This article is written by Dr Carol Cutler White, Mississippi State University

In the US, college tours are a rite of passage for many. This is where aspiring students get their first impression of college life as they’re shown around campus, often by older students. And they often cement a college choice for those who participate.

Visiting campuses can also give some students a competitive advantage, as admissions offices interpret it as a signal of "demonstrated interest"’.

The economic returns of going to college are well documented. Picking the right college and completing some form of post-secondary education not only helps these students grow as people, but is also critically important to their future and career prospects.

But what about students who cannot make a campus visit? What about the majority of first-generation, minority and rural students who may not have the means to visit a campus, which often involves a lengthy drive or even a plane trip?

These were the questions we asked, as we wrestled with how to expand access to these populations of students as part of GEAR UP North Carolina, a federally funded college access program.

First-generation college students rarely have a strong network of friends and family who have gone to college and the process itself is rife with challenges. Rural students are at a further disadvantage in the college choice process due to geography, low social capital, and the tension some feel in their communities that might urge them not to go. Parents play a vital role in the college choice process, especially among African-American households where research indicates parent-initiated contact with schools increased the odds of students enrolling in college.

These challenges all add up and increase the risk that some brilliant students choose not to apply for college or drop-out partway through. This is further compounded with the challenges of reaching and keeping the attention of Gen Z.

AI can help you find the right college for you

When we first began wrestling with these challenges in 2016, immersive 360 virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and widespread direct to consumer social media emerged in the marketplace. We asked ourselves: Why not leverage these technologies to address our challenge of information distribution, time, distance and cost? Why not curate all of the essential college entrance information into an app so students and families have direct connections to campuses?

Our goal was simple. Leverage the potential power of immersive 360 virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and social media connections to help more first-generation, minority and rural students navigate the college decision and admission process in a "one-stop" phone app.

Connecting all students early with colleges and universities to ensure an optimal choice is important for college student retention

The app could close the information access gap between those who were able to go on a college tour and those who weren’t and provide a direct to consumer marketing approach. Campuses are able to interact with interested students and students are able to interact with the campus directly through the app. We developed and launched testing of the app for the sixteen public universities in North Carolina.

Over the past three years, we’ve learned a lot about connecting first-generation, minority and rural high school students to the possibility of college. Connecting all students early with colleges and universities to ensure an optimal choice is important for college student retention. The app offers a blueprint for colleges and universities globally to reach students making a college decision. Making the right decision in selecting a college can lead to better student retention and post-secondary credential completion, potentially reduce the international brain drain, and produce health and labour societal benefits in the long-run. Here are six lessons I’ve learned from this:

Lesson 1: The app can help students see themselves at college

We tested the app with focus groups in four rural high schools in North Carolina with first-generation, minority and rural high school juniors. The app has sections dedicated to a 360 immersive virtual tour of each campus, to majors and degrees offered at the campus, to student life activities on campus such as sports and clubs, and connections to enrolment processes and campus social media. Students reported positively on all features of the app, but far and away the 360 immersive virtual reality tour of each campus was the high point of the app’s features. Students reported a sense of "being there" and expressed appreciation for being able to see students "who look like me" on campus.

Students indicated they learned about the size of campuses, dormitory living, sports and clubs, campus buildings, library facilities and campus life. Additionally, they found colleges and universities that matched their specific interest in a major or program of study. The app broadened their exploration of campuses and provided a way to compare across campuses and assisted with college match and fit.

Lesson 2: An app can plug the information gap

Students were quick to follow campuses of interest on social media, and reported they followed the campus to see how the campus talks about their students and if campus leaders were active on social media. Students experimented with the campus chatbot for campuses of interest and gave positive feedback for the instant response. By and large, student questions were related to financial aid, a key concern for the population of interest.

When asked what information was missing in the app, students requested a search feature like Zillow, the real-estate app, that allows users to search by a variety of filters. Students wanted to be able to search for colleges by size, geography, price and admission requirements. They also requested information for the two-year and private colleges and universities in the state to be able to see all of the available college options. Lastly, they requested a brief tutorial in use of the app for first time users.

Lesson 3: Frontline staff is key

To get the most out of the app, it’s crucial to have staff in schools who know how to use it. In most cases, school counsellors or college access professionals provide college guidance. These professionals would benefit from an implementation guide with lesson plans for each of the app’s features.

School counsellors would also benefit from a parent’s guide to using the app to be able to provide personalised assistance with navigating the college choices.

Lesson 4: AI can improve college access and enrolment

The app’s Contact Us feature was either a direct email to the campus admissions office or a virtual chatbot. A chatbot is an automated reply to inquiries 24/7 from a database of frequently asked questions via chat on a user’s phone. To test the efficacy of the chatbot, we conducted a randomised control trial at a public four-year institution. Through this study we found that targeted messages to specific groups of students were effective.

The Covid-19 global pandemic illustrates the need to be nimble in college outreach and student engagement. Perhaps the rite of passage for college tours will be replaced by virtual environments and robots

For example, a positive effect in financial aid was concentrated among would-be first-generation college-goers, for whom loan acceptances increased by eight percentage points. In addition, the chatbot increased first-generation students’ success with course registration and fall semester enrolment. Together, the findings suggest that the chatbot’s proactive outreach to students is likely to be most successful when targeted to those who may be struggling (for example, in keeping up with required administrative tasks).

Lesson 5: The app is not a replacement for humans

We do not believe the app will replace personal assistance with college-going tasks, such as the application and financial aid processes. We do, however, believe the app empowers individuals to make decisions that will enhance personal assistance needed to complete the college-going process.

For example, students who had visited a college campus prior to using the app reported that the app enabled them to confirm their college decision. Alternatively, the app may assist students who do not have a college decision to narrow their choices on their own. For both of these target population students, personal assistance with college paperwork is still a likely need.

Lesson 6: We’re only scratching the surface

Our work is expanding to other states. We see a future where first-generation, minority, and rural students and parents can directly access college information and campus contacts at any time without barriers or bias. Linking students with campuses using chatbots and proactive advising supports can have long-range positive outcomes that are yet unknown. We will continue to experiment with the app and to incorporate features with salience for the target population, and we invite interested researchers and funding partners to join our work.

The Covid-19 global pandemic illustrates the need to be nimble in college outreach and student engagement. Perhaps the rite of passage for college tours will be replaced by virtual environments and robots. — Dr. Carol Cutler White

(Picture Credit: Unsplash)