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Align IT With Institutional Priorities for Student Experience

Focus on data management to support insight and action on student behavior.

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  • The technology for learning and communication does not meet the students’ expectations.
  • The technology for operations is not optimized to support the students’ needs.
  • Data management is not mature, with siloed information and poor data governance.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

Institutional priorities for student experience demand effective integration of operations and insightful analytics on student behavior, neither of which can be achieved without strong data management.

Impact and Result

Leverage this research presentation to understand the issues around student experience and what the technology implications are.

  • What are the primary concerns of student experience?
  • What technology is required to address these concerns?
  • Why do student experience initiatives hinge upon strong data management?

Align IT With Institutional Priorities for Student Experience Research & Tools

1. Storyboard – Align IT with institutional priorities for student experience – A research presentation to learn about IT's role in supporting student experience initiatives at colleges and universities.

Leverage this research to develop an approach for IT to support student experience priorities.

This storyboard addresses the five areas of attention to improve student experience.

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Align IT with institutional priorities for student experience

Focus on data management to support insight and action on student behavior

Executive Summary

Institutional Challenge

The focus on improving the student experience is a challenge for colleges and universities because it expands beyond the institution’s historical area of competence:
  • Students have new and high expectations that don’t always align with those of the institution.
  • Institutions are assuming the responsibilities of social welfare.
  • There is static or declining enrolment, and funding is becoming increasingly tight.

Technology Obstacles

Technology has an important role to play in improving the student experience. However, the current technology ecosystem of most institutions is not able to meet the challenge:
  • The technology for learning and communication does not meet the students’ expectations.
  • The technology for operations is not optimized to support the students’ needs.
  • Data management is not mature, with siloed information and poor data governance.

Info-Tech’s Approach

Leverage this research presentation to understand the issues around student experience and what the technology implications are:
  • Identify the primary concerns of student experience.
  • Identify what technology is required to address these concerns.
  • Support the data maturity demanded by student experience initiatives using Info-Tech’s blueprints Create a Data Management Roadmap and Establish Data Governance.

Info-Tech Insight

Institutional priorities for student experience demand effective integration of operations and insightful analytics on student behavior, neither of which can be achieved without strong data management.

Student experience framework for IT

The student experience priorities are often highlighted in the mission and vision of the institution. There are five areas of attention to improve student experience.
A spectrum with an arrow leading from 'Less IT Involvement' to 'More IT Involvement'.
Strong data management is required to achieve effective integration of operations and insightful analytics on student behavior.

Identify student experience priorities

Improve technology for student engagement

Improve technology for operations

Optimize the SIS and CRM

Develop strong data management practices

Enhancing the instructional experience:
  • Student preference is shifting to hybrid instruction
  • Faculty struggle with technology
Connecting with students beyond the classroom:
  • Connecting early
  • Connecting socially
  • Connecting with the whole student
This technology directly supports the students’ learning and engagement
  • A mobile first, transactional student portal
  • Classroom technology to meet student preferences
  • Virtual engagement to support prospects, applicants, and current students.
These systems support operations in the pursuit of improving student experience:
  • Behavior intervention
  • Campus notification
  • Ticketing systems
  • Course scheduling
  • Shared advisor systems
The SIS improves student experience through:
  • Mandated access
  • Transfer credits
  • Data integration
An enterprise CRM:
  • Brings coherence to student communication and measures its value
  • Provides coherence to system architecture and data
Data management:
  • Ensures institutional unity in the approach to student experience initiatives
Data retention:
  • As more student data is collected in support of the student experience, data retention policies increase in concern.

Enhancing the student learning experience is interwoven with technology

Student preferences are shifting to more online learning.

Bar chart tracking the 'Change in student preference from 2020 to 2022 (percentage points).

The chart shows how student preference for different modes of instruction decreased or increased from pre-pandemic to post-pandemic. In general there is a trend away from face-to-face instruction and toward more online modes of instruction. (Source: Educause, 2022 n = 820)

Modality preferences
  • Student preferences are changing. Since the pandemic began there has been a marked shift in student preference toward online and hybrid modes of instruction.
  • Social interaction and academic engagement are the key success factors for successful implementation of learning technologies. It’s also important to remember that online doesn’t necessarily mean off-campus.
  • Twenty-nine percent of students still prefer completely face-to-face instruction (Educause, 2022). They represent a sizeable group of students that are resistant to the shift toward online and hybrid modes of instruction. This resistance may be related to access issues.
Access issues
  • Those with learning or physical disabilities will need accommodation for remote access. As the need for technology increases in instruction so do access issues. Also, the extra cost for technology impacts students affected by housing insecurity.

Faculty experience of teaching with technology differs from students

Faculty need support in the effective use of learning technology

87%

Eighty-seven per cent of educators felt that the quality of their instruction depended on their comfort with the technology. (Source: KPMG, 2022)

Faculty will need support.
  • Adjusting their pedagogy to new instructional modes will require faculty support as technology becomes more essential to the delivery of instruction.
  • Faculty learning communities where best practices are identified and disseminated is the best way to support transformation. IT can have a supporting role in these communities.
Demands on faculty will increase.
  • Hybrid and online learning increases the workload demands on faculty. IT will need to prioritize technical support for these sections.
Advising reduces the burden on faculty.
  • Analytics can be used to help advisors know which students to target for support. Sources of data include the LMS, attendance at class, and library usage. This data is used to create an activity metric to alert which students are falling behind.
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Author

Mark Maby

Contributors

  • Ken Libutti, Chief Information Officer, Palm Beach State College
  • Loretta Early, Executive Counsellor, Info-Tech Research Group
  • Mark Roman, Managing Partner, Info-Tech Research Group
  • Steve Di Filipo, Senior Executive Advisor, Info-Tech Research Group
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