Introducing Learning Outcomes Leaders - a brand new Genio podcast. Find out more about Learning Outcomes Leaders, Genio's brand new podcast that brings you insight from the people across higher education driving the best possible experiences for their students. Jacob Goodwin This spring, Genio is launching a brand new podcast - Learning Outcomes Leaders! Hosted by its very own James and Scott, on the podcast you'll hear Genio News chatting to higher education professionals who can talk the talk about how they've been there and done it. Each episode will cover a range of topics from student success to technology adoption, boosting learner confidence to driving persistence. Genio News'll discuss some of their proudest and most ambitious projects and explore the most effective ways in which they've helped to improve and enhance their student's outcomes. The aim is to provide you with real value from real voices, and to get the cogs whirring with ideas for how you can elevate your own students' experiences. Episodes will be launching every fortnight so make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts to make sure you don't miss a thing. Genio News look forward to seeing you on the show! Time for a simpler, smarter note taking accommodation? Genio Notes is the online note taking tool that makes compliance simple, reduces cost and admin burden, and improves student outcomes.

What Student Success US 2025 revealed about the future of supporting today's learners. Genio's Head of Marketing, Tate Gibson, shares her key takeaways from the 2025 Student Success US conference, highlighting the changing themes in supporting students and what student success looks like. Student Success US 2025 made one thing clear: the definition of "student success" is rapidly expanding. Retention and persistence remain important, but they are no longer the destination. Institutions are thinking more holistically about how students learn, how they experience community, and how prepared they are for life and work beyond graduation. Back in November, its Head of Marketing, Tate Gibson, joined by James Paisley-Knight and Scott Lomax, two of its account executives and Senior Product Manager Laura Howells-Barby, headed out to Atlanta to attend the annual conference. In this blog, Tate shares the major themes that emerged across sessions and conversations, themes that will shape how Student Success leaders design strategies over the next several years. 1. Career readiness has become the north star Across institutions, there is growing recognition that student success does not end at graduation. Many attendees emphasized the need to embed career readiness earlier and more intentionally throughout the student journey. Career development is being reframed as a skillset rather than a service, and institutions are redesigning experiences to ensure students leave not just with credentials but with the practical abilities required in real workplaces. This shift reflects broader pressures on higher education's value proposition. As the public questions the worth of a degree, institutions are responding by elevating transferable skills, professional competencies, and a clearer bridge from classroom learning to career outcomes. 2. Predictive, proactive support is replacing lagging indicators Institutions are moving away from relying solely on lagging metrics like GPA, dropout rates, and four-year graduation data. Instead, they are building models that capture a more holistic data set, such as: * Class engagement * Well-being and mental health indicators * Utilization of study tools and academic resources * Students' sense of belonging This proactive posture acknowledges that student risk becomes visible long before academic performance declines. By monitoring leading indicators, institutions can intervene earlier and design more targeted, timely support. 3. Rebuilding community and belonging is now core to learning Collecting data on students' sense of belonging highlights a recurring message: student belonging is no longer a soft outcome. It is a learning outcome. Post-pandemic students are more attached to their devices, less comfortable socially, and often struggle with interpersonal skills. Institutions are now treating interpersonal development as a core component of student readiness, not a peripheral benefit. Creating community is not just about engagement; it directly influences retention, persistence, and self-efficacy. Several institutions discussed intentional strategies to: * Build relational moments into classroom environments * Strengthen peer-to-peer learning * Create structures that help students feel known and supported Belonging is being elevated as a prerequisite for academic and career success. 4. AI policy is shifting toward guided experimentation Rather than adopting restrictive, top-down AI bans, many institutions are allowing faculty, staff, and students to experiment with multiple AI tools within the bounds of IT security and privacy standards. This experimentation has led to: * Faculty integrating AI into lesson planning, grading workflows, and assignment design * Instructors modelling transparency in how they use AI * Classroom conversations focused on ethics, disclosure, and discipline-specific AI literacy The goal is not just to ensure ethical use, but to prepare students for a workforce where AI competency will be expected. 5. Active learning is replacing the lecture first classroom A major theme across sessions: traditional lecture formats are increasingly seen as outdated and disengaging. Many institutions shared models where students are responsible for creating or facilitating parts of the course through: * Preparing mini-lectures * Leading class discussions * Designing interactive sessions * Completing group and individual presentations Because students must generate the content themselves, they remain more engaged and produce work that feels relevant to their peers. Faculty emphasized that this format better reveals true understanding and builds practical skills such as communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. 6. Foundational learning skills need reinvention Several conversations highlighted the importance of revitalizing basic learning skills, not as remedial supports, but as essential academic competencies. These include: * Effective notetaking and the ability to distinguish signal from noise * Critical thinking and evidence evaluation * Presentation and communication skills * Managing presentation anxiety and building confidence As AI increasingly takes over organizational tasks, educators stressed the importance of teaching students how to think, not just what to capture. AI tools are now being used to rehearse presentations, provide real-time feedback, and reduce anxiety through practice and familiarity. 7. Data tools are becoming part of early intervention and longitudinal success Platforms like Qualtrics and Slate were repeatedly mentioned as tools for aggregating engagement data and identifying at-risk students early. Tools such as Steppingblocks and Lightcast are also being used to track career trajectories over time, providing visibility into data such as whether graduates are working in fields related to their major, or how career paths change over several years. These insights help institutions refine programs, tell a clearer story to prospective students, and educate current students about the broad utility of their degrees. 8. Accessibility and universal design remain a priority Student Success professionals reported unprecedented increases, sometimes 200 - 300% year over year, in students identifying as neurodiverse or registering with disability services. Attendance challenges, especially in large states and commuter regions, are amplifying this need. Institutions are working more closely with accessibility services to: * Expand visibility of existing universal design tools * Embed accessibility into academic and online learning environments * Adapt instruction for a wider range of learning profiles Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is emerging as a required baseline rather than an accommodation strategy. 9. Trust needs to be rebuilt across the Higher Ed ecosystem Finally, many sessions touched on the issue of trust, both the erosion of trust in higher education and the need to rebuild it among students, Faculty and parents/families. Some institutions have begun engaging parents more intentionally, while others are prioritizing faculty support, especially in disciplines under pressure (such as the humanities). Rebuilding trust requires transparency, better communication, and student success practices that feel human, not transactional. Final thoughts Student Success US underscored that the field is at an inflection point. Institutions are expanding their definition of success to include career readiness, belonging, interpersonal skills, ethics, and long-term growth. They are blending academic, emotional, and social support in new ways, and using data and AI strategically rather than reactively. For Student Success leaders, this next chapter will require deeper collaboration across academic affairs, careers, faculty development, and IT. But the shift is promising: a more holistic, proactive, student centered model that prepares learners not just to stay enrolled, but to thrive beyond graduation. Time for a simpler, smarter note taking accommodation? Genio Notes is the online note taking tool that makes compliance simple, reduces cost and admin burden, and improves student outcomes.