You may already be aware of the C-DFWI rates for courses you teach. The C-DFWI rate is the percentage of enrolled students who withdrew, had an incomplete, or received a final grade of C-, D, or F for a course. OU aims to keep C-DFWI rates in check to improve academic outcomes for students and increase graduation rates.

The challenge for faculty is how to minimize C-DFWI rates without sacrificing quality in your courses. I use several strategies to reduce C-DFWI rates while maintaining high standards.

The Student Success and Equity Dashboard

Before discussing strategies for keeping C-DFWI rates in check, it helps to know where C-DFWI rates are tracked. Oakland University’s Student Success and Equity Dashboard aims to enable OU faculty and staff to “gain a better understanding of the backgrounds and academic patterns of OU students” and provides data “to inform discussions, plan initiatives, and support student success.” The main dashboard consists of three embedded dashboards, Faculty Dashboard, Oakland by the Numbers, and Equity Gaps Dashboard. The embedded dashboards provide research data and suggestions for applying the data and taking action. For more faculty guidance on using the dashboard, see CETL’s Data-Informed Decisions Using the Student Success and Equity Dashboard. 

The Faculty Dashboard has data to answer seven questions about OU students, one of which is “In Which Courses Do They Struggle?” The section for this question provides a C-DFWI Impact Chart showing (at the time of writing) Winter 2024 courses with the highest C-DFWI rates. The top three courses with the highest C-DFWI rates are named, and the reader can hover over the chart to see other courses and their C-DFWI rates. Data Tables containing a list of all courses that have enrollments of at least ten students are shown together with the Enrollment, C-DFWI Rate, and Impact score for each course. (These derived variables are defined in the Methods tab for the tables.) The tables can be sorted based on the Course Code, Course Title, Enrollment, C-DFWI%, or Impact.

I suggest you look up your courses in the Faculty Dashboard – the information you see may be surprising!

Strategies for Improving Your C-DFWI Rates 

1. Include a variety of graded items in the course

You may have memories of college courses in which your final grade depended primarily on the midterm and final exam. A poor grade on either meant nonsuccess in the course. To limit this type of course anxiety for my students, I assign a variety of coursework comprising a mix of high and low stakes graded items.

In each course I teach, I incorporate a selection of graded items from the following basic types: homework assignments, problem sets, exercises, quizzes, tests/exams, papers, research projects, video analyses, forum discussions, interviews, presentations, and surveys. For in-person courses, I also include attendance and participation. (See Quantifying Class Participation for a discussion of how I log class participation in the Moodle grade book.) Dividing course points over multiple types of graded work enables me to present the course material from different angles and gives students numerous chances to earn points in the course.

2. Assign multiple graded items spread throughout the course

Related to the first point, I assign multiple pieces of coursework weekly divided into both high and low stakes items. Although some students would prefer not to have a steady stream of work every week, I find that more coursework tends to improve students’ final grades. Students have many chances to practice course concepts and earn points in the course. Consistency is rewarded, as is an ongoing commitment to the course. 

How do I grade all this? I am a strong believer in using Moodle tools with automated grading to create certain types of assignments. A wide variety of assignments can be graded automatically in full or in part by Moodle. I take advantage of this to assign a wider variety of coursework than I could otherwise, using Moodle assignments as a supplement to manually graded items. (If you need ideas for how to expand your use of Moodle assignment tools, see the e-LIS Faculty and Staff Resources page or schedule a one-on-one appointment with an e-LIS Instructional Designer.)

3. Provide meaningful extra credit

Well-designed extra credit assignments improve student grades, boost morale, and give students a chance to engage further with the course material. Using Extra Credit Effectively offers a detailed discussion of the critical role extra credit plays in my courses.

Pro Tip: Remind students of extra credit opportunities! Students may feel they are too busy to complete extra credit, or they may not think extra credit assignments are worth the effort based on their experience in other courses. I always explain explicitly how students will benefit from submitting the extra credit work in my courses.

4. Use Faculty Feedback and other methods to nudge students

In my experience, it is important to communicate directly with students who are falling behind or struggling in the course and suggest a course of action to improve their performance. I monitor attendance and grades in my Moodle grade book regularly from the start of the course to identify students who need to be contacted.

I use Faculty Feedback as early in the course as possible, and I follow up with personalized email messages that contain more detailed comments. (See Getting the Most Out of Faculty Feedback for how I maximize the effectiveness of this communication tool.) As the course progresses, I reach out to students who need a nudge whenever I see a negative pattern starting to develop with regard to course performance.

5. Provide clear expectations, a schedule, and deadlines for make-up work

I emphasize the importance of deadlines in my courses and stick to them, but there are times when students have a legitimate reason for missing the deadlines for graded work. In such cases, I email a clear plan for how to make up the work and when each make-up assignment is due. I also explain my expectations for how the student should complete make-up work alongside current coursework so as not to fall further behind.

The more detailed my instructions and schedule for make-up work, the more easily students can stay on track. By providing a plan, I help students avoid feeling overwhelmed and giving up on making up missed work, which tends to have a significant negative impact on their final grade.

Conclusion 

These strategies allow me to maintain high standards for student learning while also providing a reasonable path to student success in my courses. When designing my courses, I anticipate potential stumbling blocks students may face in their course performance and actively employ strategies to help students avoid these problems. I also provide effective methods of resolving problems when they do occur. Proactive course design and communication help me identify students who are at risk of dropping the course or performing poorly and encourage approaches that enable students to achieve a satisfactory final grade.

Related Teaching Tips 

• Early Feedback Leads to Student Success introduces changes made to the Faculty Feedback system in 2023.
• End Your Semester Using Moodle Grading Features describes Moodle features recommended by e-LIS to save time by automating certain aspects of your grading routine.
• Quick and Easy Formative Assessments with H5P discusses H5P, a tool that enables instructors to create innovative formative assessments using “interactive videos, clickable pictures, engaging quizzes and dozens more” in Moodle. H5P provides multiple options for creating low-stakes online assignments that supplement other coursework.

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About the Author

Helena Riha, Ph.D. teaches Linguistics and International Studies. She has taught over 3,500 students in 17 different courses. Helena won the OU Online Teaching Excellence Award and the Excellence in Teaching Award. This is her seventeenth teaching tip. Outside of class, Helena maintains her streak in Wordle.

Helena Riha is the current guest editor for the Grizz Tips for Teaching Effectiveness series on the CETL Teaching Blog at Oakland University. Contribute to the Teaching Blog as a guest editor (OU community only). Photo via Canva.com.

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