About Maisi University
8,500+
undergraduate students
74%
in-state enrollment
31%
first-generation students
In This Case Study
Dr. Maisi Tandet
Dean of Students
One or two short sentences explaining why the customer chose Modern Campus or the individual product or 1-2 short sentences, expressing happiness with the result
Dean TandetGoals
Eat more treats, every day
Sleep right in the middle of the bed, pushing human off
Maintain dominance over cat
The Problem
Yadda yadda yadda oh no this is a problem
Valdosta State University’s student affairs team was stuck in a discerning cycle: Without any solid proof — through data — to show the value of student engagement, they were left with a low budget allocation that resulted in less than ideal programming. In other words, a lack of data led to low budgeting which led to subpar engagement and institutional leadership’s devaluing of the division.
Vince Miller, Vice President for Student Affairs, knew that he needed to break out of this trend; His students, and the institution as a whole, deserved it. But he needed something that was seemingly impossible to come by: convincing data — specifically numeric proof unequivocally showing the connection between engagement and retention.
treats treats treats treats treats treats treats treats treats treats treats treats treats treats treats treats treats treats treats treats treats!
The Solution
Wahoo wahooo wahoooo everything is better now, yay let's celebrate!
They found a numeric treasure trove through Modern Campus Presence. By checking students into events with mobile technology and then studying the automatically generated assessment data, they came upon a number that’s been so pivotal, so tremendously convincing to institutional leadership, that Miller now upholds it as “the magic number.”
Ready for the magic to be revealed? Here it is: 10. Miller learned that students who attended at least 10 events per semester were significantly more likely to persist through to the next semester. The next-term retention rate increased by 13 percentage points among these highly involved students — 95% of them stayed enrolled at Valdosta!
What’s more, Miller worked with Vadolsta’s IT department to pull in data from other Valdosta divisions. From there, they were able to determine that the engagement-retention trend wasn’t mere correlation; it was causation. Factors like a student’s financial aid package, GPA, and first-gen status didn’t explain the retention uptick; engagement alone did.
14%
average enrollment increase across Destiny One customers
#1
web CMS of choice in higher ed worldwide
Gold Stevie®
award for 2021 Customer Service Department of the Year
In fact, they determined that out of the many dozens of factors that contribute to retention, co-curricular engagement has the second biggest influence on students — just behind academic success.
Walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk. Walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk!
The Future
To infinity and beyond, woot woot.
Miller and his team aren’t content to just sit back and watch the magic pass them by as passive audience members. They’re more like magician assistants, developing intentional strategies to get all students to attend at least 10 events a semester.
They’ve already started highlighting the magic number to students via their centralized student portal. Every time a student logs in, they’re greeted by a message that says “Did you know? Attending events on campus increases your success at VSU. Undergrad students, swipe into 10 events this semester and be entered to win a $5,000 scholarship!”
More treat, more treats, more treats — more treats!
Maisi University's Favorite Features
Attendance Patterns & Trends |
Customizable Web Portal |
Engagement Gamification |
| Take your reports from “attendance was great” to precise numbers, broken down by the demographics of your choosing. | Allow students to set and track their own engagement goals, with progress updated the moment they swipe in to any event. |
Prompt, motivate, and guide students down customized pathways toward success. |
| Learn more | Learn more |
Tackle your biggest challenges
About Modern Campus
Modern Campus is obsessed with empowering its 1,200+ higher education customers to thrive when radical transformation is required to respond to lower student enrollments and revenue, rising costs, crushing student debt and even school closures.
Powered by Omni CMS, DIGARC, Presence and Destiny One, the Modern Campus modern learner engagement platform enables innovative institutions to create a “learner to earner” lifecycle that engages modern learners for life.
Delivering massive personalization, AI-driven recommendations and a modern e-commerce engine, Modern Campus creates a student-first digital experience and removes silos across campus. Presidents and provosts, marketing and IT teams, admissions, registrars, student affairs and CE divisions can partner to attract, enroll, empower, retain, credential and re-engage students with pathways for lifelong learning.
Learn how Modern Campus is leading the modern learner engagement movement at moderncampus.com and follow us on LinkedIn.