Are text-based “nudges” the answer to helping students succeed in school? Up to a point, many experts say.
While they are not a silver bullet that will transform student retention and completion, “behavioral nudges,” as they are also known, have been shown to be effective to that point that they are now a part of the education mainstream. Schools use text messages to remind students to sign up for classes, touch base with their academic advisors and a whole host of other necessary items on any college student’s agenda.
Now that nudges are no longer viewed as a radical innovation, according to Jill Frankfort, cofounder and CEO of Persistence Plus, “colleges are at a point of thinking about it seriously or actively engaging to put this on campus.”
Persistence Plus, a text-based nudge mobile app developer based in Boston, teamed up with the nonprofit Jobs for the Future this fall to initiate a program aimed at more than 10,000 incoming community college students attending four schools. Ohio’s Lakeland Community College, Lorain County Community College and Stark State College, along with John Tyler Community College in Virginia, will participate in the Nudging to STEM Success for the next two years.
Nudging to STEM Success, as its name suggests, is designed to keep students moving along in the STEM fields while also helping them see themselves as candidates for a career in STEM. “We want to make sure that community college students are aware of career services or STEM services on campus, particularly if they’re coming from first-generation backgrounds and are less familiar with the [elements] of ‘how to do college well,’” Frankfort said.
The ubiquity of cell phones make text nudges one of the more effective way to reach students, according to educators like Julie Ranson, vice president of student success at John Tyler Community College. While emails can pile up in an inbox unread, texts tend be harder to miss. Additionally, what might seem more intrusive or overwhelming on another medium might seem more acceptable by text.
“If [adults] move into a space where young people are, they’ll probably just leave,” Ranson said. “Like MySpace, Facebook… but I don’t think they can leave text messaging. They can opt out, but I think there’s some real value to going into that space.”
