Recent years have seen important strides in educational technology and software. For administrators and educators looking to enhance student engagement, the coming year promises even more exciting developments as cutting-edge innovations make their way into faculties.
Keeping a finger on the pulse of these developments is a must for promoting engagement among today’s students, who expect their learning environment to reflect the innovative workplaces they’re looking to enter. This guide to emerging software trends will prepare you to do that.
Stay ahead of the curve in the coming year by watching for these seven trends in higher education software.
Educators have valid concerns about abuses of AI among some students. Institutions must differentiate ethical and unethical uses and help students appreciate the differences. But AI is already reshaping education, and the potential to harness it for student engagement is enormous. AI capabilities that will enhance student engagement in classrooms over the next year include:
Of these capabilities, adaptive learning could be the most revolutionary for student engagement. Through AI integration into assessment software, students can experience personalized learning pathways that respond in real time to their performance data. This creates an agile learning experience optimized for individual needs.
Look for software solutions that easily integrate with existing higher education ecosystems. As software’s role in higher education expands and new options enter the market, integration becomes a key focus. Students get the most out of software tools that can embed functions within and share data between other platforms they use. For example, integrating communication platforms and assessment tools helps teachers lend students the support they need, when they need it, based on real time data.
The tools receiving the heartiest welcome in 2025 will be those that maximize interoperability — the ability to combine effectively with other tools. The need for interoperability will drive faculties toward comprehensive software suits with various tools optimized to work together. Versatile tools that integrate well with diverse platforms will also find a home in many institutional software ecosystems.
To promote student engagement, teachers must be able to monitor it and make informed decisions about how to respond to student needs. Superior data collection and analytics will be key software functions for student engagement in 2025. Student engagement software will support data-driven decisions through:
The best results in student engagement often come from meeting students where they are. Students want a learning experience that feels relevant to how they interact with the world daily. That’s why we can expect software solutions to become more mobile-friendly and integrate with social media in the coming year.
For example, especially in remote or hybrid learning contexts, some software can support students in completing some assessments and activities on their smartphones. Mobile student engagement applications allow students to check their progress data against learning outcomes and update goals, boosting motivation. Students will also enjoy interacting with learning materials teachers share in video or podcast formats for mobile engagement.
Student engagement software will support easy content sharing to and from social media. This gives students a virtual avenue to collaborate on projects and discuss ideas related to their curriculum.
Gamification injects interactivity and fun into the learning experience through challenges and rewards. Teachers can monitor progress while students enjoy active participation in each lesson through game-based learning. The empirical research on gamified learning has shown clear benefits to engagement, motivation, satisfaction, autonomy, and competence from elements like:
Expect more incorporation of game-like elements into education software to encourage student engagement and motivation in 2025.
Student success is about more than assessment results. It’s about the comprehensive well-being of a diverse student population. Since colleges can no longer consider race in admissions criteria, progress in inclusion depends on providing support for diverse students to enter programs and thrive in them.
Inclusive schools will embrace software that gives students access to the resources they need to succeed and helps faculty recognize where interventions are needed to ensure retention and support equitable outcomes. Other software functions to enhance engagement among diverse students include:
Software offering these functions will trend in 2025.
Institutional inertia is a powerful force in academia. Many faculties are running on legacy systems like Anthology Beacon that may lack the capabilities to revitalize engagement among today’s students. Benefits of updating an aging software system include:
In the coming year, more faculties will accept that they’ve reached a tipping point where innovative solutions are necessary to maximize student engagement and success. Leading colleges will embrace the transition as an opportunity to implement software with enhanced capabilities to better serve students and educators.
Is your institution considering a transition to a software solution with cutting-edge capabilities for student engagement? Watermark Student Success & Engagement offers all the tools you need to boost retention and help your students thrive:
Contact us for a free demo to revolutionize student engagement at your institution.
