What questions are your teams asking students to support their progression?
Progression and completion. Two words that won’t disappear. And nor should they - but it would be wonderful to hear them said within the same sentence as the words “skyrocketing or better-than-ever”.
An article in The Age in September 2016 discussed figures of 30% of first year university students abandoning their undergraduate degrees. In vocational education, completion rates are not much better. Reasons debated include online education as a delivery tool, work and family pressures, and entry to students with lower ATAR scores.
Having personally spent time as a traditional campus student, a long distance student, and an online student - there are obvious differences between each experience. And having spent more than ten years developing educational content in the online environment, the online experience in terms of engagement has improved significantly.
How has our support changed for students though?
In the campus environment, there’s an organic social network where support naturally develops between students, and often with teachers/academics as well. In the distance/online environment, the support network is part of a formal process which may be done well or not-so-well. Student support teams, trainers, and teaching staff are often voices on the end of a phone, or an email within a discussion thread. Blended delivery does allow some social interaction however it’s fleeting, and the chance of meeting a lifetime alumni buddy is unlikely.
For many adult learners in the vocational and university environment, especially those who may come from a lower socio-economic background, support from family and friends may also be fragile. With many students not viewing themselves as academically endowed, their families may hold the same view, which may present itself as “why are you studying, no one else in our family has?”
Add this to the intrinsic motivation required for online studying, the confidence required to be proactive in asking questions formally rather than through your friendly campus support network, the necessary hardware and bandwidth to make the online experience actually work, and suddenly you have a very different student support requirement. And that’s just the beginning.
Some great questions for your student support team to ask include:
What micro-goals do you want to achieve this week to move you closer towards completing …
How comfortable do you feel asking questions of your trainer/teacher when you’re feeling stuck …
We all get distracted from our priorities at times, how are you getting yourself back on track when you’ve been distracted …
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your support network re: your study goals …
What’s driving you to achieve your big study goal? What’s your purpose? …
How are you feeling right now? ...
There are many more great coaching questions that can help new learners discover techniques and methods to support and motivate themselves - and not only progress through their studies and complete, but become lifelong learners intrinsically motivated by the beauty and personal growth of simply learning.