How one university supports online students’ engagement and belonging

With the rapid rise of online education, universities are tasked with meeting the needs of a growing number of distance learners. But EAB’s benchmarking survey of professional, continuing, and online education leaders indicates that only 48% of respondents offer coaching to professional, continuing, and online students and only 17% have career services.

This will become increasingly important as a growing number of high schoolers opt out of college post-graduation, creating a larger population of future adult learners who will likely need the flexibility of online education to return to school. In 2020, nearly one-third of 18-24 year-olds had graduated from high school but had never attended college

Robust student support services and initiatives that foster a sense of belonging are essential to current and future online students’ success and retention. Institutional leaders must prioritize the online student experience, addressing not only academic but also personal and professional needs. These needs can be broken down into first, second, and third-priority services.

Oregon State University’s (OSU) Ecampus offers a model for how holistic student support services and belonging initiatives improve retention and student satisfaction. OSU serves 32% of undergraduates and 85% of graduate students exclusively online (of 27,564 undergraduates and 5,629 graduate students total). Through specialized staff, mental health and career services, and dedicated engagement efforts, OSU’s Ecampus ensures online learners receive comprehensive and equitable support, thus boosting retention. Here’s what we learned about online student support services through an analysis of OSU’s Ecampus.

First Priority: Specialized Staff Support for Essential Services Like Advising and Financial Aid

Online students face challenges that are less common among their on-campus peers, such as balancing a busy schedule as a working adult. In addition, online students don’t have the option of a physical one-stop shop for student services. Student success often hinges on having access to specialized staff support for essential services such as financial aid, registration, and academic advising. While many universities still struggle to prioritize the student experience for online learners, OSU’s Ecampus stands out by offering first-priority services specifically tailored to meet the needs of online learners.

At the core of OSU’s approach is a team of dedicated student services representatives who are well-versed in the unique needs of online students. These representatives are available by phone or email and assist across a range of critical areas, including finance, registration, and general student services. Should students have an issue that cannot be immediately resolved, OSU’s representatives facilitate a “warm handoff” to the appropriate office or resource, ensuring students don’t have to navigate the system alone.

Additionally, OSU’s Ecampus offers access to student success coaches who specialize in areas such as enrollment support, goal setting, and academic skills. These coaches not only guide students through the logistics of university life but also help them set academic and career goals, fostering a sense of purpose and motivation. Recently, Ecampus leaders have bifurcated their support to offer both traditional, post-matriculation student success coaches (five staff members) and two navigators who work with students between admission and their first day of classes. These navigators ensure students have necessary guidance to prepare for their semester and the support to remain engaged until classes begin.

While difficult to correlate directly, I expect this availability of personalized support services is a key factor in OSU’s higher retention rates than many other institutions.

Second Priority: Mental Health and Career Services

Beyond logistical support, top-tier professional, continuing, and online units recognize the importance of addressing the broader well-being of online learners. OSU’s Ecampus has made mental health and career services a priority, ensuring that online students have access to the holistic support equivalent to their on-campus peers.

Mental health services, which are often unavailable to online students at other universities, are accessible at OSU through Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) to both on-ground and online students. Online learners have access to a variety of mental health services including crisis care, group support, and emergency services. Moreover, OSU partners with TELUS Health, a third-party vendor that offers 24/7 mental health support via an app, phone, or the internet, allowing students to access help from anywhere in the world. This comprehensive approach to mental health highlights OSU’s commitment to helping online learners manage personal challenges alongside their academic responsibilities.

Career services are another area in which OSU excels. Many institutions overlook the career development needs of distance learners, but OSU has tailored its offerings to ensure online students have access to valuable career guidance. OSU provides access to centralized resources such as the Virtual Career Center, the on-campus Career Development Center, and an external vendor, Beyond Graduate School. These services provide online learners with career coaching, job search support, and services specifically designed for graduate-level students and adult learners. In addition, the Virtual Career Center gives online learners a broader sense of the job market and demand data outside of Oregon. These services help online students prepare for their post-program goals and strengthen their commitment to completing their degrees.

Third Priority: Belonging and Engagement Initiatives

While academic and personal support services are crucial for online student success, fostering a sense of community for online learners is equally important. Creating opportunities for online learners to engage with their peers, participate in university life, and feel connected to faculty and staff is an area in which OSU Ecampus truly excels.

ECampus has a dedicated student engagement staff manager whose sole responsibility is to organize events and initiatives aimed at improving the sense of belonging among online students and to liaise with on-campus services and resources. In addition, OSU offers the Ecampus Learning Community (ELC), a virtual interactive platform where students can communicate with their success coaches, connect with fellow online learners, and access student success modules. This virtual community helps build relationships and reduces the isolation online learners may feel.

Moreover, OSU extends many on-campus opportunities to its online learners, often facilitated by their Ecampus student engagement manager. These include participation in over 100 campus student groups, research projects, internships, study abroad programs, and field studies. Such opportunities are often unavailable to online students at other institutions, but OSU has made a concerted effort to ensure that its distance learners have the same access to enriching experiences that are critical for personal and professional growth.

OSU’s Ecampus demonstrates the importance of comprehensive student support services and belonging initiatives for online learners. By offering specialized staff support for essential services, prioritizing mental health and career resources, and dedicating resources to fostering a sense of belonging, OSU has created an online learning environment that serves online students’ needs within and beyond the classroom.

As online education continues to expand, institutions can learn from OSU’s Ecampus by prioritizing the holistic needs of their online learners. In doing so, they not only improve retention rates but also empower students to thrive academically, personally, and professionally.