Nebraska State Colleges Strategic Initiatives to Support Student Success
Over the past five years, the Nebraska State Colleges have engaged in strategic planning initiatives to strengthen the success of our institutions in meeting the needs of all students who choose to attend. The NSCS 2025 Strategic Plan was initially published
in January of 2020.
As the 2025 Strategic Plan is closing in on its final year of reporting, Chancellor Turman has engaged the same process used five years ago to engage more than 30 stakeholders from across the System in evaluating the strides we have made in meeting these identified
outcomes and identifying and establishing a new set of outcomes for the NSCS 2030 Strategic Plan. The new outcomes are each outlined below.
#1 Affordable Excellence for Every Student - The State Colleges are dedicated to providing an exceptional education without burdening students with excessive costs. By keeping tuition and fees low, we continuously seek
opportunities to minimize educational expenses to ensure that financial constraints don't hinder academic success.
#2 Retention-Driven Excellence and Engaged Degree Attainment - The State Colleges prioritize retention-driven academic excellence by providing strategic support throughout students' educational journey (first year and
beyond), connecting students to campus, community, and the region by providing continuous access to caring faculty/staff who offer multiple pathways for engagement.
#3 Open Access and Supportive Pathways - The State Colleges prioritize inclusive access, actively reaching out to underrepresented communities and our many partners to ensure that every student, regardless of educational
experience, background, or regional proximity, can pursue affordable undergraduate and graduate degrees that support their careers for improving the communities that we serve.
#4 Workforce Development and Leadership - The State Colleges are leaders in cultivating a collaborative workforce by partnering with communities and producing graduates who are actively engaged as change agents who can
meaningfully contribute to the economic development of the region and Nebraska in both rural and urban areas.
NSCS has evaluated many technology solutions which can assist in supporting the four NSCS 2030 Strategic Plan Outcomes. Four technology solutions have been identified and selected to add to the NSCS technology portfolio to provide an enhanced and efficient
student experience, ensure courses are accessible to students for on-time degree completion, provide effective and timely communications via desired modalities, and provide a comprehensive and easy to use tool for degree planning for students.
CourseDog
As a result of the ongoing analysis of progress toward the Strategic Plan metrics, the State Colleges have recognized the need to optimize course offerings and curricular programs, to increase efficiency and ensure that students have access to the courses they
need for on-time degree completion. CourseDog was selected to provide each State College with the ability to manage and evaluate course offerings and establish course schedules informed by campus-wide rules, instructional space availability, student demand,
and instructor assignments/loads. The solution
will provide much-needed support for individuals across each campus who are responsible for building each term's course offerings. In addition, it will alleviate existing challenges that occur related to course conflicts, lack of additional sections of courses,
and low-enrolled courses that result in last-minute cancellations; these all adversely impact students' ability to complete the requirements for their chosen program. CourseDog also provides a wealth of data analytics through the reports that are accessible
and built into the platform.
Stellic
While some students can successfully navigate course catalogs and course schedules, others find this process daunting. Efforts have been made to address this issue through faculty and staff advising training, creation of sample plans of study, and posting of
course rotation schedules; however, the reality is that each student's assigned faculty or staff advisors have varying skill sets related to these processes. For first-generation students (comprising 48% of the NSCS undergraduate student population) who may
not have other sources of support, data indicate they have experienced the following challenges to successfully navigating these processes:
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Developing a plan of study, based on each College's course offerings and schedules;
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Successfully selecting courses each semester, in relation to degree requirements;
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Comprehending prerequisites and using certain courses to meet degree requirements; and
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Tracking completion of degree requirements and maximizing elective course options.
After reviewing several technology solutions, Stellic most comprehensively addresses the challenges outlined above. Stellic supports students' academic planning via the platform and assists in building each student's academic plan. It also recommends course
enrollments for each term based on the existing course rotation schedules and established prerequisites for each program.
An additional area identified area of focus is communication. Current processes used by the State Colleges prioritize traditional methods of communication (direct mail and student emails) across numerous technology applications. The number of emails students
receive from various campus offices and departments and technologies makes it difficult for them to identify critical information; in addition, students have self-identified they prefer other modes of communication. To address these challenges, NSCS has selected
two technology tools to address communication needs across the system.
EdSights
The first technology solution is EdSights which is a "pre-built Adaptive AI framework that engages with students about once a week to keep and becomes increasingly personalized to each student over time". This tool engages with students over text messaging
where "Check-Ins and Interventions are delivered to students via SMS text messaging by an institutionally-branded chatbot". With this tool, each College supplies its academic calendars and other student-related events. The tool then engages with students via
SMS to ask questions on financial distress, academic engagement, overall wellness, and engagement with the campus community. The AI functionality instantly responds to the answers supplied by the students by indicating additional campus resources for questions
and support.
Pathify
The second identified communication technology solution is Pathify. Pathify is an interaction hub that allows all technology tools to be integrated within a "centralized user experience unifying
everything". Pathify is available as an app for all types of devices and provides a single-panel display experience with all services available on the single-panel.
The System has initiatives, goals, and measures in place to improve the College experience and ultimately strengthen its support of student success. Outcomes are consistently measured, and adjustments are proposed at defined intervals. Strategic plan goals
will continue to be measured and NSCS will continue to evolve based on analysis of the goals and the feedback from focus groups, faculty, staff and students.