Students’ emotional well-being supported by technology and ‘data use’

Admission to higher education often means an important adaptation process in students’ lives. If you add to this the radical changes and therefore the effects of the health crisis due to COVID-19 and the “new normal” for the student community, the scenario becomes even more difficult.

From then on, learning models underwent a worldwide transformation from classrooms to virtual systems – now hybrid today. And although there have been several studies since the 1960s and 1970s regarding the impact of comprehensive tracking of the student, which includes physical, emotional and social aspects in addition to academic aspects, until now there has been no support for methods of student well-being developed rapidly. “The pandemic has been one of the key moments in promoting a shift in the focus of higher education institutions from ‘student success’ to ‘student wellness,’ as it became clear that academic success goes beyond the classroom. classes (face-to-face or virtual),” says Jose Luis Moreno, Product Director of Ellucian, a global leader in higher education management technology development.

Forced virtualization has drastically changed the plans and processes that each institution had in place for managing student welfare, which were of course based on personal communication and face-to-face interaction. The situation is alarming when various surveys at the national level show that more than 70% of students believe that their emotional state has been negatively affected by the pandemic.

So, in increasingly hybrid learning environments, how is it possible to identify those students who need more support? That’s where the data comes from.

Using data on emotional well-being

The Ellucian expert explains that most aspects of student well-being can be identified quantitatively or qualitatively. Both sources of information can be linked to a formula that allows identifying states of emotional well-being and alerting the institution when there are red flags in a student.

“The effective use of information to identify behavior or trends, as well as the reliance on historical data, allows the student to be tracked from the moment he makes his first contact with the institution, which greatly increases the ability to support him and ensure his overall welfare,” he commented. Luis Moreno.

From Ellucian, they illustrate some data sources that help institutions support and improve students’ emotional well-being. In the case of “Student Achievement and Interaction”, by analyzing data such as grades, GPA, class attendance, enrollment in extracurricular seminars, among others, institutions can alert and allocate resources and academic support plans to students who need it. Let’s not forget that nearly 40% of students in the region indicate that the context of the pandemic has negatively affected their academic performance.

On the other hand, with respect to “Financial Information” data such as payment status, financial aid situation, scholarship applications, student benefits, among others, higher education communities can not only guide students through the application process benefits, but also allow them to gather information to provide them with the help they need without their economic situation affecting their performance, social-emotional well-being and even leading to possible academic dropout. “In the context of the pandemic, a significant number of households experienced some adverse event in the family nucleus, which accentuated the reduction in income. And it has been proven that financial concerns create significant obstacles for students and their educational process,” the Ellucian expert points out.

This and much more will be discussed at the Ellucian User Conference in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will bring together the higher education community to support them in their institutional modernization and meeting new market demands with technological innovation and a focus on student success. The event will take place in Santiago between October 3 and 5 at the Santiago Marriott Hotel.