Colleges need a deliberate online strategy to better serve first-generation students (2024)
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Scott Pulsipher is the president of Western Governors University, a nonprofit online institution headquartered in Salt Lake City.
A majority of college students, around 70%, are now enrolled in at least one online course, signaling a promising shift that could benefit learners who have historically been let down by traditional education models.
Most students are readily embracing this tech-enabled future, according to new research from WGU Labs, the research and innovation arm of Western Governors University.
The organization surveyed more than 3,000 students across nine diverse institutions including community colleges, private and public four-year institutions, and primarily online, not-for-profit colleges. At least 80% of respondents agreed that online and hybrid are effective formats of learning. More than 70% agreed that ed tech not only makes their courses more engaging, but also helps them more effectively learn course material.
First-generation learners were especially positive about the shift online. More than three-quarters of these students, 76%, indicated they would be interested in taking online courses in the future, nearly ten percentage points higher than their peers with college-educated parents.
But there’s a disconnect. Despite growing interest and potential for the medium to revolutionize learning and break down barriers, too many online courses offer a lackluster learning experience, resulting in poor outcomes that can leave vulnerable students worse off.
Not all online learning is created equally
Relative to their peers, first-generation students are less likely toreach graduation. This signals that institutions are failing to meet the needs of a more diverse student body. While far from a silver bullet, the ability to learn anytime, anywhere — and often for a fraction of the cost — can be particularly impactful for these individuals who are more likely to juggle full-time jobs, come from low-income families, and provide for dependents while pursuing their degrees.
Their unique experiences may also render them more open to innovative, tech-enabled models. Whereas college-educated parents often project their own aspirations and preconceived notions of what college means onto their children, first-generation students are immune.
Despite the potential for online learning to enhance the student experience and drive equitable outcomes, many institutions have historically deployed tech primarily to mitigate revenue shortfalls and meet enrollment targets, often replicating face-to-face instruction via antiquated web-conferencing tools and demanding full price tags that leave students saddled in debt.
Programs like these are a reminder that online learning is a tool — not a means to an end. And that end should ultimately be to deliver value to students.
The future of learning is online, but higher ed leaders won’t meet this moment without a deliberate online strategy. To that end, leaders should ensure online courses and programs include the following key components:
Intentional design: Online learning should be purposefully designed for the virtual environment, removing artificial constraints that exist in traditional models of learning — for instance synchronous virtual lectures, and fixed-pace schedules — and leveraging digital tools that have been strategically selected for their ability to enhance learning.
Excellent teaching: Whereas in-person learning requires that faculty live near campus, programs that deploy online learning have the benefit of sourcing the best teachers in the world. But it’s not enough to identify instructors with expertise in teaching; faculty must also be given sufficient time, resources, input, and training to effectively useed tech.
Engaging experience: Innovations in ed tech can enable faculty to pull from diverse sources of media and content, leverage motivational techniques, and engage their students in ways that are difficult to replicate in-person at scale via virtual labs, peer-to-peer interaction and practice environments.
Personalized learning: Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, readily available data on how students are doing can empower faculty to adapt and personalize learning materials and experiences through timely interventions. At WGU, for instance, we use machine intelligence to better understand our students’ momentum at a given moment, drawing on indicators such as how they’re interacting with learning resources, the extent to which they’re engaging with faculty, and how they’re progressing. By identifying when students have less momentum and are in greater need of support, faculty can design personalized interventions at the moments when students need them most.
Valuable credentials: Technology should be used to deliver an affordable learning experience. But affordability is only part of the equation. For students to derive real value, learning experiences must ultimately lead to economic mobility.
Every learner deserves the opportunity to earn a credential that can transform their lives, families and communities, and online learning can indeed be a powerful tool for expanding access to underserved student populations, including first-generation students.
But access without attainment is an empty promise. Leaders from long-respected, brick-and-mortar colleges and innovative online universities need to think differently about educating and supporting a diverse student body, whether through investing in new supports and wraparound services, or by embracing technology.
Done right, online learning can be a powerful vehicle for connecting individuals to opportunity. But if leaders aren’t careful, tech-enabled instruction — just like its in-person counterpart — has the potential to leave underserved students behind.
Colleges need a deliberate online strategy to better serve first-generation students. Higher education leaders won't meet the moment if their virtual courses merely replicate face-to-face learning, Western Governors University's leader says.
Validation. First-generation students may feel as if they are not a part of the college culture. One way to help their transition is to communicate a message of validation in the classroom. Simple actions in the classroom can communicate a message that every student is a valued member of the learning community.
For years, California schools have used first-generation college status as a means to boost campus diversity, especially after voters banned affirmative action in 1996. Following the U.S. Supreme Court's June 29 decision to end race-conscious admissions nationwide, the term is top of mind.
Build your academic skills such as studying, effective note-taking, and memorization techniques. Enhance your time management skills (creating a sleep & mealtime schedule, study time, etc.) Become familiar with each class' syllabus, assignments, due dates, etc. as well as academic expectations.
One of the first questions on the Common Application asks about the educational history of the applicant's parents. This information, along with other information (such as income and/or Pell Grants), helps colleges and universities decide who is a first generation student.
Lack of Self-esteem, College Adjustment, and Family Support
First-generation students may feel uncomfortable in the collegiate atmosphere. They may come from a different cultural background or SES and have different levels of college preparation than their college-going peers.
Final answer: The least beneficial approach for retaining first-generation college students is to overlook their specific challenges, such as the need for both financial and academic support, mentorship, and addressing the feeling of being disadvantaged.
An intrinsic desire for a better life through higher education. Desire to bring pride to family, school, and community through academic and career achievements. Resilient spirit and ability to persist in goals and dreams. Ability to overcome obstacles such as poverty, lack of family support, and institutional barriers.
The journey of a first-gen student involves navigating uncharted academic and cultural territories, often facing unique challenges in the pursuit of higher education. Their experiences are marked by resilience as they strive to overcome financial barriers and societal expectations.
However, for many first-generation students, college acceptance does not equate to a college credential or degree, with only 27.4% graduating within 4 years. These lower attrition rates stem from a lack of familial financial resources and inadequate academic preparation in high school.
These skills and characteristics—being hardworking, resilient, proactive, resourceful, and creative, among other characteristics—lead first gen students to success in school and life.
Other students said they feel their parents' lack of knowledge surrounding higher education adds more weight on their shoulders. “Because you're a first-gen student, you have the burden of your parents not going to college,” Torres said.
The more financial aid first-generation students receive, such as grants, scholarships, and work studies, the more likely they will become immersed in campus life and remain at the institution. Even working an on-campus job is a means for first-generation students to become connected.
While legacies get special consideration, so do students whose parents never went to college. Being a first-generation college student, regardless of your family's financial background, provides a huge admissions boost.
As of 2020, 54 percent of undergraduate students in the United States identified as first-generation, defined as an undergraduate student whose parents do not have a bachelor's degree.
First-gen students warrant more support than they get
The survey data shows first-gen students in public universities get about $5,100 in need-based aid and $10,100 total in their senior year, while non-first-gen students get about $3,200 in need-based aid and $8,700 overall.
The Ronald E.McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program is a TRIO program funded by the U.S. Department of Education and designed to prepare and support underrepresented undergraduate students in their pursuit of doctoral studies.
Meet diverse learners' needs through a range of classroom strategies that includes lecture, discussion, experiential learning, games, student presentations, technology integration, and free response writing.
Introduction: My name is Edwin Metz, I am a fair, energetic, helpful, brave, outstanding, nice, helpful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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