STRATEGIC PROJECT
use case
Speeding up student support
Mercantec's shift in real-time response to student needs
Segment
Vocational School
Size
2500 students/year
Location
Denmark
Name
Duration
Focus area
Mercantec, a middle-sized vocational education and training school is committed to enhancing the student experience and equipping its students with the skills required in the technical industry. As the head of education at Mercantec, John Hansen plays a crucial role in overseeing the educational programs and ensuring that students receive the support they need for success. Before implementing StudentPulse a few years back, Mercantec faced several challenges that led them to seek a data-driven solution. The regular quality surveys conducted by the school had a long turnaround time, making it difficult to respond to student needs and challenges promptly. Additionally, the surveys consisted of numerous questions, making it challenging to maintain student engagement and focus. John recognized the need for a more dynamic and real-time approach to gathering student feedback, one that would enable the school to take data-driven decisions and address student needs promptly.
Before implementing StudentPulse, Mercantec relied on traditional surveys to gather student feedback. However, these surveys had significant drawbacks, including prolonged turnaround times for obtaining feedback from students, which hindered their ability to promptly address student needs. Moreover, the extensive questionnaires used in the traditional surveys posed challenges in maintaining student engagement, as students found it difficult to stay focused amidst the sheer volume of questions. These limitations prompted Mercantec to seek a more efficient and engaging solution to improve their feedback and decision-making processes.
The regular quality surveys that we run, have a long reaction time from the survey to the result to what we can actually do. If we run a survey in the autumn, we get the results around Christmas, and we're then first ready to act in the springtime, which is four-five months after the students actually had the results. And when we do a survey of that kind, we ask the students a lot of things. I think we have about 70 different questions. It's a big, big questionnaire. It's very difficult to keep focused on it, which means that the data that we're going to react on are either too old or too imprecise.
The implementation of StudentPulse at Mercantec was a seamless process, with strong support from the StudentPulse team, making it easy for Mercantec to adopt the platform into its daily routine. The platform allowed them to obtain real-time feedback from students in a concise and focused manner. By using short and targeted questions, StudentPulse maintained a high response rate from students, ensuring more accurate and timely data. This transformation not only addressed the issue of prolonged turnaround time for feedback but also significantly improved student engagement by streamlining the survey process.
I think that the support we got from your organization, the guys who helped set up the system, was great. And I think that they really help us keep on track. Sometimes it's not that easy. Sometimes you lose focus. But the support we got, and I'm not being paid for saying this, was a great inspiration for us to carry on.
The implementation of StudentPulse at Mercantec yielded significant positive outcomes, providing the institution with valuable insights and fostering a data-driven decision-making culture. Through regular check-ins with students, the system enabled Mercantec to collect ongoing data, offering a continuous pulse on student sentiment and needs. The use of short and focused questions contributed to a high response rate, ensuring the accuracy and timeliness of the data collected.
The ability to work data-driven and have the teachers and counselors work together as a team, for me that's a goal that is reached, and that goal points directly down to the student retention.
This data-driven approach empowered staff members to collaborate efficiently, leading to improved decision-making processes and more targeted support for students. One of the primary objectives of implementing StudentPulse was to enhance student focus on apprenticeships, and the platform played a crucial role in achieving this goal.
The main point was that we really wanted the students to focus on apprenticeships. So we used StudentPulse as a nudging tool for them to be focused on having apprenticeships. And we had a huge success on that. We raised the success rate from about 30-35% to about 80% in just six months.
In addition to the substantial increase in the apprenticeship success rate, StudentPulse fostered a more strategic cooperation between the counselors, teachers, and department heads.
Now we have a more strategic cooperation between the counselors and the teachers and the head of the department. Now they're a unity, and I think that the students also realize that they all face the same issue. They look upon the same data, and they agree that we are a team that has to solve whatever the problem might be. So I think we have a more strategic team operation and cooperation between the involved parties from the school.
This improved collaboration among stakeholders allowed for more efficient problem-solving and a comprehensive approach to student support, positively impacting overall student retention and success.
In conclusion, Mercantec's success with StudentPulse exemplifies how a data-driven decision-making approach can lead to remarkable improvements in student outcomes and create a more inclusive and supportive learning environment. The ability to promptly identify students at risk of falling behind in their apprenticeships and provide them with the necessary support gave students a sense of security and improved well-being, knowing that the institution genuinely cared about their success.John Hansen highly recommends StudentPulse to other educational institutions facing similar challenges.
The platform's ability to provide real-time data and foster collaboration among faculty and staff enables institutions to make data-driven decisions and enhance the student experience effectively. With StudentPulse's continuous support, Mercantec continues to thrive in fostering student success and well-being.
If you want to be data-driven, if you want to make data-driven decisions, go ahead. It's easy to get along, and I think that getting the data from the check-ins, we could always measure the temperature of the class. And who wouldn't want to always stay in touch with the temperature of the class? I think we all do. And here we have the possibility. So I would say go along.
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