Why Students Drop Out Of Class: 5 Signs Educators Should Never Ignore

Why Students Drop Out Of Class: 5 Signs Educators Should Never Ignore
Summary: When students drop out of the college, it's a failure; they aren't able to achieve their goals and develop themselves as learners. Next generation education technology is student-centric and result-oriented and can give educators the opportunity to accomplish their mission and vision.

Why Students Drop Out Of Class And Why Educators Should Never Ignore The Signs 

College students drop out of classes for a number of reasons. College is a one-time investment to enhance their career path, but what holds them back? Student lifecycle starts out from admission and enrollment through graduation, but not everyone goes through with it. A lot of time it spent on enrollment, load, grades, or mentoring, where students become unable to keep attending classes. Here are the top 5 early warning signs that reveal why students drop out of class and what educators can do to avoid the pitfalls.

1.  College Wasn’t The Right Academic Fit

Some students are not comfortable with the traditional college atmosphere. Thankfully, there are alternatives to adapt classrooms to digital technology for collaborative learning and teaching. Smart classrooms and mobile devices are used to access lessons, study materials, submit assignments, take quizzes and exams for grading, evaluate courses, make fee payments, and the list will continue to grow. This will encourage learning, stand students in good stead during the entire lifecycle, and improve student learning outcomes.

2.  Stuck In Choosing The Major And Can’t Find A Way Out

Many students are not sure of what major to choose even after having taken several classes. Although they have to declare a major that will set their life on a whole new path to move up the income ladder, they feel stuck and cannot find a way out. This is wasted time, money, and effort, but not a valid reason for a student to drop out. When students are exposed to use an online student information system in every corner of the academic experience, they are enabled to choose the right course for their lifestyle or choose smaller classes for more individualized attention.

3.  Academic Unpreparedness For The Workload

College is a four year commitment. Students going to college get scared when they realize that the workload is more than they could cope and they think they can’t cut it. They lack the academic preparedness to finish what they started. There is a stigma attached to dropping out of college before even completing a year, and this can make students feel like they are a failure. As an educator, prepare a timetable schedule using an online calendar to allocate time on classes, but also don’t forget to trigger automatic reminders on class work via email and SMS alerts. It gives students a much larger picture of the academic activities, as well as an understanding of how timetable scheduling and workload fit together.

4.  Educational Burnout

Conflicting schedule, challenging courses, and cumbersome assignments certainly are not comfortable for students, as they don't allow them to have fun in college. This is why it’s important to have powerful curriculum mapping tools to map the skills, knowledge, and attributes of students for successful completion of programs and improve expected outcomes. This way, students will be able to improve their critical and creative thinking skills, as well as think "out of the box". It will shape them into interesting people. This learner-centric and result-oriented curriculum management system gives control and flexibility to educators and also drastically improves a student’s learning experience.

5.  Lack Of Academic Advising And Mentoring

Academic advising, counselling, and mentoring students is always a problem in many colleges. Students don’t connect with counselors when they need it the most. Many of them are missing out on the great social aspects of college. Online communication and collaboration tools enable administrators to share their ideas and visions with the constituents including faculty, staff, students, parents, and all those whose support students need. Connect with instructors and advisors using a discussion forum and set out milestones for college. Spark conversations with faculty to create personalized learning plans to ensure success. Students can connect with faculty, advisors, and so on and communicate effectively outside the academic environment using mobile devices even if they aren’t in campus. This will help them eliminate stress and achieve their goals.

Student retention and success are important aspects for top ranked colleges. Technology-enabled teaching and learning can lighten the workload of faculty, staff, and students in higher education institutions. These were the clear signs that reveal why most college students drop out of college and some ways to reduce drop out rates.

Originally published on August 12, 2016