According to surveys by Inside Higher Ed and Collegis Education, students have reported frustrating website interactions and glitches with online learning.
OAK BROOK, Ill. and WASHINGTON, Aug. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — A new study reveals that the quality of students' campus technology experiences significantly impacts their decisions to enroll and continue their education. Conducted by Inside Higher Ed in collaboration with Collegis Education, the study, titled “Tech Trouble: How Student Interactions with Technology Impact Persistence,” surveyed 450 U.S. students about their opinions of the technology they use on a daily basis. Respondents included a variety of students from public and private four-year institutions, technical schools, and community colleges who are learning online, in-person, and in hybrid modes.
“Technology today impacts nearly every aspect of a learner's higher education experience, even for students who are primarily learning face-to-face on a physical campus,” said Doug Lederman, editor and co-founder of Inside Higher Ed. “This important report from IHE and our colleagues at Times Higher Education and our partners at Collegis shows just how much an institution's technology practices and policies can impact the learner experience — for better or for worse.”
Key findings include:
– More than 40 percent of college students who have had frustrating experiences with technology at school report that these issues may affect their decision to enroll next semester, and 39 percent say they will also affect whether they continue taking classes.
– But students who have a bad experience on a school's website may not apply or enroll at all: More than a quarter of students reported that they found the process of researching and applying to their desired program on an institution's website to be at least somewhat difficult.
– Online learning has certainly grown in recent years, but students don't seem to be getting the learning experience they'd hoped for. A significant portion of respondents noted frequent or very frequent lags, outages, and slow connections on their online learning platforms. 70% of face-to-face learners and 79% of online learners said these issues have impacted their learning experience to some extent.
– More than half of students reported that digital poverty, outdated hardware and software, lack of IT support and low digital literacy are impacting their learning experience.
“Today's students have high expectations for technology when they come to campus, whether in-person or online. But our research shows that those expectations are often not met, resulting in frustration and sometimes decisions not to continue their education or to abandon application or enrollment altogether,” said Jason Nairn, vice president of information technology and security at Collegis. “With technology woven into every aspect of learning, from interactions with administrators to myriad experiences on and off campus, it's important that higher education leaders view technology not as a utility but as an asset that can have a powerful impact on student retention and persistence. Paying attention to providing positive technology experiences for prospective and current students is critical to the future of many colleges and universities.”
The full survey can be downloaded here: https://collegiseducation.com/insights/student-experience/tech-troubles-how-technology-student-interactions-impact-retention-ihe-report
About College Education
Collegis Education is an innovation driver in higher education, providing schools with a better vision of how they fit into the lives of their learners and what's possible when they do. As industry pioneers with over a decade of experience, we've demonstrated how leveraging data, technology and talent can transform everything from student experience to business processes. As higher education evolves, it requires thought partners and tactical professionals, not packaged products and platforms. Our strategic services help institutions make the leap from question to execution, execute long-term growth plans and build the internal capabilities to succeed in a complex marketplace. Learn more at CollegisEducation.com.
About Inside Higher Ed
Inside Higher Ed provides the entire higher education community with breaking news, analysis and solutions. Inside Higher Ed is owned by Times Higher Education (THE), the world's most authoritative source of data, analysis and information on higher education, with 50 years of experience in the field. Our mission is to provide forward-looking insights and services to the entire higher education community, empowering individuals and organizations to excel and transform the lives of learners. We are proud to have earned the trust and loyalty of more than 2 million monthly readers by providing a rigorously independent voice and thoughtful, substantive analysis on the pressing issues facing higher education today. For more information about Inside Higher Ed, please visit www.insidehighered.com.
Media Contact
Lisa Wolf, L. Wolf Communications for Colleges Education, 1 3129538085, (email protected), www.collegiseducation.com
Source: L. Wolfe Communications for Collegis Education
