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Creating a Scalable Digital Badging Initiative to Jumpstart Career Development

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Description

Discover how Moravian University did not just adopt Suitable, they maximized it. After launching Career Readiness Digital Badging, a gamified, co-curricular experience, Moravian saw strong initial success. Rather than stopping there, they made a bold move: they benchmarked the program’s early outcomes, challenged assumptions, and reimagined what was possible. This deeper reassessment led to a full-scale transformation that defied expectations like boosting career event participation by 130% and internship applications by 71%. Dive deeper into how Moravian streamlined over 2,200 activities into a compelling, student-centered platform that is reshaping career readiness and redefining student engagement for the region’s fastest-growing university.

About the School

Nestled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Moravian University blends centuries of tradition with a bold, forward-looking approach to education. As part of the UNESCO-listed Moravian Church Settlements, the university is deeply rooted in values of purpose, leadership, and service. Today, it’s recognized as the fastest-growing university in its region, with undergraduate enrollment up 51% since 2014 and more than 70 undergraduate majors and 50+ graduate and certificate programs offered.

At the heart of this growth is a commitment to innovation, especially when it comes to student success. Moravian’s Laurie Riley ('82) Center for Career Success has redefined what personalized support looks like. Career strategists are assigned to specific student cohorts, building long-term relationships and delivering tailored guidance through every stage of a student’s academic and professional journey.

 

Challenges Before Suitable

Moravian University launched Career Readiness and Digital Badging as a signature experience to redefine the undergraduate journey. Designed around three pillars: Career Readiness & Career Promise, Global Greyhound Travel, and RISE Teamwork & Leadership courses. The program aimed to provide students with a holistic, engaged college experience. But despite the strong foundation and vision, Moravian faced a key challenge: they lacked the infrastructure to truly measure, track, and optimize student participation and outcomes. Post-COVID engagement was difficult to spark, and they relied on broad, high-level data that didn’t reveal the nuances of student involvement.

Their team realized they needed a platform that could go beyond basic tracking. They turned to Suitable to power Career Readiness and Digital Badging with real-time, detailed insights into student activity. Suitable’s ability to blend qualitative and quantitative data, gamify engagement, and provide strategic support through its Client Success team made it the right fit. With Suitable, Moravian could finally bring their student engagement goals to life–tracking co-curricular growth at an individual level while fostering a fun and intuitive experience for students.

 

Life with Suitable

After launching Career Readiness and Digital Badging through Suitable, Moravian saw an immediate lift in engagement. They began by aligning their activities with the NACE Core Competencies, grounding their programming in skills employers seek. Their team designed all programmatic elements directly within Suitable, using gamification and digital badging to motivate students and connect engagement directly to career development. Each badge was worth 300 points and could be earned through a wide range of co-curricular activities, from club involvement to professional conferences, all voluntary and open to every undergraduate.
Moravian Career Readiness Digital Badge

But Moravian did not stop there. Recognizing the importance of continuous improvement, they used Suitable's real-time data and student feedback to take a closer look at how students were engaging. What they discovered was eye-opening: the program had grown to include more than 2,200 activities, an impressive offering, but one that left many students unsure where to start. The sheer volume, while well intentioned, had become overwhelming.

Rather than maintain the status quo, Moravian used these insights to reassess and evolve. They streamlined the program into a single, unified pathways with 252 carefully curated activities, each aligned to specific class years and mapped to key experience sets. This transformation made the Career Readiness and Digital Badging journey more intuitive, meaningful, and accessible for students at every stage. Moravian turned feedback into action and data into design, creating a clearer, more impactful experience that continues to drive student success.

 

Outcomes Achieved

In response to student feedback and new insights from Suitable’s data, Moravian took thoughtful steps to enhance the Career Readiness and Digital Badging experience. They refined the structure of the program by unifying it into a single pathway for all students and narrowing the focus to 252 carefully curated activities. Each activity was mapped intentionally and aligned with experience sets tied to specific class years, making the program easier to navigate and more meaningful for students at every stage. Their updates also included clearer, more intuitive tagging and a stronger connection between each activity and its corresponding digital badge.

To spark early engagement, Moravian launched the “Activate Your Career Readiness and Digital Badging” experience set during summer onboarding and orientation, inviting students to begin their journey before the academic year even began. They also introduced “Suitable Report Card” emails, which gave students timely updates on their progress and nudged them toward new opportunities. These efforts created a seamless experience that blended digital tracking with real-world growth, helping students better understand how their co-curricular choices connected to long-term career goals.

The impact was immediate and inspiring. During the 2024–2025 academic year, students completed over 12,000 co-curricular activities. Career coaching appointments reached over 1,380, and participation in Career Success events and programming increased by 130%. Perhaps most importantly, Moravian saw a 71% increase in job and internship applications on Handshake, showing that students weren’t just participating, they were actively preparing for life after college in more intentional and confident ways.

 

ASK THE STUDENT

"I started doing badges just to kind of get them done [and do] what I was supposed to. But then, as I moved along, everything came a lot more naturally… you’re building yourself to become a leader in the real world."

 

Plans for the Future

Moravian isn’t slowing down. Their next phase of growth will focus on expanding experience sets tailored to affinity groups and student interests, making the Career Readiness and Digital Badging journey even more personalized. They’re exploring partnerships with employers to develop industry-specific co-curricular pathways that support targeted career goals. With Suitable’s adaptable platform and a commitment to constant iteration, Moravian is well-positioned to keep evolving the program based on real student input, data insights, and future-facing career trends.

Their journey proves that even with a great program in place, there’s always room to grow. By leveraging Suitable not just as a platform, but as a partner in transformation, Moravian University disrupted its own model, dug deeper into its data, and redefined what a truly student-centered experience looks like.

 

Moravian's Advice for Getting Started

  • Listening to students and making thoughtful adjustments based on their insights can significantly enhance the effectiveness and relevance of your programs.
  • A streamlined, focused experience can often have a greater impact than offering too many options, which may overwhelm rather than engage.
  • Collaborate with both internal stakeholders and external partners to enrich your initiatives, expand resources, and drive shared success.
  • Start connecting with students from day one and maintain consistent, meaningful engagement throughout their journey for lasting impact.
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