Key Takeaways:
- AI empowers community colleges to personalize student engagement by tailoring resources and communication to diverse student preferences.
- Tools like Liaison Othot use predictive analytics to forecast resource needs, enabling timely, individualized support.
- AI scales personalization, creating tailored messaging for various student segments while maintaining relevance and connection.
- Combining AI-driven insights with human empathy ensures ethical, accurate, and meaningful interactions that foster trust and improve the community college student experience.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the way community colleges approach student engagement by enabling a personalized experience that better meets diverse student needs. At community colleges, where students often have varying backgrounds and unique goals, AI provides the tools to deliver tailored assistance. For example, Liaison Othot, an AI-powered predictive and prescriptive analytics platform, is at the forefront of helping institutions analyze student data to refine outreach and resources. With AI, colleges can now offer individualized guidance on crucial areas like financial aid, academic advising, and program recommendations, ultimately supporting students’ specific journeys and enhancing their overall community college student experience.
AI’s Impact on Personalization in Community Colleges
Community colleges serve a broad spectrum of students, from recent high school graduates to adults pursuing new careers. Traditionally, institutions would segment students into general categories—such as direct-out-of-high-school, transfer, or adult learners—and deliver similar messaging to each group. However, students within these categories have vastly different needs. For example, an adult learner in an apprenticeship program seeking additional training requires very different assistance than someone returning to college for the first time without financial backing or a structured support system. Without targeted communication, critical nuances in messaging are often overlooked, leaving some students feeling disconnected because they don’t believe the college understands them.
AI technology can bridge this gap by examining each student’s unique data-informed profile. Through predictive analysis, AI can determine which engagements or resources are most likely to achieve desired outcomes based on factors such as academic history, financial aid status, and student behaviors.
For instance, while a financially independent adult student may benefit from career services updates, a recent high school graduate might need orientation help and tailored financial aid information. By analyzing individual data points, AI lets colleges transcend generic guidance, crafting a supportive and personalized environment that aligns with each student’s distinct journey.
AI Personalization Tools and Applications
To achieve effective personalization, community colleges are turning to a range of AI tools for student engagement that bring data-driven insights into student experiences. Othot is a standout example, using predictive and prescriptive analytics to provide colleges with actionable insights on student engagement and retention. With Othot, institutions can forecast which students are most likely to need specific resources, making it easier to connect them with relevant support at critical moments, as well as impact their learning. How can AI personalize learning experiences for students? AI analyzes data points, such as academic history, learning preferences, and career goals, to deliver tailored resources, support, and communication that meet each student’s needs and aspirations.
Generative AI applications, such as ChatGPT, further enhance personalization by addressing the challenge of scale. These tools enable colleges to quickly generate tailored messages for various student segments and micro-segments, facilitating broader outreach while keeping communications relevant.
Balancing AI With Human Interaction
As powerful as these AI tools for student engagement and personalization are, the human element remains vital. AI can process vast amounts of data and forecast optimal strategies, but human insight is crucial for ensuring these approaches align with students’ real needs. AI-generated interactions may overlook nuanced issues or contain inaccuracies, making it vital for enrollment teams to review tactics before reaching students. This practice also maintains the high-quality interactions that students expect from their institutions.
Best practices suggest that colleges integrate AI insights with personal touches from counselors or advisors who can interpret AI-driven data to give meaningful, individualized support. Enrollment leaders play another critical role in guiding AI initiatives by selecting the right data inputs to influence outcomes. For example, by feeding all available data on first-generation students into the model, advisors can receive tailored insights that align closely with students’ challenges. This collaboration of AI’s efficiency with human empathy and understanding ensures that colleges not only provide accurate information but also create a genuinely helpful environment for each student.
As community colleges adopt AI to personalize student interactions, ethical considerations play a vital role in preserving trust and fairness. Ensuring data privacy and addressing bias are essential steps in building equitable AI models. When used responsibly, AI can reduce human biases by relying on comprehensive data. However, colleges must be vigilant in selecting and retaining unbiased, complete data inputs so AI-driven insights are accurate. Without a comprehensive dataset, AI models may inadvertently reinforce biases or overlook unique student needs. Liaison emphasizes data readiness and transparency to help colleges build inclusive, ethically sound AI systems that benefit students.
Measuring AI Success in Personalizing the Student Experience
To determine the effectiveness of AI personalization in boosting student engagement, community colleges must track metrics that capture the diversity of student goals and experiences. Key indicators include retention rates, graduation rates, and specific goal attainment, such as earning a certificate, transferring credits, or completing a certain number of courses. By assessing how well students feel supported in reaching these individualized goals, colleges can measure the true impact of AI and refine strategies to ensure a more personalized, successful student journey.
Othot lets colleges monitor these metrics in real-time, offering insights into how AI-driven assistance can help students reach their unique milestones. To explore all the ways Othot can enhance your institution’s student engagement through personalization, talk to a member of the Liaison team today.
About the Author
Jeremy Schaeffer is an experienced higher education professional with a strong background in community college admissions, recruitment. Holding an associate’s degree from Lake Michigan College, bachelor’s from Central Michigan University, and a master’s degree from Concordia University Chicago, Jeremy is passionate about helping individuals grow and develop. He leverages his expertise to provide impactful solutions and drive organizational success.