Understanding learner preferences and needs is crucial to supporting them throughout their educational journey. By outlining each phase in a learner journey, as you would when creating a customer journey map, we can successfully identify key actions and emotions that impact the overall experience, making it easier for us to personalize and provide tailored guidance.

Capturing the learner’s voice at different points of their journey is an important part of understanding the full picture. We need to know what they are doing in each phase, what they need help with, and how we can enhance their experience. That’s why we capture three key metrics at every phase: satisfaction, effort, and confidence.

• Satisfaction measures how pleased a learner is with a recent experience or task.
• Effort measures how easy or difficult a task or process is, which can help identify barriers.
• Confidence reflects how assured the learner feels, indicating their comfort in each phase and readiness to progress in their educational journey.

By capturing these metrics consistently from the learner in real time, we gain insights into the learner’s experience in each phase and are able to intervene for those who report challenges and dissatisfaction.

Note: All three metrics are measured on a 10-point scale, with 10 being the highest score and 0 being the lowest, as averages will be referenced.

Applying what we know about the learner and how they navigate their journey makes it possible to identify areas of opportunity where we can offer support. Below is an example of how powerful the journey map and voice metrics are during the choosing, deciding, and attending phases.

In the Choosing Phase, the learner is actively researching their options. They have explored different schools and programs, which means they are starting to narrow their choices. They need assistance asking the right questions and want to feel confident in their choice. Generally, learners are satisfied (Average score: 9.6), confident (Average score: 9) and find that the process is low effort (Average score: 9.6).

At this phase, the learner depends on their advisor for guidance, access to information, and help addressing questions they have been unable to answer on their own. The biggest impact to learner’s satisfaction levels at this phase is their enrollment advisor. That means how helpful the advisor is directly impacts how satisfied the learner is. Advisors who are unable to answer specific questions or clarify details about the program negatively impact the learner’s overall satisfaction and confidence levels. This is why we dedicate the time and effort to train and support our advising staff.

In the Deciding Phase, the learner starts to focus on the application process, moving from researching programs to taking action. They need help to ensure they have all the application materials necessary to apply and may need assistance confirming their enrollment. In this phase, learners are still highly satisfied (Average score: 9.3), feel confident (Average score: 9.3), and find what they're being asked to do fairly simple (Average score: 9.2).

As learners start the application process, the support of an enrollment advisor continues to influence satisfaction level and how confident they are navigating what can be a challenging process for some. The same is true as above: If an enrollment advisor lacks information and availability, it can negatively impact how the learner moves forward — and if they decide to.

The Attending Phase is the longest one, capturing learners who are officially attending classes and actively completing their program. Learners need help connecting to faculty and peers, ensuring they have the right resources to start their courses, and develop a consistent plan for their program. This is why our advisors focus on strong relationship building and are the student’s go-to guide while navigating online resources and developing a good time management plan.

What’s notable during this phase is that we see differences in the learner’s experience during their first term compared to their second term and beyond. As new learners start their first online term, we see a dip in their overall satisfaction (Average score: 8.1), effort (Average score: 7.8) and confidence (Average score: 8.1). In this phase, the help they receive from advisors is still the primary factor that impacts their overall satisfaction and effort.

Meanwhile, the program resources, content quality, learning platform, and overall communication tend to have the biggest impact on learners who are not satisfied, lack confidence, and find the processes or tasks to be difficult.

Though advising proves to be helpful to a new student navigating their program, learners who are not satisfied or confident are looking for more direct engagement with faculty and hands-on teaching. An online learning platform that is difficult to navigate impacts the learner’s overall perception of the effort they must put in, indicating that a well-structured learning environment with hands-on, engaged faculty will lead to the best new learner experience.

Once students have completed at least one term, they need help to stay motivated, solidify their routine, and optimize their time. Our advisors adhere to consistent communication and proactive outreach to ensure the learner stays inspired, informed, and prepared for the next step of their journey. Here, we see confidence improve to an average of 8.3 compared to learners in their first term. However, satisfaction and effort (both with an average score of 7.9) dip slightly.

In the attending phase, learners who are highly satisfied, confident, and feel comfortable with the process of online learning report that their advisor positively impacted their experience, specifically noting their knowledge and willingness to help. Learners that have low satisfaction, low confidence, and report difficulties going through the process of online learning attribute this mostly to the assignments and assessments in their courses, as well as the materials and resources available to them during their program.

In addition, learners who mentioned unhelpful faculty frequently reported lower confidence and felt that certain processes were more difficult than they should be. This is consistent with the learners' need to stay connected with faculty and optimize their time in the attending phase, again highlighting the importance of engaged faculty as well as clear, simple processes.

Are you curious about how we help learners enroll in, graduate from, and continue choosing the right programs to achieve their goals?