Integrating Social-Emotional Learning for Online Dual Enrollment Success

Dual enrollment, which allows high school students to earn college credits before they graduate, remains a powerful strategy for expanding college and career opportunities and offers wide-ranging benefits (PDF) for students, high schools, colleges, and states. When dual enrollment courses are offered online, they further expand access and opportunity. The digital format, however, makes it harder to provide the supportive, collaborative environment that boosts student engagement, learning, and success.

Jobs for the Future (JFF) launched the Increasing College Access Network (ICAN) project in 2022 to address this challenge by integrating social-emotional learning (SEL) strategies into online dual enrollment courses to improve students’ course outcomes.

Over three academic years, in partnership with two Minnesota community colleges and 58 high schools, more than 900 students participated in this course model. By embedding a series of routines and structures that emphasize student relationship-building and resilience, the model yielded benefits for students, instructors, and secondary and  postsecondary institutions.

Key Benefits for Stakeholders

Supported by FullScale, the Greater Twin Cities United Way, and the American Institutes for Research and with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, college instructors piloted the model in both online dual enrollment English and math courses. Instructors from both colleges found innovative ways to adjust the strategies for synchronous and asynchronous course delivery, student needs, and hurdles along the way.

Why Invest in Integrating SEL Into Online Dual Enrollment?

One-third of all dual enrollment courses are now delivered online. They enable high school students, especially those from rural areas, to earn college credit, experience rigorous coursework, and begin to see themselves as a college student before stepping onto a college campus. This model provides unprecedented access and flexibility not just for learners but also for institutions looking to expand high-quality offerings to new groups of students.

However, delivering dual enrollment courses online presents specific challenges:

• Students must juggle navigating new expectations and processes, limited face-to-face interaction, and the demand for self-management without the scaffolds and support they rely on in high school.
• College faculty are called on to deliver content in new ways to keep students engaged, yet their training does not typically focus on pedagogy, leaving gaps in quality student engagement methods that are especially important for online delivery.

Embedding SEL strategies into online coursework helps address these challenges:

• SEL supports students by helping them develop self-directedness, a critical driver of success in virtual settings. This includes self-awareness to recognize when they may be struggling, a variety of problem-solving strategies, and the ability to advocate for extra help if needed.
• SEL strategies also help surface challenges early, so an instructor can intervene and provide additional support.
• Students develop durable skills, such as relationship-building and problem-solving, that are increasingly critical to young people’s success in the labor market and their ability to launch meaningful careers.

The model provides instructors with guidance and tools to effectively integrate these strategies in ways that align with their course objectives and subject area. Integrating SEL doesn’t require new lessons or a rewritten syllabus; they’re simple routines that can accelerate instructional effectiveness and student success in an online college environment.