To improve PSE completion rates, encourage students to keep looking forwards

Alexandra Logue of Inside Higher Ed discusses the potential benefits of motivating students to complete their program by focusing on what they have left to do, rather than what they have already accomplished. Logue draws on available research about academic momentum and delayed rewards in order to examine the many contributing factors to PSE completion, before going on to describe how these can be harnessed for the student’s benefit. Logue then makes a number of suggestions on how to better support students, including reminding students about what they need to do to reach the goal of graduation, ensuring that students can advance quickly without sacrificing learning quality, and continuing to conduct research on student completion rates. Inside Higher Ed