Scaling Career Services Accessibility and Engagement

Client: Bridgewater College

Bridgewater College is a private, four-year liberal arts institution in Virginia and serves a student body of approximately 1,500 students. The college's Center for Career Development (CCD), staffed by a small team, provides critical career services to its students. However, the center faced challenges in effectively meeting the demands of its student population.

To address these challenges, the CCD director partnered with Atomic Jolt's Curriculum Services team to explore scalable solutions. A professor from Bridgewater College also joined the project to offer insights from a faculty perspective.

The Challenge

The Center for Career Development was experiencing a mismatch between the demand for its services and the resources available to meet that demand. At times, the CCD hosted events but lacked sufficient staff or time to assist all attending students. Conversely, some students remained unaware of available events and resources or faced scheduling conflicts that prevented attendance.

The director aimed to create a course that would connect students with career development resources they could access independently, reducing the need for staff intervention while increasing awareness of the CCD's event calendar and services.

The Solution

Atomic Jolt's Curriculum Services team worked with the CCD director and professor to design a course tailored to address students' common career development questions. Separate versions of the course were created for sophomores and juniors to provide targeted guidance.

Ease and Duration of Access

A key question addressed early on was how to deliver the information to students without requiring them to take additional steps, create extra accounts, or visit multiple websites. To ensure accessibility, the Curriculum Services team incorporated the course into the orientation modules that students were already required to complete at the start of the academic year. This integration eliminated the need for additional accounts or platforms and ensured that students could access the course through their Canvas accounts throughout their time at the college.

Sharing Information about Events and Services

The next challenge was determining how to share information about events and services with students without overwhelming them or making the content feel irrelevant. To address this, the team embedded links to resources, such as the CCD event calendar and one-on-one advising appointments, within course modules focused on key career concerns like finding internships or preparing for job interviews. Each module included short case study videos featuring hypothetical students navigating similar career development challenges.

Linking Directly to Online Resources

In order to provide resources that students could use independently, the course included lists of templates and resume preparation questions, all accessible via active links to the CCD website. Summary infographics for each course provided a quick reference guide for students, even if they did not revisit the course itself.

Key Takeaways

Building on Existing Student Workflows: By integrating the courses into existing orientation modules, the team ensured that delivery and access were seamless. Housing the course in the same LMS as other classes allowed students to revisit the content as needed.

Using Narrative to Demonstrate Relevance: Narrative examples and case studies were included to illustrate real-life scenarios, making the content more engaging and relevant for students. Without these narratives, the content might come across as a dry list of links, making it harder for students to see its relevance to their needs.

Providing Learners with Tangible Takeaways: Although students have extended access to the course, many do not revisit it. Summary infographics and templates gave students resources they could retain for future reference, empowering them to apply the knowledge without returning to the course.

Future Plans

With the courses approved, the next step is their integration into the orientation curriculum for the upcoming semester. The CCD anticipates increased usage of its website's resources, higher attendance at career events, and a reduction in staff time spent on repetitive tasks. These changes will allow the team to focus on advanced support and deeper student engagement.

Making Resources Accessible and Effective

If you're facing a disconnect between the resources you offer and learner engagement, consider strategies to make those resources easier to access and more visible. Start by asking: Where are learners already going to find information? Is your content located there, or is it in a place that's harder to find or takes longer to access?

Think about what learners can take with them for future reference — something that helps them remember what they came for. Creating takeaway documents, templates, or summary guides can improve retention and empower learners to apply what they've learned without needing to revisit the resource.

Looking Ahead

If your institution faces challenges with resource accessibility or learner engagement, there's no need to tackle it alone. At Atomic Jolt, we specialize in creating tailored, scalable solutions that empower both learners and staff.

Ready to start? Reach out to discuss how Atomic Jolt can transform your learner experience today.