Why Are Universities Hosting Business/Engineering “Summer Camps” for High Schoolers?
February 5, 2021
Universities and colleges, large and small, are beginning to offer “Summer Camps” for high school students. 39 of the top 40 schools ranked in U.S. News & World Report provide summer programs for high school students. “More and more colleges and universities are offering short-term...programs that offer a taste of what life would be like at their institution,” reports the International Association for College Admission Counseling [1]. It is an opportunity for students to explore exciting subject matter, keep their brains learning, and boost their resumes with college-level courses. For universities, it offers a priceless opportunity to forge early relationships with students and entice students to attend their institutions after graduation. Universities use the classes to showcase their virtual learning platforms, geared to making learning accessible, flexible, intuitive, engaging, and fun.
COVID-19 Wrecked Traditional Wooing Behavior of Universities
In the last year, COVID-19 restrictions have seriously curtailed universities’ ability to court high school students. “According to new data from the National Student Clearinghouse, undergraduate enrollment this fall declined by 3.6% from the fall of 2019. That’s more than 560,000 students and twice the rate of enrollment decline seen last year” [2]. This climate has colleges and universities scrambling to develop new, innovative ways to interest high schoolers in attending their institutions after graduation. Hosting virtual “Summer Camps” provides a unique opportunity for universities to introduce themselves to the students, fostering new relationships beneficial to both the university and the student.
These summer camps are focused on micro-courses in Business and Engineering, offering students a way to explore subject matter not typically included in a high school curriculum. After successful completion of the courses, students receive a formal certificate documenting his/her accomplishment, the inclusion of which can boost their college resumes. Another benefit of these camps is that they keep students’ brains active and reduce learning loss associated with the monotony of the “new normal” one-size-fits-all online learning model.
Keeping students engaged in education over the summer is important because due to COVID-19 related school closures, there will be large learning losses seen across the student population. “When students spend significant time out of school over the summer months, it results in what is known as the “summer slide.” Researchers estimate that students lose on average the equivalent of one to three months of achievement gains over the summer” [3] with the most significant losses in math. Business and Engineering summer programs can significantly help curtail this loss and support the learning recovery efforts of the Corona Generation. Additionally, universities utilize the summer camps to showcase their professors, course material, and online learning systems, which should entice students with innovative, easy to learn enhanced interactions.
How do you find a successful-online platform and content? Here’s what to require:
An environment familiar to students and instructors, encouraging engagement, allowing students to navigate and interact with teachers and students intuitively, and “hang out” with peers.
Simplicity and ease of use are paramount in the battle against frustration, boredom, and virtual learning atrophy.
Up-to-the-minute class materials that help make learning fun, giving students a feeling of being at the forefront of current news and events related to the course subject matter.
Function as a social outlet by providing a simple, easy to use platform where students can freely and meaningfully interact and learn from their professors and each other, fostering success in their studies and their lives outside of academics.
These environments should more closely resemble person-to-person contact than older, traditional online learning platforms that leave students uninspired. Learners should never be left behind by out of date information or slow counterintuitive interfacing.
The universities’ new online environment should also provide a good user experience to keep information retention high and be easily accessible to students, offering flexible class schedules to accommodate summer jobs or other commitments. Successful partnerships make summer camps the university’s leg up to introducing themselves to prospective students.
Amesite Offers a Single, Easy to Use, Scalable Solution
Universities worldwide are bringing in revenue to their institutions while providing much-needed summer camps to high school students, reducing the “summer slide.” Your university can, too.
Hit the easy button and partner with Amesite to create your summer camp classes’ content and platform. Amesite’s platform checks all the boxes for the online learning platform that your university needs to make your summer camp a success. Our custom platforms are branded to your institution and made to encourage student engagement, interaction, and learning. Our scalable online learning solutions are created with your target market in mind. We strive to make learning fun again, using Artificial Intelligence to customize the learning experience and keep content accurate and up to date. Our platforms let students complete the class curriculum at their own rate, within the course guidelines.
Amesite is an easy to use, Artificial Intelligence software company that offers customized cloud-based scalable solutions to make class content creation easy and seamless. We create platforms and content for K-12, college, university, and business education and upskilling.
Start building your university’s summer camp today! Request a Demo!
