State of Higher Education – End of Year Reflections

If you haven’t seen this, I wanted to share it and thought the report might be of interest.

It is a report on global trends and insights in online student supports from Instructure. But the report findings are good/interesting.

You can access the full report here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Cnex3KKngyKH6MUUPZGLRX8YXJpa3Ef0/view?usp=sharing

Please feel free to share with your staff or anyone that might be interested.

Here is a summary fyi:

The survey revealed that the six key trends students, administrators, and faculty around the world identified as most important to student success and engagement in 2020 remained paramount in 2021. However, the nuance of each trend has shifted.

Six Key Trends

1. Career readiness is (still) the number one priority for students. Preparing students for life after graduation, whether they are traditional students, part-time students, or mid-career, is still the #1 concern of students, faculty, and administrators. However, administrators and students agree that this is the area where institutions struggle most.
2. Institutions need to think beyond the lecture. While students still primarily define “success” as academic achievement, faculty and administrators are looking for ways to support the whole student both inside and outside of the classroom. As engagement suffers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, psychological well-being and access to mental health resources can have a positive impact on student engagement.
3. Faculty-student engagement is critical—whether in person or through technology. Evolving teaching pedagogy and embracing educational technology have never been more important for maintaining student engagement. Student success today requires availability of technology resources, as well as engaging content and instruction from technology-proficient faculty.
4. Online learning needs to be intentionally designed. As future uncertainty remains and hybrid learning becomes the new norm, creating meaningful, interactive experiences between faculty and students, and connecting students with one another will be critical to continued student engagement in hybrid and remote courses alike.
5. Socioeconomic disparities impact engagement. Levels of income and access to learning resources and technology tools continue to leave some students behind, greatly impacting how engaged students are in their educational experience. Optimizing courses for mobile access can help to solve this issue, as research shows mobile phones are the primary technology tool used across all student income levels.
6. The democratization of education begins with equitable access. Internet connectivity continues to be one of the most basic needs of learners across the globe. But access to technology means more than just providing devices and connectivity to students. It also involves making sure every student has the opportunity to learn from a teacher who understands how to use technology.