Engagement Opportunities

To enable you to reach the students that can benefit from help the most, Advising combines two forces:

• Workflow capabilities that let you do your work more efficiently
• Actionable data insights that arm you to do your work more effectively

The union of workflow and actionable analytics gives you great precision:

Best practice: Use engagement opportunities, which are general, in combination with filtering by Persistence Predictions, which are entirely customized to your institution.

The Science Behind Opportunities

An opportunity is a data-inspired insight that represents circumstances that have shown to be predictive (influential) of a student’s likelihood to persist (or succeed), and where they may benefit from engaging with a supporter, in this case, an academic advisor.

Each Engagement Opportunity:

• Identifies students who previously would not be surfaced without a more precise, data-informed understanding of the influencers of success.
• Illustrates a current gap in student outcomes that may be improved through action.
• Provides additional context around the factors that impact student success.
• Equips advisors with multiple channels for intervening on behalf of the student directly from within the application.

How do opportunities  work?

Engagement Opportunities have been developed based on our platform data and research across our partners and 23 million student records. Advising matches students to opportunities by automatically surfacing data points without additional filtering.

• We identify multiple factors around students that are predictive of their likelihood to succeed
• We surface students if/when they match those multiple factors via a set of criteria and provide you “Metrics Involved” so you can take action with supporting that student.

Engagement opportunities help you:

• Proactively outreach to students that most need your support.
• Be armed with context, to help you solve problems creatively.
• Be more actionable and see the next step. 
• Communicate strategically: 1:1, 1:many, resources on campus for referrals.

Accessing Engagement Opportunities

Access an overview of engagement opportunities using the Engage panel on the main dashboard. The panel displays up-to-date information about the active number of opportunities and the number of students matched to an opportunity. 

To see opportunities, click See All Opportunities from the Engage panel, or select the round Engagement Opportunities icon from the left-side menu.

By default, all active Engagement Opportunities are displayed on cards. Each card shows the name of the Engagement Opportunity, the number of students matched to the opportunity, and the number of opportunities that have not yet been addressed. Toggle to Individual Students to see Engagement Opportunities grouped by students.

This view displays a student tile for each student matched to an Engagement Opportunity. Student tiles show the student’s name, degree program, number of matched engagement opportunities, persistence prediction, and a description of each opportunity.

Sort-by options enable you to rearrange tiles from very low to very high (or vice versa) based on the number of engagement opportunities or the student’s persistence prediction. Likewise, filter by persistence prediction enables you to narrow down the number of student tiles based on the selected criteria. Click on a student tile to open the student’s profile page in a new window and review matched engagement opportunities, matched date, and the status of the opportunity.

Addressing an Opportunity

There are three ways to address an Engagement Opportunity. You can do this by:

1. Sending a message
2. Scheduling an advising appointment
3. Creating an advising note

In each case, locate the dropdown titled Engagement Opportunity and select a matched opportunity to address before completing the task.

Key Strategies for Opportunities

Advising provides you with a number of tools for responding to engagement opportunities directly from within the application. Use the strategies below to appropriately and effectively address an Engagement Opportunity using one-to-one or one-to-many communication or by referring a student to a resource.

Send a message

Whether it’s to a group of students or an individual, sending a message can be a powerful but quick way to address students matched to an engagement opportunity. Try including helpful attachments and a call-to-action to encourage students towards a positive behavioral change.

Invite students to attend an event

Your institution has a variety of support activities already in place for students, such as orientation sessions and student clubs. Ask students to sign up, attend, and participate in one of these events or activities using Advising’s Events feature. This also has the benefit of not requiring any additional resources to support students beyond what is already allocated.

Schedule an advising appointment

Ask students to schedule an appointment with someone in their academic support network. This response may be especially impactful for students in need of acute intervention such as students with multiple alerts/opportunities or students who have yet to meet with their advisor. 

Caution: Asking students to schedule an appointment or visit an advisor, faculty, success coach, mentor, or academic support center requires the capacity to handle the influx of students wanting to utilize those resources. This is especially important to consider when using this strategy with a large student group.

Share a resource from your Advising Advising Library

Your institution has resources available to support students throughout their academic journey. You may also know of resources outside your institution that would be helpful for certain student groups. Provide a link to a resource related to the purpose of the engagement opportunity. This leverages existing resources without requiring additional time or new initiatives.

Students with a more than 5% drop in persistence prediction in the last 7 days

Important: Start here! This is the most impactful Engagement Opportunity of them all. It surfaces recent changes in the students’ persistence, which is your key daily indicator across all of the student’s data.

These are active students who experienced a drop in persistence prediction by 5% or more within the last week. This 7-day period is a rolling window, as persistence prediction is calculated daily.

Metrics Involved

• Weekly Change in Persistence Prediction
• Start Term Year

How to Address It

Our research has found that significant drops in persistence prediction scores by themselves are a strong signal that a student is less likely to persist to the following term. Utilizing this Engagement Opportunity, you are now able to identify students who have had a 5% or greater drop in persistence prediction score over the course of a week as a significant opportunity for proactive intervention to help students who are in a negative slide.

Group Outreach

Students that have had a small drop in persistence prediction (shown in the ‘Weekly Change in Persistence Prediction’ column) may benefit from outreach via the message tool. In your message, utilize motivational frameworks such as mindset, mattering, or normalizing to encourage the student to stay on a path to success and offer to assist them with any questions they may have.

Resource Referral

A drop in persistence prediction could signal a variety of different challenges or roadblocks a student is encountering. Ensure the student knows of the different types of resources available to them on campus – from financial aid to counseling (and more!).

One-to-One Outreach

Students with a larger drop in persistence prediction may require one-to-one attention to identify and address their challenges. Reach out to these students via phone or email to have a conversation about any difficulties they may be facing. From there, help the student create a plan to get back on track.

Early career students who have withdrawn from a course

These are students who have completed fewer than 60 credits and have withdrawn from at least one course in the current term. This could be an indicator around a student’s progress toward and time to complete a degree.

Metrics Involved

• Sections withdrawn (current term)
• Sections currently enrolled (remaining)
• Credits earned (cumulative)
• Degree type
• Major
• Last Outreach
• Addressed Status

How to Address It

Withdrawing from a course signals a turning point in a student’s educational journey. When a student withdraws, they are often responding to an academic challenge, reacting to a change in social responsibilities, or strategizing how to address financial shifts. While there are times that a withdrawal may be appropriate, students that are early in their career may benefit from an advisor’s guidance to help them plan towards a successful term and an ideal next term.

Group Outreach

Students that have only withdrawn from a single course (review sections withdrawn column) may benefit from outreach via the message tool. In your message be sure to acknowledge the change in their plan and offer to assist them with any questions they may have.

Resource Referral

Withdrawing from a course can slow a student’s progress towards degree completion and may have financial ramifications. Consider sending students a link to a webpage or a document that explains what it means to withdraw from a course.

One-to-One Outreach

Students that have withdrawn from multiple courses or that are no longer enrolled in courses for the current term may require greater assistance, as the reasons they withdrew may be more complex and require greater support to help them remain on course. Consider inviting these students to a phone, virtual, or in-person appointment to help them work through any concerns.

Students with a GPA of 2.0 or higher who are less likely to persist

These are students in good academic standing who are less likely to persist into the next term compared to the typical student at your institution. It could indicate they are off track for their major area of study or degree program or might benefit from support based on their academic journey or personal circumstances.

Metrics Involved

• Cumulative GPA
• Credits earned (cumulative)
• Expected Graduation term
• Institution tipping point value*
• Major
• Last Outreach
• Addressed Status

How to Address It

Having a high GPA is often a signal that students are on track for success. However, students often leave school for non-academic reasons such as financial, logistical, and social-psychological. Take action by guiding students to behaviors that will aid in their success within the current term, and persistence into the next term.

Group Outreach

From the student list, use the message tool to:

• Send an encouraging note to students in this group
• Remind students of social and financial resources available to them
• Invite students to discuss concerns they may have about the current or upcoming term
• Praise students for their academic achievement and progress towards degree completion

Resource Referral

Remind students about the various resources they have available to them. Attach (from the advising resource library) or include links to information that may serve as a good starting place for learning about these resources.

One-to-One Outreach

Students in good academic standing that are further away from the tipping point may benefit from more direct intervention. Consider inviting this student in for an advising appointment to discuss their academic progress and plans for the next term.

Part-time students who could benefit from taking one more course

These are part-time students who are doing well academically and could consider taking an additional course as a way to achieve their degree faster. It could be an opportunity to discuss their academic goals, personalize their plan, and help them select the appropriate course.

Metrics Involved

• Cumulative GPA
• Credits earned (cumulative)
• Number of credits enrolled
• Major
• Last Outreach
• Addressed Status

How to Address It

For many students, taking one more course may increase their likelihood to persist. Students that are already performing well academically and either part-time or taking a light full-time load may be the kind of student that could benefit from taking one more course.

Group Outreach

• Create an announcement encouraging students to take one more course.
• Host a registration event for part-time students focused on getting to graduation faster.
• Create appointment blocks reserved for students matched to this opportunity.

Resource Referral

• Send students financial aid information that may support them in affording the cost of one more course.
• Share promotional materials that describe avenues for getting to graduation faster.

One-to-One Outreach

• Complete a call campaign focused on time to completion.
• Invite students in for an advising appointment (pending the availability of your schedule) to talk through their degree plan and time to graduation.

New transfer students who have not met with their advisor

These are incoming transfer students who have not scheduled an appointment or met with an advisor before the start of their first term. It could be an opportunity to discuss their academic goals and plan.

Metrics Involved

• Number of transfer credits (admissions data)
• Number of courses transferred (admissions data)
• Transfer GPA
• Major
• Last Outreach
• Addressed Status

How to Address It

Incoming transfer students often have very specific goals that they would like to accomplish and enter with concerns that typically differ from a traditional student. Things like upper level course availability, applicability of transferred course work and transfer centric resources are important to the success and persistence of this student group. This opportunity surfaces students who have yet to schedule or meet with an advisor before the start of their first term that can benefit from advisor-led communications.

Group Outreach

Send a message to all students matched in this group and invite them for transfer specific advising appointments. Consider making these appointments available in multiple modalities to accommodate the schedule needs of a typical transfer population.

If there are items that can be addressed in small-large groups, consider hosting an event for a group advising session.

Resource Referral

Add transfer specific resources to your advising resource library. Share these resources through Advising and include an invitation to schedule an advising appointment.

One-to-One Outreach

For students that have transferred a high number of coursework, utilize high media approaches like face to face appointments or phone-calls to discuss their unique situations.

First time in college students who have not met with their advisor

These are students entering their first term in college who have not scheduled an appointment or met with an advisor before the start of their first term. It could be an opportunity to discuss their academic goals and plan.

Metrics Involved

• Major
• Last Outreach
• Addressed Status

How to Address It

For students entering their first term, connecting with an advisor can yield positive results. In addition to helping students with academic plans and goals, advisors can help students with uncovering institutional opportunities that may help the student feel a part of the university community.

This opportunity surfaces for students who have not yet met with an advisor before the beginning of their first term. 

Group Outreach

Using the message tool, welcome students to the institution and invite them to attend an advising appointment.

One-to-One Outreach

Conduct a call campaign. New students may not be accustomed to using their institution-specific email address. Consider calling these students to invite them into an appointment and inform them of the resources available to them via their student portal and email.

Students with alerts from multiple faculty and/or staff members

There have been multiple concerns raised for these students from at least two faculty or staff members within the current term. This could indicate an immediate academic challenge or personal issue that is affecting a student beyond one course or the need for more immediate support.

Metrics Involved

• Number of alerts
• Number of Unresolved alerts
• Next Advising Appointment
• Major
• Last Outreach
• Addressed Status

How to Address It

Advising enables support services to have a more holistic view of a student’s experience at the institution. Using the alert system, faculty and advisors are able to raise and address any and all concerns that may arise related to a student’s success.

System notifications, daily digest emails, and a commenting/feedback system make it easy to visually track how a student is being supported in Advising. If multiple alerts have been raised for a student, start by reviewing the alert notification. Whenever an alert is raised, the user has the ability to suggest next steps that should be taken.

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