Whitman College Engages 77% of Students in its Student Engagement Platform

About Whitman College

“

Involve has converted more students to get involved in campus life than I could possibly dream of converting. Students will bring their peers to the Involve platform in an incredible way—pushing engagement in a way that the adults in the room really struggled to do before.

Juli Dunn

The Challenge

Lack of data led to uninformed event planning and budgeting. 

Student leaders and staff at Whitman College have long been excited to plan co-curricular programs. They’ve understood that engagement is crucial to student success inside the classroom and, eventually, in the workforce. 

Yet, every program—and the budget allocated for it—used to be a shot in the dark. 

With no reliable way to track engagement and assess program outcomes, the Student Affairs team lacked strategy behind their engagement offerings. They had to rely on gut instincts, which often meant too much money was spent on programs that failed to support co-curricular learning—if students even attend in the first place. Hefty budgets benefited too few students and even fewer learning outcomes. 

Student learners shared the staff’s frustrations, which helped lead the charge for change. 

“

Everybody had to tighten their belts at Whitman, including Student Government. They were looking for ways to make sure that the money they were spending, they were spending it well.

Juli Dunn

The Solution

Students were excited to try something new.

Student Government was thrilled to discover the tracking capabilities and data analytics of Modern Campus Involve. Enthusiasm also quickly spread to intramural and club sport teams, along with the Career and Community Engagement Center. 

The Rocky Horror Picture Club was also one of Involve’s first champions at Whitman. After some quick training, the club’s leaders were easily able to check-in around 500 attendees (more than a third of the student population), using card-swipe technology powered by Involve on their mobile devices.

“

I sold it to club leaders with the idea that if you track attendance, then you know who your audience is and you can reach out to them to attend the next show. And you can demonstrate to Student Government that you entertained a large population of campus—that you’re a valuable program.

Juli Dunn

Involve informs all student engagement budgeting decisions.

Other student clubs and organizations have also quickly come to understand the value of WhitLife, Whitman’s custom-branded Involve engagement portal. Student Government has even tied budget requests to the use of WhitLife, which further incentives student learners to engage their peers and showcases Involve’s value to other departments in the college.

“

We now see all these clubs and organizations asking everybody like ‘please join my skateboard club, please join this other club, in WhitLife. I need people to demonstrate that there's an interest in this club and organization, as I'm getting ready to ask for money for next year.’ It’s really helped us communicate to other offices how well equipped the platform is.

Juli Dunn

Engagement has increased as data guides a clearer engagement strategy.

Gone are the days of guesstimating students’ interests. By understanding which programs and organizations have engaged the most learners recently, Whitman is making better budgeting decisions for the present and the future. 

Many previously unengaged students are also showing up to events and joining student orgs for the first time—all with minimal staff effort. Students were motivated on their own to reach out to their peers and point unengaged students toward WhitLife. 

All told, Dunn and her team discovered that 72% of students attended at least one event per semester. It’s a number they’re excited to boast about, plus that knowledge is enabling them to develop strategic plans for engaging uninvolved students. 

And if staff or students ever need technical support or a partner to support their goals, they know that Modern Campus’s customer success team has their back.

“

I work with a lot of different platforms at our campus, and I have to say, hands down, the folks at Involve have been at the very tippy top in terms of support. They are totally invested in me being a happy customer, which is a huge factor in our success.

Juli Dunn