November 23, 2017

Student Journey Mapping

What is Student Journey Mapping?

Student Journey Mapping is the process of analyzing the student experience (or a phase of it) by collecting first-hand data from students directly. It allows for campus administrators to draw unique insights from the perspective of their key audience.

Student Journey Map Example

Laurentian University Undergraduate Prospective Student Journey

How is Student Journey Mapping used?

Rooted in creating a student-centric experience, the concept of User Journey Mapping (or Student Journey Mapping) can be a cornerstone for decision making in higher education. From changing the way in which students are recruited to the way donors are engaged, the Student Journey Mapping process can help good business practices evolve into great ones.

How to use Student Journey Mapping?

Having gone through this process with over a dozen institutions, I’d like to share my successes and failures in order to help you in preparing your own Student Journey Mapping process. In this workshop we will:

– Understand the fit of a Journey Map
– Discuss audience identification
– Identify the data collection process
– Learn to prioritize findings into an action plan

This process will help you understand how to bring together data from both administrative and student-based interviews (surveys, focus groups, 1-on-1 interviews and analytics), how to turn this data into information, and finally, how to develop that into a document that your organization will understand. You will leave this session with the framework to begin your own student journey mapping exercise that will help you to use data to drive your decisions. When executed correctly, these Student Journey Maps can allow you to make student centric decisions that are driven by data.

If you’re interested in this topic, hear more about it through a discussion I had with Stephen App of the Hashtag Higher Ed Podcast from eCity Interactive titled “X Marks the Spot: Understanding Student Journey Mapping in Higher Education”.

Are you interested in journey mapping your student experience? I’d love to help by either running the process, advising you throughout the process with resources or simply answering your questions.

Send me a note

Read More about Student Journey Mapping

Presentation delivered to the 220 attendees of the 2017 Strategic Enrolment Management Forum in Toronto. 

Testimonial from Adam Smith, Marketing Manager at OzTREKK

“When I saw JP present on Student Journey Mapping at the SEMM conference, I knew it was a project that would help us further develop and document our knowledge of our students.  As an agency for our university partners, we already work closely with our students and hear their concerns directly every day.  What JP did for us with his journey mapping process was to deepen that understanding by effectively and efficiently drawing in perspectives from across the organization in a fun way that motivated the team, rather than seeming like an added work obligation.  JP then validated these findings against student perspectives using survey data and phone interviews to produce a journey map that highlighted the activities our students undertake and all of their emotions/thinking through these steps through inquiring, applying, accepting their offer, and preparing to start in their program.  We came away with a journey map that clearly identifies the most significant barriers that our students face, allowing us to focus projects around goals to alleviate these barriers.  Overall it’s made everybody more confident in the work they’re doing and provides a confident basis for direction in the org, and all within tight project timelines.  Thanks JP!”