- Organized a small group within IT and the Registrar to initiate implementation
- Incorporated a student success mobilizer (intersecting IT and advising) who was eager & energized to be included in the initiative
- Engaged teams across the institution – including faculty and advisors
- Collected direct student feedback
Recognizing the Need
During peak registration periods, Bellevue University students would be lined out the door to visit their advisors. Advisors printed off lengthy degree reports and spent most of their time deciphering which classes each student needed while identifying pre-requisite holes in degree program progress, instead of having time to dive deeper into conversations with students about career plans or life-and-logistical challenges.
Figure 1: This is a sample of the type of degree report Bellevue advisors previously used to help advise students.
Identifying The Initial Team
Like many colleges and universities, Bellevue University was faced with limited resources to support new projects and initiatives. In fact, their IT team was also in the middle of a CRM deployment at the same. To get started successfully, leadership knew they would have to create a lean team with specific internal subject matter experts, including the registrar’s office and IT. These initial team members were connected directly with experts from the Civitas Learning team — including a project manager and data engineers. It was also critical to connect the internal Bellevue implementation team with perspective on how the technology would solve challenges for institutional stakeholders — like advisors and faculty — and also, how it would help students. They worked closely with the Civitas Learning team to understand this, which helped to accelerate campus enthusiasm for the initiative. Upon seeing the technology for the first time, James Sellars, Technical Systems Analyst at Bellevue University, said — “Degree Map shows term-over-term in one shot. I immediately knew it would make advising appointments and conversations a lot easier, because the information just flows over in a fluid, more graphical view.” This was a learning moment for Bellevue. Getting the right people involved and making sure those people were excited about the value the technology would provide immediately — and was critical to ensuring a successful launch.Engaging Faculty for further Development
In the next phase of the project implementation, Bellevue University prioritized faculty perspectives. Even though Degree Map was purchased to support academic planning, they realized that it could be folded into career management and professional plan development as well. It would benefit both full time and adjunct faculty, as they could incorporate more accurate projections for on enrollment and opportunities for integrating enhanced career information into the curriculum. By involving additional stakeholders, Bellevue uncovered additional value and opportunities to support a more robust institutional adoption.
Receiving Initial Student Feedback
Bellevue knew that while this was an advising tool, Degree Map was ultimately selected to improve the student experience, facilitate academic/career decision making, and give them agency on their plan. If the tool wasn’t adopted and loved by students, it wouldn’t help. So, they decided to involve students in the pre-deployment phase. While they were initially reluctant to talk about a technology with students before it was rolled out, Bellevue’s curiosity and commitment to successful launch pushed them past their hesitation. They knew they needed to watch and understand student perspectives with the technology. So, they set up informal meetings and workshops with students to view Degree Map. They asked questions and collected student feedback about their experience with the tool, which gave them deeper understanding how students might use the tool more broadly. Students expressed immediate excitement and proceeded to say that their degree planning experience was now more modern — that the technology had caught up to their expectations, and finally felt like Bellevue was in 2017. This resulted in 2,000 logins in the first two months!
Figure 2: This is a sample screen of Degree Map Bellevue uses with their students.