About Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT)
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Having a robust e-commerce platform and automated solution through Lifelong Learning supports our various pathways for non-credit learners.
JJ BestManager of Business Services, Southern Alberta Institute of TechnologyThe Challenge
With the increasing demand for continuing education programming, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) was facing an influx of interest from students, creating the need to centralize all non-credit programming under one area that is now known as Continuing Education and Professional Studies (CEPS). A heavy load to carry with a manual infrastructure.
“When we look at how we managed the registration of continuing education students, there wasn’t a great platform for them to view offerings across our schools and register,” said J.J. Best, Manager of Business Services at SAIT, “Likewise, the schools and our staff did not have access to a tool that centrally managed courses, offerings and enrollments effectively. A lot of our processes and tracking prior to the implementation of Lifelong Learning were manual.”
It was important for the SAIT team to share what they had to offer to prospective and current students.
The Solution
What was needed was a system that centralized all of their offerings and allowed students to search, shop and checkout in a seamless manner. After adopting Modern Campus Lifelong Learning, SAIT experienced immediate benefits, ranging from the front-end e-commerce platform, staff efficiency and a robust lens on the learner experience.
The Results
Increased Staff EfficiencyFrom a team perspective, staff at SAIT were able to find efficiencies through their use of Lifelong Learning by centralizing everything into one system.
We have multiple teams supporting students. Each perform different functions that are critical to the success of our front-end and back-end operations. By centralizing the management of courses, offerings and enrollments into one system, we have been able to automate many processes, providing a better end-to-end experience for our staff.
JJ BestAs a result of this centralization, staff were able to manage over 3,500 sections across more than 600 courses, serving over 9,000 students between April 2022 and March 2023.
“It’s created much more efficiency across the teams,” Best said, “It significantly reduced the manual workload on our teams, allowing us to more easily scale up in multiple areas.”
Better Front-End Student Experience
The continuing education programming that was once housed across all eight schools is now in one convenient location, allowing prospective learners to access information that they need about programs and/or courses and register in offerings in one place.
This means SAIT is able to not only share their offerings with the community, but also provide a better and more efficient experience for students.
Onboarding Lifelong Learning as our system to manage continuing education has not only allowed us to more effectively market what’s available among all of our portfolios, but has also enhanced our student experience by providing a tool to register for those offerings in an easier and more efficient way.
JJ BestProvide E-Commerce Platform
Having the ability to provide students with more self-serve registration options has also brought SAIT into the modern experience students expect in their everyday lives.
The experience Lifelong Learning has provided the student on the front-end with the student self-register function has been a game changer.
JJ BestNow, students can view the courses they’re interested in, add offerings to their cart and checkout when they’re ready—which also takes the workload off of staff.
“It really has provided us with a better e-commerce platform that allows our students to manage their registration when and where they want to,” Best said.
Provide Robust Lens on Learner Experience
The seamless exchange of data through Lifelong Learning’s Ellucian Banner Connector has given the team at SAIT a more seamless integration between credit and non-credit sides of house. As Best points out, this helps them keep tabs on the learner experience.
Now, we have that connection between all of our systems and institutionally, that gives us important insight into what is happening across the divisions, portfolios and with our learners.
JJ BestWhat’s more, the connector has become a key tool when it comes to reporting and institutional planning—helping the institution reach its overall goals.
“It directly connects relevant data to institutional-level and government reporting. That data translates into our strategic plans and informs goals from an enrollment management perspective,” he said.
The Results
With the insights from Lifelong Learning, the team has started implementing additional models to support areas of revenue. Right now, they are actively offering over 700 sections per month, something that according to Best, would not have been possible without the system in place.
“It has allowed us to scale up quite significantly across all of our non-credit lines of business,” he said.
What’s next for SAIT? They’re looking into how they can further optimize components of Lifelong Learning to help them continue to grow and scale their continuing education.
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