Equity in higher education – An Australian researcher

I work in the STEPS program and we absolutley pride ourselves on the student experience. Most of our students are regional, remote, low socio-economic status or both. We also have higher-than-average numbers of Indigenous students and those with a disability. Part of my job is assessing their levels of engagement early in each term. I have a number of tools to do that but to me the most reliable one is Moodle which shows me a log of how many times they logged in, which areas they clicked on and so on.

I have an on-campus group and also an online group. This term on day 1 my on-campus group was 32 students but it has been up to 43. My online group is usually a bit bigger so usually close to 40 students and this term, 40 exactly. Remember I work 2.5 days per week. I have only JUST switched over to 3.5 days per week (0.7 FTE).

In week one I make some phone calls after that first class. I call every on-campus student that wasn’t there and I call every online student who has not yet logged on to Moodle. This term that took me all morning – so about 4 hours. Now in that time I also made a coffee and drank it at my desk. I walked a lap around the building that takes me about 4 minutes to get my step count up. I believe I went to a colleagues office to try and help them with a Zetero/referencing issue which took at least a few minutes. AND I checked emails as they came in.

To phone these students I had to have Moodle open (to check their last login time) and another program which has their contact details, a separate program where I record my attempt to contact them, plus my email as well as the role. So it’s not THAT complicated to make these phone calls but it’s still more complicated than phoning a friend on my mobile phone would be.

I can’t even remember how many phone calls I made this term but I would estimate from a total of 72 students it would have been almost half (that had not come to class or engaged online by the end of week one). So can I take the liberty of guessing and calling it 30 students (round number). Of that 30 students MOST do NOT answer their phone. 1 or 2 might be disconnected. Others I can leave a message and then send a follow-up email. Some don’t have any sort of message bank, so it is just an email noting a missed call from myself. I have a template for the email so it only takes a short time. I’ve also perfected my voice message after much practice! 🙂

So I would estimate that from 30 phonecalls I might actually speak to 5 to 10 students. And so I wonder – is that 4 hours a total waste of my time?

Well this term there was really only 4 students that I spoke to and they were rather typical and so stuck in my mind – prompting me to write this blog and to answer that question.

First there was a guy who thought he was an online student. He apologised profusley and has attended every class since. This happens most terms with at least a couple of students.

Second there was a student who had just got a full time job and really couldn’t find the time to study. With one email she was withdrawn but I got to congratulate her on her job over the phone and I am certain she could hear the sinserity in my voice. I made a point of telling her that she could come back to study at any point in the future with no penalties etc. She was incredilbly thank-ful and I am CERTAIN that one phonecall greatly improved her “student experience”.

Third there was a student that had just moved house and was so anxious about being behind in her study that she had not had the nerve to reach out. I think they said something like “I know I should have reached out for help but I just didn’t know what to say”. I talked to this student for about 30 minutes and helped them understand what to prioritise and where to focus their energy regarding study. I must have said “you can do this – remember one step at a time” at least twice in that conversation. By the end they were feeling more confident – even if that was only that they were confident they knew who to ask for help (me!).

Lastly there was a student who was so overwhlemed with the 3 units they were enrolled in that they burst into tears on the phone. I spent at least 10 minutes just calming them down. Then I would say another 40 miunutes listening to their situation and then explaining both the unit, the assessments etc, and also different options to them including reducing the number of units they were doing, withdrawing completely etc etc. This student withdrew in the end but again, I think that improved student experience may impact them to try again at some point in the future.

So you COULD say that from those 4 hours I actually had a meaningful interaction with 4 students and 2 withdrew anyway. So MAYBE I “saved” 2 students for all that effort!!!! Was it worth it?

I want to let you decide for yourself but I say yes and a sentence here’s why –

The ripple effect.

I like to believe that the emails I sent, the voicemail messages I left as well as the interaction with those 4 students improved their student experience at least a little. Each one of those students may withdraw now but return to study next term, next year, or ten years from now and that positive experience might just push them in the right direction to do it. They might encourage their networks – friends, family, children, neighbours – to take on university study. They may in turn encourage others and so the ripples get bigger and bigger. One of those people migth find a cure for cancer or develop a new *INSERT SOMETHING AMAZING HERE.

I don’t just tell myself this to make myself FEEL better – I KNOW that this is how the world works. I have interviewed enough students to know that so MANY of them had “a person” that encouraged them to come to university – someone who believed in them – someone who told them that they could do it and they believed them. Heck I had that in MY journey too.

So I have to take the stance that my efforts are NOT fruitless, even if they may appear that way on some level. My time, my investment in these students may change their lives, their attitude to unviersities or even just brighten their day slightly. So I try to forget about the “company line” and the pressure to improve retention and success, to improve the student experience and all the other things the unviersity tells me I have to do. I try and remember the people, the moments, the relief I hear in their voices, the confidence I see at the end of term – as I said I try to remember those little moments and know that they DO make a difference. I hope we can all improve the world, one little moment at a time.