Why has Student Success Become Such a Challenging Objective for Higher Education IT Teams?

If you were asked, “what drives student success?”, you probably wouldn’t be able to come up with just one definite answer.  However, what everyone would unanimously agree upon is the role technology plays in facilitating student success.

For higher education institutions, student success is an objective they must prioritize if they want to maintain a reputation of excellence. With technology having permeated every facet of students’ lives, it has become imperative for institutions to understand the impact of this evolution and equip their campuses to keep pace with student needs and expectations.

In addition to meeting student expectations, higher ed institutions are increasingly acknowledging the need to promote digital literacy and digital equity as their core missions. While digital literacy is “generating a deeper understanding of the digital environment”¹, digital equity is about “ensuring equal access to technology”². Achieving student success significantly hinges on these two crucial factors as they influence not only the students’ academic progression but also their ability to succeed at their future careers.

The technological challenge to student success

When it comes to student success, technology poses as both – the solution and the problem. The complexity is caused by the fact that technology and data are inseparable. “With more technology comes more data. With more data comes more technology to make sense of it all.” ³ The challenge manifests in the use, access and sharing of data to enable a smooth, secure and seamless experience for students.

What are the barriers to enabling student success experienced by higher ed institutions?

• The “siloed” nature of institutions

Individual departments still tend to remain isolated from each other, and often, there is little communication or co-ordination between them. Silos mean an absence of integrated systems and this can give rise to complexities as each department creates ad-hoc solutions instead of taking advantage of scale and centralization strategies. Ad-hoc solutions function inefficiently and add a lot of waste to the system and are inconvenient for students.

The absence of centralized resources also means that students must be directed to multiple locations, physical and virtual, to be able to acquire the assets they are entitled to. Often, due to the lack of any systematic information or assistance, students simply do not capitalize on the opportunity to access free resources that would greatly enhance their experience.

• Overworked IT departments

The extra responsibility of having to manage technology to facilitate student success greatly adds to the burden of the already overworked IT departments. IT resource use gets exasperated because of decentralization, complex licensing, student churn, and cross departmental manual processes. Disparate solutions also generate additional workload on IT departments as they try to manage multiple systems, procedures and end points for privacy, data governance and security, greatly adding cost to the system.

The increased workload diverts IT departments from making efficient use of their time to work on their core projects, thus resulting in compromised student success.

How the Kivuto Cloud platform helps optimize student experience

Kivuto can enable your higher ed institution to collaborate as a trusted partner with other campus units to drive and enhance student success initiatives.⁴ Kivuto Cloud can handle local licenses, E-books, OER’s, and other digital assets to provide all resources centralized on a unified platform and give users a smooth, stress-free experience.

1. Centralize multiple resources: Simple distribution allows students to access resources easier, increasing student learning and outcomes while remaining centralized. Kivuto Cloud can distribute electronic assets of any type including software, e-books, course notes etc. and can also be configured to manage cloud portals, which means that institutions can manage resources from their vendors on a single platform.
2. 24/7 access anywhere: The cloud-based portal allows for 24/7 access by any verified user from any device anywhere in the world (export compliance laws may apply).
3. Texidium e-reader: E-distribution coupled with Kivuto’s texidium e-reader allows students to access books and OER’s on-line or off and consume knowledge with additional accessibility and collaborative consumption features.
4. Privacy and Data Governance excellence: Kivuto takes privacy and data control seriously. Kivuto is certified and audited by ISO 27001, PCI, Microsoft Gold Partner, with a focus on GDPR and FERPA compliance. In addition, Kivuto monitors IT platform 24/7 for fraud and cyber-attacks. By using certified compliant centralized solutions, privacy and data security is improved while IT workload is greatly reduced compared to managing disparate systems with a combination of manual processes and non-compliant opensource software.
5. Automated processes: Kivuto Cloud helps IT departments manage all distribution needs easily allowing department members to focus on student success instead of manual processes. The Kivuto Cloud platform has been specially designed to include all the features and functions an administrator would need to successfully distribute, track and manage any number of users and assets at any volume.
6. Free or discounted software: Partnering with Kivuto gives you access to the Kivuto network such as Kivuto Streams and e-store. Here Institutions and end users can find exceptional offerings to enhance their class room experience or obtain software for individual use at exceptional prices.

Kivuto Cloud has been the world leader in digital distribution for education for more than two decades. Its secure, centralized and user-friendly platform improves asset adoption helping your school maintain the affordability of higher education along with paving the way to achieving greater student success.

To learn more about how your institution can benefit from Kivuto Cloud, please reach us by email at getstarted@kivuto.com or by phone at 1-855-526-3005.

Click here to learn more about Kivuto Cloud

Sources:

1 & 2 Six significant challenges for technology in higher education in 2017
3 Information Technology and Its Future Role in Student Success
4 Educause Review Jan 2019 – Top 10 IT Issues, 2019: The Student Genome Project