Introduction
When scholarly students feel under-engaged by their instructors, they develop trends that result in absenteeism and tardiness, often leading to underperformance or dropping out. Scholarly students experience increased risks when considering social status, position, and career risks related to being certificate or degree holders. With the increased dropout risks and poor performance among scholarly students, institutions are concerned about the economic impact attributed to student attrition. For higher learning institutions to help their students, they provoke conversations and challenge their novices, validate learning and celebrate students’ accomplishments, and know when and how to get in touch with their learners.
Discussion
To help scholarly students overcome difficulties, higher learning institutions provoke conversations and challenge their learners. Higher education learners struggle to be engaged and challenged, which serves as an opportunity for them to discuss different topics. At the same time, their notions are questioned, which offers them a chance to self-reflect and engage (Branson et al., 2018). Education technology tools offer a platform for this to happen, and by setting up, monitoring, and sometimes ranking dialog environments, they enable students to give high-quality feedback (Branson et al., 2018). When they become engaged, the learners are motivated to interact with course content whenever asked for their opinion. Further, the platforms foster a setting where learners easily communicate their issues and allow them to create peer-collaborated networks. Engaging with students is one way that institutions show they care about what learners have to say, which motivates them to improve their performance.
When colleges validate learning and celebrate students’ accomplishments, they realize their contributions are noticed. One way to achieve this is by using virtual and blended classrooms where activities like watching and listening to TED talks and linking articles to actual situations enable learners to connect with real problems (Branson et al., 2018). Like instructors, learners have an opportunity to reflect on their engagement and discussions, enabling them to receive due credit. The more involved instructors are in their student’s learning activities and lives, the more they demonstrate education. Such approaches are critical for learners since they help them feel validated, and celebrating their accomplishments makes them proud of their work.
Colleges know when and how to get in touch with their learners. Through several technology tools, the institutions ensure their students are well-informed about when instructors are available for synchronous office hours and asynchronous communications (Branson et al., 2018). These approaches encourage students to come forward with questions and issues they face whenever they arise. Further, with effective interactions between learners and their instructors, the latter easily set clear expectations on how the former can access course-related content. For example, establishing a digital community in the learning environment helps with fast answers, which offers a platform where they can look forward to receiving assistance (Branson et al., 2018). When teachers moderate the discussions in the communities, it warrants the sharing of the correct information and helps identify learners responsible for the exceptional work within the communities. With such approaches, student-instructor relationships are established on trust, and the learners commit to their education, believing their teachers care about them.
Conclusion
Through different strategies, colleges can help students overcome learning difficulties and improve their engagement. The benefit of the above approaches is that they enable apprentices to access the right academic resources and develop meaningful relationships with their instructors; despite challenges being part of the learning process, institutions help their students control their low productivity, which might lead to dropouts or underperformance.
Reference
Branson, C. M., Marra M., Franken M. & Penney D. (2018). Leadership in higher education from a translational perspective. Bloomsbury Academic.