A SMART Approach to Student Success

DFW rates are the fraction of students who get a D, F or Withdraw from a course. I recently talked about DFW rates and a new CTLD program with Cath Kleier, AVP for Faculty Affairs.

The DFW Playbook in 2025

Clearly, DFW rates are an imperfect way to understand student success (as Cath explains well). Even so, as we consider the thousands of classes offered at MSU Denver, DFW rates are one tool for helping us direct our attention and efforts.

Stemming from the Student Succes Launch work over the last two years, early in 2025, a group of leaders asked academic departments to look carefully at student success rates during the last five years (as seen in the 5-year DFW dashboard).

In particular, the intent was to focus on courses that meet one or more of the following criteria:

• General studies courses
• Gateway courses (the first course in a student’s chosen program)
• Asynchronous online courses, especially those that are taken by freshmen (meaning, during a student’s first 30 credits)
• Courses where student success rates vary significantly based on course delivery method
• Courses where freshmen are much less successful than other students

In this ~11 minute video I talked with Cath Kleier about this work and how it has progressed, including the danger that faculty will interpret this as a call for grade inflation of some kind. We then talk about how faculty can directly impact student success, highlighting the CTLD’s new SMART Program.

[Length: 11:28, CC available]

The Goal:

The CTLD SMART Program is designed to meet the needs of MSU Denver faculty around effective teaching, quality course design and engaged learning. It is structured but flexible, with coaching and support from real people and incentives to make the work even more rewarding. This in-house program is customized for our unique students, our teaching environment, and the tools and constraints we all share.

At its heart, SMART focuses on you, the instructor. The goal is to equip you with the knowledge and skills to design and facilitate courses that don’t just meet established quality standards, but truly come alive with active, inclusive, and engaging learning experiences.

What is not the goal:

This is not a course development program, and it won’t result in a polished course that meets and exceeds quality standards.  Rather, the SMART program builds on faculty skills, care and enthusiasm, empowering them to create learning that works.

SMART Program Model

Open to all faculty, anytime, the SMART program will meet busy MSU Denver faculty where they are. The program combines flexible asynchronous online work with the steady presence of program coaches, available from 10 AM to 3 PM Monday through Friday. Faculty can proceed through the Blocks at any pace that works for them, and we also offer some structure and incentives to keep the work moving. All told, completing the SMART program should mean about 20 hours of your time, spread out and scheduled as you see fit.

20+ Modules:

The SMART program has more than 20 modules, each involving about 1-hour of work, including learning, application and assessment. The program is divided into four Blocks of 5 modules each. Some modules are a core part of the SMART program and are required for completion. At other points you will be able to choose from a menu of elective modules, selecting those that suit your needs.

See the Blocks & Modules section of the SMART Program page.

Block Incentives

Completing a Block (a grouping of 5 modules) in the SMART program means earning some incentives. Completing any Block means you are invited to a monthly CTLD lunch and completing Block 1 also earn a special service from the Instructional Accessibility Group. Some faculty may be sponsored to participate in the SMART program.

More specifics can be found on the Block Incentives section of the SMART Program page.

Feedback on The SMART Program

This is a new program in the CTLD and there will surely be ways in which it doesn’t hit the mark. We will be especially interested to hear feedback from instructors who engage with this program. What worked? What didn’t? What was missing, and what was unnecessary.

Join SMART To Help Address Student Success!

Cath and I both hope that improving true student success at MSU Denver is viewed as a team sport in which all of us come together and focus our attention where it is most needed. We hope that faculty feel supported in their crucial work with students and that the SMART Program is a useful addition to that network of support.

Please email the CTLD if you would like to enroll in the SMART program!

Generative AI disclosure: The featured image of this page comes from the SMART program page and was created with the help of generative AI. After writing this piece I used generative AI to write a first draft of the short “teaser blurb” that went out by email. Want to know more? Send me an email and we can chat!