5 Proven Student Engagement Strategies for The Fall!

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We know how critical the fall is for student engagement. It is when new students immerse themselves in college life and returning students renew with campus activities and traditions.

This article outlines 5 student engagement strategies for the fall. Based on feedback from our 200+ Partner Campuses, the following practices are proven to help your campus maximize student involvement:

  1. Raise Awareness about Campus Resources.

  2. Host Key Events.

  3. Get Students Involved Early.

  4. Involve the Student's Success Network.

  5. Leverage your Strongest Assets.

We hope that these best practices will help your campus get off to the right start this fall!

1. Raise Awareness about Campus Resources

If your platform has a campus engagement platform or app, it should be the go-to resource for students. In addition to serving as a one-stop-shop for academic, co-curricular and student service information, the platform helps connect and engage students.

However, your campus community platform is only effective if it is being used successfully. Therefore, it is critical to raise awareness about the platform and other key resources.

Make sure that students know about the platform or app and sign-in to it. To increase usership, encourage them to customize their platform, set preferences, interests and other customizable content.

A good way to do this is to schedule a time for students to explore and familiarize themselves with available digital tools. Having super-users walk through key system features and answer questions works well.

Some platforms may at first be intimidating due to the breadth of features. Therefore, it is important to direct students to key resources within the platform, including the Student Organization Directory and Centralized Campus Calendar of events.

Outside of a dedicated community platform, students should be directed to other resources used to learn about campus engagement opportunities. These may include the campus website, homegrown digital systems, social media, flyer boards, and resident halls.

2. Host Key Events

Events serve an educational and social function. They provide students with the opportunity to learn about and engage with their campus community. They are also a great way for students to broaden their social circle, making connections with fellow students and staff.

Student Life and Affairs programs host big events in the fall, including Orientation and Welcome Week programming.  These events help students get involved in campus life and foster a sense of belonging from day one.

Student Club and Involvement Fairs are also staple events. Other examples of involvement fairs hosted by our Partner Campuses include transfer and first-generation student programs, Greeklife recruitment, and wellness fairs.

Many campuses also host Resource Fairs early-on in the semester to raise awareness around accessing available resources. Different offices and departments on campus usually hold open houses. This allows students to explore those spaces and meet staff in advance.

Offices that can seem intimidating (i.e. Financial Aid, the Counseling Center, and Career Services) can set up booths in a dedicated area.  Setting up tables in high traffic areas on campus can also help them feel more approachable.

Having a centralized calendaring system increases the visibility of these events and attendance. According to current clients, “providing students with a single location to browse upcoming events, register, and sync updates to their mobile devices has boosted student engagement.”  

Some platforms also include an attendance tracking feature to track attendance electronically, via a QR code or click of a button. According to the University of Rochester, which has been a Partner Campus since 2019, “we successfully got rid of all paper forms for student organizations thanks to CampusGroups.”

Events can be in-person, virtual or hybrid. Having a virtual element to big events, via a dedicated mobile app or “event hub” has several advantages. These include:

🌟 Making the planning, promotion, and management of the event more efficient.

🌟 Creating a better user experience through customization and personalization.

🌟 Enabling users to browse through online content ahead of time and interact in multiple ways (in-person, live chats, or video conferences).

🌟 Providing easy-to-use tracking and reporting features in the lead-up to the event, on the day of, and post event.

🌟 Offering access to real-time metrics that can be displayed live on an interactive dashboard to enhance the user experience.

3. Get Students Involved Early

Research shows that the first 90 days on campus are crucial. What happens during this time is an important indicator of student involvement, retention, and ultimately success.

Therefore, student affairs professionals need to hold regular touchpoints with students throughout the fall. It is also important to empower students from the start, by helping them set and achieve goals.

There is a clear link between co-curricular involvement, resilience, and student success. Therefore, monitoring co-curricular engagement in addition to academic performance is important. Tracking student engagement through co-curricular transcripts (CCT) is effective.

The CCT is a comprehensive record of a student’s involvement in experiential learning experiences that take place outside the classroom. Like the academic transcript, a CCT is certified by the college or university. It can also increase a student’s marketability to graduate programs or potential employers.

CCT programs are designed to encourage and track student involvement through a certification process. Built around core learning competencies, CCT pathways provide students with the framework to obtain certification in a specific competency. This may include multiple tracks and checklists clearly showing what actions students need to take and in what timeframe.

Available to both students and administrators, CCT data helps students chart their personal journey and measure progress in achieving specific goals. For administrators, it is a way to identify potential skill development gaps, informing student retention action plans.

Some student engagement platforms include CCT certification and tracks and checklists features, providing a central space for students and staff to monitor progress. Further, certain platforms have integrated a gamification component.

Gamification is a great way to incentivize students to achieve goals. Leaderboards and badge or point systems help measure and reward progress.

Some colleges also enable students to use points to redeem prizes on completion of certain goals. The concept of getting something tangible (campus swag, or money off tuition and books) upon achieving a certain number of badges is a great motivator for students.

 4. Involve the Student's Success Network

The fall semester is also the time to identify students that may be less engaged, and course correct. Advisors, Staff and Faculty are important in identifying at risk students from an academic perspective. However, a student’s social well-being is equally, if not more, important.

Students that participate in co-curricular activities reportedly have a stronger support system and higher level of student satisfaction. They are also more likely to stay in college and have a higher cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA).

Therefore, it is important to encourage students to build out their network. It is also important for higher-education establishments to have a system to track student engagement and identify potential issues early on.

A best practice is to reach out to students who are not engaging in the first few weeks of the fall semester. Individuals that can be called to reach out to ‘at risk students’ include Orientation leaders, Resident Assistants, Faculty and Staff Advisors, as well as Student Affairs personnel.

These individuals can work to help these students address specific pain points, develop their support network, and build a sense of belonging. Useful tactics include:

✅ Encouraging students to use Office Hours for help with assignments or open-ended discussions.

✅ Connecting first-years with upperclassmen and student ambassadors in a matching program to offer first-hand advice based on their own shared experiences.

✅ Including parents and family members as partners in the path to student success.

✅ Integrating collaborative co-curricular activities into coursework.

Students that are struggling should know that they are not alone. They should feel comfortable reaching out to fellow students, staff, or healthcare professionals. Most colleges also offer dedicated resources such as campus and student services for individuals to reach out to for help.

Campuses that provide multiple and varied support networks have happier and more resilient students. Further, connections made through these advisory or mentoring programs often play a significant role in the lives of college students beyond graduation.

 5. Leverage your Strongest Assets

Among the most effective ways to engage students is to leverage your strongest assets (i.e. your already involved students)! To this end, it is important for Club and Registered Student Organization (RSO) leaders to know how to engage prospective and current members.

Higher-education establishments with a dedicated campus engagement platform or app should also ensure Club and RSO leaders are trained on the system. Some best practices to provide to student leaders to attract and retain members include:

💡 Designing and branding your group page well.

💡 Planning events for the year and creating them as early as possible.

💡 Posting on your group feed regularly.

💡 Creating a newsletter template and process to regularly communicate to members.

💡 If your campus organizes an involvement fair (in person or virtual), make the most of it.

💡 Organize events open to non-members.

💡 Post photos of your events in your group feed and in the community wide feed.

Other ways to raise awareness for available campus engagement opportunities and tools is to elicit the help of Campus Ambassadors and Influencers. According to our Campus Partners, social media takeovers are an effective way to highlight different aspects of campus life.

A first-year student at a Partner Campus also created a YouTube video about the benefits of the CG platform and app, which was shared campus wide. This was among the most compelling ways to raise awareness about our platform and engagement opportunities available to students.

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While the fall is among the most important times of the year on a college campus, Student Life and Success programs work hard year-round. They connect students to clubs and organizations, leadership opportunities, and other offerings contributing to student retention.

Drive Student Engagement with Our All-In-One Campus Community Platform

CampusGroups (CG) is an all-in-one campus community platform, used by 70% of the top colleges and universities worldwide. It provides interactive and customizable solutions that drive student engagement, retention, and success.

With over 30 modules to choose from, our campus management software streamlines processes and boosts student involvement from day one. The moment students step onto campus, they have one centralized system for all academic, co-curricular and student service information.

Built for both administrators and students, we are among the only digital student experience platforms spanning the entire student life cycle. CG helps students connect and meet engagement goals from orientation through to graduation. Further, our alumni offering ensures that students stay involved post-graduation.