“Involve me and I learn”: Moving Towards Better Student Engagement
Do you need to keep your students engaged?
“Involve me and I learn”, said Benjamin Franklin. It stands true for your students also. Each student actively involved equals to a student retained. With the diverse challenges that today’s learners face, they are vulnerable to feeling bogged down if there isn’t a support system to fall back upon. Crafting a proper student engagement strategy makes your institution that supports the system.
Moreover, if your students are engaged, there’s very little left to worry about. You don’t have to worry about dropping end-user satisfaction rates or have sleepless nights over your declining retention or graduation rates.
There are countless things you can do to engage them depending on your organization’s unique challenges. Listed below are three you can implement regardless of their specificity:
Innovate, Interact, Engage:
Whether it’s the courseware or the way it is taught, both can be made more interesting by innovating a little. For example, you can use video content for your lessons, put in place a system where students are rewarded for their achievements, help your students set achievable goals. Using predictive analytics, instructors can intervene timely. Based on data-driven findings obtained from predictive analytics, you can help your students with their challenges whether academic or otherwise. You can even let your students have a say in building their curriculum. For example, you can ask them what they expect to learn out of a particular class or what would they want to be taught extra, while still abiding by the courseware structure.
Since all your students don’t fall into the traditional category, you should take special care of the ones who don’t. You should have a proper student engagement framework to interact with them, address any problems they might be facing.
Proactive Communication:
Communication and the way you do so, both are really important for student engagement. If your students prefer texting to emails, use that mode of communication to convey information. Furthermore, there should be a proper information dissemination channel. Your students should have access to information, help whenever they require it.
You should create an open and learner-centric atmosphere where your students aren’t afraid to communicate- their doubts, suggestions, ideas. The overall institutional culture should complement learning and encourage students to excel.
24×7 help desk support:
As a higher education institution, when your students have access to help desk assistance at all the hours, you are telling them that you care about the challenges they face and are there to help them whenever they require it. Exigencies can occur anytime. There might be a network outage. Your institution’s LMS can stop working. A student’s laptop might become nonfunctional. In case of any such downtimes, if your institution doesn’t have round the clock help desk support, your end users might have to wait overnight or maybe even over a weekend to get their issues resolved.
Having round-the-clock help desk support ensures that your students don’t feel abandoned and have immediate access to help.
Besides these three, there are a number of measures you can adopt to increase engagement at your organization. Brainstorm, strategize and make student engagement a priority at your organization.
To learn how we are helping organizations engage their learners better, drop us an email at sales@blackbelthelp.com or call (844)BLKBELT.
Anthony Banford is an esteemed executive with 19 years of experience in technology, consulting, and education. He begins his latest chapter as Chief Revenue Officer at BlackBeltHelp, aiming to innovate in the higher education support industry. His move follows a successful stint as Head of Revenue at StudentBridge since March 2023, where he significantly contributed to the company’s merger with Full Measure Education, enhancing its service offerings.
Todd Hollrah joins BlackBeltHelp bringing 25+ years of experience managing service delivery operations for several Fortune 500 clients around the globe. After a distinguished career as an executive in the BPO industry, Todd will provide critical insight into building an exceptional customer experience combining both live voice and automated solutions.
Inspired by a family computer that always needed fixing, Chris Uthe has submerged himself in business and technology for the last 20 years. His first company, a PC repair and networking business, was started at just 16 and successfully fueled a deep interest in solving problems as he helped business customers throughout his hometown adopt technology into their business. He would go on to successfully run a media & managed IT company before joining the Ed Tech industry with a successful 13-year tenure within an ERP/SIS company leading the Student Portal & Learning Management division. His last startup, EdSolio, helped to fuel the winds of competency-based education by providing a comprehensive view of a student’s work and achievements. Chris is now focused on creating successful learners by ensuring the highest quality help and support through the use of AI backed toolsets spending the last 3 years in the student engagement and support markets.
Quaiser Absar is the Chief Technology Officer and Director of Institutional Computing at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia.
Bringing in over 2 decades of experience with him, Manish has ensured seamless operations in terms of client delivery, reporting & analytics, quality, training, and transitions with a special focus on technical integrations to help reduce costs and improve the bottom-line.
Anthony has served higher education in diverse, leadership roles for over 30 years and has helped organizations thrive through his expertise in developing, analyzing, and executing growth strategies. Prior to joining BlackBeltHelp, he served in College Administration as well as in leadership roles within Blackboard Student Services and Ellucian, Inc.
Accomplished IT Specialist and Manager with extensive experience in a higher education setting and demonstrated abilities to effectively manage both student and professional staff. Self-motivated problem solver, who is skilled in managing many issues and prioritizing their importance to find resolutions in a timely and effective manner. Possesses strong abilities to adapt to new technologies by extrapolating from existing experience. Possess first-rate communication and collaboration skills to work with diverse groups effectively.
Lila Buytendorp has been serving as the Director of User Services at Moraine Park Technical College (MPTC) since 2000. In this role she is responsible for staff & lab desktop computing and end user support. She guides and supports technology based on the curriculum needs and ensures technology is implemented to support the emerging needs of the college. She builds and supports integrated systems to improve efficiencies and uses technologies to support data-driven decision making. Lila is a member of the Capital Projects Planning and Design Committee to ensure new or remodeled facilities have appropriate technology.