Kennesaw State University (KSU) today reports a 48 percent reduction in its DWFI (D, fail, withdraw, incomplete) rate for its Foundations for Healthy Living (WELL 100) course after leveraging interactive courseware from Perceivant that replaces traditional textbooks with cost-effective, interactive and data-driven learning experiences.

 

In fall 2015, WELL 1000 had an average DFWI rate of 25 percent across all course delivery methods, which included online, classroom and hybrid. With a desire to lower the DFWI rate without compromising the academic integrity of the course, content and learning objectives, KSU faculty and staff decided to work with Perceivant on a solution that fit the needs of its students. 

 

“One of the biggest challenges facing many core curriculum classes is high DWFI rates, allowing students to fall behind in these early courses while simultaneously jeopardizing their college careers,” said Kandice Porter. “By working with Perceivant, we were able to make the course more relevant and meaningful while also aligning it with the university’s general education goals.”

 

Through the partnership, Perceivant provided its interactive web-based learning platform, which seamlessly arms educators with an easier way to analyze the efficacy of courses while sharing a more active learning experience with students. Course materials were delivered digitally, so no physical textbooks were used to provide a more cost-effective approach than competing solutions. Instructors were also supported in the creation of customized content to meet educational goals.

 

Additionally, the web-based platform boasted consistency across 35+ instructors and 70+ course sections each semester while allowing each instructor to easily add content such as assignments and extra-credit to customize delivery of the course. 

 

After each semester, KSU and Perceivant would gather feedback and re-engineer the entire platform to make changes, improvements and revise the course to fit the needs of students. By working together, Perceivant and KSU were able to provide students with more tailored learning experience designed to increase engagement each year. Educators also had access to unique analytics that demonstrate the efficacy of student learning throughout the course.

 

Over a two-year period, the partnership between KSU faculty and Perceivant supported a 48 percent reduction in DFWI rates, falling from 25 percent to 13 percent in 2017. The online section of WELL 1000 - which traditionally carries the highest DFWI rates - saw a 55 percent reduction over the same time period. It dropped from an all-time high of 35 percent to only 16 percent.

 

“The results from KSU reveal how Perceivant’s interactive and engaging technology can positively alter the classroom dynamic by increasing student engagement while effectively lowering DFWI rates,” said Brian Rowe, CEO and founder of Perceivant. “We remain committed to help universities nationwide by providing educators with an easier, more efficient solution to analyze course efficacy while measuring metacognitive and cognitive learning.”

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