Tertiary students have come under tremendous pressure in recent times. Whether it’s the impacts of Covid-19 on the economy or the uncertainties of a shape-shifting job market, it’s possible enrolling in and completing a prolonged program of education and training has never been harder.

The question is, how will we know what support students need if we don’t check in with them?

Student check-ins are a secret weapon in education and training provider success, with a range of benefits for students and providers. Automating the student check-in progress can ensure students are not forgotten or lost in the mix and are supported from enrolment through to completion.

Here are just some of the advantages provided by automating student check-ins.

1 Motivation and Engagement

The level of a student’s motivation and engagement (from the ‘gateway’ moment of enrolment through to the rest of the course) is strongly correlated with their ability to see a course through to completion. Without motivation, it’s easy for students to end up as a non-completion statistic.

Scheduled, regular student check-ins facilitate the monitoring and engendering of motivation for learning. Through seeking to understand a student’s genuine barriers and challenges, students are given the chance to have their situation heard and to gain feedback and action in response.

2 Individualised Support Service

An automated check-in process can act much like a 24/7 emergency room in a hospital. By assessing and triaging students as they come through an always-on, automated process, providers are able to provide individualised and appropriate support for the welfare of each and every student.

Whether it’s linking them to further learning resources, teeing them up with a mentor, offering student services like mental health, or adapting learning programs to meet individual capabilities on the go, they are the regular pulse check educators need to ensure students are on track.

3 Organisation and Efficiency

Automated check-ins bring coordination to student welfare and support services. By centralising and templating the process across all student records, providers gain both consistency of process to ensure no one falls through the cracks, as well as significant administration efficiency.

Technology is a key ally in this. Rather than conducting check-ins on an ad hoc basis, led largely by students presenting with problems and trying to put out fires as they occur, providers can take a proactive approach that is likely to be well received by students regardless of their situation.

4 Completion and Employment

Ultimately, what these automated, regular student check-ins are designed to achieve is the eventual successful completion of the education and training program. With the constancy of support right along the way, students are better able to reach the goal post.

This of course leads to better all-round employment prospects out in the world. Rather than a partially finished training program (with the self-recriminations that may flow), students leave with a qualification they can use in the job market, where their next learning journey will begin.

Switching on to check-ins

Student Management Systems can allow the automation of the student check-in process. Integrated within the student journey and adaptable based on the individual circumstances or risk factors of an individual student, it can create a structured schedule of contacts for monitoring purposes.

This includes the admin process associated with managing check-ins. For example, JR Plus and VETtrak Cloud allow caseloads to be created for support staff, and any activity related to managing students accessing support can be centralised for appropriate control, oversight and compliance.

Combining opportunities like workplace visits, monitoring contacts and welfare sessions with other optional behavioural science tools (which can diagnose student motivation throughout the journey) student check-ins can become a central point of difference rather than an afterthought.