Dulon College: “Communicating in a way that is natural for our students”
The StuCommApp is now available for all students at Dulon College. After looking at all the systems students and lecturers have to use to get the information they need, no less than 15, it was clear they needed change. Esther Kuiken, Teammanager Business and Support at Dulon College, was a firm believer of a students app. “You have to communicate with your students in a way that is natural for them. Otherwise, you will never be able to reach them and really engage with them.”
“The story of StuComm hit me: how do you communicate with your students? Does it suit their lifestyle? Do you take into account the preferences of your students? That made us think about what we were doing”, says Esther. “I started diving into various research and surveys and I found the same thing over and over again: students are not satisfied with the information we provide. Students nowadays do everything on their smartphones, so I started discussions about getting a students app.”
Smooth implementation
During her search for a suitable partner, the choice to go with StuComm was an easy one: “We did not find anyone capable of what StuComm does. There are many different apps, but none of them are really focussed on communications. Now we are able to display the information to our students in a way that suits them.” The only fear they had was the implementation of the app.
“The implementation went much faster and easier than we expected”
“Normally the implementation of a new system is a huge process. You start with a lot of meetings, looking at everyone’s expectations and it is a lot of work to prepare everything. That was not the case this time”, states Esther. “The implementation went much faster and easier than we expected. StuComm really guided us through the process, we could ask all of our questions and got answers right away and we easily made the deadline. In regards to the partnership, we could not have had warmer welcome!”
Optimal communications
The app is now available in the stores and Dulon College has been actively promoting the app on campus. Their goal is to get half of the students to download the app before the Christmas break to be able to communicate with them effectively. “The app ensures students have easy access to all the necessary information and it suits their lifestyle. They take out their smartphone, look up the information and immediately have access. This way we communicate with them in a way that is natural to them.”
“The app suits the lifestyle of students”
Now that the app is actually being used, Dulon College is reviewing the content in the app. “The app has to be useful for our students. Now that they are using the app we can review the information they receive and evaluate whether we provide them with the right information. Once we have the content our students need, we will be looking at building on the app adding automated push notifications, sending out surveys and showing events”, states Esther.
