good. The students got a
notice that you have missed 3 classes. And that was it. And I have couple students
coming up on Monday, the last day to drop with an excused grade, and I had a student
coming up way after that day, saying they did not know about it, about any of that. Now
this, I can tell the counselor that they tell them and I tell them. So, the students can not
fail. He or she is warned anytime of this deadline.
Q: What is your satisfaction level of this system on the scale of 1 to 5? One represents no
satisfaction and five represents complete satisfaction.
A: I would say 5.
Q: What do you like or dislike about the system? I guess you like it.
A: I like it. I like it. I can not think of anything that I do not like at all. So far they have
really performed well. And I especially like the feedback that I get from the counselors.
Like I submitted an early alert for a student and I get three days later an e-mail back from
a counselor, saying I have contacted the student or I am not able to contact the student.
They have details of the student. The student may be absent for the medical reason. He is
supposed to give you a medical excuse. If he does not give you a medical excuse, please
report him back to us. So, it is very very detail. So, I really like it.
Q: Have you experienced any difficulty while you are using the system?
A: No, it was very easy to manage.
Q: Based on the answer earlier, I assume you use the check box for warning signs.
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A: Um-hm.
Q: Did you use the checkbox to receive the e-mail notification?
A: Yes
Q: Did you also make a comment in the comment box?
A: Yes, for some students.
Q: Did you ever log back and click the icon to see the report?
A: Yes, I have done that.
Q: Did you use the system for every student who has potential to fail the class?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you influence anyone else to use the early alert system?
A: Not formally. Informally, in conversation with colleague, like the lady who is teaching
Spanish, Diane. Her office is across from me. We talked about it. They don’t have as
much as experience with technology, so I can show them on how to do it. And they are
using it now. And they do not have problem.
Q: What did you say or do to help them using the system?
A: It was not very technical like I am able to play computer and say it is on mygateway
site. You log it through here and you do this and you do and then they come and say they
are using it.
Q: Are there any other items you want to add to the system?
A: To add to the system, I have not thought about that. Let’s see. Maybe they could find a
way to alert all students of the deadline, like dropping a class without a grade or excuse.
May be they could do something like that to alert all the students because the way they
having now is only in the semester schedule. The semester schedule says this is the
deadline. And we teachers will put it on the syllabus. But to be honest, students never
read the syllabus and they never read the schedule. So, if you (students) don’t be able to
handle it, I will do it but not every teacher does it. So, to send an e-mail this is the last
day to change to audit or drop it. So, it should be good if they should be able to handle
this. Just send a mass e-mail to remind the deadline.
Q: That is pretty much it. Thank you very much.
A: You are welcome.
Interview 9 on Wednesday November 15th, 2006 at 1.15 – 1.45 PM
Q: We are Ph.D. students from the Business Administration department. We are
conducting a research on the Early Alert System adoption by faculty members at UMSL.
A: The Early Alert System…okay…alright.
Q: So, can I ask your official job title and your job description?
A: I am Clinical Nursing Instructor. I am one of the faculties here. I teach Senior
Synthesis which is a course for our seniors.
Q: How long have you been in this position?
A: Two thousand….um….four…two and a half years, I guess. Two and a half year.
Q: How did you first hear about the early alert system?
A: Jennifer Taylor told me about it. She is kinda our born for the early alert system.
Q: What did she..er...she or he?
A: She is Retention Coordinator.
Q: What did she say about the early alert system?
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A: We tried the early alert system here in the College of Nursing first, I think. I think we
are the first one to use it. So, she, I think, faxed me or something like that and mentioned
there is a new way to send out alerts to the students that are potentially gonna fail your
class or there is a problem in communicating with them just like a paper tracks a record.
And, so then I started using it.
Q: Did you also rely on some other information from other sources?
A: No. Jen. At that time Jen was really our only…because I do not think other colleges
were using it at that time, I think. We are the only one to use it. Jen really helped hook
this system together.
Q: Once you hear about the system, when did you first start adopting it?
A: The first time I use the early alert system was…um…I am trying to think if I used it
last spring…but I know I used it last summer for sure. I might not use it last spring.
Q: When did you first here about it?
A: It was right, may be, about a month before I started using it.
Q: Why did you decide to adopt the system?
A: Because it is fast. And I do not have to look for the paper form to fill out. To send to
the students, I just get online and pull it out and attach to our Nursing gateway page, I
think, for faculty, to pull up the link and then get in to my classes and fill out the report
and get sent to Jen and she can handle it from there. That pulls off less works for me
compared to the past.
Q: What is your satisfaction level of the system?
A: I love it. I think it’s great.
Q: On the scale of one to five. One represents no satisfaction and five represents
complete satisfaction.
A: Oh, I say five.
Q: Five?
A: Yeah, I really like it a lot. I do. I like that now we can get in and see if the students
have been contacted by anybody, if the students have calls and made appointments. To
find out what the follow-up is, I can just look into it. And I like that I have a record of our
communication to the students. You know, if there is an issue, if I have any kind of
issues, I fill out on the early alert for the students that I have a record of it. It just makes
my life a lot easier once the students want to appeal grades or, you know, whatever.
Q: Did you experience any difficulty while you were using the early alert system?
A: No, I haven’t. It is really straight forward, really easy.
Q: Did you use the checkbox of the warning signs?
A: Yeah, I always check boxes, appropriate boxes. And I always write a specific note in a
comment section to the students that I concern about the system this…and you have to do
this in order to pass my course. Or in order to get the score up, you need to do this or you
need to make an appointment with me or get a statistic average or whatever. That way I
have a record that they have been told.
Q: Did you check a checkbox to get an e-mail notification?
A: The e-mail notification…yeah…er….no, I don’t. I do not get the e-mail notification
system because I fill with e-mails everyday. So, I don’t do that. What I do is I go in the
system and look and find out that things are going.
Q: Icon to view a report?
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A: Yeah, for the report. That way I can do it when I make sure the student have seen it.
Because I send out a lot alerts and I get a hundred e-mails a day.
Q: Do you use the system for every student who has a potential failure in your class?
A: Yeah. Everybody.
Q: How many students are there in your class?
A: This semester I have forty-four, forty-five.
Q: For two classes?
A: No, for one class.
Q: Did you influence anyone to adopt the system?
A: I encourage other people to use it like my clinical faculty members when they have an
issue with one of their students. Because I am a course coordinator, so I have some
clinical faculties that are out on site. So, when they have issues with the students, I
encourage them to fill out the early alert or to let me know and I can fill out the early alert
so that I have a record of what the issue is and the student has been notified and an
appropriate action have been taken to record the situation.
Q: What did you do to help them to use the system?
A: I just directed them towards the link and briefly described what I would say in the
comment section and what they need to do in order to use it.
Q: Are there any other items you want to add to the system?
A: No, I don’t. You know, I like it because it is very simple, very easy to use. I use a
comment section to narrate exactly what the problem is. I do not just check fail the test or
quiz. I put what the average was. You know, you receive this average of the test number
one, the average of the test number two. You…I want to remind you that you have 76 test
average in order to pass this course. So, you have to get this on next two times in order to
pass. So, I give a lot of information in my narrative to back up my documentation. So, if
there is an issue going on, I can just, you know, they were told. And then also, the
students know exactly what the problem is, so they can seek help to clarify the situation
because sometimes it is not there when it really is.
Q: That’s pretty much it.
A: Okay.
Q: Thank you very much.
A: No problem.
Interview 10 on Thursday November 16th, 2006 at 8.30–9.00 AM
Q: It is about the adoption of the early alert system.
A: Okay…
Q: First, we would like to ask your official job title and your job description.
A: Lecturer. And I teach Social Work 3100.
Q: How long have you been in this position?
A: Since August.
Q: This August?
A: Yeah. This is my first semester.
Q: How did you first hear about the early alert system?
A: In faculty orientation, new faculty orientation.
Q: If we ask who influenced you to adopt the system, what would you say?
68
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Fall 2006
A: Actually, when they talked about it in the new faculty orientation, it is just make sense
that it seems to me that people drop out of school. So, that was really my only
conversation with anybody about it.
Q: Do you remember what did they say to influence you to adopt the system?
A: I have no clue. [laugh] I do not remember. I have no idea what they said.
Q: Did you rely on some information through some other sources?
A: No. I did do searching online, you know, mygateway and the faculty piece of that to
look. I was so surprise that the way that worked was not necessarily what I am expecting.
Q: Oh, really?
A: Yeah. I am not sure if I answer that particular question.
Q: If we want to ask you to compare the influence through the information and the people
who influence you, which one plays more important role?
A: The people. The faculty orientation really got me start wanting to do it.
Q: Once you hear about the system, when did you first adopt it?
A: After the first test.
Q: When?
A: The end of September, I guess.
Q: Why did you decide to adopt the system?
A: I have some students who did not pass the test and they needed help.
Q: What is your satisfaction level of the system from the scale of one to five: one
represents no satisfaction and five represents complete satisfaction?
A: Probably four. I was real happy with the feedback that they gave. The person did
contact. The person did not. The problem be the beginning and probably the students get
hooked up with them was the part where I, why it is not five. I do not know does that
make sense.
Q: What do you like or dislike about the system?
A: I think I just said. The piece that the way they do the follow-up for me was helpful to
see which students lost, which was not. When I triggered the system, they had, they sent
me an e-mail back, I guess, the student does not going. This was two months ago. The
thing that happened last two months. They sent me an e-mail that the student should
contact them. In my opinion, they are going to contact the student. That e-mail got me
confused. In the long run, they did contact the student. So, that first e-mail was a little
misleading. That was what I dislike about it. And we will see at the end of the semester
how much it really helps.
Q: Did you experience some difficulties when you use the system?
A: No.
Q: Did you check the warning sign?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you check the checkbox to receive the e-mail notification?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you make a comment in a comment box?
A: I have no idea.
Q: Did you go back to look for the report of what happened for all communications?
A: I did not know I could.
Q: Do you use this system for every student who has potential failure?
69
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Fall 2006
A: I used the system right after the first test and after the first paper which is just a week
apart and it was really a sort of the same group of the students. So, yeah, I would take that
I did. I have not gone back to see if they still have the problem. Now I figure they are
already in the system.
Q: How many students are there in your class?
A: The first test was really disappointing. I want to say six.
Q: How many students are there in your class?
A: Totally 16 and I think I sent 6 to the early alert. Yeah. My class was the first class in
the school of Social Work. And people are transferring from a junior college. And I think
there is a difference between what we expect at UMSL versus what they expect from the
community college. And the first test was a surprise for them.
Q: Did you influence anybody else to use the system?
A: You know, I have not talked with anybody about it.
Q: Do you plan to?
A: If one came up, I probably would.
Q: If you want to tell some other people, what would you like to say?
A: I do not believe that some of my students have utilized it and helped through it. I will
help them get a kind of feedback if I am talking with somebody about it.
Q: Are there any other items relating to the system you want to add?
A: I do not think so. I do not know.
Q: That is all we have. Thank you very much for your help.
A: Okay. Sorry I was so late.
Q: It is okay. Thank you.
A: You are welcome.
70
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Fall 2006
Appendix D: Table of Content Analysis
Variable
Question
P1
P2
P3
P4
P5
Associate
Professor
Teach,
Research,
Provide
Services
6 Years
Assistant
Professor
Teach,
Research,
Publish
Writings
½ Year
Conference
from Teaching
& Learning
Center
Teaching &
Learning Center
Director /
Department
Chair
Conference /
Department
Meeting
New Faculty
Orientation
No
x
What is your
official job title
and your job
description?
Lecturer
Lecturer
Senior Lecturer
Teach,
Coordinate TAs
Teach
Teach
How long have
you been working
in this position?
How did you first
hear about the
early alert system?
10 Years
9 Years (4 parttime and 5 fulltime)
Provost’s EMail
16 Years (4
part-time and
12 full-time)
Policy
Committee
Meeting
Influencers
Who influence
you to adopt the
system?
Colleague
Provost /
Teaching &
Learning Center
Director
Department
Chair
Adopted Action
What did
he/she/they say or
do to influence
you to adopt the
system?
Did you also rely
on information
from other sources
in adopting the
system?
If someone
influence you to
adopt the system
and you also rely
on information
from other sources
in adopting the
system, which one
plays a more
important role for
you to adopt the
system between
the influence from
Conversation /
E-Mail
Presentation
E-Mail
No
People
x
Job Title
Job Description
Work Experience
First Hear
Other Sources
Source
Dominance
Provost’s EMail
P6
Lecturer
Teach
1½ Year (1
part-time and ½
full-time)
New Faculty
Orientation
P7
P8
P9
P10
Curators
Professor
Teach,
Research,
Provide
Services
35 Years
Lecturer
Instructor
Lecturer
Teach
Teach
Teach
3 Years
2 ½ Years
½ Year
Provost’s EMail
Provost’s EMail
Colleague
New Faculty
Orientation
Teaching &
Learning Center
Director
Presenter
Provost
Provost /
Department
Chair
Colleague
x
Presentation
Presentation
E-Mail
E-Mail
Fax
x
No
E-Mail
No
No
No
No
MyGateway
x
Information
x
x
x
x
People
71
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
First Adoption
Period
Adoption Reason
Satisfaction Level
Preference
Difficulty
Warning Sign
Checkboxes
other people or the
information gained
by yourself about
the system?
Once you heard
about the system,
when did you first
start adopting the
system?
Why did you
decide to adopt the
system?
Fall 2006
September at
this Semester
After the 1st
Midterm Exam
of this Semester
This Semester
The 6th Week of
this Semester
Mid October
after the 1st
Exam
3rd Week of this
Semester
September 25th
of this Semester
After the 5th
Week of this
Semester
Last Summer
End of
September after
the 1st Exam
Good for Large
Class
Lots of Failed
Students
Good for Large
Class
Useful for
Students /
Chair’s
Encouragement
Faculty’s Duty /
Student
Retention
Useful for
Students
Paperless
Fast / Paperless
Lots of Failed
Students
On a scale from 1
to 5 (1 represents
no satisfaction and
5 represents
complete
satisfaction), what
is your satisfaction
level with the
system?
What do you like
or dislike about
the system?
4.5
4
3
1
4
3
Availability /
Useful for
Students / Less
Time
Processing
x
5
5
4
Dislike –
Notified E-Mail
Dislike –
Students’
Ignorance
Dislike –
Student
Ignorance
Dislike – No
Good Result /
Lack of
Resources /
Useless
Messages
Like – Have
Someone to
Help Students
x
Like –
Feedback
Like – Records
of
Communication
Dislike –
Miscommunicat
ion
Like - Feedback
Have you
experienced any
difficulty while
using the system?
If so, how did you
solve the problem?
Have you used the
following
functions in the
system?
- Mark a
checkbox(s) for a
warning sign(s)
such as failed
quiz, failed exam,
excessive absence,
No
No
No
No
Dislike –
Doubtful
Results /
Student Privacy
Like – HardWorking / Easy
to Use
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
72
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Fall 2006
missing
assignments,
missing
presentations,
missing lab, and
others
Notified
Checkboxes
Comment Boxes
Referral Reports
Frequency
Number of
Classes
Number of
Students
Diffusion to
Others
Diffused Person
Diffused Action
Diffusion Plan
- Mark a checkbox
to receive a
notified e-mail for
the referral
progress
- Add a comment
in a comment box
- View the referral
report for the
referral progress
after a referral
submission
Do you use the
system for every
student who has an
academic potential
failure?
How many classes
are you teaching
this semester?
How many
students are there
in your classes?
Did you influence
anyone to adopt
the system?
If you did, who are
the people you
influenced to
adopt the system?
If you didn’t, do
you plan to
influence anyone
to adopt the
system? Why or
why not?
If you did or plan
to influence
people to adopt the
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No (Do not
know its
existence.)
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No (Do not
know its
Existence.)
All
Depends
All
All
All
All
Depends
All
All
All
2 (one of them
has 4 sections.)
1 (with 4
Sections)
2
3
1
3
1
4
1
1
50/231
200
110 / 140
50 / 35 / 35
90
30 / 40 /15
93
23 / 9 / 9 / 22
44 or 45
16
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
x
Colleagues
x
x
x
x
x
Colleagues
Colleagues
x
x
Conversation
x
x
x
x
x
Conversation /
Demonstration
Conversation
x
Useful in Large
Class
x
Potential Useful
if any Problem
No
To Find any
Effective
Results from
Another Option
to Help
Students
No
x
x
Probably but
with Confusion
73
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Help Action
Comments
system, what did
or will say or do to
make them adopt
the system?
If you did or plan
to influence
people to adopt the
system, what did
or will help them
to use the system?
Are there any
other items related
to the early alert
system that you
would like to add?
Fall 2006
Others
Direct to
MyGateway /
Answer
Questions
Answer
Questions
No
x
Talk One on
One
Direct to
Website
x
Direct to
MyGateway
Direct to
MyGateway
x
Doubtful
Results
Helpful Tutors
Student
Ignorance
School Ranking
System
Unfamiliarity
Tracking
Results
System
Resistance
Deadline
Reminder
Communication
Records
x
Text Mapping Table
Variable
Job Title
Job Description
Question
What is your
official job title
and your job
description?
P1
Lecturer and
Lab
Coordinator.
I teach
introductory …
majors and
coordinate all
the TAs.
P2
P3
Lecturer.
I am a Senior
Lecturer.
I teach four
sections of
the … every
semester.
My job
description is
basically
teaching.
P4
P5
I am an
Associate
Professor.
And my job
description is to
teach, offer
classes, do
research, and
provide
university
services.
74
I am Assistant
Professor.
And my job
description, I
guess, will
include
teaching a
variety of
undergraduate
introductory
classes mainly
in introduction
to Archeology
classes, some
method classes,
and both
regional and
tropical classes.
I also, I guess,
parts of my job
description
include grant
gaining, obtain
research
P6
I have been
hired as a
Lecturer.
P8
P9
I am a curator
professor.
P7
I am a Lecturer.
I am Instructor.
Lecturer.
P10
And my job
description is to
teach courses
which I do, and
to do research
and publish
papers which I
do, and to go to
meetings, and
to perform
services which I
also do,
services means
going to be a
member of the
community to
help running
the university, I
supposed.
We are faculties
who teach full
time but we are
not tenure track.
I teach …
which is a
course for our
seniors.
And I teach ...
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Work Experience
How long have
you been working
in this position?
Ten years.
Actually this is
my fifth year
doing a full
time, I got 4
years as a part
time, and I…so
this is my fifth
year for full
time.
First Hear
How did you first
hear about the
early alert system?
Either Dean or
somebody sent
out a faculty
wide e-mail
regarding the
early alert
system. That
was how I
knew about it.
There was
email from
Glen Cope. She
sent emails
talking about it.
Influencers
Who influence
you to adopt the
system?
Um…who
influenced me?
Really, I mean
nobody…One
of my friends,
down the hall.
She mentioned
about the early
alert system.
She actually
influenced me
to kind of do it
too.
Glen Cope. She
is the Provost. /
Peggy helped
me, because she
told me that we
can just mark
up. When I
talked to her
about it I said,
well, I want to
use the early
alert system,
and she told me
we have to go
to the website
Fall 2006
funding, and
publication
writing, serving
a committee. I
do student
advising.
This is my first
semester.
I have been
here at the
University of
Missouri at St.
Louis,
technically,
since 1990. But
I have been
full-time here
since 1994.
I think I heard
about it first
actually in the
policy
committee
meeting in
College of Arts
and Sciences.
About six
years.
We do have a
department
chair
encouraged us
to use it.
Two influenced
me. One was
hearing about
it, I think,
through the
Center for
Teaching and
Learning. One
of those has
been educated
teachers over
the Millennium
center. And the
second was the
Chair of my
I believe I first
heard about it
through the
Center of
Teaching and
Learning that
Peggy Cohen
runs.
75
All new faculty
members are
required to
attend a faculty
orientation at
the beginning
of the semester.
And during our
training, they
introduced us to
the early alert
system and
encouraged that
we should try to
use it.
Peggy Cohen
from… I can
not
remember…
Yeah, she was
in charge in the
teaching and
learning
orientation and
I am not sure it
was her or
somebody else
to actually
introduce us the
system. I
I was an
adjunct last
year, and so
I’ve been hired
full time this
year, this fall.
35 Years.
I teach … from
fall 2003.
Two and a half
year.
This is my first
semester.
During
orientation, I
went to
orientation
sections in the
beginning of
May described
it.
I got an e-mail
from the
Provost, Glen
Cope. She said
we are going to
institute
something
called the early
alert system.
First, through
the e-mail that
was sent to all
faculties about
the system.
Jennifer Taylor
told me about
it.
In faculty
orientation, new
faculty
orientation.
I guess the
person, I don’t
even remember,
because we saw
a lot of different
people during
the orientation,
but whoever
presented the
information.
Q: Can I say
Glen Cope is
the person who
influences you
to adopt the
system?
A: I am pretty
sure of that.
First, the office
of student
affair, then the
department
chair.
Jennifer Taylor
told me about
it.
Actually, when
they talked
about it in the
new faculty
orientation, it is
just make sense
that it seems to
me that people
drop out of
school. So, that
was really my
only
conversation
with anybody
about it.
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
and whatever.
Adopted Action
What did
he/she/they say or
do to influence
you to adopt the
system?
Fall 2006
department that
brought it up
during a
department
meeting and
said that he
would like us to
use it at least
for introductory
courses.
I think the
university
faculty sent a
committee of
the student
retention came
to do a
presentation…
It demonstrated
some successes
from the initial
semester that it
was used at the
College of
Nursing. I
cannot
remember some
other
departments
may be
participated it.
Seems like it is
Social Work.
There was a
report that it
was useful.
Well, it
encouraged
me… I cannot
remember
anything
specific that he
said. I know the
discussion was
involved
around the issue
believe it was
her, though.
They just said it
was a new
system. They
were very
concerned
about the
student
retention of the
university and
wanted to
increase or
enhance the
students’
performance in
classes and
showed us a
demonstration
of how it
worked online
and showed
how to get in
with, explained
basically how it
would work.
They told us we
would, I guess,
notify the
system about
our students
that start having
a difficulty in
classes and then
they would be
notified by
somebody who
is parts of the
76
Just said it’s a
method to help
students stay on
track or get on
track when they
are kind of
losing it.
That was an email from some
times ago and
said something
that the system
was design to
improve
students’
success and to
help the student
retention, and
quoted some
statistics I think
from
preliminary test
program and
said something
like 28 percent
of people that
had excuses or
dropped
courses and
managed to be
salvages so they
did not leave
the university. I
do not
remember
really perfectly,
but that was
something like
that.
They just felt
that UMSL was
adopting
additional
processes and
we are gonna
work in close
contact with the
students to help
them to
succeed. And
the office of the
student success
will contact the
students.
She, I think,
faxed me or
something like
that and
mentioned there
is a new way to
send out alerts
to the students
that are
potentially
gonna fail your
class or there is
a problem in
communicating
with them just
like a paper
tracks a record.
And, so then I
started using it.
I do not
remember. I
have no idea
what they said.
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Other Sources
Did you also rely
on information
from other sources
in adopting the
system?
Q: So you gain
the information
about the early
alert system by
yourself? You
adopted it rely
on those
information?
A: Yeah,
though email,
really.
No, just the
email from
Glen Cope.
of retention
here in UM at
St. Louis. The
fact that
students who do
not do well in
class are far
more likely
enough to
return. It is
certainly a
critical issue of
the university.
And I am
always
supportive and
encourage
students to stay
in school. It
became another
tool that I
thought it may
be useful,
potentially
useful.
No. I don’t
think so.
Fall 2006
I do not believe
so.
77
early alert
program. And
there is an
option of going
to that person
or coming to
me or doing
nothing about
it. That is,
basically, how
they explained
to us and they
suggested us to
try to use it.
And if we want
to use it, we
should let the
students know
ahead of time
and I put it on
the syllabus and
they will be
aware of what
was supposed
to be in place.
I have been sent
a couple of emails early on
this semester.
One by Peggy
Cohen and one
by somebody
else probably. I
think I got more
than one e-mail.
Again, it was a
kind of
announcing that
they gave us a
wrong Web
address for it. I
think nobody in
the department
or Chair
suggested us to
use it.
No.
I did not ask
from anyone
else.
No.
No.
I did do
searching
online, you
know,
mygateway and
the faculty
piece of that to
look.
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Source
Dominance
If someone
influence you to
adopt the system
and you also rely
on information
from other sources
in adopting the
system, which one
plays a more
important role for
you to adopt the
system between
the influence from
other people or the
information gained
by yourself about
the system?
First Adoption
Period
Once you heard
about the system,
when did you first
start adopting the
system?
Probably the
people, more
than
information, at
first, I mean,
because I knew
without them I
heard a lot of
emails that
were there, and
I am so busy
with my
courses. I have
overloaded this
semester. That,
I don’t have all
the information
in front of me.
And if
somebody, my
friend just goes
“Hey, you
should put them
on the Early
Alert”, and I
was like, “oh,
yeah, that’s
right! I forgot
about that.” So,
I think people
would probably
be more
influential.
With other
people, you
know.
May be either
late August or
early
September.
Fall 2006
x
x
x
It would be the
information that
I was given in
the orientation
and the
suggestion that
they had that
we try to use it.
They really
encouraged us
to use it.
x
x
x
x
The people.
After the first
midterm, this
semester.
Just this
semester. I
think this is the
first semester
that it is really
available.
I first use it
right around the
sixth week of
classes because
by that time I
had graded for
everybody.
Kind of mid of
October. After
the first exam
in my class.
It was early in
the year, that I
had a student,
you know, has
missed I think
three out of the
four classes.
First, I was
using this
semester. The
day would be in
my…err err
ok…about
September 25th.
It was the first
time I used it
because that
I say about 5
weeks after the
semester
started.
The first time I
use the early
alert system
was…um…I
am trying to
think if I used it
last spring…but
I know I used it
last summer for
sure. I might
The end of
September, I
guess… After
the first test.
78
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Fall 2006
was after a test.
Adoption Reason
Why did you
decide to adopt the
system?
Satisfaction Level
On a scale from 1
to 5 (1 represents
no satisfaction and
5 represents
complete
satisfaction), what
is your satisfaction
level with the
system?
I think the
students
appreciate that
we notice that
they are not
doing well. And
I think I have
noticed that
once I put them
on alert, they
start coming
class again.
They are
coming up to
see me. I have a
big lecture
room. I have a
hundred fifty
students in my
auditorium. So,
now we have a
structure to let
them know that
they are not
coming or they
are not
performing
well, that I care.
I want to know
who they are
when they
come up to see
me. I think it is
very important
for the students.
Either 4 or 5.
You know
forty-one
people failed
my first
midterm, out of
about 200.
That’s high. So,
immediately
when I saw that
a lot of people
have failed. I
said you know,
we have to do
something to
help these
people. And
though I was
not exactly sure
about what the
early alert
system is gonna
do. But I
thought at least
it worth a try.
You know, I
teach large
classes and
there are always
lot students that
seem to get lost.
By the way,
there is a site,
so may be it is
something that I
can try… I
used it in one of
smaller classes
that I also teach
and those
classes are far
more likely that
I can have
contact with the
students. And
for larger
classes that I
teach,
sometimes I
only know the
student names.
That is about it.
Two reasons.
One was
because it
might be useful
to the student.
That might help
them get their
works in order
in time to
improve by the
end of the
semester. And
the other reason
was because my
Chair asked us
to. So, you
know, you do
it.
Well, partly
because we
were
encouraged to
do so as a
faculty. And a
part of an aware
of the student
retention is the
problem here in
the university.
Because the
student does not
response to me.
First, it was
made available.
Second, I was
happy to try it
to have some
helps to rescue
some students
that are doing
very badly.
Third, it did not
take a lot of
time to do it.
Ok, it does not
take a lot of
time to do it.
Because it is
more efficient
than what we
did before.
What we did
before requires
a lot of
paperwork, and
spend time
filling out, it
really did not
do any good.
I would like to
say it about 4.
I have to say at
this point…may
be just 3.
I guess I will
say one now.
I think…may
be I place it 4.
I guess I would
say… maybe 3.
I do not really
know on how to
answer that.
I would say 5.
79
not use it last
spring.
Because it is
fast. And I do
not have to look
for the paper
form to fill out.
To send to the
students, I just
get online and
pull it out and
attach to our
Nursing
gateway page, I
think, for
faculty, to pull
up the link and
then get in to
my classes and
fill out the
report and get
sent to Jen and
she can handle
it from there.
That pulls off
less works for
me compared to
the past.
I say five.
I have some
students who
did not pass the
test and they
needed help.
Probably four.
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Preference
What do you like
or dislike about
the system?
The only thing
irritating me is
all the email…
I don’t have
time to read all
of the e-mails.
But that is a
nice thing. I
click the e-mail
notification
when I thought
it was just
notify student
via e-mail. I did
not realize that
system letting
me know every
single step
along the way.
So, that’s the
only thing.
It’s not about
the early alert
people, cuz I
think they
really done
well, you know,
the people over
there, students
success center.
But the students
don’t respond
well, they are
sending them
emails and
calling them,
and the
students, some
of them, just
not respond it.
I have not really
seen any
significant
result, although
it is probably
too early to tell.
I do know that a
few students
that I referred
take active
participation in
the process. So,
that is good but,
on the other
hand, what I
know is the
report that I get
back from the
system is that it
does not seem
to be a lot of
follow-up. Like
if the student
does not return
the email, then
it seems that
things get
stopped. I am
not saying that
is the fault of
the system but
it is just one of
the problems.
Fall 2006
To my
knowledge, it
does not do
anything. I do
not believe
there is any
significant
amount of
resources over
there actually
helping the
students… So
far I do not like
anything about
it. The thing
that I dislike, I
guess, mainly is
the lack of
resources. And
there is also a
real problem
with the
message sent to
the students,
which is that
this is really
high school and
I am not
responsible for
anything.
80
I was pleased
with the
partners that are
working in the
system, you
know, sent out
an e-mail to the
student. I am
happy with that.
The system is
easy to use. The
interface on the
Web is easy to
use. It runs
efficiently, I
guess, in the
follow-up emails from
people that are
working in the
system. I am
not sure it is
very effective
and gets the
student to do
anything. I had,
may be, nine or
ten students that
I asked, you
know, kind of
get notification
about. And only
one of those
came to my
office and
talked with me.
And I have
another one,
you know,
talked with me
for a couple of
minutes after
class. And the
other of them, I
never heard
from. So, the
I think it’s a
great idea can
help somebody
makes an effort
to find out
what’s going on
to the students,
and helped
them solve the
issues…I think
that opportunity
for them to
attend the
classes… is
time
management is
probably one of
the main
problems with
students who
are not
attending or not
getting things
done, and I
think having
those
opportunities to
help class to
solve problem
is something
that I can’t
offer. So
something like
that is the Early
Alert can offer
but I can’t.
Well, I cannot
really say.
And I
especially like
the feedback
that I get from
the counselors.
Like I
submitted an
early alert for a
student and I
get three days
later an e-mail
back from a
counselor,
saying I have
contacted the
student or I am
not able to
contact the
student. They
have details of
the student.
I like that now
we can get in
and see if the
students have
been contacted
by anybody, if
the students
have calls and
made
appointments.
To find out
what the
follow-up is, I
can just look
into it. And I
like that I have
a record of our
communication
to the students.
You know, if
there is an
issue, if I have
any kind of
issues, I fill out
on the early
alert for the
students that I
have a record of
it. It just makes
my life a lot
easier once the
students want to
appeal grades
or, you know,
whatever.
The piece that
the way they do
the follow-up
for me was
helpful to see
which students
lost, which was
not. When I
triggered the
system, they
had, they sent
me an e-mail
back, I guess,
the student does
not going. This
was two months
ago. The thing
that happened
last two
months. They
sent me an email that the
student should
contact them. In
my opinion,
they are going
to contact the
student. That email got me
confused. In the
long run, they
did contact the
student. So, that
first e-mail was
a little
misleading.
That was what I
dislike about it.
And we will see
at the end of the
semester how
much it really
helps.
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Fall 2006
student’s
responsiveness
is an issue and I
am not sure
how they can
address that
issue. My
another concern
about it is that I
am not sure
how well it
used to as a
privacy lost
regarding the
student grade
exposure
because
university is not
supposed to
expose the
student grade to
anybody but
student without
any consent
permission.
Basically, the
system alerts
other party
about the
student grade.
And I do not
know they
thought about
that or aware of
that. May be
Peggy thought
about it and
cover legally
because she
said it is in one
of the
university
programs. That
may be
something that
would be a
81
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Fall 2006
There is no
difficulty on
that.
No, it was very
easy to manage.
No, I haven’t. It
is really straight
forward, really
easy.
No.
Yeah, I checked
that.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah, I always
check boxes,
appropriate
boxes.
Yes.
I did not mark
the checkbox to
receive a
notified e-mail
for the referral
progress. I did
not do that.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
I do not get the
e-mail
notification
system because
I fill with emails everyday.
So, I don’t do
that.
Yes.
Yes.
I have done the
comment.
Yes.
I didn’t use it,
but yes, I’m
glad they have.
Yes.
Yes, for some
students.
I have no idea.
Oh, yes. Go
back to the
report the check
the results.
I have viewed
the referral
report.
I have not done
that. No.
Yeah, I got a
few of them.
No.
Yes, I have
done that.
And I always
write a specific
note in a
comment
section to the
students that I
concern about.
What I do is I
go in the
system and look
and find out
No, it’s really
easy.
No. I think it’s
very easy to
use.
No. It is
actually a lot
easier to use
than what I
anticipated.
No. The
computer aspect
of it is fine.
Yes.
Yes, I marked
the boxes of ….
Exam failure or
something like
that.
Yes.
Oh, yeah.
Quiz…all those
checkboxes.
Notified
Checkboxes
- Mark a checkbox
to receive a
notified e-mail for
the referral
progress
I did, I wish I
didn’t, because
I’m getting all
these emails.
You know, I
must have,
because I’ve
been getting
lots of emails,
so yea, I guess I
did. I’ve been
getting a lot of
feedback from
them.
Yes.
Comment Boxes
- Add a comment
in a comment box
I did for one
student, so just
occasionally.
No, I didn’t add
any comment.
Referral Reports
- View the referral
report for the
referral progress
after a referral
No, I mean my
direct is the
interactions to
the students, I
I didn’t. I didn’t
realize I can get
a report.
Warning Sign
Checkboxes
problem.
Not yet. No.
Not at all.
No.
Have you
experienced any
difficulty while
using the system?
If so, how did you
solve the problem?
Have you used the
following
functions in the
system?
- Mark a
checkbox(s) for a
warning sign(s)
such as failed
quiz, failed exam,
excessive absence,
missing
assignments,
missing
presentations,
missing lab, and
others
Difficulty
82
I did not know I
could.
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
submission
Fall 2006
just care they
are progressing
well, I want
them to know
that I care, that
I can see their
progress,
expects and
some others. So
I don’t want to
say that I don’t
care what other
people do to
help the
students, I just
have to be
aware of how
were the
students
performing in
my class. You
know, it’s great
that other
people are
trying to help
the students in a
positive way,
and so, I think
if it can help the
students to
approach me
and ask some
questions about
what they are
not doing and
what they need
help on and
then I think it’s
great. But
regarding the
other stuff, I
don’t really
care how they
are getting to
me as long as
they are getting
that things are
going… Yeah,
for the report.
That way I can
do it when I
make sure the
student have
seen it. Because
I send out a lot
alerts and I get
a hundred emails a day.
83
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Frequency
Do you use the
system for every
student who has an
academic potential
failure?
Number of
Classes
How many classes
are you teaching
this semester?
to me.
Every student
who is not
doing well, who
preformed
poorly on my
exams, I have,
every student I
used it.
I was involved
in… one, two,
three, four
different
courses. And so
I do lecture or
the discussion
sections, and
lab supervisor
for the
introductory
biology course.
And then I
supervised lab
of the other
entri-biology
course, and I
am the
Well, see that, a
matter of
judgment. I
turned over the
name of
anybody who
got an F, or
who has missed
a lot of classes.
For those
people who got
a D, I didn’t
turn them over.
Because I
thought, well,
that’s kind of
marginal, they
were not really
failing, I wasn’t
sure they were
one of the
figures people
who got a D or
not. If I go to
the workshop, I
think I need to
ask that.
I teach four
sections of the
BA3500 every
semester.
Fall 2006
Yes, I did.
Yeah. For all
my courses.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, not
exactly. I made
a kind of
arbitrary
dividing
moment, based
on the grade of
the first test and
those that I felt
really had done
very poorly and
I had to do
something or
else they are not
gonna survive
in the course.
Yes.
Yeah.
Everybody.
Yeah, I would
take that I did.
I have two
classes. One is
the Introduction
to Sociology
and the other is
Alcohol Drugs
and Society.
3
This semester is
just one.
3
I teach one
class this
semester.
I am teaching 4
classes this
semester.
One class.
I teach …(1
class).
84
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Number of
Students
How many
students are there
in your classes?
supervisor for
the tele-course,
for the nonmajors. And I
grade for the
distancelearning course.
50/231 (Data
are obtained
from the early
alert system
database.)
I have 200
students.
And one of the
Drugs has
around 110
students and the
intro class is
about 140.
Fall 2006
I have about 50
students in one
course. And
then I have 35
each in two
others.
85
90 students.
I have 30 in
one, 40 in
another and 15
in the …so.
I have 93
students in this
class.
It is varied from
semester to
semester. But
the one 3 credit
hour that I
have, that I
have been
teaching here
since I started,
is conversation
class. Their top
allowance is 20
students
because, you
know, the
foreign
language
conversation is
hard to do if
more than that.
But this
semester I have
23 because
there were too
many in the
waiting list. In
Spanish 2, on
the other hand,
usually it
allows 23
students.
Usually, we
have more than
that with
waiting list, but
this semester
may be because
I am teaching at
2 o’clock. That
This semester I
have forty-four,
forty-five.
Totally 16.
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Diffusion to
Others
Did you influence
anyone to adopt
the system?
I don’t think so.
Diffused Person
If you did, who are
the people you
influenced to
adopt the system?
x
Actually I
talked to couple
of people. I
talked to Peggy
and she had
turned over a
smaller too.
And I did talk
to Steve Belly
do you know
him? So yeah, I
talked to people
about it,
afterwards.
Oh, other
professors.
Fall 2006
I do not think I
influence
anyone.
No.
Not yet.
I don’t think so.
No.
x
x
x
x
x
86
time is not
popular. I only
have 9 students.
And I have 9 in
Spanish for
Business which
is advance or
junior level
course. And
that is usual. It
tends to be
lower number. I
also have 9 in
that class. And
the other one,
Spanish 3, third
semester
Spanish, I have
22 students, I
started with 25
and couple of
them have
dropped. So, I
now have 22.
Not formally.
Informally, in
conversation
with colleague,
like the lady
who is teaching
…, Diane. Her
office is across
from me. We
I encourage
other people to
use it like my
(department)
faculty
members when
they have an
issue with one
of their
students.
I have not
talked with
anybody about
it.
Because I am a
course
coordinator, so
I have some
(department)
faculties that
are out on site.
So, when they
x
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Diffusion Plan
If you didn’t, do
you plan to
influence anyone
to adopt the
system? Why or
why not?
Um…all of us,
instructors, we
work on our
own. You know
what I mean?
So, I do not
know what
other people do,
but whenever
we kind of
commiserate
about the
students who is
doing so
poorly,
oh…you should
put them on the
early alert.
Yeah, and
that’s pretty
much how I
influence it.
x
I guess I cannot
say that I have
any plan to do
that, although I
certainly share
my experiences
and feel very
positive to the
outcomes that
seem to be
developing. I
do not think
that I will just
go up to
another faculty
member and
say hey you use
the system.
Fall 2006
I will not
influence
someone to use
or not use it at
this point
because I do
not feel that I
have enough
information.
87
Yeah, I will talk
with people
about it. I do
not know if
people use it or
not but I will
ask. I want to
find out how
effective other
faculties think it
is. So, I
probably talk
with someone
about that.
If the professors
tell me that they
are having
troubles with
students that I
would ask them
if they had put
them on the
early alert
system.
Not that I
know.
Everybody has
the same
opportunity that
I have. They all
got the same email. If they
decided they do
not want to use
it, nothing I can
say to let them
use it. Actually,
I have not
discussed about
it with
anybody,
maybe I should
have done that
but I have not
done that. I
have not
discussed about
it with any of
talked about it.
They don’t
have as much
as experience
with
technology, so I
can show them
on how to do it.
And they are
using it now.
And they do not
have problem.
have issues
with the
students, I
encourage them
to fill out the
early alert or to
let me know
and I can fill
out the early
alert so that I
have a record of
what the issue
is and the
student has
been notified
and an
appropriate
action have
been taken to
record the
situation.
x
x
If one came up,
I probably
would.
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Fall 2006
Diffused Action
If you did or plan
to influence
people to adopt the
system, what did
or will say or do to
make them adopt
the system?
If students are
not doing well,
I think it is
much helpful in
a large lecture
class. Because
in a small class,
you might not
need it. You
can talk to them
in small classes.
But in such a
larger class, it’s
quick and easy
way to let
everybody who
didn’t perform
well on the
exam, who
aren’t coming
that you are
noticing. Also,
for the
instructor who
does not
interact with the
students, it is
helpful.
I just told them
they can turn
people over,
and they were a
lot of actions
going on,
really, they got
ride on it, I was
impressed.
But if we have
a conversation
that is talking
about a student
who is having
problem, I will
not hesitate to
mention that the
system is
available and
potentially
useful.
x
Help Action
If you did or plan
to influence
people to adopt the
system, what did
or will help them
to use the system?
Just tell them to
use it. If they
have questions,
I’ll tell them to
get into
Mygateway.
Steve Belly
started the
conversation,
he just came
along when I
was doing
something and
asked about it.
I do not think
that I will just
go up to
another faculty
member and
say hey you use
the system.
x
Well, I will
mention that I
have been using
it and kind of
describe the
experience in
terms of the
responses that I
got from the
system or
program and
also, you know,
my responses
from students
that I brought
them in the
system. And I
will probably
ask them about
their
experiences,
especially the
student
responses in an
effective way to
deal with the
students who
potentially have
some
difficulties.
Well, probably
just talk to
them,
individually
one on one,
saying that I
have been using
it and it is
effective tool
and it is
working, for
me, in some
degrees to the
students that
come to me for
88
It’s a certainly
available option
to help students
who are not
being
successful in
class.
Just direct them
to the site that
is easy to find.
It’s pretty selfexplanatory,
very easy to
use.
my colleagues.
x
x
It was not very
technical like I
am able to play
computer.
I just directed
them towards
the link and
briefly
described what
I would say in
the comment
section and
what they need
to do in order to
use it.
I do not believe
that some of my
students have
utilized it and
helped through
it.
And say it is on
mygateway site.
You log it
through here
and you do this
and you do and
then they come
and say they are
using it.
I just directed
them towards
the link and
briefly
described what
I would say in
the comment
section and
what they need
to do in order to
use it.
I will help them
get a kind of
feedback if I am
talking with
somebody
about it.
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Fall 2006
help.
Comments
Are there any
other items related
to the early alert
system that you
would like to add?
I’m interested
to know about
the turn-around
rate once the
students get the
advising
coordinator. It
would be
interesting to
see how many
students
actually go and
see that person.
By doing that, I
don’t know
how that person
actually does.
Does that
person just yell
hey are you
attending class?
What does that
person actually
do? A lot of
those people on
the alert just
come to see me,
which is great. I
don’t know,
contact advisor,
coordinator, or
advisor, I kinda
need to know
what they are
saying to these
students. Is it
more than just
are you
attending? Or
are you going
to class? Or
actually giving
advice for my
class? That’s all
I wanna know.
I actually talked
to some guy
ever there, I
forgot his name
already, some
guy in the
students’
success
workshop, cuz
he left me a
phone message.
I guess maybe I
turned over
more people,
you know, a lot
of people
actually I don’t
know, anyway
he called me.
And I talked to
him about it. He
told me that
they were
doing, they
were suggesting
tutors for
people, and
they were
inviting them to
give study skills
workshop and
time
management
workshop. I
think that’s
great. A lot of
them are
because of time
management I
think.
I was trying to
think of some
ways that it
could be more
useful but I
think it is still a
basic problem
of
communication.
On one level,
we are
compounding
the problem
because you are
bringing in
another node to
communicate
between the
faculty member
and the student.
But I guess, on
the other hand,
the reality is it
is not bad in
many
situations. That
might be
necessary to
kinda wake the
students up.
The biggest
problem that I
see is that the
students do not
check their email.
The main thing
I like to say is
give us some
counselors, give
use some tutors.
You know, I
thought it
would happen
after I refer a
student.
Someone who
sits down with
the student and
says do you
have a place to
study, do you
have sufficient
life.
89
I think if the
students
become more
familiar with
it and more
used to
having
teachers use it
in classes in
regular basis,
it will be a
good system
and helpful.
The early alert
system is
tracking the
results, the final
results. You
know that they
can find
everything that
what happened
to each student.
I was around
when the
gateway was
first arrived.
There was a lot
of resistance in
using it. You
have to learn
new thing. You
have to login.
Your format
has to fit in.
Every professor
has different
ways. I was
reluctant also
but I got into it,
I think, in one
year. I start
using it. And I
began rapidly
using that. So,
yeah,
everything like
that gonna have
some kind of
resistance. Now
the gateway is
on us
completely,
especially a
large course.
Yeah, that is
gateway. I do
not know. It is
probably not
your topic.
Maybe they
could find a
way to alert all
students of the
deadline, like
dropping a class
without a grade
or excuse.
I give a lot of
information in
my narrative to
back up my
documentation.
So, if there is
an issue going
on, I can just,
you know, they
were told. And
then also, the
students know
exactly what
the problem is,
so they can
seek help to
clarify the
situation
because
sometimes it is
not there when
it really is.
I do not think
so.
IS 7021: Philosophy of Science and Qualitative Research Methods
Fall 2006
90