Integrating Technology Solutions and Data Between the Curricular and Co-Curricular

Dr. Joe Thomas, Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Life, University of Colorado Boulder

Dr. Joe Thomas, Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Life, University of Colorado Boulder

Institutions of higher education are notorious for purchasing technological solutions to solve niche problems, when oftentimes enterprise solutions simply are not used to their full potential. Cross training and awareness lacks, so in large complex organizations, other areas purchase something similar without knowing about the already established options.

This leaves great opportunities for academics and student support (or Student Affairs) professionals alike. There are plenty of reasons for Academic Affairs and Student Affairs to collaborate and partner better. Technological solutions and data sharing can help streamline that. A mutual goal between these areas, and hopefully the institution overall, is student success. Both divisions need to be able to demonstrate how students meet learning outcomes, how efforts improve student outcomes including retention from year-to-year and their Grade Point Average (GPA). Student success professionals have also been focusing more and more on ensuring students have a strong sense of belonging and mattering - how students feel they fit in at the institution and whether the people there, care about them as individuals.

There are plentiful ways to do this, along with the rationale behind it. Starting with your campus’ Learning Management System (LMS), templates and standard design elements can be leveraged to include quick and easy ways for instructors to report and share concerns about students who have stopped attending class, performed poorly on an exam or have expressed personal concerns or barriers to their success. These data are then shared with key internal stakeholders to ensure students receive timely outreach and are connected with key resources based on what the instructors and faculty have reported. For instance, connecting students with tutoring, peer mentoring, counseling services, residential staff or others.

Student Affairs staff focus on the co-curricular or, in other words, the out-of-the-classroom experience, meant to build and develop students’ skillsets in various areas including communication, critical thinking, agency and others. The cocurricular is also meant to support students showing up as their best selves in the classroom. Because of this focus and these functions, Student Affairs staff have access to a great deal of student data - where they live, where they eat, if they are involved in student organizations or clubs, if they use the recreation facilities, participate in internships or student jobs, and if they are participating in service and volunteering. Those data are often collected in various systems as well, when utilized cross-functionally, can have great academic outcomes in the classroom as well.

“Student success professionals have also been focusing more and more on ensuring students have a strong sense of belonging and mattering - how students feel they fit in at the institution and whether the people there, care about them as individuals.”

These cocurricular aspects also have learning and developmental outcomes that oftentimes overlap with what is being accomplished in the classroom. For example, institutions often work to expand students' civic engagement through building their knowledge of, participation in and active engagement in local communities, government, key causes, so that they graduate ready to contribute to the betterment of society. Students are exposed to and develop these skills through service learning, volunteering, working in these sectors and/or participating in internships, all of which have specific outcomes that Student Affairs hope to achieve through completion of these activities. These activities are also often connected to knowledge and skills gained in the classroom and through coursework

Finally, and especially important as we observe the trends of our students post-pandemic, these data coming together help tell the story of the strengths and challenges of each new generation of students coming to campus. How students behave in their residence halls often mirror how they show up in classrooms. Because of this, it is helpful for Student Affairs staff to provide development and training to campus partners, faculty, etc. about these generational changes among students, how they communicate and what skills are lacking. For instance, students did not know how to engage with one another as future cohorts came to campus after experiencing a large portion of their secondary/high school education in isolation. Technological solutions capture this information and these trends in a few different ways, that when brought together with any trends occurring in the classroom, including how active students are in the classroom and any gaps in skills that emerge.

This sort of collaboration between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs and the technologies used and data collected therein, can significantly improve student outcomes and the student experience overall. It is also, oftentimes, the most impactful to underrepresented and marginalized student populations. These collaborations help ensure the students who need support the most, both in- and outside the classroom get it and that the faculty and staff designated to serve them have the appropriate information and data to do so. By better leveraging shared technologies across campus and integrating them between the curricular and cocurricular, students get an improved holistic experience that is less disjointed, demonstrates clear and effective support across campus, and improves student learning, retention and likelihood for graduation.