Insightful stories that revolve around technology, culture, and design

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, approximately 15% of the global population faces some form of disability. That’s over a billion people.

That being said, the need to make education inclusive, especially at the higher levels, is more apparent than ever. However, current notions around accessibility need to be addressed first. Essentially, the term has taken on a whole new meaning in this digital age.

As of now, accessibility in higher education doesn’t just mean providing differently abled individuals with access to a competent learning experience. It’s also about ensuring that everything is shared and equal amongst different groups.

The term also takes a different meaning when viewed from the perspective of the required changes in the current educational system, with students desiring more flexible and personalized programs.

In short, accessible higher education is about making systemic changes in how institutions operate. More importantly, these changes need to build toward a more adaptable model.

Before diving into it all, let's look at what the concept means. 

What does accessibility in higher education imply?

From flexible course modules and shared learning resources to streamlined admissions and the elimination of financial barriers, accessibility has come to mean several different things in higher education.

Here's a brief glimpse into what the term stands for in the current digital age: 

It starts with admission applications

The first thing an applicant or a prospective student comes into contact with is your institution's admission portals. And designing these gateways to provide a seamless experience for all is critical.

Granted, this can be challenging to accomplish, especially considering the channels and devices users may rely on to access content. However, adhering to universal regulations, such as the WCAG 2.1 or 2.2, could alleviate some of these concerns.

The simplest way to do this is to opt for an accessibility audit. That way, you can review potential code violations and determine the priority you need to assign to a specific site or portal problem. 

Shared access to consolidated learning resources

The demands of modern-age education are split across several different categories. One of the primary ones is the availability of a centralized repository of learning resources. Fortunately, this is easy enough to implement with the help of an experienced team of developers.

Still, the first point that needs to be considered here is not related to consolidating your learning modules. That’s expected of your institution, anyway. Instead, it’s more to do with ensuring that everyone can leverage the same available resources.

More importantly, this should be provided through one access point that works equally well for all your students, regardless of whether they are differently-abled or not. 

Accurate identification of existing financial barriers

There is a misconception that accessibility is solely tied to designing innovative and approachable digital solutions. However, it often boils down to making the simplest changes to your policies.

Consider the example of student tuition. According to a Statista report, the cost of attending an in-state 4-year program in a public university was $23,250 in the academic year of 2022/2023. Meanwhile, out-of-state colleges cost around $40,000.

Now, it’s not practical to assume that the issue of high tuition fees can be addressed by merely cutting down on institutional costs. So, the easiest way to navigate this is to leverage the power afforded by Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs).

These centralized software suites enable you to analyze the online footprint of incoming student batches while measuring their performance in previous programs. Then, you could assign special grants to applicants with relatively promising records but are held back by individual disabilities. 

Flexible remote and online courses

Traditional courses have become outdated in terms of giving students the practical knowledge they need in the current job market. And as a result, the demand for flexible, remote learning modules has only increased in the past few years.

In short, your students desire shorter programs that pack more application-based knowledge. But that's not all—there is also a need for a comprehensive mentoring module. Take the example below to understand this better.

Say Prospect X has just gotten into one of your offered programs. The only issue is that they have additional accessibility requirements to keep pace with the course module. Now, if your institution doesn't provide that, all that effort into designing your systems and pages to be inclusive is wasted.

In other words, accessibility also means curating courses that are in demand while providing everyone an opportunity to benefit from them. 

How can institutions foster universal access to higher education?

While recognizing what accessibility implies is essential, it's even more crucial to put that understanding to practical use.

Here are four practical ways to do precisely that: 

Adopt a digital-first approach

With the rapid advancements that have been made in technology, it’s almost a sin to avoid leveraging the benefits that these developments bring. As such, there are several avenues you could rely on in this case.

For instance, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms let you identify special needs students who struggle academically. Then, by simply incorporating that data into future decisions, your institution can introduce the necessary changes to your provided modules.

Even better, the collected data can also help you recognize other related issues, such as a particular student needing on-campus accommodation owing to their existing condition.

In short, such tools enable you to make global improvements regarding institutional policies and the provision of on-site facilities. 

Create a governing body to monitor departmental issues

As implied earlier, there’s more to accessibility than driving digital change. In fact, one of the most effective ways to make your programs more inclusive is to consistently review them with the help of a governing body.

Still, it's best to include members of your faculty and your students in this group. You also must ensure that the student body is appropriately represented in this case. Once that's achieved, you can track inter-departmental issues and conceptualize shared solutions to address them.

The primary benefit of creating such a body is that the remediation process accounts for the entirety of the existing institutional population. In short, it takes care of faculty and student welfare simultaneously. 

Re-evaluate your current systems and touchpoints

It’s almost impossible to comprehensively cover all aspects when designing your touchpoints and existing systems to be accessible. That is precisely why period checks are critical to sustaining your institution's reputation.

Now, this is exponentially easier if you partner with experienced developers, such as QED42, from the very start. That way, you get access to a consolidated review process and comprehensive site suggestions, including interaction patterns, problematic page designs and seamless user navigation.

However, if you already have your digital systems in place and are reluctant to design them from scratch, you could still benefit from general consultancy services. That would allow you to recognize subtle issues that are commonly overlooked when it comes to the site or system accessibility, such as restrictive verification methods that rely on using a specific device or channel. 

Accessibility being detached from accommodation

Too often, there is this assumption that providing access to something means making room for the less fortunate. And this notion of ‘accommodation’ being attached to ‘accessibility’ needs to go for good.

Note that this has nothing to do with designing digital solutions or monitoring departmental issues. Instead, it's about implementing a change in institutional mindset. So, instead of focusing on where the student falls short, ask ‘where has the system or program failed?’

This is easy enough to understand when you draw a parallel between User Interface (UI) design and User Experience (UX). When a site visitor fails to find a particular tab, the developers always focus on why the user couldn’t find it. As such, there’s no discussion that implies the problem lies with the user’s site behavior. 

Building a shared world for all

With how far the world has come in terms of educational developments, it's becoming increasingly important to recognize the needs and requirements of differently abled students. More importantly, this recognition can never stop—it needs to be a systematic process of analyzing current demands, institutional flaws, and remediation policies.

In other words, design your enrollment touchpoints to be inclusive, create shared learning resource platforms and flexible course modules, and review some of the existing financial barriers.

Then, strengthen all the mentioned avenues by taking a digital-first approach and establishing a governing body to track and monitor existing departmental issues.

Higher education can progress in an evolving world by ensuring a seamless digital experience for everyone, regardless of individual differences.

As of today, there is nothing more important than curating and delivering personalized experiences. 

This is especially true when it comes to marketing. In fact, a Statista report states that over 60% of online shoppers would switch to a different brand when faced with non-customized content from their current vendors.

In other words, in a world driven by data and subliminal messaging, the importance of delivering highly curated promotional material has never been any higher.

But how do you do that in education? More importantly, is it possible to customize an experience for hundreds of thousands of potential students and alums?

The simple answer is yes. And the secret lies in Customer Data Platforms (CDPs).

These packaged software tools create a unified view of a prospect or consumer by pulling the data from multiple touchpoints. Then, the information is collated, cleaned, and fed into other marketing channels.

The result? A persistent customer profile that works across all promotional avenues.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about how a CDP can help educational institutions and marketers improve their enrollment rates. 

How can you use a CDP to improve enrollment rates?

Notwithstanding the technological advancements that have made CDPs possible, these platforms are essentially tools at the end of the day. And, just like any other tool, what matters is how you leverage them.

So, here’s what you can start with: 

Defining the initial student cohorts

Like all global verticals, Education (ED) marketing is defined by its market segments. The only difference is that a specific term is used to refer to such groups—cohorts.

Simply put, a cohort is a broad student group currently or will be enrolled in an institution. Now, each of these groups has particular behavioral patterns. 

For instance, batches from a school in Massachusetts may prefer Ivy League colleges. As such, the cohorts from that institution could have a high initial drive when sending applications to Brown, Colombia, or Harvard.

Conversely, Texan students, with their robust community colleges and public university systems, could prefer local institutions. 

That’s just one example, though. The idea here is to analyze the broader digital footprint, including past enrollment rates, annual application volume, and graduation rates, and then feed that into your CDP. Following this, you set parameters to define a cohort’s response to your ED marketing pitch.

Now, this is easily achievable through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) platforms. In fact, QED42 provides services that cater to this specific need, helping set up a system that incorporates the collected information into a consolidated channel.

Remember, you aren’t just dealing with data from public directories or records in this instance. Most of this information will come from the internet. And that requires a single, streamlined approach to navigate it effectively. 

Establishing a standardized prospect profile

Now that your cohorts are defined, it’s time to create a general outline for the prospect/student lifecycle.

Your CDP will already have the necessary information to do this. In short, all that data you collected in the pre-enrollment funnel, including the number of direct from-school transfers, and overall course competition rate, will help you here.

For instance, say a specific student group comprising adults aged over 25 (Group X) has a low graduation rate. This could be due to factors you have no control over, such as individual professional and personal commitments, lack of financial resources, etc. 

However, that doesn’t mean that this cohort is beyond retention. By leveraging the data in your CDP, you can identify the touchpoints that Group X used in initially contacting the related institution. Then, you compare those access points against the prospect profile that you have already built.

While you are at this, ensure that you check a few things. So, is there a disparity between what Group X seeks and what the course offers? Does the site content even provide enough clarity on the syllabus?

These elements are the primary determinants of prospect retention in ED marketing. More often than not, advertisers tend to emphasize campus facilities and accommodation amenities while pitching a particular institution. These are also crucial deciding factors, but they are secondary considerations regarding what the modern-age student wants. 

Understanding engagement metrics

Successful ED marketers always have a comprehensive overview of what type of promotional material is most effective. More importantly, their campaigns deploy different kinds of content based on where a prospect is in the conversion funnel.

So, say a potential student is just beginning to consider a particular college. What will be the first point of contact for that prospect? It will probably be site material, brochures, and other written content.

As that prospect progresses further down the funnel, their requirements may change. Now, they might desire a more insightful look into the institution. This will primarily come from campus tours, in-person events, virtual faculty, and batch meetings.

Whatever the case, the truth is apparent: the data from your CDP for specific market segments will only work in designated stages. To circumvent this challenge, you need to ensure that you are consistently updating the collected information from your current engagement metrics.

This shouldn’t be too difficult, considering that you have already established a standardized prospect profile based on cohort behavior. 

Enforcing data privacy compliance

A prominent concern in most marketing campaigns is the issue of data privacy compliance. In fact, 93% of Americans want more control over their personal information.

This is where a CDP truly shines.

Typically, these systems have integrated support for several privacy regulations, laws, and policies, including CCPA, GDPR, and CPRA. But that’s not all! Prospects have complete control over the information they submit due to the affiliated touchpoint being opt-in channels.

Essentially, marketing teams get access to relevant prospect details while being assured of their responsiveness to promotional material. There’s also the fact that incorporating a CDP into your ED campaigns will enable you to deploy strategic protective provisions, including the Right of Disclosure and Right of Deletion, for all your leads.

Finally, a CDP allows marketers to consolidate prospect preferences across multiple channels. This is especially useful when tracking what a potential student has opted out of and then curating a pitch based on that.

Of course, it also helps institutions and related marketing teams avoid legal liabilities when adhering to data privacy policies. 

Curating diversified programs based on prospect data

There’s no such thing as a ‘perfect’ course. As of now, each cohort, down to its very last member, wants something different when it comes to educational offerings.

In short, the need to create more engaging modules to provide an enhanced learning experience is higher than ever. Fortunately, a CDP can help you tackle this challenge.

Consider what has been discussed so far. You have defined your cohorts, set broad standard prospect profiles for each of them, understood what material they engage with, and finally, have a consolidated view of what they have opted out of.

These four elements will help you create course modules that appeal to specific groups. Take the example of Group X from earlier. This particular cohort has a low graduation rate, has external commitments outside the institutions, and only relies on touchpoints that offer clarity.

Now, by combining and analyzing those factors, you could start a new 6-week course on any given subject that caters to Group X’s behavioral patterns. It’s as simple as that.

What should you be mindful of when adopting a CDP?

It’s easy to get carried away with all the enhancements that a CDP will bring to your marketing funnels. However, there are specific things you must guard against.

First, your institutional departments need to recognize the necessity of sharing the collected data. Most often, departmental members tend to be somewhat reluctant when it comes to this. However, failing to analyze every bit of information against the data collected from other sources will only lead to redundancies in your current strategies.

Second, it never helps to isolate a CDP into one specific group. In short, the generated reports should be available to all members across the organizational hierarchy. That way, everybody has a single view of the truth.

Finally, it is imperative not to view a CDP as being a tool for merely improving statutory rankings. Doing so would be detrimental to fostering an inclusive educational experience in the long run. And no amount of creative and collaborative marketing can remedy that issue.

There is a simple example to understand the importance of all three mentioned elements.

Say, University Y is nearing admission season. Now, each department, including the admission body and marketing team, has different data sets they rely on to create their strategies. Additionally, the board of directors is the sole governing body with access to the reports generated by a CDP.

Do you see where the problem lies? If this specific instance persists, it will translate to a fragmented ED marketing pitch. And that, undoubtedly, will not help your enrollment rates. 

Delivering exceptional experiences through data

From consolidated prospect profile and cohort parameters to driving better engagement and ensuring data privacy compliance, a CDP will deliver on every aspect of your ED marketing campaign. The best part? It’ll even tell you which courses work best without you even attempting to foray into that area.

However, it's essential to understand the common pitfalls associated with implementing such platforms. In short, beware of siloed databases, departmental or otherwise, avoid isolating a CDP to one group, and always ensure that the data is being used to do more than just drive enrollment rates and college rankings.

Remember data and volume go hand in hand. If you are looking to enhance student experiences at your institution, bring these two together in a single streamlined system with intelligent and innovative digital solutions.

Digital infrastructure in higher education helps to enhance student experiences. Universities can attract more prospective students and fulfill the needs of current students with digital support, such as websites, mobile apps, portals, course registration platforms, intranet, and microsites.

Beyond the visible systems, there is an overarching digital infrastructure that supports university operations enabling smarter education. This type of digital infrastructure is not visible to all users but crucial to bringing together the infrastructure that enhances student experiences.

A digital vision is essential to implement long-term infrastructure in universities. All universities require secure and scalable systems to adapt to the ever-changing education landscape and operate on the same platform rather than in silos.

Let’s consider a few examples of long-term digital infrastructure and how they benefit universities. 

Operational agility and efficiency

Cloud computing

Cloud infrastructure enables universities to create, manage, and access information on one platform without requiring specialized hardware and software on individual terminals. Cloud computing, the method to combine IT and computing resources online, provides greater flexibility to universities to scale and access data.

Universities with limited budgets can utilize cloud services without making new or extra investments in ICT (Information Communications Technology) resources. Cloud infrastructure improves operational agility and efficiency in universities by enabling real-time collaboration supporting student communication and faculty management.  

Cloud reduces data storage costs, minimizes data center maintenance, and provides easy access to university resources. No matter how many facilities a university manages, or how many students enroll, the cloud is scalable and will grow along with the university.

Visualized analytics

Analytics use existing data to derive deep insights into student preferences, faculty experiences, digital trends, and business activities to help universities make data-driven decisions. Smart analytic tools, such as dashboards, visualization software, information and records systems, and performance indicator metrics support agile university practices.

A dashboard to visualize university data analysis facilitates decision-making and planning. Processed data insights, available and accessible to university planners and managers, lead to efficient institutional strategies, research & knowledge production, and policymaking & governance.

Visual digital data enables university administrators to monitor organizational performance & improvement and support responsive learning through adaptive platforms. Smart digital tools enable smarter education. 

Innovate and adapt

Artificial intelligence

AI and its various subsets, like Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DP), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and virtual assistance, empower universities to interpret and manipulate data.  Algorithms can predict students who are most likely to apply, progress, graduate, and become engaged alumni, and help faculty to focus their efforts better.

Algorithms can detect early warning signs in students who struggle academically, enabling university personnel to proactively create retention plans to help the students. AI helps to automate several admin tasks, such as the admission process, visa process, course registration, housing selection, and more, making all processes personalized and faster.

AI will work on time-intensive tasks empowering universities to focus on enhancing student experiences. It gives higher-ed the capability to elevate academic performance, anticipate enrollment trends, and optimize recruitment endeavors.

Big data analytics

Big data analytics combined with cloud computing create high-performance and responsive systems that extract and analyze large volumes of data. Universities can gather information from hundreds of sources in real-time and deliver actionable insights quickly to all its sub-schools, admin, faculty, and stakeholders.

Data analytics can inform educators of their student’s progress, engagement, and well-being. Smart tools incorporating data analytics also allow the faculty to interact with students with an overview of their progress at individual and class levels.

Educators can personalize learning experiences for each student while improving teaching outcomes. Big data analytics enables universities to effectively collect, manage, store, and process data utilizing their resources to innovate better university experiences. 

Faculty experience 

ERP software 

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software is a comprehensive system that digitizes and automates university administrative operations. Such operations include admissions, attendance, courses, alumni, tuition, records, faculty, documentation, and inventory management. An efficient university ERP system can automate course allotments, fee payments, payroll, time-table generation, and hall ticket generation.

University ERP reduces manual and repetitive admin tasks, thus enhancing faculty experiences. It can manage faculty profiles, schedules, and recruitment. It can also generate attendance reports, create class rosters, and send mobile or email alerts to respective students.

Document management tasks can be set up for manual approval, auto-approval, and auto-rejection. Faculty can create and manage different courses effortlessly with detailed sections, credits, and hours of each course. A university ERP increases daily productivity, connects faculty from multiple departments, and facilitates smooth communication ensuring all stakeholders in the university are on the same page. 

Building an education ecosystem

We have considered different types of digital infrastructure for universities. It may seem expensive and time-consuming to invest in and adopt all these tools and technologies. But progressive technology simplifies digital transformation and adoption.

Digital Experience Platforms (DXP), combine content management, analytics, integration, personalization, collaboration, and processes to deliver excellent university experiences on multiple channels. An Open DXP utilizes intelligent architecture to connect with all systems improving operational efficiency.

Composable DXPs with Headless CMS and powerful integration will help universities to manage all services, websites, portals, apps, tools, and information on one platform.

An Open DXP evolves with advancing technology and university growth to adapt and meet the ever-changing expectations of current students, prospective students, faculty, staff, alumni, researchers, and visitors. If your university is looking to enable smarter education, an Open DXP is the solution.

Covid-19 has altered our lives forever and in the light of this 'new normal,' specific shifts in the societal and technological front have impacted our education sector, too.

Before the pandemic, the higher ed industry was slowly inching toward a digitalized structure. The pandemic simply accelerated these technical advancements. 

But it is just not the technological landscape that is changing the face of higher education. There are several other factors influencing higher education like financial challenges, academic institution competition, the unconventional age of college-goers, and the changing societal needs.

Clearly, it is the hour of evolution for the higher education business model.  

Cultural and technological changes that impacted the higher ed business model

We are two decades into the 21^st century, so why should our higher education model remain the same as that of the 20^th century? 

And rightfully so, today, society has made immense strides in both cultural and technological advancements.

These changes have inevitably contributed to the changing structural transformation of the higher education model. So, let’s look at the 4 primary developments that have posed a challenge for the existing higher ed business model:

1. The requirement for life-long learning 

In the given time and age, the need to constantly upskill yourself and stay in touch with relevant concepts is a must. 

We exist in a digital economy, where disruptive and ever-evolving technological advancements guide most jobs. Additionally, there is also an excellent level of flexibility in employment and the presence of automation in labor. 

This has invariably pushed out the industrial-age mindset where education was required in the primary stages of life. Instead, education today requires consistent upscaling that most undergo throughout their entire lives. 

In fact, it's the only way to survive in the non-linear world and the modern careers it offers.

2. Changing needs of students

Much like any other business sector, the field of education is also guided by the ever-changing expectations and needs of its consumers, i.e., the students in this case. 

The student demographic is witnessing a significant shift and normalizing its non-traditional needs. Thanks to the varying lifestyles, preferences, and circumstances, the young generation has significantly moved away from that of the previous generation. 

They don’t want the stringent fixed courses taught in the same classroom style format. 

Hence, the one-size-fits-all education path is no more celebrated as it once was. Instead, the need for a seamless, flexible, and personalized educational experience grows popular in demand.

3. Emerging AI technologies

Gen Z has grown up with technology intricately woven into the very fabric of their being, so they expect the same digital experience in their education.

This digital transformation has actively contributed to how the higher education business models are reinventing themselves. The innovators present in the education industry are down to challenge the status quo of the model structure. 

No wonder even major tech giants like Amazon and Google are partaking in the alternative approach of an AI-driven, personalized educational system. 

Additionally, the ‘Netflix for Education' teaching scheme allows for higher flexibility and more effortless adaptability. And not to forget, it makes the process of education much more enjoyable.

4. Skills more critical than a degree

The idea of a degree being the most vital sign of an educated person has existed for far too long. Today, employers value skills over degrees, thus transferring the focus from a piece of paper to actual talent. 

While it’s true that holding a higher-education degree significantly improves the chances of employment and better income, its value is dramatically falling. 

Students now wonder whether the traditional education system that creates lasting student debt is worth it. After all, the job markets have become extremely unpredictable, so the only thing that would help compete is a skillset. 

Degrees are simply a signal that vouches for a potential employee's capability. At the end of the day, it does not honestly assure excellent job performance.

Innovation is more essential than tradition

For any business sector to last long, innovation and creativity are intensely crucial. Adjusting to accommodate the needs of the consumers and also staying up-to-date with the ongoing societal and technological advancements is a must!

Education today is not simply the means to the end– it's not perceived as the only way to secure a good job. The current generation and its educational needs have modernized. They want education for its experience, ease, and to satiate their hunger for knowledge.

This is precisely why the sector observes the regular implementation of disruptive and innovative ideas.

To understand this better, consider the example of mega-online educational universities or online educational platforms like Coursera.

With over 92 million learners registered, the platform offers an active learning and dynamic environment. Additionally, it facilitates a more effortless learning experience, given the wide range of courses available. 

Hence, this approach was uber-successful, especially during a pandemic, when people were locked in isolation. It helped upskill people and ensured more equitable job opportunities around the world.

As such, this innovative learning approach is perhaps the biggest reason to do away with traditional learning structures. 

4 trends shaping the higher ed-post-pandemic business models

Innovation is not the only trend that is invading the high-ed business model. Here are 4 more trends that are actively shaping how higher education business models will look post-pandemic. These are:

1. Changing the higher education business model

Most business leaders are not interested in maintaining things as they were. They do not however want to make some sudden radical changes that would be hard for the consumers to accept, either.

So, their idea is to recalibrate and revise the higher-education model post the downfall of Covid-19. Hence, they are keen to invest in information technology, remote working, shared services, automation, etc. 

2. The core competency of technology expansion

There was a time when technological advancements were solely looked at as expensive and needless add-ons. Today, it has become a core competency in every institutional strategy. 

Business leaders are aware that the technology in the educational sector will blow up and strengthen the revenues. For example, universities are not noticing the need to use 3D hotspots to stimulate galleries and labs. Some are keen on including stimulations and gamification in online courses to make them more collaborative even if there is physical distance. 

It will thus allow for the expansion of online enrollment and better engagement during the courses. 

This trend will have the business leaders balancing the existing technical systems with future investment in new technology. 

3. Less investment in residential amenities

It will come as no surprise if the universities and business leaders begin to downsize their investment in infrastructure. Since the educational model is shifting to an online or hybrid structure, it makes absolute sense to minimize expenditure on on-campus amenities. 

As such, it is expected that the residential education demand will considerably change. That said, there is also the awareness that the experience offered in in-person classes and interaction cannot be replaced. 

So, while the institutions will continue to integrate virtual systems, there will always be space for the involvement of one-on-one education. So, the focus might be shifting to better accommodate distance learning but it’s not changing altogether. 

4. Changing financial strategies in the face of the monetary crisis brought by Covid-19

Unsurprisingly, higher education has also faced a huge financial brunt posed by the pandemic. The cash flow suddenly stopped as the physical universities shut down, thus putting an end to all the auxiliary revenues, parking fees, dinner sales, etc. 

It’s no wonder that business leaders will aim to change their financial strategies to accommodate their limited means, too. This will mainly focus on three things:

• Knowing how to accommodate students’ requests about enrollment and preparing accordingly is the first step. This will essentially require modification in enrollment goals, to at least meet the minimum net tuition revenue. 
• The second step is to keep the focus on the core competencies of the institutions. So, if some institute is focused on traditional learners, now would not be the time to shift focus to adult learners. Sticking to the ongoing program will save resources immensely. 
• Lastly, knowing how to create flexible financial aid packages is of the essence. One cannot simply offer the same aid to every student, given the financial crunch. Knowing how to help a student bridge the gap between their finances and helping accordingly is the key!

8 areas higher education institutes should explore for future-proof business models

Redefining our future in the face of a global pandemic is tough. Yet, it's also time to reimagine the new state of the educational sector. So, when thinking about the restructuring of the educational field, one cannot ignore these 8 essential areas. These are:

Personalized educational content

When no two people are the same, why should their educational graph charter the same course? Every learner comes armed with a host of strengths and weaknesses, coupled with differing skill sets, interests, and needs. 

Considering this difference in each individual, it makes complete sense to create an educational approach that is customizable for each learner. This would enhance understanding and engagement, ensure better retention power, and pump the learner with apt motivation. 

Hence, investing in the creation of personalized education content is a must for a successful educational experience.

Investing in revenue-driven partnerships

This trend might spring up in the private educational sector, where higher educational business models are always looking for partnerships. 

It is important as finding the right investor and alliance can surely infuse the institution with the necessary resources and expertise. It would also eventually lead to the renovation of educational institutions. 

Additionally, not only does this ensure cost reduction but also provides easy scalability of courses, which is appreciated in this pandemic scenario! This trend is slowly gaining momentum as several institutions partner up together to offer joint online programs.

Adaptive institutional pricing

If you look at the healthcare sector, you will notice the gradual shift of the fee-for-service payment model to the value-based system.

Similarly, thanks to the change in learners' demographics and education delivery format, the educational system is undergoing adaptive institutional pricing, too. This idea is worth exploring as it attaches the educational costs to the possible learner outcomes.

For example, if an institution adopts differential tuition fees, it can tie the cost to the learner’s earning potential or the course’s internal costs. It’s a ‘pay for what you receive’ kind of educational structure. Here, the pricing is specific to the kind of program the student chooses.

Imagine it like a subscription plan but for educational services!

SaaS solutions for cost reduction and better control

The benefits of cloud computing are unparalleled. If deployed effectively, these services can free up the current resources, thereby allowing the institutes to scale themselves as per the demand. This means that they would only pay for the resources truly used.

Consequently, this would eliminate all the expenses of getting in-house hardware and software. Additionally, SaaS solutions allow for better security, control, and reliability. 

To make the best use of cloud computing technology, institutions must hence create a cohesive usage of cloud services across every department. 

Developing technology-enhanced post-pandemic vision proposition

While there were traces of remote learning before the pandemic, the process only got amplified once Covid-19 struck. Today, the institutes can reach out to their students who live in any region or country.

Hence, business leaders are ready to expand this opportunity further and allow for a higher level of access to the students. In fact, it's about time we leveraged technology to help realize the inspiration ambitions of students quickly and inexpensively. 

Moreover, the aim is not only to offer equitable access to devices and connectivity to the students but also to create a conducive learning space!

Adopting a blended campus system

The suddenness of the pandemic had indeed left the educational institutes and all its staff recuperating from the consequences. But, now the reopening of university doors has allowed the business leaders to reimagine the campus structure. 

More essentially, the question that arises is whether there is any need for a physical campus or not?

Many institutes have noticed a decline in student enrolment, which might become a steady trend, considering the ongoing pandemic and demographic changes. Living on campus or commuting daily no more fits the bill for most learners as they struggle to balance family and career commitments. 

Administratively speaking, institutional staff has also gained massive productivity in the hybrid model. 

Thus, it makes complete sense to redesign the concept of campus to aid a hybrid learning system, mitigate space crunches, and lower campus costs.

Student-centric technology systems

The pandemic made it painfully clear that most educational universities are unprepared to offer digital connectivity to their students, especially in rural and indigenous communities. 

In fact, digital inaccessibility is not even about the excellent connectivity level as much as it is about accessibility in itself. Hence, it's a genuine requirement for leaders to invest in the equitable access to software, tools, and devices required by each student. 

Digital faculty

When students enroll in a higher education institute, they expect digital sophistication in their learning modes and methods. For most millennial and Gen Z learners, the digital medium is their home– a default way of carrying out interactions. 

To match up to this student demographic, it becomes an inherent requirement to ensure that there exists a technologically-equipped faculty. However, it requires a lot of encouragement and helps to reach the state of digital fluency.

As such, business leaders must now invest in excellent instructional design support and faculty training. Additionally, the staff must be encouraged to experiment with innovative digital teaching technologies. 

Final words

As the demographic of students changes, the face of higher education also witnesses subtle conversions. The disastrous pandemic roughly pushed this change in the business model a few steps further.

The higher education business model awaits thoughtful deliberation and investments of business leaders to change the way it functions. These areas expand from the need to create personalized educational content to the use of SaaS technology and the honing of digital faculty. 

With the right areas getting explored and invested in, it would be no surprise to see the renovated higher education landscape soon! 

The brand is the story of every product. That’s why high-growth enterprises invest in a design system to develop a unique and memorable brand to attract consumers. Design systems help create a consistent user experience across their products and streamline their product development process. 

Product-focused companies like Google, Salesforce, and Spotify use customized design systems to deliver exceptional digital experiences. Similarly, we have custom-built design systems for multiple businesses in retail, e-commerce, legal, technology, and other industries, to create or reinvent their branding and provide consistent customer experiences across all digital touchpoints.

What about higher education? Do universities need a brand? After all, education is their story. Right? Wrong! Universities are a complex system of students, educators, and administrators with individual departments, schools, and leadership. To present themselves as an integrated front, universities need to deliver unique experiences that satisfy the demands of the varied audience and align those experiences to the overall institution. 

Branding is essential for universities to create a distinct identity among competition while delivering a consistent experience for their audience. We have crafted design systems for universities as well. Our live case studies prove that universities can benefit greatly from design systems in building a unique brand to tell their story. Let’s first understand what is a design system and then learn why it is a necessity for universities. 

Design Systems - Brand in Action

A design system is a collection of reusable components and guidelines for designing and building digital products. Businesses use design systems to create consistent, scalable, and cohesive user interfaces.

A design system helps reduce the time and cost of design and development by providing a library of components that can be reused and customized. They can also improve the quality of products by ensuring that they are consistent and meet user needs.

Why Universities face Brand Inconsistency

Brand consistency is one of the biggest challenges facing universities today. Inconsistent branding impacts the university's reputation negatively and brings down credibility. Let's consider three significant reasons for brand inconsistency at universities. 

Complex Institutions

With multiple campuses and a statewide university system, it can be demanding to keep track of all the different branding elements and ensure they are consistent across the university. It can lead to confusion and frustration for students, faculty, staff, and potential students trying to learn more about the university.

Decentralized Decisions

Different departments and schools within the university may have varying goals and objectives, making it hard to maintain a consistent brand identity. Additionally, the ever-changing landscape of education and the constantly evolving needs of students can make it tough to keep the brand relevant and consistent over time. 

Dislike towards Marketing

University administrators and faculty think that marketing their brand is wasteful in terms of financial resources. Many universities feel that they are not getting a return on their investment in marketing and that the resources should be spent on other priorities. Moreover, university self-promotion often fails to reach its target audience and is often ineffective in persuading students to enroll in a university.

How Design Systems Build Brand for Universities

Create a Memorable Brand

Design systems can provide universities with a memorable brand identity. By creating a set of guidelines that cover all aspects of the university's visual communications, from the logo and color palette to the typography and photography style, a design system ensures that the university's brand is consistent and recognizable across all channels. 

It can be a valuable asset in today's competitive marketplace, where potential students have a wide range of options when choosing a university. Building a recognizable brand can help a university stand out from the crowd and attract the attention of the best and brightest students.

Deliver Structure and Freedom of Expression

Design systems provide a framework for universities to create cohesive and expressive visual identities. These systems offer both structure and freedom of expression, allowing universities to build unique and differentiated branding that can be applied across a wide range of applications. 

Design systems can help streamline the process of creating and maintaining a visual identity and provide a valuable resource for university marketing and communications teams.

Promote Brand Consistency

By establishing a set of design standards, universities can ensure that their branding is applied consistently across their websites. It helps create a powerful brand identity that is easily recognized by students, staff, and the general public. 

By using pre-approved design elements, universities can create communications quickly and easily, ensuring brand consistency across multiple channels. 

Focus on Long-Term Goals

A design system is a valuable tool for achieving long-term goals. By centralizing design resources and establishing clear guidelines, a design system enables universities to focus on solving problems rather than spending more time on design and branding. 

Design systems also connect internal apps, such as an intranet, mobile applications, and course research. Every department can access a centralized resource center to set the design and functionality of new digital initiatives or solutions instead of trying to secure additional time and resources.

Align Everyone on the Same Page

Design systems in universities provide a shared source of truth for designers and stakeholders, which help to collaborate efficiently and make decisions faster. This methodology enables quicker updates of UI and components across the digital ecosystem. 

Multiple content editors can access the latest versions and stay on the same page by having a central repository for design assets and guidelines. It speeds up the design process and helps university departments to work together more effectively.

Rollout Experiences Faster

Design systems improve digital assets’ (websites, webpages, portals & mobile apps) development speed and efficiency. By documenting and standardizing design elements, design systems provide a roadmap for universities to follow, which can help them move faster and avoid making mistakes. 

Additionally, design systems help protect universities' valuable resources, such as time and money, by reducing the need for custom designs and ensuring that new features are developed consistently and reliably.

Enable Better Collaboration

Design systems provide a shared language and set of standards for teams to use when collaborating on digital experiences. By establishing a common foundation, design systems can help streamline communication and improve efficiencies between dev and business teams and within dev teams.

Design systems are not a panacea, but when used correctly, they can be a powerful tool for teams to collaborate easily and avoid duplication of effort.

Promote Blended Learning

Design systems are an essential part of blended learning at universities. By incorporating design thinking into the curriculum, universities can better prepare students for the workforce. Design systems help students to think critically and creatively, as well as to collaborate effectively. In addition, design systems can promote a more personal and engaging learning experience.

Universities that Realized the Potential of Design Systems

Stanford Graduate School of Business

The Stanford Graduate School of Business uses a design system built by QED42. Based on users’ preferences and usage patterns across all its applications, including its mobile app, GSB provides a consistent and personalized experience to all students. GSB also uses interconnected platforms to help students navigate through different courses, build a course schedule, and register for selected courses effortlessly. 

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh has implemented a university-wide design system so that prospective students can navigate easily between the main website, school website pages, degree finder page, and accommodation services page. The university website offers a consistent and coordinated digital experience for all those who navigate its website.  

West Virginia University

West Virginia University adopted a design system to remove the inconsistencies across the WVU websites. The system was created with input from designers across its campus meeting their needs and providing a robust pattern library with ample flexibility to build branding with new style elements. 

Why University Branding is Essential

University branding helps communicate the values of higher education to students and their families. The unique and branded visual identity sets the expectation of the university experience for students and prospects. 

• Brand consistency builds trust and recognition in universities
• Branding creates value for universities
• Branding boosts enrollment 
   

A design system helps standardize the look and feel of university websites and applications, making it easier for students and staff to use them. It also speeds up the development process, as designers and developers can reuse components from the system instead of having to start from scratch each time. In short, a design system can save universities time and money and create a more consistent and user-friendly experience for students and staff.

COVID has affected almost every sector of the world economy, including education. The ever-existent system of conventional learning is slowly depleting in popularity. As a result, one can say that the need to revamp the educational setup is now being felt more than ever.

As of fall 2021, enrollment into higher education programs dropped by 2.6% compared to 2020, and a total of 5.8% since 2019. With more and more learners moving towards online coaching and on-site working, institutions struggle to retain their students during the pandemic.

The trend of remote learning has been in the ranks for the last two years, and it’s only projected to increase. It would be fair to state that students worldwide have grown accustomed to online learning today and tend to prefer it.

This tilt towards online learning has been one of the major reasons for the growing disconnect between universities and students. Students now have multiple online learning platforms to choose from to gather education right from the comfort of their homes. College doesn’t seem to be a necessity anymore for modern-day learners. 

Therefore, it is exceptionally challenging for universities nowadays to make students believe that college is worth their time and money. The only way out is to keep up with the evolving technology to maximize student retention and recruitment.

Since some things just can’t be replicated in a digital setup such as the presence of a human touch to learning, on-field research, and more, that an institution has to offer, is why we bring to you this article. 

In this blog, we dive into some strategies that you can use to retain current students and attract prospective learners to your institution during the pandemic. 

Let’s get started!

1. Adopt a Student-Centric Approach

Developing a student-centered learning program provides them with the opportunity of creating their own learning paradigm. It allows room for them to be flexible on the what, when, and where aspects of learning. 

Additionally, such an approach helps them develop self-direction, curiosity, creativity, and collaboration skills. 

Every successful institution defines its approach to teaching differently. However, some key features should definitely be included in your program such as:

• Prioritizing project-based interdisciplinary learning
• A rooted connection between the curriculum and learner’s interest
• Regular assessments designed to track the growth of your students
• Expert feedback platforms for students as well as their parents
• Customized learning plans for each individual
• Flexibility with regards to the shift towards online learning

Some people may argue that a student-centric approach can be ambiguous and chaotic. However, there is nothing that can’t be fixed with the help of a few adjustments from both sides. You must remember the key is to gradually embrace different learning techniques one at a time, rather than all at once.

2. Form Personal Connections

One in seven students worldwide has a mental disorder. The pandemic has acted as a catalyst in the deteriorating mental health of all, especially the younger generation. In such times, every individual will appreciate a personal human connection rather than a conventional and doctored regime.

If there was ever a time for institutions to invest in personalized learning techniques, it is now. The key here is to realize that small things go a long way in developing a personal connection. 

Here are some of the things you can keep in mind to make learners feel at home in your institution:

• Make your Courses for Humans

An ideal course should aim at including personalized messages to foster an instant connection with the learners. Especially in these uncertain times, it is best to prioritize human connection in your curriculum rather than textbooks and prototype answers.

• Develop a Connection between Faculty and Learners

In the age of virtual learning, it may often get difficult for students to approach the faculty with their problems. To combat this, the faculty must ensure smooth communication between them and learners to maintain an efficient learning environment. 

• Messages from Authorities

If a person of authority, like the president, reaches out to students to acknowledge their hardships, it makes them feel valued. It is vital to make them feel that the institution understands how severe the pandemic has been for them. Moreover, such messages can provide a feeling of calmness in such turbulent times to learners as well as their families. 

3. Shift From Traditional Marketing To Digital

With people looking at the world today through their phones, it is only logical to ditch the traditional marketing setup and prioritize the digital image of your institution. Imagine how cool it would be if one of your students finds out that their institution has an active presence of TikTok and Instagram. 

As far as the school/university website is concerned, you can invest in an esteemed development company that provides you with a seamless user interface.

A digital marketing setup has to be the culmination of various platforms. Gather information and partner up with different online portals to tap varied markets. You can use this information to good effect by curating it to students’ needs on an individual level and providing them with exactly what they are looking for.

Find the platforms on which your prospective and current students are most active and invest in specific channels marketing. Try to personalize your promotion content by monitoring the preferences of different users. For example, if a student is interested in business courses, they should get ads and promotions regarding the same course from your university.

You can use several content authoring tools that serve as a package of e-learning deliverables to your students. Examples of some of the most used storylines include Articulate Storyline, Composica, Camtasia, and Adobe Authorware.

Another major part of your digital marketing strategy can be web accessibility for design and content. It is a way of designing websites so that everyone, even people with disabilities can navigate through the content easily.

Some of the disabilities that you should consider while designing accessible websites and social content are as follows:

• Blindness and low vision
• Deafness and hearing loss
• Speech disabilities
• Cognitive disabilities
• Neurological Limitations

Additionally, investing in search engine optimization practices can help you gain traffic and traction on your website. Thus, with a seamless website and a neat social media presence, you will be able to get better results than any billboard or banner. 

4. Enhance your Email Marketing and Digital Communication

This point can be considered as an extension of the previous strategy. Developing a personalized email marketing strategy with the help of market automation can allow you to widen your reach and enhance your promotional capabilities.

The market automation program develops tailored emails, campaigns, and more from the collected data of leads and potential applicants. Additionally, it also serves to provide you with a better conversion rate and helps you take some load off your marketing team to focus on practical strategies to approach potential students. 

A fitting example of a market automation tool for universities can be Mautic, an open-source automation project that develops strategic campaigns for institutions.

5. Maintain Contact by Curating Virtual Experiences

In today’s world, it has become easier than ever to stay in touch with your current as well as your prospective candidates virtually. This is one of the great traits of digital learning that you can use to your advantage. With the help of your database, you can host digital meets and conferences to get in touch with your prospective leads. You can even provide them with virtual campus tours and a curriculum summary to help them understand your services better.

As far as freshmen batches are concerned, institutions can arrange for virtual seminars and training to help them learn new skills and concepts. They can also use these digital services to provide one-on-one counseling sessions to both learners and their parents. 

Using virtual and augmented reality tools for such services can help develop a productive connection between the institution and learners. Several institutions like Delta State University and Coahoma Community College are using these tools to keep students in touch with their college campuses.

6. Fall Back on Faculty and Alumni for Communication

It is always better to learn from someone who has been through the same experience in their life as you. A connection between alumni and freshmen can help achieve just that. Regular meet-ups between them can help develop meaningful relationships and help the current batch better understand the importance of college. 

A mentor-mentee program between them where the alumnus is specialized in the same course as that of the current student can greatly allow efficient learning and future planning. 

As far as the faculty is concerned, they are the building blocks of the institution. They should make room in their schedules to also interact with learners about matters beyond college. It will help in guiding the learners for the life that awaits them post-college. Only the institution’s faculty can provide this perfect combination of support and guidance.

7. Create Support Groups

Every individual learner faces hardship in their college life at some point or the other which sometimes can be difficult to fix on their own. A helping hand is hence always appreciated.

As such create a network of students wherein, they can support their peers by helping them out both professionally and personally. A well-made support group also proves beneficial in the following ways:

• Strengthening Social Skills - Isolation cannot foster positive adjustment. College support groups can help with this by making an individual feel more confident and comfortable in social situations. It helps them become more expressive and assertive regarding their opinions and feelings.

• Encourages Independence - As freshmen move out of their houses and away from the supportive care of their parents, a well-valued peer group can help them become self-reliant and independent.

• Provide a Positive Peer Community - Students are susceptible to peer pressure. This phenomenon can often make them engage in self-destructive practices. In such cases, support groups can also provide a positive peer community that can help them negate this toxic peer pressure.

8. Encourage Summer Enrollment

As learners grow more accustomed to virtual learning, they are more inclined towards virtual summer courses. Therefore, colleges and universities must provide summer courses as an opportunity to earn extra credits.

Before the age of digital learning, students spent their summer breaks choosing between internships and co-curricular activities. However, online classes offered a whole new dynamic as they opened the possibility of taking up extra courses while also working on the side to widen their knowledge pools.  

For colleges too, summer courses offer an excellent opportunity to fine-tune their system before the inevitable rush of enrollees in the Fall. As such, some institutions even offer tuition reductions in their online summer classes.

Summer is also the prime time for universities to focus on advertising and fall registration. The primary metric for fall enrollment is the advance registration for their future semesters.  

Since generation Z is highly inclined towards coaching in person, therefore, providing one-on-one counseling sessions during the Summer can help institutions ensure a good turnout during the Fall semester.

9. Leverage Technology

If there was ever a time to invest in the latest technology of today’s world for your institution, it is now. A succinct IT ecosystem is what separates an elite institution from a subpar one.

A well-rounded course doesn’t guarantee student engagement. To make that happen, you need to rely on modern technology to provide services like training, workshops, leadership conferences, etc. that make learning fun and interactive.

On the topic of technology, something that has gained immense popularity over the last years is the use of AI. There is no reason why you shouldn’t incorporate artificial intelligence in your institution’s setup.

With the help of AI, you can gauge the precise capabilities of an individual student and provide them personalized, and timely support. The prospect of digital experience platforms can help universities in providing students with a more immersive form of learning.

A student-centric web design that provides them with different tools to track their progress and record results in, efficient learning. You can use Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs) to provide your students with consistent, secure, and personalized access to study material and online courses across different digital touchpoints.

As they say, data is the new oil. Investing in a good data handling service can not only provide workable insights but reduce redundancy in your marketing efforts. 

Moreover, institutions can use technology to maintain records and databases of all their students. You can use artificial intelligence to develop personalized improvement programs for different students using these inputs. You can also provide online access to student support areas, including counseling services, disability support groups, and academic resources. 

The scope of using technology for the betterment of your institution is therefore boundless.

With the help of data analytics, institutions can develop an inclusive and financially stable enrollment strategy. This will help them serve the current as well as the new learners by personalizing recruitment, enrollment, and the learning processes.

Thoughtful use of technology can also help build a sustainable ecosystem that augers a seamless experience. Hitting the right note of the user-centered design, process improvement, and system re-engineering can help you reduce redundancy and improve the end-user experience.

Wrapping Up

The pandemic has forced universities to develop new methods of teaching and marketing to build inquisitivity among students. Institutions are realizing how personalized and student-centric learning can play a pivotal role in upholding the reputation of a university and the importance of providing students with customized resources rather than conventional textbook schemes.

Moreover, using virtual learning opportunities in this digital era has also provided learners with new training options. If used in the proper manner, these platforms can help in improving student interaction and efficiency. 

The aim of every institution should be to use its resources to the best. From extensive data analytics to support groups, this article listed all that an institution needs to retain students during the pandemic. 

So, get started on working on the blueprint of your new student-centric learning curriculum today! 

The pandemic has compelled every industry to rely on technology massively, and the education industry is no exception. Although this sector initially followed more of a conventional approach, in the last few years it has undergone monumental changes.

What was earlier confined to being a brick-and-mortar structure is now an open-ended classroom with the World Wide Web at its core. 

The experts in the industry assessed the current situation and sought concrete solutions to practical issues, for instance, attempts at solving the hindrances in accessing learning resources. This gave way to a stream of digital learning platforms, apps, and software with over 50% of faculties embracing the digital transformation.

The world of education was always limitless. However, the recognition and implementation of education technology at such a large scale have made the infinite number of learning resources accessible to every individual across the globe who has access to the internet.

Although we are all set to regain some semblance of normalcy with more schools, colleges, and other educational institutions that will reopen soon; the predominance of technology in education is here to stay.

What is Educational Technology and Why Should it Matter?

Educational Technology or EdTech refers to developing and incorporating tools including software and hardware that facilitate education, emphasizing engaging and personalized learning.

Essentially, the area promotes the use of applications, web portals, and other digital sources, fostering interactive online courses and other tech-infused tools in classrooms.

Though it may seem like a niche, EdTech is rather a far-flung dimension impacting individuals of varying backgrounds. It affects:

• Educational institutions: Schools and colleges need to embrace tech tools and ensure thorough incorporation of EdTech practices in the institutional processes. Moreover, educators will have to familiarise themselves with these procedures and formulate ways to incorporate them into their regimen.

• Designers: The need for advancement in the EdTech sector generates tremendous career opportunities for designers and technologists. These professionals must constantly embrace, innovate, and develop digital learning solutions to stay in line with the emerging trends and evolving technology.

• Occupation seekers: Not only educators and designers, but the education industry’s dynamics also create career avenues for entrepreneurs and other job seekers. From owning revolutionary education platforms to creating content and handling the backend technicalities, the opportunities are plenty.

• Every aspect of the future: Constant innovation in the EdTech industry empowers every individual to gain and receive education in a more streamlined manner. While it helps the educators organize lessons and enhance engagement, it equips learners with the resources needed to expand their scope of learning beyond the classroom.

Students are the future engineers, doctors, and eminent leaders, shaping the world with their knowledge and skills. Thus, EdTech indirectly impacts every aspect of the future.

8 EdTech Classroom Trends that are Poised to Rule the Roost in 2022

1. Gamification

Gamification essentially involves the use of game design and elements in educational software for learners to absorb knowledge in a fun and engaging manner. It challenges the status-quo of the conventional classroom approach, exhibiting how learning can be interactive.

EdTech companies have leveraged the power of gaming to revolutionize the way students interact with learning material. 

Students receive a reward in the form of points or stars every time they give the correct answer which boosts their enthusiasm to learn. Moreover, it makes learning easy as well as positively challenging.

Educators and institutions can use digital tools and online platforms created especially for this purpose. These apps and websites allow teachers to create personalized e-learning lessons in the form of fun computerized games and quizzes.

It nurtures an immersive learning experience where students can learn, enjoy, and collaborate.

The use of a gamified instructional design in the STEM course of Grand Valley University is the perfect example of how this trend can motivate students and positively influence class participation.

The case study of 501 students who took the gamified lessons at the university exhibited that students experienced intrinsic affinity towards STEM learning. The use of custom software instilled an environment of emotional engagement, humor, and learning.

2. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in EdTech refers to the usage of smart machines to study learner-response patterns and provide a personalized learning solution to each individual. It is a state-of-the-art approach, immensely beneficial for both teachers and students.

Through AI, EdTech platforms can simplify learning for trainees and automate teaching for educators.

Teachers can leverage this technology to check and grade assignments, recognize error patterns, create the required courses, and track individual student performance as well as curate problem-specific solutions to ensure every student receives specialized attention.

Jill Watson from the Georgia Institute of Technology is an incredible example of how AI can help relieve educators of mundane tasks, allowing them to focus more on student progress. It is an AI-powered teaching assistant that provides specific answers to a student’s query related to a particular course. 

Duolingo is another remarkable example of how an AI-based app can study a learner’s pattern and provide a well-tailored learning experience. It is a language learning platform that enables users to pick bite-sized training sessions according to their proficiency level.

 The practice prevents experienced individuals from getting bored with basic information and rookies from getting overwhelmed with complex questions at the beginning. It lets every individual follow an upward learning tree while employing deep learning to understand the areas that require more practice.

3. AR and VR

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in EdTech are technologies that foster a completely immersive learning experience. They let students closely interact with the subject of study in a virtual space which helps them gain practical insights about the topic.

While VR constructs a reality of the concept, AR lets learners visualize it for deeper understanding. For instance, if students are to learn about the human digestive system, they can use AR and VR to explore it virtually, bridging the gap between theory and practice. 

With its perfect blend of sounds, images, and animations it ensures a standout learning experience. 

An example of such immersive learning is the Google Expeditions Project. The application uses AR and VR to let individuals explore 500+ places virtually, in a thrilling environment of panoramic scenes, notes, and questions– both for the teachers and the students.

Another excellent example of AR and VR in EdTech is the Skyview App, which transforms a phone camera into a telescope. It is a unique application, letting astronomy enthusiasts spot planets, constellations, stars, and galaxies at the tap of a button by just having the user point the camera towards the sky.

Lastly, the 1943 Berlin Blitz in 360 degrees is another remarkable combination of VR education and BBC. 

It is a recording of the live night-time raid over the Nazis by Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, a BBC war correspondent who boarded the Lancaster Bomber. The recording provides an intense experience to the viewer, with live visuals and voice recording.  

The incorporation of AR and VR in EdTech thus has been a revolutionary phenomenon!

4. MOOCs and Online Courses

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) refers to a unique e-learning paradigm, wherein a free online course is delivered to a limitless audience. It can be in the form of recorded video lessons, digital readings, and assessments.

Similarly, various free and paid online courses let individuals learn about diverse topics, expanding their knowledge beyond the curriculum.

What makes MOOCs and online courses stand out is that they provide students enough time to learn at their pace and comfort. Additionally, learners can also check their progress through online assessments and enjoy a personalized learning environment.

Such e-learning models also benefit educators as they can encourage students to take up online courses related to the lessons learned in class. This practice helps in widening a learner’s scope of understanding the concept as they gain deeper insights into the topic.

Coursera and Udemy are among the largest platforms providing MOOCs to students across the globe. They offer free and paid courses, certifications, and degrees, training learners to convert their interests into career opportunities.

Young professionals and students can take up niche-specific courses and learn at their own speed without any peer pressure or competition.

5. Actualizing the Potential of Big Data & Analytics to Improve Education

Students and educators leave a wide range of data on user behavior patterns and engagement levels that intuitions can leverage to save costs and devise strategies.

Big Data tools can help convert the swarm of information at hand into easy-to-read files and dashboards. Schools and colleges can quickly analyze the ongoing situation, check automated reports, and use these insights to create a cost-effective enrolment structure.

Additionally, the concerned authorities can also examine student learning patterns to decide which individual requires more attention or financial support in the form of sponsorships. It also serves to foster alumni engagement in favor of the institution’s reputation.

The pandemic led to the education sector embracing mobile learning at a widespread scale. That, along with open educational resources and the relatively new concept of the metaverse, can together harness the power of Big Data, actualizing its applications in the EdTech sector.

6. Growth of Mobile Learning in Higher Ed

While mobile learning has become more of a necessity than a choice, it is slowly becoming a habit for good. Individuals taking courses from a mobile device can complete it about 43% faster than those taking it from desktops.

The approach fosters greater productivity by leveraging efficient models like microlearning that provides concise training sessions of 2-5 minutes only.

Institutions will require more mobile-friendly learning management systems to implement adaptive learning strategies. These include applications that offer multilingual features, engaging user experience, and are also device-agnostic.

7. Metaverse in Education

Metaverse has had a revolutionary impact amidst the pandemic, allowing students to interact and collaborate in a live space. It allowed institutions to create a virtual environment where learners can hang out, discuss, and attend classes as if they were doing it in person. Its 3D avatars looked as natural as an individual, converting the learning experience into that of a near-reality one.

The blend of metaverse and EdTech has given rise to Eduverse. It is a hybrid world where knowledge is gained through real-time experiences implanting in them the kind of learning that is sure to last for an eternity.

For example, students can travel back in time and feel the essence of Greek mythology with their VR headsets on. Their avatar can look for precious items around the archaelogial structures or peel through the soil with a shovel to discover exciting relics.

8. Open Educational Resources

Open Educational Resource (OER) is any material available online for the public to use and learn from without any cost. These may be learning or teaching materials that are either published by a governmental institution or by individual parties under an open license.

Irrespective of its publication source, what matters is OERs present accessible and cost-effective education to every institute and individual.

UNESCO has a special OER program in place for knowledge seekers around the world to access quality information. The organization firmly believes that such universal knowledge sharing encourages social, cultural, and economic development.

Conclusion

EdTech trends are bound to evolve and enhance with time due to analytics and technological innovations. It is safe to say that technology will take over the entire education sector soon, even in offline classroom settings.

Revolutionary technologies and concepts like MOOCs, OERs, and mobile learning ensure flexibility in learning, letting students learn and grow uniquely. Additionally, immersive learning techniques like AR, VR, and gamification have completely restructured the educational field for good.

These trends make learning more fascinating, intuitive, and collaborative, allowing the students to explore their interests. Moreover, such engaging settings motivate students, encouraging them to learn practically and implement new concepts.

Round-the-lock learning through the latest EdTech developments facilitates the personal growth of students and learning professionals, preparing them to excel in their professional roles.

To meet these demands of the changing times, classroom tech trends in today’s digital world are many with each being better and more immersive than the other. 

So, which tech trend are you excited to incorporate in your institute in 2022?

The educational landscape is evolving dramatically, and technological advancements like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are the top drivers of this change. However, as a higher ed institution, are you aware of the customer needs of this sector?

Students are one of your clients, and you need to ensure an indulgent customer experience (CX) to stay ahead of your competitors in the game.

Do you remember looking at the “People also watch” recommendations when you look up a show on Netflix? Or perhaps, you remember shopping products from Amazon’s “You might also like” suggestions section. With tech giants like Netflix and Amazon setting examples of offering people exactly what they want right when they want it, you know that personalization is imperative to hook users.

The same applies to Higher ed institutes that must leverage the power of AI to deliver an incredible customer experience. In this article, we’ve gathered 9 exemplary ways for you to fulfill your consumer’s needs. Check it out!

What are the common student experience issues?

Student experience refers to the online and offline interactions of learners with an institution. Whether it is their connection with technology, information, or the people representing the educational establishment, the experience can significantly impact lead generation and conversion rates in higher ed institutions.

Most institutions do not treat students as their consumers, resulting in a poor state of client support. So, we bring to you some of the most common service gaps in the higher education industry:

• Communication requirements: The institutional authorities do not communicate what is expected of the learners when they adopt different approaches like online education or a new discipline.
• Lack of service awareness: Many pupils do not have enough information on services offered by the academy. Some individuals are entirely unaware that such opportunities exist.
• Technology gaps: Platforms used by the institute may not be mobile-friendly or may be too complicated for an individual to access.
• Special needs: Applicants with low-income backgrounds, foreign nationality, or other special needs require additional support in the form of common platforms, auxiliary aids, etc., which is often lacking in a lot of institutes.
• Absence of online community: Despite shifting the classes online, most institutions fail to create a supportive online campus for learners to interact and participate in programs.
• Barriers in access to data: The faculty members & students do not have access to complete data due to organizational silos, leading to unsatisfactory student experiences.
• Enrolment agreement: Schools also force pupils to enter a contract of paying tuition fees and attending classes even if they wish to change later.
• Divided services: In most cases, learners have to visit multiple offices to get any formal inquiries or tasks done, causing an unnecessary wastage of time.
• Transition in delivery approach: Every student and staff member cannot adapt to the one-size-fits-all delivery approach.

Students - the customers in higher education

Learners expect similar quality service from educational establishments as they expect from other renowned brands like Uber and Grubhub. With the education industry embracing digitalization, officials need to treat students as clients.

The modern learner wants to get things done in a few clicks and clean swipes instead of lengthy procedures. Moreover, they may take the extreme measure of dropping the program if they have any bad experiences.

With the increasing competition among educational institutes and the rising awareness of customer experience in the higher ed sector, the responsible authorities need to modify their perspectives.

Often renowned institutions tend to regard themselves very highly and consider their students as individuals who were lucky to receive admission which proves detrimental. 

Schools and universities instead must develop a customer service mindset and aim to build a reputation as a customer-centric organization focusing on providing quality services.

Why treat students as customers?

Most organizations in the industry do not give enough importance to student satisfaction. However, treating their pupils as consumers and providing quality services can prove to be significantly profitable for institutions.

Some of these advantages include:

• Visibly increased loyalty
• Positive publicity through word-of-mouth
• Higher retention rates
• Comparatively larger enrolments

As per research conducted by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, the pandemic has significantly affected the higher ed enrolment rate.

Did you know the postsecondary enrolment rate declined by 2.6% in fall 2021 compared to the previous year? Moreover, with the rising availability of online knowledge programs and establishments, the market is experiencing high competition levels.

Such circumstances add to the reasons why educational institutes need to take adequate measures in prioritizing quality customer service.

Strategies for fostering a positive and productive environment for higher education

With digitalization disrupting almost every sphere of life, learners have a different set of expectations from higher ed institutes. They wish to enjoy profound learning flexibility in both on and off-campus facilities.

Institutes must develop strategies to provide students with the freedom of learning anything from anywhere, at any point in time.

The best approach is to create a customized set of online and offline strategies to enable an ecosystem of innovation, engagement, and adaptation. 

Let’s check out some of the top ways to foster a positive and productive environment in the higher ed sector.

Online Strategies

• Website customization: Like retail websites, college and university sites must also guide their consumers through the conversion funnel. Practices like providing relevant information to grab visitor attention, directing them towards the next steps in their journey, and following other tactics to provide a customized experience can help boost enrolment rates.
• Personalized curriculum backed by AI and blockchain: With the rise in digital educational platforms, the one-size-fits-all curriculum is no longer preferable. Students expect a customized learning approach, and institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are leveraging blockchain for the same. With this, they can share confidential documents like transcripts and diplomas securely.
• Online communities: Despite the countless online courses and MOOCs, most higher ed establishments lack engagement and relationship-building activities. Institutes must introduce digital programs that require learners to work in groups and collaborate digitally.

Offline Strategies

• Tech-enabled learning space: Pupils increasingly depend upon technology for multiple day-to-day tasks. Institutions can leverage this opportunity by providing a tech-enabled learning environment on the campus. The Spark: Academic Innovation Hub at Washington State University is an exemplary example of innovative space for students to collaborate and engage.
• Project-based learning: Another similar offline strategy is introducing apprenticeship programs for learners to test their knowledge with practical projects.
• Promote positive behaviors: Apart from building relationships and collaborative spaces, the responsible authorities must try to inculcate positive behaviors. These include a passion for succeeding, helping others, and practicing an optimistic approach. Educators can also reward learners with certificates and tokens for recognizing their conduct, thereby motivating others to follow the same.

Why should higher education websites embrace Personalization?

Higher ed websites must adopt corporate branding strategies to attract their target audience– the students. The new generation learners demand value propositions through well-tailored experiences.

Schools and colleges must offer a seamless web experience that is convincing enough for applicants to realize it is the right place for their learning and growth.

Check out a few reasons why personalization is essential for higher-ed websites.

1. Highly competitive market

Did you know the global e-learning market is expected to reach 243 billion USD by 2022? Online learning has gained massive popularity, resulting in the highly competitive higher ed sector.

The blurred geographical limitations have taken this level of contenders to an all-time high. Institutions do not just have to compete with educational establishments in the same region but with those all over the world.

To attract applicants to your institution, it is essential to stand out from the crowd. Schools can do this by offering a personalized experience just like Lancaster University does by optimizing Alexa as a digital guide.

2. The target market is used to a personalized experience

The higher ed sector’s target audience primarily comprises teenagers, and research states that 95% of teens have a smartphone. Even if they do not own one, they have access to it through their guardians.

As a result, most students are habitual to personalized treatment by other digital platforms like Spotify and Amazon Prime Video.

With such a high level of tailored customer experience, students expect similar treatment from educational institutes. 

3. Students will be encouraged to interact with the website

A personalized website with recommendations based on the candidate information will ensure higher engagement. When they come across topics of interest, the site will automatically seem more appealing.

For example, if an applicant searches for management programs, the website can recommend all the related programs. Additionally, they can get recommendations of relevant online courses, faculty, and degree formats.

This way, when they see material content tailored to their needs, learners will be encouraged to explore the website more. This, in turn, can lead to the conversion of a lead into a client.

4. The primary source of information

With open access to the internet, teenagers are well informed about the tuition fees, service quality, and facilities offered by the various institutions.

The new generation students are savvy customers who need relevant data to choose a particular school over the other. It is this reason why a university’s website becomes the prime source of information for learners to make their decision.

For instance, let’s look at the case of Bryant University which has directed its undergraduate admission applicants to personalized landing pages. Each of these exhibited specific information related to the chosen programs and campus life, providing a tailored experience to the visitors. As a result, the university witnessed a visible increase in its enrolment.

9 ways to deliver excellent customer service at your educational institution

A modern institute needs to be student-centric at every level. You will not be able to provide a Netflix-like front-end experience in the absence of a Netflix-like back-end setup. Being customer-focused is imperative for every higher ed institution.

Check out 9 practical ways to deliver quality customer service at an educational establishment.

1. Establish personalization practices through student personas

To create a personalized client strategy, you must first understand your target audience. There may be foreign nationals who require help with visas or individuals from low-income backgrounds needing financial aid.

Here are a few questions to help you create a student persona:

• Who is my target audience?
• What questions may they have?
• What are their preferences?
• Why are they opting for this course?

Based on this analysis, institutions can categorize students into groups and dedicate unique pages for each cluster.

West Texas A&M University, for example, follows this approach quite well. Its ‘Admissions’ page comprises links directing to varying student categories like international candidates, freshmen, pre-university programs, etc.

2. Promote a customer-centric culture

When we meant institutes must deploy Netflix-like back-end practices, this is what we were referring to. Educational institutions in the higher ed sector must encourage their faculty and staff members to nurture a customer-centric culture.

To ensure quality service, Coastal Carolina University introduced a unique training module named ‘Feel The Teal’. Its prime theory is that though clients may not always be right, employees must go out of their way to make the situation right.

3. Devise and adopt a customer experience strategy 

Every educational organization must develop a concrete customer experience strategy, portraying the kind of value the company seeks to deliver.

It must align with the establishment's brand principles while also including aspects like resources and the investments required. Such a strategy that clearly defines its vision will help the institute stay on track and achieve its goal.

4. Incorporate FERPA compliance

Keeping your customer’s records safe at all times is highly imperative. To ensure every educational institution maintains high data security, the US government has made Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) compulsory.

In case the school wishes to share an individual’s information, the responsible authorities must take written permission from the parents.

With digital frauds and hacks on the rise, every institute must follow strict measures to ensure student-customer data privacy.

5. Revolutionize customer service through gamification

A school can gamify its services to ensure the employees perform their best and provide quality customer service. To introduce a fun element, the authorities can create a competitive environment where associates are rewarded for excellent performance.

Here are a few ways to practice gamification in customer service:

• Following a point system to grade the service team
• Providing weekly or monthly goals to achieve
• Rewarding individuals with the highest scores

6. Voice of Customer (VOC)– Customer understanding through constant feedback 

Gaining insights into the voice of the customer (VOC) is essential to analyzing the current performance and gauging the required changes.

Institutions must interact with students regarding their perceptions, preferences, and overall experience through constant feedback. Surveys, chat forums, and emails are great ways to collect reviews.

Other concrete steps include conducting usability testing and A/B testing while the product is still in the development stage.

7. Adopt a culture of continuous CX improvement

Even after institutions have gathered customer feedback and rectified the current product, their work is not over. They must follow an incremental approach to CX design.

Despite multiple feedbacks and tweaks, the educational corporations must not set the final version in stone. Following practices like monitoring student behavior, gathering more feedback, and closely working with the target audience will help ensure customer-centricity.

8. Streamlining processes by going digital

Due to the current hybrid work scenario, several organizations may face operation management challenges. Employees on leave may not reply to important emails, and the lack of communication in the team can lead to grave repercussions.

For example, the sponsors, administrators, and faculty members at the Boise State University complained about not receiving responses to emails. So, to streamline the process, the university adopted an automating tool that ensured no emails were missed and every concerned individual was kept in the loop.

9. Continuous measurement and rectification

To ensure they are on the right track, schools and universities must use concrete metrics for analyzing customer experience success. Continuous monitoring and measurement is the best solution to spot loopholes in the ongoing process and devise strategies to rectify them. Institutes can use the data to gather insights into the return on investment (ROI) to gauge their overall profits.

Summing up

Higher education corporations operate at an advanced level, with multiple aspects playing a significant role in their survival. However, customer-centricity is an imperative factor in their success, and treating students like consumers is the way to ensure promising CX.

Streamlining customer service with the help of digital tools will help institutes enhance student experiences. Similarly, leveraging user voice, feedback, and data can help institutions improve their service quality and, in turn, ensure high enrolment rates.

Customer-centricity is massively becoming a non-negotiable factor, leading to the demand for personalized student experiences.

Higher ed institutions must realize that excellent customer service does not hamper academic value. Instead, it enhances the level of higher education.

So, what’s the hold? Use the strategies mentioned above to deliver flawless customer service at your higher ed institution today!

The year was 2013, and TED announced their annual $1 Million winner- the professor with his head in the cloud. Dr. Sugata Mishra envisioned creating a cloud school for the next generation of learning. Today, we can all vouch for how this theory has aged rather impressively.  Much to his vision, education has come a long way, and cloud technology has taken it by storm. Contradictory to the usual philosophy, the cloud is helping both teachers and students nurture connections across geographies. 

Teachers are increasingly stepping in the role of facilitators, with students taking charge. Not just limited to classroom operations, cloud aids educational institutions to face and cope with a range of issues, which are only intensifying with time. These include tighter budgets with limited funding and the discord between student needs and curriculum.  

With the arrival of Covid, the cloud is no longer the future, but the savior of the present. In 2020, most industries put their pedal to the floor on the digital transformation front, and so did educational institutes of all scales. Although mostly insufficient at the moment, emerging economies are taking note of the inevitability of cloud technology in their smooth functioning. 

Modern students also no longer want passive online learning, but a dynamic and immersive space to engage and collaborate. They want lessons relevant in the practical world with flexible access to resources. 

The meaning of classroom teaching has transformed into an adaptive learning space. With this fast-paced evolution, it is not surprising that many universities and schools are gearing to adopt cloud technology as part of a more sustainable solution. 

Cloud Technology – reinventing the education ecosystem

Technology can bolster education in more ways than one, and the ongoing EdTech revolution is a perfect example.

The overall market is exploding with a projected reach of $8,779.1 million by 2027. As the future of education has already arrived and is here to stay, the educational and student experiences are undergoing a bigger and better transformation. This holds for all stakeholders and institutions alike. 

Let us explore a few ways in which cloud technology is reshaping higher education for better student experiences.  

Augments student collaboration and productivity

A virtual learning environment has the power to connect learners and teachers across devices and geographies. The last two years have effectively demonstrated how online classrooms help students adjust themselves to technology as they attend, take exams, and turn in assignments on the cloud.

Google Classroom is the unprecedented leader in this arena as the pandemic reduced all learning from homes and continues to use it even in physical lessons. These sessions are also known to increase lesson retention. Two decades ago, nobody knew if taking a course in Sri Lanka with a professor sitting in Norway, for a University in the UK was even doable. 

Source - Google Classroom

Augmented reality has fueled a hands-on learning experience, with location-based markers for a lesson experience that comes alive, literally. This approach can be used across industries to impart practical skills, such as in manufacturing and hospitality. Platforms like Zappar offer the space and tools for creators to put together more interactive and engaging content for learners.  

Source - Zappar

Enables greater accessibility to both learners and teachers  

An internet connection is all you need to go to school. The cloud has made our world smaller, and the atmosphere of learning is now on our screens. There is nothing that can match the accessibility of the cloud, and this is a powerful means to conduct most activities and tasks in real-time without affecting delivery. Students can sync all devices for universal access, and this is an unparalleled advantage against existing conventional educational set-ups. 

The collaboration factor snowballs into institutes going the extra mile to get in skilled global trainers for specialized learning, without the latter moving from their living room. 

The constraints of time and place are diluted when everything is integrated on the cloud platform. Taking an exam without the hassle of commuting or automated grading of test papers helps students and facilitators focus on the most critical activity- learning and development. 

The accessibility is not limited to isolated schools and colleges, with MOOCs emerging as a quality learning platform with a strong presence of globally acclaimed institutions on board. From EdX to Coursera, the scale of offering and pricing has changed how most people view college education. 

Improves content delivery and flexibility

A virtual medium of learning enhances the scope of presentation and helps teachers leverage online tools to create a lucid lesson. Content is the soul of any lesson. A robust and creatively designed content engages students cognitively and increases overall engagement.

There is a fiber of flexibility when it comes to online content delivery. Lessons are pre-uploaded along with relevant AVs for all learners. This ensures those fast learners no longer bore themselves with the same concept but move at their own pace in the subject. 

Taking courses outside of the curriculum is easier to accommodate, and students upskill in areas they consider rewarding. Teachers are also left to focus on enhancing individual classes with cloud tools at their disposal for out-of-the-box lesson delivery. 

Promotes agility in school operations

Speaking of the business front of education, the goal is to get maximum results at minimum costs. Clouds give institutions the flexibility to adjust resources in tandem with the ongoing demand with add-on resources in a few clicks. This cushion of pay-as-you-need leaves room to accommodate other pressing expenses that are otherwise difficult on a restrained budget. 

Cloud automates most redundant tasks, leaving time for other expansion ideas and advancements. As data is readily available from analytics, an institute can analyze its metrics for optimum utilization of resources and tap into AI for personalized learning experiences. 

The pros are not restricted to just that. The ecosystem has brought academic operations and administration to collaborate and embrace futuristic technology seamlessly.  

For instance, Mississippi’s  Baylor University implemented the Oracle cloud ERP, CMS, and HCM to bring down costs and establish efficiency in their processes. The University previously had several backend processes with disconnected systems, forcing employees to punch in the same data multiple times, leading to redundancy and errors. 

Source - Oracle.com

With Oracle’s intuitive AI, interconnected dashboards helped sync decisions concerning multiple departments. One of its highlights is also the reduction in the hiring steps from a 26 to a meager 6 or 7.

Affordable education with streamlined costs

The overall operational cost relaxation makes programs slightly affordable for learners. Additionally, students need not invest significantly in textbooks and materials as most are accessible on the library system.  Reduced costs and universal accessibility play a key role in extending the reach of higher education to areas that would otherwise be deprived of it. The increasing number of students who are unhappy with traditional education patterns can explore the content of online education without worrying about its credibility. As full-time classes require longitudinal commitment, working professionals can accommodate learning via the cloud at convenient hours. 

Enhanced content delivery pathways

Institutions are increasingly turning to cloud spaces for collaborative research and high-end industrial training amongst students. Course management software such as Moodle enables collaboration for effective learning. 

The chore of maintaining physical tests and records is off the table, and last-minute paper turn-ins are no longer a pest, as the CMS automatically accepts assignments until the set deadline. From sharing notes and accessing textbooks and handouts to private communication forums, these platforms have taken off a significant load from teachers to create insightful and engaging course content. 

Classter is an end-to-end cloud management solution that has been helping K-12 educators in Australia and around the globe in freeing up time for teaching and learning, by enabling their school to remotely manage important tasks like online admissions, day-to-day management, billing, etc.

An all-in-one student management system and learning management system that is fully customizable to the needs of each educational institute. 

Personalizing education and improving learning outcomes

Institutes can leverage machine learning and AI to curate personalized classes for students' interests. Students’ success rate is bound to increase automatically as learners’ individual needs are catered to. 

As against old-school methods that cannot possibly match the learning pace of every student, cloud technology lets the process of learning continue until the course-taker is confident of the concepts. This makes room for those seeking less rigidity to thrive in virtual learning spaces.  

Self-enabled learning is on a rise, with policymakers accommodating its components in core degree programs.  Cloud aligns and irons out drastic differences by making education available to all, anywhere. As the ground sets running, the cost of such technology is on a downward trend, and even free on numerous platforms for broader access.  

Bottom line

Cloud technology is a revolution altering the course of ways students learn, and educational institutes offer programs. With seamless collaboration made more accessible, students can expect increased practical learning with meaningful group work and communication channels to complete tasks. 

While there are other advantages like increased inclusivity, decreased costs, and overall affordable programs, a few pain points can hamper switching to the cloud holistically. Risks of downtime during important sessions like exams or up-front cost of infrastructure may discourage smaller institutes from taking the long-term plunge into the cloud. 

However, the world is increasingly moving to a remote and hybrid model of communication at all fronts. Top universities across the world are adopting cloud tech for keeping up with the ever-changing demands of the student market. From Purdue University’s Libris for organizing, collaborating visual resources to Cornell’s Red Cloud service for increased collaboration, the aim is to create a cohesive learning atmosphere- be it on a screen or the actual classroom on campus. 

If you ask a student if they consider themselves a customer of their university, the answer will almost certainly be yes. Students expect a heightened level of service in exchange for their participation. They're used to brands wanting to form and maintain relationships with them, even when there's no monetary incentive. Students understand that they cannot be passive and must take responsibility for their academic performance, but they also expect to be partners in the process rather than subordinates. This calls for a student-first experience.  

Community colleges continued to suffer the most, with enrollment dropping by 9.5 percent or 476,000 fewer students

– Forbes

Here are a few more insights from Forbes:

• Public four-year universities were down by 6 percent
• Private, non-profit institutions saw an 8 percent decrease
• Private, for-profit schools saw a 1.5 percent drop in enrollment 

Higher education is undergoing a series of challenges and opportunities that will forever alter the institution’s course. The industry's digital transformation is aided by information technology, which is both driving and enabling. Education refers to digital transformation in higher education as "DX" and defines it as a "cultural, workforce, and technological shift." Trends and changes in technology are driving the Higher Ed industry, allowing for a new approach to everything from digital architectures to how campus leaders interact with higher educational digital ecosystems. These new approaches will create new opportunities and outcomes, such as increased student success, innovative teaching and learning methods, and new research capabilities. The transformation of our core missions will enable, if not necessitate, institutions to create entirely new business models.

Evolving expectations are a significant driver of higher education's digital transformation. Students, in particular, expect a personalized and seamless customer experience. They want a home base for their education, but they also want their institution to access a larger higher education marketplace. They want to be at a competitive advantage when they graduate, which means having job-ready skills and competencies and new and innovative learning opportunities.

Enhancing the Student Experience

University is about the experience and experiences matter

Casting aside the education aspect, which is essential, the university is about the experience, and experiences matter. For some, it goes beyond the fear of missing out; it's why the majority of students choose to live on campus; and it's why teams, societies, and student government play such an important role in university life. Experience is inextricably linked to students’ decisions and their overall university experience.

Make it a collaborative approach with the students

Digital transformation improves the student experience academically and how it affects their lives throughout their university life cycle. If you ask the people who will use the product or service, the chances of getting it right will increase. As students are experiencing this firsthand, it is critical to have a student voice on issues that will affect their lives and university experience.

Use technology as the enabler

Having a digital-first mindset is a great way to think about how digitalization can enable more incredible things and provide better experiences for digital transformation. Voice assistants, such as Amazon Alexa-enabled devices, are excellent examples of how digitalization can be introduced into student spaces, such as dorm rooms.

Adopt an omnichannel approach

As we fixate more on the student experience, adopting an omnichannel approach allows for a seamless experience between those online and in person. It will enable the online to improve the in-person experience and gather feedback at every step. It is becoming clear that a holistic approach is critical to student success. Institutions now have access to new and emerging technologies to help them.

How to adapt to ‘digital-first, customer-centric thinking

Undoubtedly, improving the student experience necessitates the collaboration of many roles and stakeholders, and digital is increasingly playing a significant role. Institutions that take a more strategic approach and involve their students in decision-making processes have direct access to their opinions. It can only benefit and improve their service. 

Importance of Digital Transformation in Enhancing Higher Ed Digital Experience 

Digital transformation's ultimate goal is to improve customer service and streamline business operations. Here, in higher education, students are the customers. They have several options to select from, including private vs. public schools, online vs. on-campus study, and full-time vs. part-time enrollment.

The National Centre of Education’s statistics shows that post-secondary schools in the United States increased by almost 10% from 2005 to 2016. College and university administrators are attempting to preserve a competitive advantage with the declining percentage of high school graduates. According to Forbes, high school graduates have declined yearly, with no rise expected until 2024. Even though there is less student demand and more learning options, colleges and universities can differentiate themselves and gain a competitive advantage by rethinking their technology and data processes.

21 Must-have Strategies for Your Higher Ed Digital Experience

1. Low Code

Universities and colleges have limited budgets, but they must make critical investments to compete for a shrinking pool of students. Traditional options can be both resource and time-intensive. Many schools have an aging portfolio of core enterprise applications such as Student Information Systems, Learning Management Systems, Human Resource/Payroll Systems, and a Finance ERP. To remain competitive and introduce new programs, they must change these systems. Initially, this can be difficult due to the high cost and scarcity of software developers proficient in their respective platforms. However, low code significantly lowers delivery costs.

Most schools have gradually built their workflow automation, using various options such as off-the-shelf software and custom-built solutions. Patches were applied to these applications as their requirements changed over time. As a result, the average student or faculty member interacts with multiple applications while navigating academic and campus life. 

In many cases, this results in a fragmented, discontinuous experience that necessitates reentering data and logging in and out of multiple systems. It can lead to lost productivity, data integrity issues, and an overall negative end-user experience. A low-code platform can serve as the glue that connects various systems in the background while providing end-users with a simple unified front end.

2. Multisite governance

A college campus is a microcosm of a larger ecosystem, including many miniature worlds within a unified identity. Besides their main website, most HEIs have several microsites and portals for each program and department. If each department uses a different content management system (CMS), the outcome is hundreds of separate websites with no common identity. Higher education executives want technology that allows for innovation without devolving into chaos. It will enable them to maintain brand consistency and guarantee that the information is accurate and connected with the university's overall mission and values. A unified platform with overarching governance and well-defined roles and duties establish a consistent standard across departments, teams, and campuses.

Using an agile and robust CMS like Drupal reduces confusion and annoyance while allowing users to make their required adjustments. Multisite management technologies enable teams to roll out updates to numerous sites and save time. 

Perhaps, establishing a sense of connection and harmony between the virtual higher education experience and the on-campus experience can also allow students to feel like they aren't losing out on life-changing memories and possibilities.

3. Enhance content delivery 

Students no longer communicate with educational institutions solely through traditional websites or in-person tours. They increasingly use mobile devices, tablets, and other technologies to obtain information and interact with colleges. Many students juggle several commitments, like employment or childcare, and they want access to content on the go. 

Students may want to submit an assignment or write a complete essay on their tablet during their daily commute. Universities must ensure that their portals and learning management systems are adaptable enough to support multiple device types and accommodate whatever new technologies arise in the future.

4. Providing better skills through digital capability

Digital transformation necessitates the development of new skills and competencies across the institution. Strategic sourcing, contract management, supplier relationship management, user experience and design thinking, product management, and enterprise architecture are just a few of the new technology-related talents in high demand. More developed data skills and the capacity to communicate and partner up will require the whole workforce. 

Human resources professionals and workforce managers will need to improve their talent management and workforce planning skills. All employees will need to learn how to manage, communicate, collaborate, and work efficiently in a hybrid work environment if the institution operates with a hybrid model office and work-from-home model company.

Institutions may be able to violate the ‘iron triangle’ rule, which states that only two of the three desirable outcomes – cost, speed, and quality – can be maximized simultaneously. Systems and data integrations are frequently used in Dx activities, resulting in cheaper pricing and improved services and experiences. 

They can offer a comprehensive picture of students, alumni, personnel, resources, and more to produce positive outcomes. New architectures make data and resources more accessible, allowing for improved insights into institutional products and services and faster and more accurate decisions. These improvements will pave the way for more affordable education, offering students the skills and credentials needed to obtain their chosen employment conveniently.

5. Student-first digital transformation

HEIs construct digital environments to fulfill students' needs and assist them in their studies and beyond as their expectations and demands vary. Digital revolution benefits students academically and how technology affects their lives throughout their university careers. Leaving aside the essential educational component, the university is about the experience – and experiences matter.

It's why most students choose to live on campus; it's why sports, societies, and student government play an important role in university life for many. Students' decisions and general university life are heavily influenced by their prior experiences. 

Adopting a digital-first attitude is a beautiful way to consider how technology may enable more incredible things and better experiences for digital transformation. Students must be supported in achieving their goals and ambitions, as mental health can impact their relationships, well-being, and learning and working at university.

6. Leverage alumni community groups

Building significant ties with alumni requires the same attentiveness from HEIs. What makes your alumni tick, and what types of information do they want to consume? Knowing the answers to such questions can help personalize your alumni engagement approach for each category and persona. You'll be able to segment your students once you've gathered crucial information about them to speak their language more effectively.

Any brand would find managing a social media strategy difficult. Since monitoring your campaigns’ performance is the only way to identify whether they are successful or not, you'll need a tool that allows you to learn from them consistently. You may start adjusting your alumni engagement plan once you understand where your audience spends their time and what content they appreciate the most.

One example of best practices for alumni involvement could be creating and moderating clubs or communities for graduates, depending on colleges within your university or your overall alumni association. Through these clubs, graduates can connect with people within their discipline or outside who may still have links to enterprises of similar interest. 

Searching for a new job is one of the few things that draws alumni back to their alma mater. While your university's internal database may provide job listings, 79% of today's job seekers use social media to find work. You can work with your career services department to give training sessions and build career groups on LinkedIn.

7. Ensure websites are optimized for mobile

Your school's website gives students their first impression. Key conversion points such as ‘apply now’ and ‘contact us’ become considerably more apparent when your website is mobile-optimized and gives a fantastic user experience. According to Pew Research Center, 30% of smartphone owners have used their devices to look up educational content or take online classes.

Students will leave you if you don't have a quick, mobile-friendly website. People expect results quickly – every second matters in the digital age. By chance your site takes longer than four seconds to load, you may lose as much as 40% of your visitors.

Widespread mobile phone usage has also gotten people accustomed to instant gratification. Users will hit the ‘back’ button if your page does not load immediately, navigating them to your competitors' websites in the search results. A customer is always only a few clicks away from abandoning your website. As a result, you must use mobile optimization to nurture conversions and increase brand engagement.

Google’s ever-improving organic search platform favors mobile-friendly websites. It will enable mobile-first indexing for all sites in search by default starting in March 2021. It's worth noting that Google currently uses mobile-first indexing as a ranking component, but this update will have a more significant influence. Thus, if your website is mobile-friendly, has SEO-optimized content, engages consumers, and loads quickly. It will be prioritized in search results. Schools can use increased traffic from mobile optimization to reach their per-cycle enrollment targets.

8. Generate high-quality leads with PPC next-gen advertising

Pay-per-click (PPC) services charge advertisers a fee each time a link in one of their advertisements is clicked on online platforms, including search engines. It is a fantastic option for HEIs to buy website hits rather than solely on organic traffic, typically slower. Higher ed institutions may create a large number of high-quality leads in a short time since PPC advertising narrows the target population down by age, interests, demographics, etc.

9. Search Engine Optimization 

Google's no-click search increased in 2021, resulting in a drop in organic traffic. Almost two-thirds of Google searches ended with the user not clicking through results (up by 50% in 2019). Come 2022, it is time for higher education marketing teams to collaborate with SEO specialists and develop strategies that focus on creating content that answers high-volume search queries and includes main keywords. Using keyword research and SEO insights to develop new content or enhance current content can help you get featured snippets, rank higher in SERPs, and drive more traffic back to your site.

Increasing student enrollment is usually the primary goal of higher education institutions. However, consider the big picture when building an SEO strategy for colleges because every institution has plans somewhere in the middle of ranking priorities. Most people only think about how to get more students into their schools. However, other crucial considerations must be made before optimizing existing content – whether keywords or phrases will best suit what people want from this site, if you require web pages mainly dedicated to those search terms, etc.

10. Increase usage of live video

The sky's the limit when it comes to generating meaningful information with sessions hosted by faculty members, current students, alumni, or the dean. It also communicates a different message about your institution: that you're an HEI that's up to date on technology and willing to engage with students in meaningful, convenient, and relevant ways. This belief is especially true for today's digitally connected generations.

Break up your full-length lecture into smaller videos instead of recording it as a whole. According to TechSmith's survey on video watching in 2016, most individuals like 6–15-minute-long videos. You can create videos based on specific subjects, sections, or other logical subsets of your lecture content. You can even record courses on topics that students seem to struggle with regularly. 

When educators must teach online exclusively, they have to go out of their way to connect with pupils. They can use brief videos to launch e-courses and introduce themselves to students personally. Each unit, or the week's topic, might be presented here to give students an idea of what to expect and establish the groundwork.

11. Take PR strategies online

Traditional public relations isn't gone; it's just had a makeover. Some PR principles will never change. Building ties with professors, reporters, and editors is one of them. Professors can provide you with cutting-edge research as well as entertaining quotes or tales. Media personnel are your best bet for getting that research and those stories out to your target audience as news or editorial material – especially when they're about current and sensational themes. 

Another traditional online PR strategy is strategically positioning advertising or content on sites most likely to be viewed by the students or organizations you want to reach. Start with a brand awareness ad introducing your higher ed institution to obtain the best results. Follow up with a retargeting campaign showing new ads to those who clicked on your previous ad.

12. Harness the power of influencer marketing

So you thought influencer marketing was solely for makeup and boots? Think again – higher education is a prime candidate for influencer marketing. You'll want to start by looking at your social media platforms and any places where your institution's hashtags appear. Examine people talking about your institution, their reach, and the number of times they have been mentioned. Do you have any questions on how to proceed? Take the assistance of experts – it's worth hiring a digital marketing agency to assist you. Influencer marketing may be incredibly beneficial for HEIs when utilized as a part of a well-thought-out digital marketing strategy.

Create a strong network of people willing to share their post-graduate experiences and opportunities with potential students. You may screen these alumni to ensure that they'll be good spokespersons. Then, allow them to moderate the discussion online so that it's a true reflection of your program. 

Today's millennials trust an influencer on social media over other sources of information by a whopping 52%. Gen Z wants to see the truth from someone they can identify with, not just hear about it from professors or admissions counselors. Because influencer marketing isn't going away anytime soon, now is the time to use it strategically to increase enrollment.

13. Responsive ad placements

Responsive advertisements are ad units that scale your campaign's assets to match the different limits of different devices and platforms. You can upload numerous ad formats, headlines, copies, and images when designing responsive advertisements, and Google Display Network will automatically offer a version to match the demands of the user's platform or device. When employing numerous headlines, descriptions, and images with responsive display ads, advertisers receive 10% higher conversions at the same CPA, according to Google's research. 

Moving from static to responsive ad units resulted in increased impression volume and higher clickthrough rates in our experience executing college enrollment marketing campaigns. Recognizing the performance potential of responsive ad units while planning your display advertising strategy for 2022 could help you generate more relevant leads and boost conversion rates.

14. Conversion-driven content 

What is a niche or area of expertise where you have enough knowledge and resources to influence thought or action meaningfully? Utilize your in-house knowledge to find and direct your material. Allow specialists to write if they can or if their byline draws attention, but keep the right to edit carefully for style and consistency. Above all, ensure your content provides value to the user. 

Then decide which method is most effective. Is it a blog, or is it something else entirely? Is this going to be a video show? What is the best use of your resources? What is a reasonable frequency? What kind of content will you plan? How will you assist content creators in ensuring quality, consistency, and timeliness?

15. Course offerings

Online education has become quite the buzzword since 2020. It gives students the freedom to study when and how they want. The majority of students have adopted this way of learning. In the meantime, international institutions are already attempting to mitigate the impact of education disruption on people from low-income families who are not tech-savvy.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are low-cost, short-duration courses designed for the general public that can be accessed from anywhere at any time. Over 180 million people learned online in 2020, with 2800 courses, 19 online degrees, and 360 micro-credentials. 

These classes are a fantastic opportunity for students to improve their talents. Learning isn't confined to those who can afford higher education, thanks to the convenience of MOOCs. Apart from the short-duration sessions, which allow students to learn more in less time, this is one of the critical benefits of these courses. 

16. Brand awareness 

In the context of higher education marketing, it's difficult to overestimate the significance of brand awareness and equity. The overriding feature differentiating an academic institution from competitors is its brand, including everything from the university motto and crest to design elements, educational programs, and campus identity. In this sense, branding is crucial for higher education marketing initiatives to succeed. 

Consistency is also necessary for maximizing the influence of branding in higher education. At this level, academic institutions must maintain brand consistency across all media and campaigns. Higher education institutions' digital transformation should communicate the same brand across all digital, traditional, social media platforms and other marketing efforts. 

17. Multichannel social media presence 

According to Hootsuite's annual digital state of the union report, social media has 3.8 billion active users – 49% of the global population. This figure is projected to rise further. Make sure you don't get left behind. 

Imagine a potential communications student, and consider how crucial it is to develop a solid internet profile to draw them in. Why should people consider attending your institution to learn about media best practices if the school itself is behind the times? Meeting your target audience where they are is also a cost-effective and straightforward approach. Creating authentic content (and sharing plenty of user-generated content) is easier than ever, thanks to the popularity of Stories on several platforms and Instagram's recent Reels launch. 

Fit is a crucial concern for students who want to live on campus; on-campus trips often feel scripted. Prospective students want to picture themselves in a dorm room with their buddies, watching a game at the stadium, or getting a cup of coffee in the campus library. Consider more innovative approaches, such as a student social media takeover (which should be approved before being published) to highlight some of these more personal aspects of campus life.

18. Engage 24/7 with chatbots

As technology advances, accessibility implies being reachable whenever and however your audience requires you. Do any of your programs cater to professionals looking to advance their careers? Live chat might be impossible at 11 p.m. on a Saturday. However, your target audience is most likely surfing at that time. You still have to provide solutions to their inquiries from a conversion standpoint. 

Chatbots, or virtual chat assistants, are increasing in popularity. Customer service chatbot usage has climbed by 23% in the last three years. For university websites, they're increasingly becoming a must-have. Quick replies to a student's inquiries from your website could mean the difference between making it into their shortlist or not.

19. Invest in world-class websites

Your institute's website is a chief component of your enrollment marketing plan. It provides you with a devoted platform for nurturing leads and educating prospective students about your brand, programs, and educational offerings. However, creating a world-class website requires thorough knowledge of your target demographic and implementing an SEO-friendly content marketing plan. 

Having the correct combination of these top-performing content kinds can significantly enhance your website traffic and engagement metrics, especially given the rate at which students consume program-related research content. As a result, your school's brand will get more recognition, authority, and additional enrollment chances. 

Finally, a great user experience makes it easier for future students to find information. That should, of course, be your priority. With the popularity of voice-search functionality in devices like Alexa and Siri on the rise, don't overlook voice search optimization as a way to boost usability and accessibility.

20. Create engaging video content 

36% of universities report a dip in campus visit requests. With the number of campus visits and tours projected to fall, video is better to raise brand recognition and engage prospects. The following are examples of possible topics:

• Responding to the most commonly asked questions at school 
• Offering student tour guides for mini-tours of the facilities 
• Tours of the university via video 

Nearly every social media platform features short-form videos, which are more engaging. Over half of the viewers watching short-form videos (under 90 seconds) finish them. 

Consider using short-form channels like TikTok and Instagram to reach prospective students' feeds for awareness and remarketing campaigns in 2022. You can connect these brief videos to longer videos with more information. According to a Hubspot survey, YouTube videos influenced the enrollment choice of 27% of potential teen students. YouTube can increase brand exposure, improve SEO performance, and support other digital marketing activities. 

Long-form video can also be an effective promotion technique on a program level. Having student program ambassadors talk about their experiences or film quick ‘day in the life’ videos can provide prospects with valuable information and improve your brand's overall storytelling. New tools also make it simple to assess your video's effectiveness with audiences before releasing it.

21. Create education apps 

Many institutions are developing applications to allow mobile users to access their websites and constructing mobile-friendly websites. Moreover, the apps have functions that aren't available online for laptops or desktops. University apps, for example, frequently incorporate high-resolution visuals. Universities' designs for assisting mobile users in accessing the university website are frequently available for download on the website itself. They are, however, often available for download on third-party websites, too, like App Store and Google Play.

Conclusion 

HEIs and educators, besides students, can improve their skills by digitizing the learning experience to establish an active educational process. With online learning, intelligent schooling, student assessments, tailored learning experiences, and online examinations, the digital revolution in education can be implemented in various ways.

QED42 is among the top providers for Design and Drupal globally. Currently, Drupal powers more than 70% of the world’s top higher education institute’s websites including Oxford University, Harvard University, MIT, UCLA, etc. Over the past 11 years, QED42 has worked extensively in the higher education space, focusing on content delivery, portal development, and helping Higher Ed institutes innovate and adapt. Learn more about how we create Digital Experiences for Higher Education Institutes. 

The digital revolution which is currently sweeping over the world, has only been accelerated by the ongoing pandemic. This will help serve the future generations. As the changemaker in the higher education industry, you too can contribute by offering one hell of digital experience through your digital assets. But the process of creating such digital platforms is painstaking and tedious. This is where we can help. Taking cues from our in-house team, and from the world’s best university websites, we have developed three stages of creating the perfect digital version of your higher education institution.

Stage I: Plan

Just like every other project, creating this digital experience will require a lot of planning. Everyone's contribution is the picture-perfect scenario. This is the part where you’ll plan, and strategize. This is also the part where you (and/or your team, including external vendors) will brainstorm and come up with the best possible ways to present the most relevant information in the most succinct manner possible.

Ranked 1st on the World University Rankings 2022 by Times Higher Education, the website of Oxford University (Which is built on Drupal) clearly provides resources for the students and staff on the very first page.

But as they say, to each their own. You have to find your way of highlighting one aspect/portion of the page, yet being accessible for the rest of the page.

1.1 What to plan for?

While planning, you’ll have to account for your primary objectives from the website. That is, what exactly are you trying to achieve with this website? Write these down as clearly as possible because this will help you throughout your project and will leave you with a clearer and crispier communication plan. In this part of the project, you may also want to define your target audience.

Pro-tip A: It is the students who are your primary audience, followed by the staff. It is better to have a consensus among the stakeholders regarding this before moving further.

1.1.1 This is what your website goals should ideally zero in on

Brand awareness: You want to get the word out that you have a remarkable college, where students and the faculty, both, can flourish in a manner ultimately beneficial to society. To make this happen, your university/college/school website needs to be front and center.

What is a brand image? One of the earliest definitions, “the total impression an entity makes on the minds of others” (Dichter, 1985), still holds true in 2021 for every industry, even in this digital age (Something like, ‘evergreen content’?)

Research by American and Indian academicians shows that “a distinct brand image plays an important role in students’ level of satisfaction.” They further add that the service quality has a greater impact on student satisfaction levels (as compared to university heritage and trustworthiness). The authors also found a positive mediating effect of university reputation in the relationship between university brand image and student satisfaction levels. Still, wondering why you should try to build a brand rather than a website? Perhaps not.

Revenue:You want to hire the best faculty for the students, you also want to have the best infrastructure, you would also want to offer the best facilities. All of this will demand money, a lot of it. Even though your primary aim may be (or could be) to serve the students, you’ll still want money to do that in your best possible capacity.

An article on Medium by a UK-based education-entrepreneur, Shinaz Navas, even claims in his research that financial sustainability is the ‘biggest existential threat facing the higher education (HE) sector today.' We believe that the reality lies somewhere in the middle. Neither completely towards a for-profit approach, nor towards a completely charitable cause. So you will need to make money, to thrive.

1.1.2 Identify your audience

To have clarity on what messages to display, you’ll have to first ascertain who it is that you’re speaking to. Once you have the knowledge of the potential audience of your website(s) you’ll be able to take your marketing efforts in a more focused direction.

As discussed before, your primary audience will be the students; past, present, and prospective. Next comes the staff and faculty, both of them essential for smooth operations. Similarly, parents of the students also need to know where their child is studying or is going to study.  

Stage II: Build

2.1 Craft the digital experience

Now that you have a communication plan, complete with goals and target audience, you can start creating your website. Hire a professional full-service digital agency to power your digital ambitions. You’ll want the most powerful CMS, coupled with a beautiful front end. Something like Decoupled Drupal should definitely get this job done.

2.2 How do you communicate across regions and geographies

Few higher-ed institutions realize this, but eventually, you’ll need a framework where you can deploy multiple websites (for research publications, for different branches/specializations, for different audiences). Not only this, what if you could control all the said websites using one dashboard? Drupal is among the sparingly few options that let you do that.

Besides multisite, Drupal is also multilingual. So, communicating your message across different geographies and languages is just a matter of an additional module in the Drupal core. But being consistent with your messaging across these multiple platforms will be tricky.    

2.3 A list of features your audience is expecting from your website

• Accessibility: The mantra of creating an equitable society is to impart education to all sections of students, including people with disabilities. Therefore, your website should empathize with all those who are likely to visit your website. One of the most accessible CMS out there, Drupal, has core features that make the user experience friendly for all sections of the society.
  
• Ease of Usability: Undoubtedly, your website should be easy to navigate for all of your audiences. The typography and the content should be such that it creates a digital impression of your values. It should be easy for stakeholders to manage the website, including ease of content management, publishing, and distribution.

| Pro-tip B: Place your navigation page’s link somewhere on the main homepage. This will enable entire chunks of unanticipated audiences to navigate comfortably on your website and find the resources they’re looking for.

• Student and payment data require the highest security: When you have personally identifiable information stored on your servers, including payment data, it becomes your responsibility to protect this information. One thing you can do is to use a CMS core which is widely known for its security, Drupal.
  
• Best to work with a mobile-first mindset: The youth of today interact with your website through multiple touchpoints. Therefore your website should also offer seamless digital experiences across all platforms.
  
• Content authoring experience: It is with your content, you’ll capture the attention of your audience, and it is the content on your website that can make or break a budding relationship with the audience. Therefore, it becomes imperative to empower the editors to create and edit the content with ease.

2.4 We don’t live in a cave

Since we don’t, you will need to collaborate with others. For this, to work on your website, you’ll need the power of third-party integrations. This is where Drupal does a remarkable job. Coming ripe with Modules, Distribution, and Integrations, Drupal gives you the flexibility to mould your digital identity around the walls of your institution.

2.5 Bring it all together with a design system

To make consistency your brand value, you’ll need a design system in place. A design system will not only serve you in offering a consistent digital experience right now, but it will allow you to offer a unique and particular brand voice till the time this design system will live.

This will allow all current and future site contributors to create content that is within the brand guidelines. Think of it as a stylesheet for your website(s). This also results in a faster turnaround time for every new piece of content or every new page/website that you come up with. Basically, a design system ties everything in one thread to offer a consistent digital experience unique to your institution.  

Stage III: Analyze

Just like any other organisation, you’ll want to understand if your digital efforts are working for you or not. Therefore, collecting and analyzing performance data is critical for your website’s improvements over time.

The more data points you gather, the better the strategies you’ll come up with. This will also inform you of the parts of your website which are not working and will require a course correction. One of our clients, the world's top business school, was looking for a way to unify their digital offerings and wanted to enhance the all-round effectiveness of the website.

We developed a strategically manufactured Design System, and upgraded their website from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8. This enabled their content editors to create and manage webpages while maintaining an unified Design System.  

Conclusion

We, at QED42, pride ourselves in having offered solutions to our clients, which gave their audience an exceptional experience across all of their digital offerings. We can do the same for your higher-ed institution’s digital heart and soul as well. All you have to do is get in touch.

2020 has sparked the world’s largest-ever remote-learning experiment. This has been a major learning curve for students, parents and educators alike, moving their teaching online. With the need to deliver a cohesive and consistent experience that is customizable, creating a design system seems like a perfect fit! We recently built and deployed a design system for the world’s top business school that not only helped them deliver a consistent experience but also lowered the barrier for non-technical web editors. 

With multi-tiered hierarchies, multiple people handling different sub-brands under the umbrella brand, multiple relationships and roles, a higher ed ecosystem is a web of interconnected pieces. Lack of consistency over time is the biggest challenge faced by Higher Ed institutes. It affects their productivity and, more importantly, it affects the user experience. The best alternative for a Higher Ed brand to serve a consistent experience is to get their ducks in a row by building a design system.

So what is a design system anyway?

A design system unites people and teams around a common visual language. It defines the approach to design work. It provides patterns of design elements that can be reused and improved in a controlled way. It makes design decisions easier. It structures creativity. It promotes long-term consistency. 

A design system comprises of three components – 

• Style guide 

A style guide is a set of rules for how a brand should be displayed. It is both visual (design & imagery) as well as written content (voice & tone). It includes the uniformity guidelines of brand consistency across design elements, fonts, etc. The purpose of a style guide is to allow multiple contributors to create content while representing the brand cohesively. Almost every major higher education brand has a style guide. For example, Illinois College has an elaborate style guide menu that caters to the purpose, personality, promise, positioning, and identity of its brand.

• Pattern library 

A pattern library is a collection of all reusable elements on your website. These elements usually include carousels, slideshows, social media features, navigation, related links, etc. 

• Component library 

A component library consists of all the styles and components used in a website, software or app, including buttons, input fields, a UI kit, etc. It is the new and improved code that can be reused for various applications within the brand umbrella.

Design Systems for Higher Ed - How the University of Arts, London’s accidentally discovered the design system

The year 2017 was a breakthrough for the University of Arts, London when the User Experience team started focusing on reshaping the core digital experience to be more user-centric as part of their Digital Transformation Program. Before that, every team worked in silos on their site, resulting in a disjointed and inconsistent digital experience. Phase one of the program focused on updating the website, during which the team stumbled upon the concept of having a design system. This is when they collaborated with the University’s brand, content and development teams for the program. Intending to harmonize components across colleges and streamline processes, the teams started working collectively on the design system and the website project. What we see today on UAL’s website is the living version of their brand guidelines that is accessible to all — no matter their device or location.

The teams were finally synchronized around one common system. For the first time, the teams could bridge the gap between developers and designers and effectively communicate with each other.

– Joshua Shindler, Digital Development Manager at UAL 

Design Systems - reshaping the educational experience

A design system contributes to setting up a persistent brand both for the website as well as the higher education institute. The major benefits of having a design system for your higher education brand are:

• Brand consistency

A design system creates brand consistency and brand consistency builds trust. Design Systems are extremely helpful in creating consistency across the website. Whether visual or functional, a consistent design does not only make the website look appealing but also makes up for an intuitive and friendly user experience. Enabled by their design system’s amplified user experience, the Georgia Institute of Technology recorded over 10,000 enrollments for their MCS program. The design system creates consistency by providing a unifying influence. It also integrates communication across mediums, creating a consistent brand narrative online.

• Faster turnaround time

With a ready-made design system, you can save up to 70% of the team’s time during the product development process. This increases the quality and quantity of the delivered functionality. The design system reduces development time through prototyping that relies heavily on a set of processes, patterns and documentation for the developers. With established design foundations and reusable components and modules, the design system saves building time for new components and modules. 

• Improved team communication 

Over 1300 full-time employees of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine work in tandem with the help of their design system. The uniformity of guidelines encourage collaboration among different teams and help get each individual to work in absolute synchronization. A design system provides each individual with the documentation about everything required to get familiar with the project. Having a design system facilitates the creation of a shared process and governance model within the teams which breaks down design and development silos.

• Encouraged innovation

With a set of processes and guidelines to work on, one must assume that design systems do not leave any room for creativity. Contrary to what it seems, design systems eliminate repetition of tasks, increasing the potential for individuals to add innovative things to the project. Designers and developers prefer solving complex problems which add value. The design system allows more time for exploration and creativity by removing repetitive and low value-adding tasks. 

• Enhanced efficiency and clean code

As per a recent study conducted by Figma, having a design system enables resources to work with 34% more efficiency. While a design system promotes consistency, it also focuses on efficiency equally through the reduction of waste or technical debts by promoting the development of generalized or unified elements that are reusable and cater to the long-term goals of the organization. This also helps in maintaining a clean and reliable code-base. Instead of repeatedly building similar components from scratch, Design Systems enable designers & developers to reuse components and thereby increase efficiency.

Here’s how we helped the world’s top business school standardize their design

We collaborated with one of the World’s Top Business Schools for building a design system and standardizing their website’s visual components using Pattern Lab.

• Our team of experts implemented Pattern Lab for design standardization
• We followed component-driven development enabling content managers to easily create pages
• Our designers used low-level components to design high-level ones
• The design system and standardization enabled 100% self-sufficiency of the school’s content team

We standardized the visual styling of elements for the world’s top business school without deviating from their standard component style. Read more about this project here.

Conclusion

Design systems are a higher education institute’s key to amplify their digital landscape and a tool to maintain consistent design, code and brand. Having a design system saves time and improves team communication and collaboration. And is a great way to streamline and simplify the complexity of a higher education digital ecosystem. If you are looking to implement a Design System reach out to us at business@qed42.com.