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Looking Beyond Technology for Inclusive Student Success

Looking Beyond Technology for Inclusive Student Success

Published:: Monday, April 26, 2021

Reconceptualizing the student experience with a view to the whole person can expand the ability to meet students where they are, foster their sense of belonging, and help them reach their academic, career, and life goals.

As the higher education community sets its sights on recovery, we must address issues of connectivity and device access, along with the stressors of navigating college during a pandemic. The levers of emerging technology tools, policies, and a culture of care among campus staff and faculty can proactively create pathways for wellness or preempt emergency mental health situations.

Advancing Toward Inclusive Recovery with Access, Equity, and Devices

EDUCAUSE Horizon Report | Teaching and Learning Edition

The digital divide is widening. Campuses and industry partners must advance toward inclusive recovery through an equity-minded, open strategy to support students who are underconnected and lack the devices or bandwidth to successfully learn in a digital environment. Strategies such as low-bandwidth asynchronous learning opportunities, flexible course policies, and device lending programs can help accommodate these access issues.

See the Horizon Report

Learning Analytics scores highest for its impact on learning outcomes and for addressing equity and inclusion, but it also carries moderate risk.

Creating a Culture of Care to Promote Health and Wellness

Student Experiences with Connectivity and Technology in the Pandemic

Through combinations of self-service apps and innovative uses of enterprise data to promote wellness and triage services, campuses are creatively addressing students’ stress and mental health issues. A culture of care is developing on many campuses as staff and faculty share new sources of data about the student experience and become more familiar with signs of possible distress. Faculty are increasingly integrating flexibility and compassion into the learning experience and the technology tools.

See the Student Experiences with Connectivity and Technology in the Pandemic report

81% of students say the instructor of the class they learned the most in had reasonable technology policies/accomodations for completing work and submitting assignments.

Reimagining the Experience of the Whole Student

Supporting Digital Service-Learning through Campus Collaboration

Students bring their whole selves to college, and a sense of belonging helps them persist toward their academic, life, and career goals. As our conception of “campus” changes, higher education leaders will need to reimagine a new student experience that encompasses not only the whole student but their families and their communities as well. This endeavor will be successful by introducing tools such as student journey mapping and service design, blending online and face-to-face to create hybrid co-curricular activities such as service-learning, and scaling the capacity to meet students where they are with just-in-time information through chatbots and other AI tools.

See the EDUCAUSE Review article