Dive Brief:
- South Mountain Community College in Maricopa County created its own Learner Support System to track tutoring services and student outcomes, finding great success.
- Campus Technology reports that the web-based application lets tutors track student use of campus support services, rating each interaction and communicating student progress with faculty.
- With new data, administrators could see how the services affected student outcomes, prompting new requirements that developmental education students get at least three hours of outside help per term.
Dive Insight:
In the courses that came with support service requirements, South Mountain Community College saw double-digit gains in the number of students sticking with courses for the entire term as well as passing them. Many colleges collect more data than they know how to analyze.
Unrelated to the Learner Support System's development, SMCC also started using iPads to track student use of tutoring centers to better serve those waiting. The system created a means of aggregating that data and using it to track outcomes. In a time of increasing calls for accountability, all institutions should be exploring ways to better monitor student progress and evaluate support programs, making administrative decisions based on hard data.