Paper Sees Record Student Engagement Data for March & April 2020
The shift to distance learning happened virtually overnight in schools across the world. Despite students facing enormous adversity as a consequence, our team was amazed to see that the engagement levels on our learning platform spiked over the last two months.
This goes to show that while schools may physically be closed, students’ will to learn goes on. Our team couldn’t be more proud to help enable as much learning as can occur during this time of crisis.
Paper's Live Help tool, which provides students with 24/7 unlimited instant access to live educators, has shown record user engagement levels for the months of March and April. Highlights include a 52% increase of in-session activity minutes, and consecutive months of record-breaking positive session ratings from students (March 97.9%, April 98.6%). Yearly MoM growth increased 1250%.
“With so much negative COVID-19 news out there, I’m happy that we can share some good vibes —many students are still learning, and teachers aren’t in this alone. We’re going to get through this together,” said Alyssa Tuman, Director of Customer Success at Paper.
The spike in usage is attributed to the new distance teaching methods that schools have been using in the past month. We identified 3 main areas of growth within engagement:
- Higher student activations within partner school districts
- Increased frequency of student logins
- Longer sessions durations
Anna Williamson, Engagement Manager at Paper, said:
The whole company has been working around the clock to ensure that our customers are supported throughout the school closures. The platform being busier than ever indicates hard work paying off. We always work to support any and every student, and that’s never been more important than over the past few months.
"There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding our schools, but students have found comfort in knowing they are well supported. We are also helping relieve teachers who have been overwhelmed with increased workloads," said Philip Cutler, Chief Executive Officer of Paper. "In our mission to provide educational equity, moments like this are when we must answer the bell and support the community."
With students now forced to learn exclusively in a remote setting, the dependence on flexibility and instant support is higher than ever. Over 40 top districts across the US currently use Paper as their ESS. Since the mandated closure of schools, 88% of partner districts have seen an increase in activity, including 30% who have seen activity increase over 100%.
"In these challenging times, students and teachers have increasingly been turning to Paper to help support academic needs," said Philip. "While K-12 schools have often been criticized for slow adoption of technology, this crisis has led to accelerated adoption and implementation of technology in education. We are proud to play a role in this innovation.”
Paper currently provides support to some of the most influential districts including Irvine Unified School District, Springfield Public Schools, Sequoia Union High School District, Denver Public Schools, Tustin Unified School District, and we are welcoming new partners each and every day.
