In college and university classrooms, efficiency is more important than ever before. Many students and instructors alike struggle with a shortage of time: time to complete assignments, time to engage in class, and time to take care of all of the little things that fill up the average day on a college campus.
Using the right tools, including communication tools like Pronto, can have a huge impact on your overall efficiency and improve your ability to connect with your students.
1. Students value efficiency.
An estimated 43% of full-time undergraduate students and 81% of part-time undergraduate students are working while enrolled in school. An estimated 22% are parents. Many of them, especially students who commute to campus, may have aging parents at home or family members in the community who need their assistance. Add to that the clubs, organizations, and activities they’re involved in on campus, and students have a serious time shortage on their hands. In fact, for many students, those undergraduate years are among the busiest and most stressful of their lives. As a result, they place a high value on efficiency. Students do not want instructors to waste their time, nor do they want to have to work around complicated office hours in order to schedule a single appointment.
Pronto can help enhance efficiency in your student communications. Instead of wasting class time on announcements and handouts, you can pass them through the app. Students don’t have to be physically in your office to schedule a meeting when they’re able to connect with you via Pronto for a video chat or audio call–and that means they can make those interactions much more convenient. Not only that, Pronto helps connect students with professors when they need those connections most, whether they’re doing their assignments during office hours or late in the evening–and allows them to get the answers they need immediately.
2. With an efficient communication strategy, you can focus more directly on your students.
In academia, there’s never a shortage of things to do. Not only do you have classes to teach–which means classes to plan, assignments to grade, and students to work with–you may also have your own research to take care of, papers to write and review, and content to go over. It may feel as though there’s never enough time in the day to dedicate to your students.
Pronto can help make that easier. With Pronto, not only can you save time on student meetings, emails, and scheduling, but you can easily connect with your students no matter where you are, which means you can develop deeper relationships with your students without having to sacrifice the time you need to take on those other tasks. As you enhance efficiency in other areas, including student communication, you’ll also find that you feel more focused and engaged in the classroom.
3. Efficient instructors offer students the tools they need at their fingertips.
In order to enhance student engagement, you have to make sure your students have the tools they need to complete their assignments and deepen their understanding of your subject. Students who do not have access to that vital information often struggle to fully connect with the information–and as they fall further behind, they will often become less engaged with the subject as a whole. Efficient instructors not only have the tools they need to identify and address student learning gaps, they offer students the information they need to catch up or figure out challenges, which can help enhance overall engagement.
With Pronto, you can provide students with access to everything they need. You don’t have to waste class time going over information that only a handful of students need to hear presented in a different way, but you can offer that information to the students who need it–and you can do it in video format or through a virtual handout that they can access as needed. Not only that, you can offer students ready access to you, to tutoring services, or to one another when they have questions, which can help enhance overall engagement by keeping the learning process flowing whenever it takes place: not just in the classroom, but also as students take on their homework assignments, projects, and out-of-class work.
Efficiency is becoming increasingly critical in the classroom, especially as students and professors alike take on a widening range of tasks and responsibilities. Pronto can help provide the efficient, convenient communication both you and your students need. Contact us today for a free demonstration that will help you learn more about how Pronto might work in your classroom.