Impact of Virtual Learning on Students, Educators Explored

Persistence by college students, particularly in the midst of the challenges presented by on-line learning during the coronavirus, was among the topics highlighted in the EventBuzz national podcast, hosted by PurplePass, which featured David Johnston, Alan Kramer and Donna Thompson of the Center for Higher Education Retention Excellence (CHERE), based in Hartford.

The mission of CHERE is to “understand and improve policies and practices for challenged students that lead to higher college retention, from the summer after high school graduation, through the first year, to graduation, and to employment.” During the podcast, they also discussed the impact of virtual and hybrid learning going forward, and the new challenges facing higher education, and students.

Since its founding in 2012, CHERE has conducted more than 20 conferences hosted by educational institutions throughout Connecticut, focusing on a range of critical and cutting-edge issues facing higher education in Connecticut, the region, and nationwide. Attendees have been from Connecticut and neighboring states, and from public and private institutions.

The podcast, hosted by PurplePass Marketing Director Savannah McIntosh, also highlighted the transition from in-person to virtual conferences. In recent months, CHERE has offered numerous on-line conferences, via Zoom. Recent virtual conferences included: Institutional Challenges: What’s Next; Student Voices, and Mentoring Models for College Success, a partnership with Hartford-based Sons of Thunder, held in July, August and October. A joint conference, Strategies for Ameliorating Trauma, was held last month as a partnership with the Connecticut Association of Educational Programs.

In addition, PurplePass recently published “High Impact Retention Practices: The Big Ten Retention Factors,” as the featured article on its website blog, providing highlights of an analysis paper developed by CHERE’s David Johnston.

Those key retention factors include Bridge Programs, Working on First Impressions, Predictive Analytics, Individually-tailored Advising, Guided Pathways, Peer Mentoring,

Embedded Support, New Approaches to Remedial Education, Career Exploration, and Emergency Funds for First Generation Students. The full paper is also available on the CHERE website, www.thechere.org.

Discussing the lingering impact of the past year of virtual and hybrid higher education, Johnston said “We’re not going to go back from employing virtual learning as part of higher education, and I think the hybrid model is going to be what’s going to be happening.” He added, however, that “traditional age students coming right out of high school will want to try the campus experience.”

Thompson observed that virtual learning is “forcing people to be self-motivated, to determine that they need to grow up, they need to show up, they need to buckle down and be self-motivated to be organized, and determine what it is they want to get out of the end of this project or time that they're spending, and have something to show for it in the end.”

Kramer added that one of the challenges “we face in higher ed is how to avoid creating two essentially different educational systems - one allowing students to live on campus and connect with others and one limiting them to gaining information and acquiring certifications for their next career step.” The cost of on-campus living, he noted, will be a pivotal factor, and a “huge issue” that higher education will continue to grapple with as students make decisions regarding their education and employment options.

CHERE also announced that their collaboration is being joined by Ariel Robinson, most recently Program Coordinator of Educational Opportunity Programs at Goodwin University. Robinson previously was an Extended Day Treatment Clinician at FOCUS, Case Manager at People Clinical Services, Youth Worker at The Bridge Family Center and Youth Development Professional at Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Advance conference registration has been conducted through PurplePass, an event ticket management system. Additional information about CHERE is available by contacting CHERE director David Johnston at educationRwe@gmail.com or 203.640.6201.

CHERE is a program of the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education.