How to Use Data to Track and Improve Student Engagement (feat. Julia Vollrath)

Career Everywhere

Julia Vollrath, the Associate Director for Campus Initiatives at the University of Florida, shares how her team is using data to track and improve student engagement.

In this episode, Julia talks about:

• What specific data points her team is measuring (and how they measure them)
• The most interesting things they’ve discovered in their data
• How they’re using the results to adapt their career services offerings (including the timing of their events)
• How they create a narrative around their data
• How they share their data with other departments and leaders on campus
• And more

Specifically, Julia said her team likes to know how students engage with the career center—and in what order. For example, the career team uses their student data to figure out which of their services is a “gateway” service, i.e. a student’s first experience with the career center. Then they measure what students do after each of those gateway services. Do they set up a 1:1 appointment? Do they attend a workshop? Do they reach out to an employer?

From there, the team evaluates those student engagement patterns and pathways to see if students are getting the most out of the career center’s offerings. And if not, they make adjustments.

Resources from the episode:

• Julia’s LinkedIn profile
• Annual career engagement report
• Graduation survey results
• Florida’s career center website

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