7 ways to enhance your students’ digital experience with AppsAnywhere

Times are tough for the UK higher education sector right now. With international student enrolments in decline, no sign of rising fees for domestic students and costs risings significantly over the last few years, UK universities are expected to constantly improve and adapt their education offering to meet the changing needs and expectations of students.

With technology advancing rapidly, universities are constrained by budget challenges, regulation and the need to find the sweet spot between the physical and cyber (including digital) experiences. This is a trend that is here to stay, and universities must be digital institutions to survive.

Without digital augmentation, it is increasingly difficult to provide a good physical experience. Timetabling, making labs accessible, maintaining hardware, being on demand to support students at a time that works for them, supporting BYOD on campus – these are all challenges that affect the quality of the traditional education delivery.

Why the digital experience is so important

As the university dropout rates reach new heights, institutions need to work harder to retain their students.

Many universities have started to invest in User Experience (UX) or Digital Experience (DX) to better understand and include student perspective in their offering. This is a great step for innovation, and it needs to be significantly accelerated to match today’s pace of change. A student-centric mindset and approach must be supported by brave leadership to undertake the radical changes required to transform so many of the institutions in need of modernisation. Institutions must really understand the changing demographics of the students crossing their gates and those who are about to come their way (or not…).

When considering student surveys, satisfaction often hovers around 80%, but it’s important that institutions ask themselves what would happen if they lost the 20% or so of dissatisfied students? Those who struggle to access the tools and knowledge needed to succeed, those who commute and work, and can’t always be on campus for classes, those who probably need their degree more than anyone to break out of their difficult circumstances. Could institutions afford to lose 20% of their revenue?

If institutions are now digital by nature, then the digital offering is equally as important as the physical and will therefore play a part in student engagement, attainment, building value and a sense of belonging, all critical factors in ensuring a student stays the course and succeeds.

Know thy student

Today’s student experience is more fragmented than ever, and personal circumstances influence students’ ability to engage and participate in academic studies and university life, to feel like they belong. This is why it is fundamental for universities to understand these circumstances and meet students where they are.

Some of the main challenges faced by students include:

Financial – cost of living crisis

• Food poverty: 1 in 4 said to go without food, as they can’t afford it; 1 in 4 universities are setting up food banks.
• Housing: almost half of UK students are commuting.
• Work: 63% of students work alongside their studies.
• Family responsibilities: 1/3 of students are mature, and 1 in 5 have children.
• The number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds increased by 30%.
• 2/3 of students say that not having enough money has negatively impacted their student experience.

Mental health

• 85% of students are worried about money.
• 77% say they feel hopeless.
• 72% report feeling isolated.
• 71% of students thought about quitting their course.

Digital access

• Commuter students and working students report lower grades due to lack of access to course materials and software applications off campus.
• Large discrepancies of device capabilities between students.
• Only 1% of students only learned on campus, 88% used technology to learn at home and 58% reported learning in public spaces and at work; 21% never go on campus.
• 58% of students experienced technical issues that made it difficult to learn.
• More than half of students didn’t feel included in decisions about their digital experience.

“Higher education’s ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ have been classified in many ways over the decades: middle class versus working class; rich versus poor – it goes on. But in the post-pandemic world, a new academic divide has emerged: the commuter student versus the on-campus student.” Lee Elliot Major OBE, Professor of Social Mobility at the University of Exeter

Sources: HEPI Student Academic Experience Survey 2024, Jisc Student digital experience insights survey 2022/23, Blackbullion Student Money and Wellbeing 2024

When it comes to student experience and success, the “one size fits all” approach is no longer fit for purpose. Students need equity, not equality to succeed.

How can universities better meet students’ needs?

The student journey starts well before the application process. It starts with creating the right expectations and meeting or exceeding them. Currently that is not quite the case: only 32% of students reported their university experience met or exceeded their expectations.

The latest Jisc and HEPI student surveys capture some of this fragmented experience, and the disconnect between expectations and reality. Students demand:

• Access to study spaces and online resources are key factors influencing academic experience and student outcomes.

“Enhance technological infrastructure to facilitate seamless online learning experiences, incorporating advanced e-learning platforms, virtual labs, and interactive multimedia resources to complement traditional teaching methods.”

• One central location to find resources is important to students: one place where they can find lecture notes, recordings, software and tools, as well as library resources such as books and journals. A hub where students can browse a list of available software.
• Flexible learning places, digital technologies that enable students to learn in a range of contexts, on and off campus, to allow personal circumstances (work, travel, family) to co-exist with and interfere less with their ability to learn. This can go a long way to making students feel engaged and supported.

“As someone who suffers from social anxiety, I find it a lot easier to study online. I have also recently become a first-time mum so balancing my Master's while I’m off on maternity allows me to study at my own pace.”

• IT support is more responsive and easier to access, both remotely and on campus.
• Improved provision of hardware for learning. Students face issues with unreliable computers on campus and some are unable to find an available or working computer. Some students do not have suitable devices.

How AppsAnywhere supports universities to transform the student digital experience

Over the last 15 years, AppsAnywhere has been working with 300 institutions across 22 countries to transform the student experience of more than 4 million students, whilst improving the efficiency of IT teams in software delivery and management. Here are the key areas AppsAnywhere can help with:

1. One central location for learning resources and software

AppsAnywhere removes the complexity of software delivery to give students, faculty, and IT professionals a simple, and high-quality experience to help them focus on what matters most. It acts as an anchor platform or a hub that consolidates all the software available to students into one simple solution, to save time, money, and effort. 

Students and teaching staff love the simplicity of accessing all the software they need in one place. The interface can be embedded in your learning management system or VL, and the smart prioritization detects the best method of delivery, without compromising on speed or quality. 

2. Flexibility of learning and BYOD

Students prefer using their own devices and expect to access the services they need when and where they need them. With AppsAnywhere, students are not locked into using specific devices in specific locations. They can do their work at home, on campus or in the café.

3. Student access and equity

Our customers place a high importance on providing an equitable experience for all students, regardless of the power of their device or internet connection. Hardware Detection technology selects the best delivery method for a seamless experience, so every student can do their best work, no matter their background. Whether that is between work shifts, in the comfort of their home or in the computer lab.

4. More capacity for IT teams to support students

AppsAnywhere helps IT teams become more agile and resourceful, as it does a lot of the heavy lifting for them. Our customers report on average 80%-time savings on rebuilding computers, and around 75% reduction on time and resources spent on packaging applications. Our applications library has around 150 pre-packaged software, that we update and patch regularly.

This has freed teams to become multi-skilled and spend more time supporting students and staff. With AppsAnywhere, requests for new applications can be resolved within hours or days, instead of months, and updates can be made throughout the year, with minimum disruption, and not just during the summer.

5. Longer-lasting hardware that is fit for purpose

Leaner images mean a leaner performance. AppsAnywhere take over the heavy duty of your machines can last longer to improve their performance, response time and extend their lifespan. 

Students can use 3D graphics, HD content, high-CPU performance, and any heavy use applications, as if locally installed, with no compromise on user experience, and at a fraction of the VDI cost and complexity. 

6. Vibrant learning and collaboration spaces

AppsAnywhere can also support with scheduling challenges and limited access to specialist software. With AppsAnywhere, every device can run any applications, without affecting performance or user experience - and that includes personal devices.

Repurposing computer labs is one of the top priorities for institutions, especially as these expensive learning places are mostly empty, or students push away computers to use their own laptops. Our clients from UK to Australia and in-between have transformed their computer labs to open and collaborative learning spaces that better meet their students’ needs.

7. Student engagement and success

By removing much of the friction in accessing academic software or learning materials, students become more engaged. They find it easier to fit learning around their personal circumstances and helps them feel more connected to their university.

The AppsAnywhere Analytics Engine provides insights into when and where applications are accessed. This visibility enables universities to not only manage license usage, but more importantly to gage course engagement through software usage.

As Lee Elliot Major OBE, Professor of Social Mobility at the University of Exeter stated:

“One of the most cherished principles at the heart of higher education is that those with the potential to benefit from academic study should not be hampered by material deprivation, or where they happen to come from. In this rapidly changing landscape, we must also ensure that all learners prosper irrespective of how they happen to get to or access the lecture theatre or whether they study from hall or home.”

At AppsAnywhere we believe that all students should have equitable, flexible, and seamless access to the tools they need to succeed in their course. We help institutions put the student experience at the centre of their digital offering.

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