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Student Development
Student Engagement

Inside the University of Missouri’s Professional EDGE Program

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Solutions Used

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Description

Trulaske College of Business at the University of Missouri created a student development program called Professional EDGE. After years of dealing with inefficient and inadequate student engagement technology, they partnered with Suitable to transform their student experience and provide their students with a tool to guide them through meaningful experiences outside the classroom. With Suitable, students are building a Co-Curricular Transcript to assist them in their college journey and better prepare them for life after graduation.

About the School

The University of Missouri’s Trulaske College of Business serves about 4,000 students. To better prepare them for after graduation, they created a required student development program called Professional EDGE.

Challenge before Suitable

In 2008 faculty at Trulaske College of Business recognized that employers were seeking more from their students; they were prepared academically but needed more soft skill development. To help students strengthen those essential skills, they developed a required competency-based program called  Professional EDGE. Initially, Trulaske was using a home grown system to track progress and students would check into events with card swipers/scanners. However, serving 4,000 students, the homegrown system was very unorganized because information for activities was in different locations and students started complaining about the lag time between activity completion and their points appearing. Trulaske was seeking a new platform that was student friendly, fun, and engaging for their students.

Life with Suitable

When faculty at Trulaske found Suitable, they knew it would be a great fit for Professional EDGE because of the gamification aspect that Suitable’s mobile app incorporates. As students complete experiences, they gain points and earn badges, which keeps them engaged in developing necessary skills and it helps to scaffold student development. Trulaske was also able to easily transfer their 15 competencies onto Suitable’s platform as well as all historical data and point totals, which made for a seamless transition. Staff found that using Suitable was more efficient and easier to use than the previous system. This drastically cut down their administrative workload. They also enjoy capabilities on Suitable that they didn’t have before, for example, with push notifications, staff can efficiently communicate with students and update them about events. 

Students at Trulaske adopted Suitable’s technology instantly. With Suitable’s intuitive app, students finally had a tool that could house all information on co-curricular activities in a student friendly way; some even exclaimed that Suitable is what they have been waiting for. Rather than swiping cards to check into events, students now just scan the unique event code with their smartphones and instantly see their points appear on their screen. On Suitable’s app, they can also see other recommended upcoming events on campus, their progress through Professional EDGE, Experiential Learning Record, and much more. Using Suitable, Trulaske students can see their points accumulate in real time and can see the skills and competencies they have developed in their Experiential Learning Record. This way students understand the value of their participation in Professional EDGE experiences and can better articulate their skills to employers. By using Suitable, Trulaske students now have a clear pathway to success and are more prepared for their futures.

Outcomes Achieved

Since partnering with Suitable, there has been a 78% engagement rate with Professional EDGE. Overall, both students and faculty report being satisfied with their transition to Suitable. On Suitable, Students can check their progress at any time by opening the mobile app, leading to more informed students and noticeably less end of the semester “panic attacks”. Staff are relieved to have a system that is less time consuming. They also now have more flexibility in tracking external campus activities and to collaborate with other offices on campus offering experiential learning opportunities.

Plans for the Future

In the future, Trulaske plans to adopt the NACE Career Readiness competencies because they feel that the 8 competencies are easier for students to wrap their heads around as opposed to the 15 they have now. Trulaske would also like to introduce new achievements, for example, a “Global Awareness” milestone for students who complete meaningful international experiences like Study Abroad. Lastly, they plan to explore the data the Suitable’s technology provides to assess skill development.