Onondaga-Cortland-Madison Counties Board of Cooperative Education Services (OCM BOCES) is a technical school in Syracuse, NY that offers a variety of technical and medical training programs, including welding, construction, practical nursing, medical assisting, and dental assisting. It services approximately 250 full-time students at a time, the majority of whom attend courses on-ground, while the remaining students are enrolled in hybrid programs.
In early 2020, OCM BOCES relied on an attendance management process that required extensive hours of admin work per week, resulting in delayed visibility into data. Since switching to CourseKey’s technical college attendance management software, staff and students can now access real-time data, and admins save hours of manual work per week. With the increased visibility into student progress, they lifted average retention rates by roughly 6-7%.
The Challenge: Inefficient attendance management with limited visibility
OCM BOCES previously used hand scanners stationed throughout the building to collect daily attendance. The scanners routinely sent data to a software system that was only accessible on one desktop computer, meaning only one person could log in to the attendance software at a time. Because of this, instructors were assigned hours for when they could access and adjust their students’ data during the week.
Admins also needed to access the system to generate reports and record absent students. Admins would pull reports for each program and then look through each to see who was absent and if any students had missed a certain percentage of their program hours. For students who reached a certain threshold, admins would create warning letters to send the students.
The inefficiencies produced by these processes were costing staff and instructors at OCM BOCES too many hours per week, prompting the organization to look for a system to replace their current process. Additionally, the warning letters sometimes come too late due to data delays.
“We had to dismiss students who went over in time, and they didn’t even know,” said Matthew Tarrolli, Adult Programs Coordinator at OCM BOCES. “We had an early warning system, but it didn’t always work, and it was really sad.”
The Solution: Cloud-based, mobile technical college attendance software
In the summer of 2020, OCM BOCES chose the CourseKey platform to automate their attendance collection and efficiently manage their attendance data in a cloud-based platform. CourseKey allows students to check in and out of class with their mobile devices. Data is then made instantly available to admins through attendance dashboards with real-time attendance dashboards for administrators to access on demand. Attendance records for each day are stored in the cloud for easy access later, and both students and staff gain real-time insights into student time.
The Result: Better visibility lead to improved retention
With their process using our software, OCM BOCES has saved their staff hours of manual work per week while granting them access to attendance data in real time.
Instead of waiting for their turn to access the attendance system, instructors and admins can access attendance data from any device with a WiFi connection. Instructors can adjust student time in seconds with just a few clicks. Admins also know in real-time which students are absent, allowing them to begin outreach to at-risk students much sooner than previously possible.
“Nobody times out anymore. We can see it way in advance now,” said Matthew. “If somebody is at risk of withdrawing, we’re either intervening, or they’re withdrawing way before they time out.”
Students now have instant access to up-to-date attendance and grades. Because students can review their standing at any time, they no longer have to ask admins at OCM BOCES to look up their records for them and can make more informed decisions to stay on track to graduate.
“It’s fundamentally changed how we engage with students,” said Matthew.
Improve Technical College Retention With Real-Time Attendance Visibility
Having a system that provides real-time attendance visibility and automation is key for both student success and organizational efficiency at OCM BOCES. Now, staff has the time and data they need to take a proactive approach to student retention.
“Like many small schools, we all wear a lot of hats. CourseKey makes life so much easier. I can look at a dashboard and be done with attendance for the day,” said Matthew
How would your school benefit from improved visibility into student progress? Request a demo to learn how CourseKey schools see an average 3.5% lift in retention rates.
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