Persistence Plus

07/16/2024

Join us for an insightful discussion on how to cultivate a culture of care for student mental health. Queensborough Community College / CUNY and Persistence Plus have partnered to leverage behavioral science to identify and address students' hidden mental health challenges as well as to effectively connect them with vital support. You’ll receive practical advice on how you can use behavioral science and effective messaging to change norms around mental health and foster a campus culture that prioritizes care and well-being.

Moderator: Serena Fahnbulleh Crain, Director of Partner Success, Persistence Plus

Presenters:
-Ross E. O’Hara, Ph.D., Chief Learning Officer, Persistence Plus
-Angelica May, Associate Director of Student Communications, Queensborough Community

Join us for an insightful discussion on how to cultivate a culture of care for student mental health. Queensborough Community College and Persistence Plus have partnered to leverage behavioral science to identify and address students' hidden mental health challenges as well as to effectively connect...

06/27/2024

Ross O'Hara, our Director of Behavioral Science and Education, recently served on a panel about strengthening academic advising. The event’s conversation produced five key recommendations to support advisors.

1. Everyone is an advisor - If you give students directions, share a resource, or just ask how they’re doing, you’re advising!

2. Simplify policy - Remove hassle factors that make it difficult for advisors to do their jobs and for students to get the help they need.

3. Support advisors - Students need continuity in advising, and that happens when advisors are given opportunities and stay at your institution.

4. Proactively connect with students - Use behavioral science to change students’ mindsets and misconceptions about academic advising.

5. Keep technology friendly - New tools should make life easier for students and advisors, not take away from valuable advising time.

Thank you to all of the advisors out there for everything you do for students’ success. If you’re not an advisor, thank an advisor today!

Academic advisors are essential to a college's mission and students' success. A recent gathering of advisors in southeast Michigan produced key recommendations to support advisors.

05/14/2024

The U.S. labor force could have a shortage of up to 3.5 million workers by next year. Filling this gap not only demands enrolling and retaining adult learners, but addressing equity gaps in STEM.

There's still time to sign up for this Thursday's webinar in partnership with CollegeAPP at 2PM ET! In this session, you’ll hear how CollegeAPP helps colleges recruit diverse adult learners into STEM programs and learn from their partner MiraCosta College. Persistence Plus will then share evidence-based strategies for supporting those adult learners to a STEM credential and a life-altering new career.

If you’re interested but can’t make it, please reply to let us know so we can get you the content.

05/09/2024

The U.S. labor force could have a shortage of up to 3.5 million hashtag workers by next year. Filling this gap not only demands enrolling and retaining adult learners, but addressing equity gaps in STEM.

Interested in how to find, enroll, and keep adult learners in STEM? We're partnering with CollegeAPP to host a webinar on Thursday, May 16 at 2PM ET. In this session, you’ll hear how CollegeApp helps colleges recruit diverse adult learners into STEM programs and learn from their partner MiraCosta College. Persistence Plus will then share evidence-based strategies for supporting those adult learners to a STEM credential and a life-altering new career.

If you’re interested but can’t make it, please reply to let us know so we can get you the content.

04/30/2024

"Unfortunately, I keep hearing from college staff and students themselves that they don’t know how to make friends. During a recent community college visit, I was told about a college skills workshop that unexpectedly became a lesson in friendship. We’ve long relied on the mere exposure effect—the idea that students will organically make friends by being stuck together—but if that ever did work, it sure ain’t working now. Given many students’ social behavior following the pandemic—choosing online coursework, avoiding in-person events, and staying in their room to engage virtually—what can we do to help those who want to make friends?"

Over the years we've learned how a sense of belonging and students' abilities to build relationships can have a positive impact on retention. Our Director of Behavioral Science and Education Ross O'Hara shares some research on how colleges can help students make those important connections (via Psychology Today).

Studies show how structured social time can help students make friends.

04/08/2024

Persistence Plus is pleased to announce that we're a finalist in the "Engaging Adult Learners in Higher Education" track! We're one of 16 finalists seeking to increase the effectiveness and reach of higher education—particularly in support of adult learners—while advancing learning engineering as a whole.

will award $8+ million this cycle to innovative learning technologies. You can learn more about our project and all of the finalists here:

Meet the 16 finalists in the Engaging Adult Learners in Higher Education Track for the 2023-24 Tools Competition.

03/21/2024

Thinking through strategies for how to get students to engage? Persistence Plus Director of Behavioral Science and Education Ross O'Hara shares how you can leverage social norms to increase student engagement and ideas you can implement on your campus (via Psychology Today).

It all starts with changing students' social norms around help-seeking.

03/14/2024

Student support services only work if students access them. Based on strong interest from our recent trainings in partnership with Lumina Foundation, Persistence Plus is excited to add a final free training April 2 at 1PM ET to increase usage of the critical services colleges offer for student success. Persistence Plus will share evidence-based strategies we've used with our partners, including Ohio University and The City University of New York, to increase students' utilization of advising, tutoring, basic needs resources, and more.

Prior to the session, we’ll source campus-specific challenges that you are facing in engaging students with campus resources. We’ll pick a couple scenarios to workshop using behavioral science with our expert team from Persistence Plus and Ohio University.

If you’re interested but can’t make it, leave a comment to let us know so we can get you the content.

Register here: https://bit.ly/3TkdTda

Student support services only work if students access them. Based on strong interest from our recent trainings in partnership with Lumina Foundation, Persistence Plus is excited to add a final free training April 2 to increase usage of the critical services colleges offer for student success. Persis...

01/29/2024

Did you miss our free training last week on how to get students to use campus resources? There's still time to sign up for this Wednesday's free training! We've partnered with Lumina Foundation to lead a series this month to increase usage of the critical services colleges offer for student success. Persistence Plusis sharing evidence-based strategies we've used with our partners, including Lorain County Community College and The City College of New York, to increase students' utilization of advising, tutoring, basic needs resources, and more.

Join us this Wednesday at 2PM ET as we focus on strategies to create a help-seeking culture on campus. Campus leaders devising systemic, long-term changes will leave the training with a set of tools to get students to utilize services. The session will last 1 hour, with a bonus 30 minutes to workshop campus-specific challenges. If you’re interested but can’t make it, leave us a comment so we can get content to you.

Register here: https://bit.ly/PPlusLuminaJan31

In partnership with Lumina Foundation, this free training is for campus leaders who want to change campus culture and see more students take advantage of supports. Persistence Plus will share evidence-based strategies we've used with our partners, including CUNY and Lorain County CC, to increase stu...

01/22/2024

How do we get students to use campus resources? Persistence Plus is a few days away from the start of our training series! We've partnered with Lumina Foundation to lead two free trainings this month to increase usage of the critical services colleges offer for student success. Persistence Plus will share evidence-based strategies we've used with our partners, including Lorain County Community College and The City College of New York, to increase students' utilization of advising, tutoring, basic needs resources, and more.

Please register to join us at one of these sessions:

-Thursday, 1/25 at 12PM ET for direct student service professionals looking for actionable strategies to implement tomorrow: https://bit.ly/PPlusLuminaJan25

-Wednesday, 1/31 at 2PM ET for campus leaders devising systemic, long-term changes to get students to utilize services: https://bit.ly/PPlusLuminaJan31

Each training will last 1 hour, with a bonus 30 minutes to workshop campus-specific challenges. If you’re interested but can’t make it, leave us a comment so we can get content to you.

01/12/2024

Over the past decade, Persistence Plus has partnered with education institutions across the globe to support learners. One of the most common concerns we've collaborated with our partners to solve is how to get students to better utilize the resources available to them. A recent survey by Tyton Partners of more than 2,000 college students highlights a key barrier to usage of campus resources- students lack awareness that these supports exist.

In this piece P+ Director of Behavioral Science and Education Ross O'Hara outlines findings of the survey, and shares how changing campus norms may be a strong way to encourage students to take advantage of campus resources (via Psychology Today).

Are you interested in learning more about this topic? In partnership with Lumina Foundation, Persistence Plus is excited to lead two free webinars in January to increase usage of the critical services colleges offer for student success. Stay tuned for links to register next week!

Students are largely unaware of the support available. New norms could help.