Submitted by Whatcom Community College
For the second consecutive year, Whatcom Community College has been recognized as a leader in using technology to help students achieve academic and career goals. Whatcom received the Excellence in Student Success Award at the 2015 Hobsons University conference held in July in San Antonio, Texas. Hobsons, an education software company, sponsors the awards to honor higher education institutions that demonstrate outstanding product innovation, leadership and success in improving student outcomes.
Whatcom implemented Starfish Degree Planner (formerly AgileGrad) and Retain by Hobsons as part of a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant that funded partnerships between higher education and student success technology providers. The grant program’s goal was to accelerate the pace of innovation through collaboration. The technology has allowed Whatcom to significantly reduce paper-based forms, streamline the degree planning process, make advising appointments more effective, and provide support to at-risk students through early alerts and targeted communications.
At last year’s conference, Whatcom received the Progress and Succeed Award in recognition of the WCC team’s expert management and significant improvements of online student advising and support tools offered by Hobsons.
