Boosting Student Engagement and Launching Career Readiness Program

About the School

Shippensburg University is committed to delivering career and professional development programs tailored to the needs of students and alumni. Through a comprehensive approach, the university provides valuable experience and learning opportunities aimed at guiding students towards the attainment of both personal and professional objectives.

The Career Center at Shippensburg Univerity actively executes initiatives in career and professional development by engaging in service learning, collaborating with employers and alumni, and extending outreach both with and beyond the university campus. This approach is designed to cultivate meaningful partnerships with the campus and surrounding community.

The overarching vision of their university is to cultivate an environment centered around students, characterized by professionalism, responsiveness, reflection, social responsibility, and collaboration. By embodying these principles, Shippensburg University aims to empower students to recognize and realize their professional potential.

Challenges before Suitable

Prior to collaborating with Suitable, Shippensburg University lacked an efficient and centralized tracking system. The prevailing methods involved utilizing spreadsheets across different colleges and departments. The absence of a comprehensive system posed challenges in monitoring students’ progress through data, resulting in an incomplete understanding of their professional and extracurricular development. Despite efforts to encourage student participation through incentives such as extra credit, pizza, and other prizes, low engagement persisted due to the limited communication of events through posters and emails. 

Recognizing that significant skill development occurs beyond the classroom, the university acknowledged the necessity for an improved approach to not only monitor such progress but also to effectively showcase students’ skills beyond academic achievements.

Life with Suitable

The John L Grove College of Business embarked on a mission to establish a certification program that would equip students with practical skills for the professional realm. Previous attempts by the Career Center to implement a similar initiative in other colleges proved unsuccessful. However, a successful collaboration with Suitable led to the inception of the Raider Ready Program, a comprehensive endeavor aimed at highlighting students’ skills beyond academic achievements. This initiative aligns seamlessly with the university’s strategic objective of fostering engagement in dynamic educational experiences among students, faculty, and staff.

To maintain a cohesive identity, the program’s branding draws inspiration from the university’s nautical theme and school colors. Leveraging the talents of art major students, the program enlisted their expertise to design inclusive and non-gendered badges representing various achievements.

Raider Ready operates on a two-tier structure, incorporating the eight core NACE Career Readiness Competencies. The Crew level encompasses first-year and sophomore students, while the Captain Level is tailored for juniors and seniors. These competencies include critical thinking, communication, teamwork, information technology, professionalism, leadership, career and self-development, and equity and inclusion. Participants in the program are required to engage in specific activities for each competency. Upon completion, students receive badges, symbolizing their dedication to holistic learning beyond the traditional classroom setting.

Integration of the program extends to foundational classes, which contribute to students’ overall grades. In addition, in-class presentations are conducted to familiarize students with the eight NACE competencies and the Raider Ready Program, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of its benefits and objectives.

Outcomes Achieved

Since the implementation of Raider Ready, Shippensburg University has implemented inventive methods to monitor attendance and gather real-time feedback during live events. The platform enables the seamless recording and subsequent posting of events on Suitable, facilitating asynchronous viewing for students unable to attend in person. This streamlined process significantly reduces the steps required for students to showcase their skills beyond traditional classroom participation. 

The integration of Radier Ready into the academic curriculum has proven highly successful in acquainting students with the platform. Collaborating with faculty in seminar classes has further bolstered student engagement with the program. Moreover, Shippensburg University extends a comprehensive “turn-key program” to faculty, managing all technical, presentation, activity validation, and reporting aspects of the initiative.

Through the automated capture of student progress data, Raider Ready continually leverages feedback to refine and enhance its program. The strategic focus on specific developmental areas, such as distinct careers, industries, athletics, or overarching themes like professional development and wellness, has yielded exceptional results. By honing in on these particulars, the platform consistently enhances the overall learning experience, facilitating the effortless generation of reports for professors, staff, and coaches.