Research Reveals Growing Demand to Connect Academic Learning to Careers
4) Tech access: Though it is well-established that access to technology has the biggest impact on student success, "we haven’t solved the accessibility gap for many learners," the report said. "Institutions risk widening the gap in accessibility for students with little or no access to technology, ed tech tools, and reliable Wi-Fi or broadband connections."
5) Mental health days: Students and educators surveyed said they appreciate campus-provided mental health resources such as digital or in-person counseling, but what "students and educators want most are personal/mental health days off to recharge," the report said.
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66% of North American institutions surveyed offer counseling
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57% offer “well-being events”
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54% offer mental health hotlines
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41% of respondents identified “personal/mental health days off to recharge” as the top resource they desire that is not offered by their institutions
6) Professional support and career development: Educators — who are "dealing with bigger classes, more regulation, and demands for greater flexibility" in how instruction is delivered, the report noted — said they most desired that their institutions would "offer additional personal development, acknowledge/award their achievements, and provide them with opportunities to give feedback," Instructure said. Respondents said the professional development opportunities most often available to educators through institutions are technology training and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training.
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45% of educators surveyed said the resource they most want their institutions is “additional personal development”
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43% want their institutions to “acknowledge/award their achievements”
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32% want their institutions to “provide them with opportunities to give feedback”
“The once-traditional picture of higher education student success and career readiness is changing. Students are no longer linearly learning new skills, but independently advancing their skill set,” said Melissa Loble, Chief Academic Officer for Instructure. “As the workplace continues to evolve, students are exploring alternative learning options, such as skills-based certificate and apprenticeship programs, that provide flexibility and allow them to get into the workforce faster or upskill and explore different career paths.”
The 2023 State of Student Success and Engagement in Higher Education survey was developed in coordination with Hanover Research and fielded in July 2023, Instructure said.
Learn more at Instructure.com or download the full report at Instructure.com/research/state-of-higher-education.
About the Author
Kristal Kuykendall is editor, 1105 Media Education Group. She can
be reached at [email protected].