Student Engagement
When a student is considered to be engaged in his college? When he frequently attends classes? When he is timely submitting required work? Or maybe when he is always following the directions from his teacher? Well, I guess a student can be very committed to his personal learning goals, and therefore attend all classes, always do his homework, and dutifully obeys the teachers, without actually being engaged in or committed to his college?
Then maybe a student’s engagement should be measured by the frequency of his interactions with the college. Is he visiting the college website from time to time? Does he talk about the college on social media? Is he attending events organized by the college that are not directly related to his study? Does he for instance participate in college sports?
In the business world today Customer Engagement is a very hot topic. It is widely believed that customers that the more customers communicate with or about a company, the more likely they will be loyal to that company and even willing to act as an advocate or promotor of that company. Even a customer who is dissatisfied, but still is in dialog with a company, is more likely to stay as a customer, than a customer who is not engaging with the company at all.
In this perspective truly engaged students are the ones who are in constant dialog with the university. The ones who talk about the college on social media, the ones who complain, the ones who have questions, the ones that ask for recognition… And engaged students will be the best ambassadors for the university, contributing to increased student satisfaction, a better image and in the end even more students. Therefore, encouraging the dialogue is extremely important for colleges and universities. They should trigger the students to post about the college and its events on social media and always be responsive when questions and complaints come in. When each contact is dealt with professionally and when students are treated as respected customers the level of engagement will automatically rise, and eventually the student population will increase or at least be more satisfied.
CRM FOR EDUCATION 