The UH Board of Regents approved a $7.4 million, five-year contract for two integrated platforms — EAB Navigate360 and Edify — that will track student behavior and performance in real time, allowing advisers and support staff to proactively intervene before problems escalate.
The platforms, developed by education technology company EAB and already in use at more than 850 colleges and universities, will be phased in across UH’s 10 campuses starting this year, ensuring that every student, regardless of which campus they attend, receives consistent and equitable support. Full adoption is expected by 2026.
UH President Wendy Hensel, who previously served as provost at Georgia State University — one of EAB’s most prominent success stories — said the system will give UH a powerful way to track and support students across multiple areas of risk, from academic performance to financial difficulties.
Hensel said UH already tracks many data points on students, such as whether they log in to their online courses, use library resources or have made tuition payments on time. The new platform gathers and integrates all this existing information to create actionable insights that can help identify students who may need support early on.
The goal, officials said, is not to replace human interaction, but to enhance it.
If a student begins showing signs of trouble — missing assignments, skipping classes or falling behind in key gateway courses — the system can flag those behaviors and prompt advisers or faculty to reach out.
“By using data, we can intervene far more effectively than we can just by asking questions,” Hensel said. “We have students who will never step forward to ask for help. This helps us get those students who won’t come forward … The whole point is not to identify the stress, but to be able to intervene in a timely way, and to correct it in real time.”
The Navigate360 platform incorporates population health analytics and predictive scoring to identify at-risk students based on a range of variables including GPA, course withdrawals, financial aid status and class participation. Edify, meanwhile, integrates siloed institutional data—from academics to student services — into a centralized dashboard for administrators.
For students, the technology will function as both a risk monitoring and communication tool.
Hensel said the platform will analyze student data going back about 10 years to better understand patterns and create smarter pathways to success.
For example, if a student plans to take a difficult combination of courses — like calculus and biochemistry in the same semester — the system might flag it and recommend alternative scheduling options.
It also incorporates data UH already tracks, such as course logins, library usage and tuition payments, integrating all this information to generate actionable insights that help identify students who may need early support.
According to senior adviser Kim Siegenthaler, who is overseeing the system’s rollout, students will receive timely alerts about deadlines, registration, or missed advising appointments — along with nudges toward support services when needed.
“So number one, it reminds them that their registration period is coming up. And then two, it reminds them of the things that they might need to do in advance of that registration period,” Siegenthaler said.
She added that the system isn’t just reactive.
“The same structure that would say, ‘Hey, this may present a risk to the student,’ can also be used to say, ‘Wow, these are students who are really excelling in particular areas.’ And then you can communicate with them with congratulations or kudos.”
Siegenthaler said the project will involve extensive campus-level collaboration and gradual implementation over the next several years, including local customization, user training and testing.
UH plans to model many aspects of the system after Georgia State University, which used the same platforms to achieve double-digit improvements in student success metrics — particularly among underrepresented and first-generation college students.
“That’s the same demographic that was at Georgia State — overwhelmingly, first generation, no majority demographic, a lot of low socioeconomic students, many, if not most, who worked part-time jobs,” Hensel said. “So in that sense, very similar, and the result of Georgia State’s work was to eliminate all achievement gaps based on race, gender and first-generation status.”
Both Hensel and Siegenthaler emphasized that the technology allows earlier, more tailored responses based on what has historically worked — not just for the average student, but for specific populations.
“There are a number of indicators that a student might be at risk,” Siegenthaler said. “So one will identify what those are … and then we’ll develop an intervention strategy that is evidence based … that tells us again, drawing from EAB’s immense research in this space, about what are the interventions that have the potential or the responses that are most effective.”
UH will also evaluate the effectiveness of its outreach efforts, using data to fine-tune communications and adjust interventions over time, similar to how GSU tested and improved its “nudges ” to students.
“Part of that is around the strategies that Georgia State has developed around the flags that it uses,” Siegenthaler said. “They do look closely at whether or not interventions are effective. … I expect we’ll do very similar kinds of work.”
For Hensel, the broader aim is to help every student succeed, particularly those who may otherwise slip through the cracks.
“We will never be satisfied until every student who enters is successful in achieving their educational goal,” she said. “So we should always be asking the question, how can we continually get better in meeting their needs ? And this is technology that’s been around for 10 years, and it’s time to bring it here.”
© 2025 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
