How do you encourage students to participate, especially the ones who really need the experience but donʻt want it?
When it comes to student participation in programming designed to ease the transition to college and increase engagement, motivation is perhaps the most challenging element. The question arises: To require, or not to require? Requiring something may deliver higher completion numbers, but can often dampen enthusiasm, and may drive students to put in only the minimum effort and focus necessary to complete the required actions. Not requiring something, on the other hand, may lower completion numbers, but because the students who choose to participate do so of their own volition, the voluntary nature may deepen engagement and takeaway for those who take advantage of it.
This is a call for each institution, and many factors are involved. Do you want to make sure that as many students as possible have at least a basic minimum of the experience, or would you prefer to have students choose to participate and earn the benefit of deeper engagement? This is perhaps too simplistic, and institutions may want to layer on different elements of both – requiring one element of programming and having another optional, for example, hoping that the requirement drives more students to opt in further.
Are the strategies going to be different based on the college that the students will be attending?
Strategies for engaging students in a transition to college vary enormously depending on a myriad of factors particular to each institution – type of institution, budget available for programming, needs of the student body, typical level of preparation for college, and much more.
In fact, one of the values of including a coaching element in a summer bridge or transition program is that it is malleable to any institution or situation. Because coaching is student-centered, it supports each particular student in the context of that student’s unique situation at a given institution.
How do we garner consistent engagement for students and parents?
Consistent engagement is a noble ideal, but elusive to say the least. Each student arrives with their own native talents, level of preparation, family understanding of college culture, family structure, level of support, and more. Because an individual institution cannot reasonably design programming to suit each of these individual students and situations, institutions must choose strategies designed to engage a majority of students.
Offering the opportunity to engage is a necessary baseline. Institutions may reach out to students and parents via e-mail and text, set up websites and newsletters, and create orientations – whether virtual or in-person – that give students and parents a chance to take a deeper dive into what lies ahead. Human connection is perhaps the most effective driver of engagement. Connecting students to fellow entering students, peer mentors, coaches and other support staff, and faculty will increase student engagement and enhance any programming designed to accompany these interactions. Connecting parents to staff as well as to other parents has a similar effect, even if it is simply through a newsletter from staff to new parents, or a social media site on which parents are invited to connect with one another.
