7 Ways Universities Can Improve Student Performance

Every year the faculty and administration of every university have one goal staring them in their faces. That goal is to provide quality education. It begins the moment student enrollment takes place and continues beyond final exams. Providing the utmost quality should be a top priority, even when it seems as though the students are doing well. If there are any slip-ups, then that quality will dip, compromising not just student performance but their futures as well. So what can universities do to maintain a certain level of performance standard? Here to answer that question are seven ways that any educational institution can use.

7 Ways Universities Can Improve Student Performance

Ways Centered Around People

The following are methods universities can use that involve faculty and students alike. Improvement is not something achieved by just one group of people; it requires the efforts of everybody involved. A closer look at the following would be a boon to any school that wants its students to go above and beyond their current achievements.

Assess Faculty Suitability

We’ve all heard the saying, “There are no bad students, only bad teachers.” While the reality is more complicated than that, no one has ever benefited from teachers who can’t justify their wages. Like underperforming students, some professors either lack the skill or the will to do their jobs effectively. Universities need to stay on top of this. Having professors who are inadequate for their roles hurt not just the students, but also the university brand. Conduct job assessments regularly so that the administration can receive necessary feedback on how the faculty staff is doing. Or better yet, hire the best college faculty in the first place.

Identify At-Risk Students

Same as how not all teachers are created equal, there are many glaring discrepancies among students. People struggle differently from one another, and universities must identify those who are at the most significant risk. After all, they are the ones who require guidance the most. Student retention is dependent on those enrolled being able to meet the standards of the school. While there will be those who are merely lazy, many more are challenged by genuinely tricky roadblocks. Finding out who these people are is a matter of checking their records and scheduling meetings with them to get to the bottom of their scholastic predicaments.

Perform Regular Evaluations

Having explored the issues of ill-suited teachers and underperforming students, now comes the pragmatic approach that can affect both. The need for regular assessments was mentioned before, but how it is conducted is another subject entirely. For students, universities can assign academic advisers to keep track of specific individuals. They can meet according to an agreed-upon schedule to discuss challenges and happenings. Regarding faculty members, surveys conducted either online or offline will do. A report on the individual in question will detail their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities for success, and threats to their growth.

Set Goals for the Students

Students are, for the most part, already aware of their grade requirements. Yet that may not be enough in some instances. On a more personal level, many need that extra push provided by specific goals. What those are will vary depending on the individual. How universities can help out is to check in with students through their academic advisors to set up a goal checklist. Detailed within those checklists can range from study habits and class tidbits to more personal metrics.

Ways Centered Around Methodology

While there will always be issues centered around the behavior and performance of students and faculty alike, sometimes it’s the system that needs adjusting. Universities that have been around for more than a few decades may still employ old-fashioned methods that are unfortunately inadequate in the present day. Perhaps some may benefit from a few simple alternatives as opposed to a complete overhaul. Whatever the case may be, the following are ways that any school can implement.

Utilize Technology Effectively

Social media is a polarizing platform that’s deemed both a boon and a hindrance. When it comes to education, it certainly has its uses. An infographic released by Elearning Infographics reveals some interesting statistics on the topic. It reported that 59% of students use social media to discuss educational topics. Another stat shown is that 49% of National School Boards Association schools participate in interschool online collaboration projects. Lastly, around 27% of schools run online communities for their teaching staff and administrators. These findings point to the fact that technology can be perfectly suitable for educational purposes, provided that it is used right.

Introduce Adaptive Learning

A multitude of students and teachers alike will relate to the following scenario. In a group setting, there’s bound to be one who has trouble grasping the complex analysis or concept being taught. The instructor decides to hone in on that student and alter advice and hints in response to the learner’s verbal and physical cues. In doing so, the instructor introduces adaptive learning to his or her ward. Teachers can do this to accommodate any confusion or difficulty that individual students may express. Although this can be difficult to do on a mass scale, it is guaranteed to produce better singular results at the very least. The fact that people have different learning capacities makes adaptive learning a highly effective method to employ.

Restructure Ineffective Teaching Methods

Finding out which teaching methods no longer work will require a lot of time and effort on your part. Administrators must coordinate with the faculty to observe how groups of students fare with specific teaching methods. Compare the results over time and assess whether or not it is prudent to begin the restructuring. Some methods may be tweaked into something more relevant to the needs of the students. Should that fail, perhaps the best course of action would be to discontinue the approach entirely.

The difficulty of providing quality education lies not in the implementation but the consistency. It’s one thing to apply one of the methods as mentioned earlier successfully, and it’s another thing entirely to get all of them right. Now that you know what to do, the rest of the way should be clear as day. Practice these one at a time, and it’s a guarantee that your students will go beyond the expectations set for them.

More in University