Work to support student mental health and wellbeing is high on strategic agendas across the higher education sector. The number of students reporting a mental health condition on application to university has increased by 450% over a ten-year period, equating to nearly 1 in every 25 students. Moreover, ‘full-time students who reported a mental health condition have lower continuation, attainment and progression rates than full-time students overall’.
Maintaining a good study-work-life balance is important for all students, irrespective of whether they have a known mental health condition. With engagement with academic studies correlating to student outcomes and engagement impacted by student mental health and wellbeing, academic disengagement can provide a powerful means to identify potential wellbeing issues early.
StREAM provides a unique way to visualise student engagement and alert to changes in behaviour that could be related to a struggling student. Early intervention could be critical to a student dealing with a mental health or wellbeing crisis.
Daily engagement ratings in StREAM enable student and staff users to understand what is ‘normal’ in terms of engagement at the individual level and identify students with low, very low or no engagement. Where appropriate, comparisons to the cohort average or top 25% of engaged students can establish a baseline against which anomalous engagement behaviour can be considered.
Various data sources, determined at institutional level, feed into the engagement categories in StREAM. Pulling this information into one easy-to-read dashboard frees staff up from interrogating separate systems and enables time to be focused on direct work with and support for students.
The engagement categories in StREAM provide an easy and objective way for Personal Tutors or other staff involved in personal and pastoral support to identify which students may need support at any given moment in time and to concentrate time and effort where it is most needed.
Visualising how students are engaging with their studies makes it easy to see when those engagement behaviours change and proactively reach out to students. Providing an opportunity to start a conversation that may lead to uncovering a welfare issue to offer support with.
Data insights in StREAM make it easy to initiate meaningful conversations with tutees. Contextual knowledge about the programme of study alongside triangulation of engagement behaviours, assessment submission and grade details enable perceptive, data-informed conversations that get right to the heart of the matter. The exemptions feature is a great way to keep everyone informed of possible reasons behind changes in engagement that can also be brought into conversation (for example, where a student has had to take bereavement, caretakers or medical leave).
The StREAM engagement calendar makes it easy to to see if there are patterns to engagement behaviour. For example, are there regular days of the week when engagement behaviours decline? Understanding the reasons underpinning a drop in engagement early in the academic year mean that action can be taken to support student success and prevent possible difficulties resulting in module or assessment failure.
The Interactions functionality within StREAM can be configured to align with institutional processes around student support. User the Interactions lifecycle to monitor progress against agreed actions, close off completed interactions and take follow-up action with students where progress has been delayed or is incomplete.
The objective data insights within StREAM can act as an indicator that a student may be finding it difficult to engage with their studies, but no be consciously aware that their engagement behaviours suggest that they would benefit from some additional support from relevant university teams, whether academic or pastoral.
Students with a healthy engagement profile will demonstrate a natural ebb and flow to how they are engaging with their academic studies. Understanding this foundational principle, makes it easier to identify when dramatic changes in engagement changes in engagement may not be in the student’s best interests.
For example, students who are consistently and continually at the top of the engagement rating could be at risk of burnout. Alternatively, comparing to historical and current engagement patterns can make it clear when a student might be overdoing it in a bid to catch up on lower engagement over the academic year or in a pre-assessment period.
In both examples, there is a valuable opportunity for tutors to offer some coaching and guidance on achieving a healthy work-study-life balance and effective time management at stressful times in the academic year.
Evaluating which initiatives are most effective at supporting students within budget and resource contraints is essential if universities are to demonstrate value for money. Honestly reflecting upon fluctuations in service demand and identifying pinch-points across the academic year can inform preventative measures as part of strategic outreach campaigns and help with resource allocation.
