College can be a challenging time for students and one that is full of transitions. With 74% of students now considered part of the “non-traditional” category, the types of stresses facing them have expanded. Meanwhile, six-year graduation rates hover at only 60%. Universities, in turn, are understandably eager to support their students in order to create more welcoming environments and achieve better outcomes. Yet, recent research shows that 40% of student support services don’t make an impact on student persistence.
Luckily, that same research from Civitas Learning also provides clues for improving that figure. Civitas found that different types of support services are effective for different types of students. Thus, if a university wants to make sure its students succeed, it has to offer support services that reflect the needs of its student body in general, but that are also customized to individual students.
This means that as part of improving student support, universities have to place renewed emphasis on collecting student data in order to personalize outreach. While no one solution addresses all aspects of this complex challenge, there are data and communication solutions that can help.
Caliper analytics can help universities make student data they already may have access to more accessible and easier to work with. By helping to collect, store, and transport student data from disparate applications, this open standard allows universities to better understand their students and offer them better tailored support.
For those students who derive the most benefit from relationships with advisors and mentors, Kaltura Pitch offers a way to reach out to students that is both trackable and highly engaging. This video email tool can help catch student attention—despite busy schedules. And because it is about personalized one-to-one interactions, Pitch allows some of the work of student advising to happen remotely and asynchronously. This has a huge potential benefit for non-traditional students who may be juggling work and family obligations along with their educations.
Improving student outreach and outcomes will always require a multi-pronged approach. But by working with Caliper and implementing Pitch, universities can expand their toolboxes for chipping away at this long-standing challenge.
How are real schools embracing data standards? Watch the webinar “End to End with Caliper: The Advantages of Data Standards for Video.”
