Students are struggling, with experts predicting an increase in dropout rate thanks partly to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This decrease in student retention is due to a few main reasons.
- Frustration - For many students, being on campus or in a school building is incredibly stressful, which can lead to frustration clouding their education and judgment. They either become so frustrated they drop out or are encouraged to drop out by a school that struggles to handle them.
- Boredom - Students stuck in a classroom or without the proper learning tools become bored to the point where they give up on their education.
- Life Events - A family death, a health diagnosis, unexpected pregnancy or lapse in income can lead to students dropping out of school.
- Failure - Different students learn in different ways. Without proper support, they cannot keep up academically and choose to drop out.
All of these scenarios are hard for anyone to deal with, especially when trying to focus on their education.
Thankfully, recent advancements in educational technology, also known as edtech, provide students with the tools they need to succeed despite the above challenges. Here’s how edtech increases student retention.
Decreased Stress
School is an environment where some students thrive, and others are overwhelmed. For overwhelmed students, education technology can be a great solution to reducing their stress and helping them learn more effectively.
Online learning allows students to escape the chaos and social pressures of on-campus life and focus on their education. Many edtech resources allow learning flexibility, where students can do their classes when they feel most comfortable, eliminating the need to sit through class during stressful times.
In a recent study, 63% of students said online learning technology helped reduce stress.
Remote learning platforms allow students more time for family and social activities since students can do remote learning almost anywhere with an internet connection. The flexibility it offers also enables students to work when necessary since they don’t have to travel to and remain on campus.
Accessibility
In a non-technological school setting, students with physical disabilities struggle to see, hear and move about campus. Thankfully, edtech helps these students get the same quality of education as students without disabilities.
Integrated technology allows students who can’t write or type to complete assignments. Hard-of-hearing students can watch lectures with subtitles and use messaging software to communicate with teachers and other students.
Visually impaired students can access their classes with adaptive technology, including audio recordings, braille keyboards and voice-to-text software.
Edtech also allows students that have physical disabilities to have the freedom of doing classes from home with an adaptive space that lets them learn as they need to and still keep up with a public or private education program.
Students in a virtual setting can communicate directly with an instructor or other students without all of the distraction and background noises of a classroom.
New Learning Resources
Some students don’t learn well with a lecture and assigned reading. New learning platforms allow students to engage with materials in many ways, catering to their unique learning styles.
Teachers and professors can make interactive videos of their lessons to send their students to watch when they can.
Artificial intelligence programs summarize lessons and take notes in real-time, eliminating the stress of keeping up with notes during lectures.
Games and virtual worlds also aid lessons by teaching through entertainment and interactivity while personalizing learning for different groups of students.
Increasing Student Retention
Students are vulnerable to conditions and events that are beyond their control. These things make it even harder to participate in a one-size-fits-all learning system. Thankfully, edtech can keep students in school by providing them with learning opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t happen and the tools needed to get the most out of their education.