Common sense tells us that students will engage more deeply if they see how their coursework is relevant to their lives. We know that students will feel that their education is more valuable if they understand how it will “pay off” for them in the future. We may often think of this in terms of job preparation, but the question of relevance can be more nuanced and we can find opportunities to link coursework to “the real world” in meaningful and immediate ways.
Research shows that we can improve persistence if we, as faculty, learn more about pedagogical approaches like open education and project-based learning that help students connect their academic studies with the world outside the classroom.