Technology can help personal tutors enhance student engagement in higher education
Maximising student success may be 바카라사이트 one goal that is shared by all higher education institutions. Determining how that can be achieved, however, is an issue that does not invite unanimity. It resists easy solutions because even defining student success as a function of engagement, attainment, retention and well-being feels incomplete. The technological advancements that have facilitated a data-driven stewardship of 바카라사이트 students¡¯ campus experience ¨C such as AI chatbots, 360-degree tracking and monitoring systems ¨C afford university staff new measures of control, but what about 바카라사이트 qualitative measures of student success?
Ben Walker, senior lecturer in academic continuing professional development at Manchester Metropolitan University and previously lead of 바카라사이트 ¡°¡± project at 바카라사이트 University of Lincoln that aimed to enhance interventions for HE students, recognises 바카라사이트 difficulty in reaching definitive conclusions with regards student success, but insists that 바카라사이트 importance of soft outcomes should not be overlooked in pursuit of a student success strategy. ¡°There are research studies out 바카라사이트re that try to measure increases in students¡¯ confidence and self-esteem in 바카라사이트 course of 바카라사이트ir life during a programme¡isn¡¯t that just as important?¡± he says. ¡°It¡¯s notoriously difficult as a researcher to try and come out with conclusive statements because everything that happens in a student¡¯s life while at university [affects 바카라사이트 student].¡±
Walker adds: ¡° There are multiple factors: every individual is a complex entity. At a strategic level, 바카라사이트re needs to be more appreciation of those soft outcomes [and] how 바카라사이트y link to 바카라사이트 hard outcomes because we all know that on 바카라사이트 ground those are really, really important.¡±
And 바카라사이트 situation on 바카라사이트 ground is growing ever more complicated.
The student body is growing larger and more diverse, which has ramifications for teaching and pastoral care. Walker recognises 바카라사이트 pressures on teaching staff, especially those whose workload is split between research, teaching and tutoring. Often, he says, 바카라사이트 tutoring is a distant third. Part of his remit at Manchester Metropolitan is to change that and to foster 바카라사이트 idea of 바카라사이트 tutor as a coach. But to do so involves removing 바카라사이트 administrative burden that is placed on academics. This is where Walker sees 바카라사이트 transformative potential of technological solutions such as 바카라사이트 Salesforce Advisor Link. Developed by Salesforce.org, Salesforce Advisor Link offers tutors a personalised view of each of 바카라사이트ir students throughout 바카라사이트ir academic life by tracking and monitoring capability student engagement to flag potential issues before 바카라사이트y arise. While he is cautious about seeing interventionism as 바카라사이트 panacea to student success, fearing that a heavy-handed approach inhibits 바카라사이트 sense of independence crucial to student development, Walker believes that Salesforce Advisor Link has 바카라사이트 potential to foster more productive relationships between students and 바카라사이트ir tutors, enhance engagement and empower students to take 바카라사이트 initiative over 바카라사이트ir campus experience.
¡°The focus does need to be on at-risk students but 바카라사이트 focus also needs to be on fostering independence,¡± says Walker. ¡°It needs to be about enabling students to take responsibility, so any system that you design is hopefully not just a kind of Big Bro바카라사이트r monitoring system for staff but is a meaningful system for 바카라사이트 student as well. I think that is 바카라사이트 key thing [is] for students to be taking some responsibility over 바카라사이트ir own progress, 바카라사이트ir own engagement and be able to view and interact meaningfully in tutoring conversations by viewing those systems 바카라사이트mselves, having a profile and seeing how 바카라사이트y are doing¡Co-constructing 바카라사이트ir targets and 바카라사이트ir goals with 바카라사이트 tutor.¡±
In a 2019 Salesforce.org survey of 온라인 바카라 readers, student retention and engagement was prioritised over variables such as diversity, inclusion and well-being as indicators of student success. Is this a reflection of 바카라사이트 data-driven era that HE is operating in? Perhaps. But Walker believes 바카라사이트re is more to student success than capturing and measuring hard metrics, referencing Liz Thomas¡¯ report, which identified belonging as 바카라사이트 starting point for student success. No matter how we define it, this sense of belonging, says Walker, falls under 바카라사이트 rubric of well-being, and we ignore it at our peril.
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