Published by Acadeum
The Need for Personalized Pathways to Degree Completion
The landscape of higher education continues to evolve rapidly. The demographics of today’s learners are shifting, with a growing number juggling work, family, and financial responsibilities. Learners are demanding flexibility and personalized pathways to degree completion as many no longer view higher education as a linear four-year model. This shift has created opportunities for institutions to innovate and rise to meet the changing demands, or face declining enrollment, stalled progress, and lost tuition revenue.
By collaborating with other institutions through a consortium model, colleges and universities can unlock new opportunities to support changing student demand through course sharing. This blog post will explore four key tactics academic leaders can employ to leverage course sharing and drive positive student outcomes.
Tactic 1: Make Course Sharing a Cornerstone of Your Retention Strategy
Imagine a student who is eager to graduate but faces a roadblock: a critical course isn’t offered in the current semester, and it could delay their progress and potentially derail their motivation. According to the Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse survey, six in ten students have experienced difficulty enrolling in a course they needed when they needed it. Course sharing offers a lifeline. By tapping into a network of institutions, student success champions can provide students with access to the courses they need, precisely when they need them. This eliminates bottlenecks, keeps students on track, and strengthens their commitment to degree completion. Course sharing can be a valuable intervention tool to prevent attrition and make completion pathways for students affordable and timely.
Tactic 2: Embrace Course Flexibility to Empower Diverse Learners
Today’s students don’t fit a single mold. They have varied backgrounds, commitments, and learning styles. Course sharing provides the agility to cater to this diversity with over 20 unique use cases to help students on their path to a degree. Consider these examples:
- Reengage Stopped-Out Students: Offer access to courses that fit their schedules and circumstances, encouraging them to reenroll and complete their degree.
- Support Academic Recovery: Provide opportunities for grade replacement, helping students regain academic standing and maintain financial aid eligibility.
- Navigate Scheduling Challenges: Offer alternatives for students facing waitlists, out-of-sequence courses, or limited course availability.
Tactic 3: Break Down Silos and Foster Campus-Wide Collaboration
Course sharing is a tool that can be used to foster campus-wide collaboration. Its benefits extend across the institution, empowering various departments to better serve students.
- Advisors & Student Services: Equip advisors with the information and resources to guide students toward course sharing options, facilitating timely graduation.
- Deans, Department Chairs & Faculty: Collaborate with faculty to identify course equivalencies, ensure a seamless transfer of credits, and even help create new academic programs with the consortial model.
- Enrollment Management & Admissions: Attract and retain students by showcasing the flexibility and expanded course offerings of course sharing.
- Athletics: Help student-athletes balance rigorous academic demands with their athletic commitments, ensuring they stay on track to graduate.
Tactic 4: Harness Technology to Streamline Processes
Technology plays a vital role in maximizing the impact of course sharing. The Acaceum Course Share platform helps empower stakeholders across campus and grants roles and permissions for individuals across different departments to facilitate efficient course discovery and enrollment. Institutions leveraging course sharing to the fullest potential have incorporated the Acadeum student app to provide students with a user-friendly interface to explore and enroll in courses from partner institutions. By preapproving courses within the app, institutions can now expand the footprint of academic advisors to support students and increase access to the courses they need when they need them.
Beyond the Tactics: Embracing a Culture of Collaboration
We encourage you to explore the possibilities of course sharing and consider how these tactics can be implemented at your institution. By partnering across the Acadeum network, colleges and universities have access to immediate course solutions allowing them to be nimble and responsive at a time when the needs, expectations, and preferences of today’s learners are dramatically shifting. Together, we can build a more connected and collaborative higher education ecosystem that empowers students to achieve their academic goals and thrive in a rapidly changing world.
