Eighty-five percent of Americans own smartphones; and according to the Pew Research Center, at least 96% of traditional-aged college students have smartphones. While many of us may lament the overuse of these relatively new technological devices, the fact remains that college student reliance on smartphones has risen dramatically over the past decade and does not appear to be losing its appeal.
The technology that makes information so easily available to college students are dynamic mobile applications each with a unique set of features offering its own sets of services. Are you hungry? Open the food delivery app. Do you need a dress for formal? Visit a clothier app. Looking to meet that special someone? Try out one of the many dating apps.
But what about the college students who need individualized academic support? If we only offer in-person helping opportunities at the learning center or in the academic department, the students who are reliant on the technology that’s in their hands might be less-inclined to seek the help they may desperately need.
With mobile devices and applications, students have access to the world at their fingertips and can access information from just about anywhere. On college campuses, this results in many students searching for easy-to-use alternatives to visiting a physical space to access services that might help them along their college journeys. Do we attempt to change their behaviors so they will conform to what we’ve always offered, or do we meet them where they are?
If colleges and universities desire to connect and engage with students, they must step out from behind their desks and go where students are spending most of their time: their smartphones. Students expect that they can access anything they need from the mobile apps on their smartphones; so should we ignore their preferences, or should we make an effort to provide them with services they might actually use? Students these days search for institutions of higher education that offer a wide range of technological offerings and mobile apps to assist them with their college journeys. They want to be able to enroll in classes, select meal plans, and even connect with friends from the comfort of their residence halls. They want the ability to perform certain tasks in user-friendly online spaces that they can access anywhere and anytime.
On campuses partnered with Knack, 65% of students say they had never used campus tutoring before they used the Knack app. By supplementing a learning center’s already established and successful in-person student support options with a user-friendly, dynamic tutoring platform like Knack’s, we can provide assistance to more students in more courses. With Knack, students can, from anywhere, easily search for and connect with a tutor and can then decide where the tutoring session can take place.
Let’s step outside of our own traditional comfort zones and meet students where they are – on their smartphones!
To learn more about how you can offer peer tutoring support anywhere and anytime, schedule a conversation with one of our peer tutoring experts today.
