How Can Universities Ensure That Their Student Engagement Phase Is Successful?
.png)
There are various phases students go through during their educational journey. At StudentPulse, we emphasise 6 journey steps: attraction, preboarding, onboarding, engagement, offboarding and alumni. All of these phases have great importance when it comes to providing the best student experience. Now that both preboarding and onboarding are completed, students are facing another important student journey phase namely engagement. This phase is one of the longest student journey steps which also means that this is where students’ experience will be affected the most. But what does student engagement mean, and why does it affect student experience so much? In the following, we will provide our insights on student engagement.
Let’s start with what student engagement is. Student engagement showcases the level of how motivated the students are to gain knowledge, how easy it is for them to stay attentive, how passionate they are about their courses and how optimistic they are about what they are studying. The student engagement phase includes all of the points mentioned above and so much more. This means that it focuses on students’ everyday life at university and everything that affects how engaged and happy the students are, including the environment, communication, study-life balance etc.
As we mentioned previously, the student engagement phase is the longest student journey step. During this phase, students experience a lot of changes since they need to get adjusted to the new educational institution, new people, new routines and a different way of studying. This is the time when students have their hands full of responsibility and it might be hard for them to be engaged if they are dealing with so many changes at the same time. Not only student engagement can suffer, but also their mental wellbeing which might then lead to doubts about if they have chosen the correct education for them. The goal of creating the best student experience is to help your students as much as possible to adapt to the changes they experience and keep them engaged.
The best way to make sure that your university is successful in providing the best student experience in the engagement phase, is by asking your students frequently for feedback. Here are four suggestions from us on what could improve your student experience in the engagement phase.
Key takeaways to create a successful engagement phase:
Communicate with students continuously
We have previously mentioned that 30% of students would like to get in touch with student counselors during the onboarding phase. You should be aware that some of your students will feel the same way in the engagement phase. Easy access to student counselors could prevent various issues that students may face in the beginning of the engagement phase such as worries about the educational content, level of workload, exams and social life. With the help of easily accessible student counselors these doubts could be eliminated early in the education.
Support your students
During the engagement phase, students are most committed to their education. For that reason, the university should show their students that they are supported and appreciated.In addition, it can be beneficial for universities to have open communication on what type of ordinary and extraordinary support they are able to offer for their students to keep them motivated and engaged. Whether it’s an occasional visit from field specialists, free external lectures or other educational material that can provide additional knowledge and assurance that they have made the right choice of education. It can also be done by providing positive verbal feedback and creating relevant positive experiences that your students enjoy.
Create space for students to keep socialising
Encourage your students to socialise repeatedly during school activities and outside of school. This can be done by creating group assignments, program events and overall university events. Socialising students can provide added benefits not only to their personal well-being but also increase their motivation to study. It is observed that quite often students have strengths with different competences and they can supply each other with sharing their knowledge.
Why is it important to collect student feedback?
Engaging with your students will help your university to improve programs, courses and overall study environment. It will also enable you to evaluate any potential problem areas that can cause any type of miscommunication or other issues that can affect how students perceive the university or how successful they are in their education. At StudentPulse, we see that improving university experience after receiving student feedback provides added benefit since students feel that they are taken seriously and that their voice matters.
How successful do you think your university is with providing the best student experience during the engagement phase? Do you know what your students think about your university and the experience it creates for them? This is something we work with at StudentPulse every day. We have created a framework of micro surveys that help educational institutions understand what experiences their students enjoy and what could be improved.
If you would like to learn more about collecting feedback from your students, increasing their engagement and providing the best student experience, feel free to contact us and set up a meeting.
