Improving non-academic student outcomes using online and text-message coaching

• Published in: Journal of economic behavior & organization 2020-03, Vol.171, p.342-360
• Main Authors: Oreopoulos, Philip, Petronijevic, Uros, Logel, Christine, Beattie, Graham
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behavioral economics of education; College coaching; Non-academic outcomes; Non-cognitive; Text message nudge
• ISSN: 0167-2681; 1879-1751
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2020.01.009

•3000 undergraduates were randomly assigned to a 1-h online personalized coaching exercise.•A second treatment group also received weekly 2-way text message advice.•There was no program impact on course grades or credit accumulation, but there was a positive impact on study behavior, college satisfaction, and mental health.•This is the first evidence of a brief behavioral intervention influencing non-academic outcomes in an education-based context.•Improving student experience alone might justify wanting to scale the program, given its very low marginal cost. We design and experimentally evaluate two low-cost, scalable interventions – an online preparatory module to help students reflect on and overcome barriers and a text-message coaching program – in a sample of over 3000 undergraduate students at a large Canadian university. Supplementing administrative data on academic outcomes with a unique follow-up survey on student well-being, we estimate positive program effects on non-academic outcomes such as feelings of satisfaction and belonging, despite estimating null effects on course grades and credit accumulation. Given the low costs associated with administering these programs, our results suggest that the positive impacts on student well-being may warrant program expansion even in the absence of impacts on academic outcomes.