First-Year Experience Conference: Helping Students Design their Experience and Inform their Decisions

First-Year Experience Conference 2023 © 2023 brightspot strategy. All Rights Reserved
Helping Students Design their
Experience and Inform their Decisions
42nd Annual Conference on The First-Year Experience
February 6, 2023

Objectives and Agenda
How can students see themselves as the
designers of their own educational
experience?
How can they use evidence- based strategies
to inform the everyday decisions they’ll make
about where to live, what courses to take,
what to do a class project on, how to seek
support, how to ﬁnd belonging, and how to
explore career paths?
We’ll answer these in an interactive session
that draws from the wisdom in the room along
with my experience and my book.
Agenda
1. Introduction
2. Student Experience Challenges
3. Poll and Discussion
4. Student Experience Solutions
5. Poll and Discussion
6. Getting Started
7. Q&A

About brightspot
We are a higher ed strategy firm on a mission to
create more engaging, equitable, and
sustainable experiences by transforming college
and university programs, people, and places.
We research needs, craft a vision or strategic
plan, develop a space program for a building or
campus, design a new service model, or create
new staffing and operating models
Together with our clients, we increase student
success, improve research support, and enable
staff productivity while making institutions more
efficient and effective.

Our Services and Results
We partner with leading colleges and
universities to get results. We’ve worked with
nearly 100 colleges and universities and
impacted nearly 1,000,000 students who’ve
set foot in spaces, logged onto systems, met
with staff, and used support services.
Our services include:
- Student experience research
- Stakeholder engagement
- Visioning & strategic planning
- Facilities programming and planning
- Service design & operations planning
- Communications strategy
- Org design and change management

About Elliot Felix
I’m an author, speaker, consultant, teacher and
father on a mission to make college work for all
students.
In my work with over 100 colleges and
universities, I’ve seen how students can
struggle to feel a sense of belonging, to get
the support they need, and to connect their
courses with a career.
I’ve spent the last 20 years using design
thinking to improve spaces, support services,
and technology for students so they can ﬁnd
their place, people, and path.
© 2023 Elliot Felix. All Rights Reserved

A different way to think about college
It’s not just where but how
you go to college that matters.

From navigating to designing your experience
Understand
people
Make
connections
Try things
out

Informing design decisions with research
Students who work on
service learning projects
get hired faster, at higher
salaries
Students who complete
internships are 1.8x more
like to be engaged at
work after graduation
Students with
encouraging mentors are
1.9x more like to think
their education was
worth the cost
Students who feel a
sense of belonging are
41% more likely to
continue from their 1st to
2nd year
A supportive
environment is the
greatest predictor of
satisfaction and
academic success
Working with a student
success coach is
associated with 11%
increase in retention

STUDENT EXPERIENCE CHALLENGES

Changing student demographics
College and universities are
catching up to who today’s
students are. Systems,
services, and spaces may not
have been designed with
today’s students in mind.
- 37% Age 25 or older
- 49% First Gen
- 49% Financially independent
- 40% working Full time
- 36% Food insecure
Lumina Foundation
Source: Lumina Foundation Today’s Student

Sense of belonging
According to the latest
National College Health
Assessment, only 65% of
students feel a sense of
belonging.
NASPA
Source: National College Health Assessment Survey

Getting the runaround
Students often get the
runaround online and
between ofﬁces when they
are trying to get help.
Students who feel supported
have 2.5x greater overall
wellness (purpose, social,
community, ﬁnancial, and
physical)
Referral Map
Source: Gallup/Purdue: Great Jobs, Great Lives 2014

Studying/working groups
Of the 50+ dimensions of
experience we track in our
national Student Experience
Snapshot, Studying/Working
with peers outside of class
was the lowest, with only
42% satisfaction.
Source: brightspot National Student Experience Snapshot

Overwhelmed by email
Students are overwhelmed
by email from their colleges
and universities. Only ~25%
of email is opened but many
institutions act as if they all
are.
Michigan State
Source: Emma 2020 Higher Ed Email Benchmark Report

Limited opportunities for impact
Service learning and civic
engagement build skills,
networks, and experience
but only about 30% of
students participate.
University of Michigan
Source: UCLA Higher Education Research Institute Report

Classes and careers disconnected
In our Student Experience
Snapshot only 54% of
students are satisﬁed with
exploring career options.
Only 8% visit career services
and ﬁnd it “very helpful.”
Sources: brightspot National Student Experience
Snapshot and Gallup Survey

Discussion
Turn to your neighbor.
Introduce yourself
Have a quick (5mins) discussion about
student experience challenges
Then we’ll have a quick (5mins)
discussion as a group

STUDENT EXPERIENCE SOLUTIONS

Researching student needs
We researched the needs of
adult and online learners and
identiﬁed opportunities for a
new student portal and
degree planning tool. After
these were introduced,
retention increased 3
percentage points.

Creating a one-college community Top Liberal
Arts College
A top liberal arts college had
~1,500 students but 150+
student groups and a
somewhat fragmented sense
of community. We created a
playbook to build community.
Student ratings increase from
3.5/5 to 3.7 to align with peer
institutions.

Ending the advising runaround
We uncovered what was
driving dissatisfaction in 1st
and 2nd year advising and
then developed a new
service model and space for
“total advising.” Students
who were “very satisﬁed”
increased 33%.

Creativity in teams
We develop the programs,
services, and spaces to help
students create & collaborate
on prototyping, podcasts, &
presentations. This achieved
~90% student satisfaction.

A new portal and communications
To improve the student
experience, we identiﬁed the
opportunity for greater email
coordination/consolidation,
and shared calendars as well
along with using other
comms channels.

Projects with impact
We developed the vision,
service model, and space for
the iZone, a creative
problem-solving space,
program and community for
students to work on projects
with social, cultural,
community, and economic
impact.

Bringing careers into the classroom
Our research uncovered
exploring career paths and
identifying role models as
key motivators in students.
We developed an initiative
to bring careers into the
classroom while also
engaging alumni in these
programs.

Discussion
Turn to your neighbor (again).
Introduce yourself (if needed)
Have a quick (5mins) discussion about
potential solutions
Then we’ll have a quick (5mins)
discussion as a group

GETTING STARTED

Research student needs
Use a mixed-methods
approach to understanding
students and their needs.
Combined qualitative and
quantitative, objective and
subjective.

Map current and imagine future journeys
Evaluate current student
journeys (by segment) or
imagine future ones,
considering touchpoints
like classes and community
over time using the Student
Experience Canvas or other
tools.

Create a student experience playbook
Brainstorm potential
interventions in programs,
policies, support services,
communications, technology,
facilities, and more. Then
prioritize and organize.

Create a roadmap for change
Create a roadmap for
change by program/group
for each time period or
milestone using the
Student Experience
Roadmap or other tools.

Prototype and pilot changes
Shift your mindset from
“perfect” to “safe to try” and
test out ideas to reﬁne them,
build consensus, and create
momentum. You can
prototype an idea with a
drawing or a skit, then
progress toward a pilot
program.

Questions? Learn more!
Information and Tools for
Designing Student Experience
http://bit.ly/bspot_stuex
How to Get the
Most Out of College
http://bit.ly/most_college

THANK YOU!
Elliot Felix
elliot@brightspotstrategy.com
Sign-up for monthly insights: http://bit.ly/bspot_signup

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