Presentation
From Motivation to Graduation: Scaling a Proactive, Personalized Online Student Journey
Location: Churchill A
When: Friday, April 17 at 10:00 AM
Online learners are more diverse than ever, with unique motivations, needs, and barriers to success. Yet institutions often approach recruitment and retention through fragmented systems or one-size-fits-all strategies. This joint session brings together national research and institutional practice to explore how data, design, and human connection can align to create a seamless, scalable online student experience—from the moment a learner inquires to the day they graduate. In the first half, Carnegie and St. Catherine University share results from a nationwide study capturing the voices of thousands of online learners, revealing where institutional assumptions and student expectations diverge—and how one mid-sized private university is using those insights to inform its own online strategy. In the second half, the University of Arizona Online offers a large-scale public perspective, showcasing a proactive, data-driven student success model supporting more than 10,000 learners. Together, these perspectives highlight what it takes to close the gap between motivation and graduation—and how institutions of any size can design systems that are both personal and scalable.
- Caleb Simmons, University of Arizona
- Jessica Salata, University of Arizona
- Dean Gething, Carnegie
- Lauran Hundshame, St. Catherine University
- Jaime Oleksik, Carnegie
Moderator: Paul Ballentine, Villanova University
