Key Findings From the 2024 Listening to Learners Report

Generative AI. Physical and emotional safety. Awareness of support services.

These are just three of the topics explored in a new report by Tyton Partners, a consulting firm specializing in the education sector. Tyton partnered with D2L, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Lumina Foundation to release Listening to Learners 2024: Stay Safe, Stay Informed: How Awareness of Support Services and Safety Relate to Re-enrollment.

The report, which draws on data from 3,000 higher education administrators, frontline advising staff, and students, provides an in-depth look at six areas: Generative AI, Safety, Student Awareness, Basic Needs Costs, Stopped-out Students and Equity-Excellence. 

“This research underscores the urgent need for higher education to equip learners with the skills for a lifelong learning journey,” says Dr. Cristi Ford, vice president of Academic Affairs at D2L. “As people live and work longer, the traditional three-stage model of education, employment, and retirement must evolve into a continuous cycle of learning and earning.”

We sat down with Dr. Ford and Dr. Emma Zone, senior director of Academic Affairs at D2L, to dig into the results. We’ve shared some of the key findings below.

Generative AI 

It’s no surprise that generative AI was a hot talking point. According to the report, students are light years ahead of staff when it comes to using both free and paid AI tools. Most of the students surveyed regularly use GenAI tools; in stark contrast, almost 50% of frontline support staff have never used any. Furthermore, 50% of students surveyed shared that they’d continue to use GenAI tools even if they were banned. 

The report also found that nearly half of students surveyed opt to use paid AI tools, while institutional AI users aren’t paying for any.

“This illustrates the notion of value from the student perspective,” Dr. Zone says. “When students find value in a tool, they’re willing to invest. But it’s important to note that there could be misalignment in what institutions value in terms of AI and other tools and what students value.” To address this misalignment, Dr. Zone says getting ongoing student feedback is critical. 

In the classroom, instructors who use GenAI tools are more likely to believe in their potential to enhance student learning, despite specific concerns in writing and math classes. The same holds true outside of the classroom, with advisors and counselors who use AI tools feeling more optimistic about their impact on student persistence and retention.  

“A positive perception within leads you to be more apt to working with students in these realms and providing them with assistance that may utilize AI or engage them in conversations around AI toolsets to help them succeed at the institution,” Dr. Ford says.  

Key takeaway: The use of generative AI in education and student support services is still in its early stages, but as familiarity grows, it presents opportunities to enhance outcomes.

Safety

Whether or not a student feels safe, be it from a physical or emotional standpoint, has a strong influence on their decision to stay enrolled at a university or college. But Tyton researchers found that advisors lack the time to discuss safety in any capacity with learners.

Although rarely brought up during advising sessions, students are four times more likely to want to discuss safety issues as a topic than advisors, highlighting a disconnect that impacts re-enrollment. 

Students perceived two areas as essential to discuss with their academic advisors: financial issues and campus safety. Safety topics represent a significant gap in conversations students have with their advisors today. Addressing these topics in advising sessions can help students feel more connected and supported, contributing to a more positive and successful educational experience. 

Key takeaway: Despite showing a strong correlation with a student’s likelihood of re-enrolling, safety is a topic that isn’t brought up enough during meetings with advisors. By actively engaging in discussions about safety, institutions can create a supportive environment where students feel secure, valued and motivated to achieve their goals.

Awareness of Support

Another key finding from the report is the disconnect between institutions and students when it comes to support services.

Institutions invest in student support services expecting students to use them, yet only about 50% of them are aware of key services like academic and career advising, financial aid, and mental health counseling.

Awareness drops even more among certain populations, including fully online students, students with disabilities, and stopped-out students. One key finding in the report was that those students that are more aware of services are more likely to re-enroll.

The awareness gap points to ineffective communication, hindered by poor coordination and uncertainty about how to reach students. “The importance of belonging in student education is well-established,” says Dr. Ford. “However, this nuanced data sheds new light on the reasons behind this significance and offers specific actions to enhance these supports.”

The report also found that: 

• Only 54% of institutions effectively communicate available student support services, underscoring an awareness gap that could significantly boost retention and re-enrollment rates. This gap is larger for students with disabilities and online students. 

• Students with disabilities report ~30 percentage-point lower awareness of academic advising and financial aid counseling compared to the total student population. 

When it comes to communication methods, institutions take a multi-channel approach, but still struggle to reach students where they are. “It’s interesting that students say they prefer to receive information via a personal email,” Dr. Ford shares. “Whenever I’m on campuses, I consistently hear that students no longer read email.”

Key takeaway: Students are not aware of support services available to them and finding the right avenues to increase awareness is an on-going challenge. 

“Communication strategy and coordination has long-been an issue,” says Dr. Zone. “Students are often getting bombarded by multiple messages and alerts through many channels.”  

However, if institutions make a strategic commitment to improving awareness of support services, it could very well drive re-enrollment. “This finding underscores the importance of understanding how students are consuming messaging and, ultimately, actioning something based on that,” Dr. Zone concludes.

Basic Needs Costs 

Forever a major factor in whether or not higher education is a viable pursuit, it’s no surprise to see cost on the list. But students aren’t necessarily talking about tuition or the cost of living, at least not with respect to this research.  

Students surveyed cited the cost of course materials as a crucial factor in course selection, stressing how much it impacts their academic choices. 

Additionally, more than half of institutions shared that the cost of technology is a significant barrier to students’ adoption. Students with disabilities reported higher rates of difficulties with internet access.

Institutional stakeholders need to recognize this has a far-reaching impact ranging from access to tools for learning and stable internet to individual course selection based on costs of course materials. 

Key takeaway: The high costs of necessities, such as the internet, devices, and course materials, causes significant stress for many students. Institutions might consider revising their attendance costs and re-evaluating how course materials are distributed to ensure equitable access to essential digital learning resources.

Stopped-out Students and the Impact of Financial Aid Delays 

A July 2022 report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that the “Some College, No Credential” (SCNC) population under 65 has grown to 36.8 million.

Now, we can’t talk about the SCNC student population (also known as ‘stopped-out students’) without discussing the recent Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) issue. For the uninitiated, FAFSA is a free form that students use to apply for federal grants, work-study, and loans for post-secondary education. It’s a key factor in determining eligibility for student loans.  

In the fall of 2023, the U.S Department of Education launched a new FAFSA form, which has been plagued with technical errors and glitches. The errors meant that colleges and universities couldn’t get accurate student financial information and therefore couldn’t create financial aid packages for incoming and returning students. As a result, many students who would have otherwise relied on financial aid, couldn’t make a decision about whether to re-enroll or not, and became part of the stopped-out student group. 

Putting this into the context of the Tyton report, researchers found that stopped-out students are less aware of available support services and that FAFSA delays disproportionately affect them.

The FAFSA delays have also had disproportionate effects on re-enrolled learners’ decisions to re-enroll and potentially transfer to a different college or university.

Researchers also found that: 

• Students of color, transfer students, employed students, and first- generation students all are also more likely to report that the FAFSA delays have impacted them, particularly around their re-enrollment decisions. 

• Currently stopped out students report lower awareness of key supports, especially mental health counseling, resulting in lower utilization.  

“Interestingly, these findings link to the communication/awareness discussion,” says Dr. Zone. “In my career of working with returning learners, I’ve found that many do not know where to find a re-entry point, and, when they do, the poor experience of getting answers or guidance creates more barriers.” 

“We knew there’d be an impact to the FAFSA overhaul, and the delays might impact student retention,” Dr Ford adds, “but this is really telling as we have some data that quantifies it. This is a current event that is not given as much impact data as it should be.”  

Key takeaway: Previously stopped-out students are more sensitive to FAFSA delays than continuing students. By addressing their specific needs and increasing awareness of student success resources, institutions can enhance credential attainment for re-enrolling students.

Equity-Excellence Imperative

Despite having a perspective on which student populations are most at risk, 54% of academic advisors don’t know if student utilization of support services is tracked by at-risk sub-populations (e.g., students who are working while in school or from rural areas), suggesting a lack of targeted support. While there is some awareness of the need to understand disaggregated data by race/ethnicity and financial need, only 11% of instructors report implementing.

For the most part, advisors are not easily able to access data about demographics of students whom they haven’t met with, and this is a persistent challenge. 

Key takeaway: Assessing student performance in the classroom and their use of support services by race, ethnicity, and financial need is still not a widespread practice.

How Higher Education Institutions Can Move Forward

The report highlights the critical intersection of student experiences and institutional strategies. The findings should serve as a reminder of the importance of creating supportive learning environments that address both academic and non-academic needs. But rather than feeling fearful about the future, we hope higher education institutions can use the findings as a guide as they continue to develop policies and practices that foster re-enrollment and student success.

If you’re interested in exploring the report further, we invite you to join us for our upcoming webinar, Insights and Perspectives of the Post-Secondary Student Experience, where Dr. Emma Zone (D2L), Cathy Shaw (Tyton Partners) and April Belbeck (University of Pittsburgh) will discuss key findings.

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