Whether it’s trade schools, private colleges, or professional programs, at Sycamore Education, we take pride in our Sycamore Campus product being a non-traditional solution for non-traditional schools. There are few institutions, though, that have fit that billing better than The Whole Pet Grooming Academy.
A post-secondary educational institution established by animal enthusiasts, their goal is to provide opportunities for students to build and develop new career skills in the pet industry. In doing so, they have become innovators in their space due to utilizing Sycamore Campus. Their use of Sycamore Campus has enabled them to improve student experience and engagement, streamline processes and tasks, and gain a competitive edge.
We interviewed Dara Forleo from The Whole Pet Grooming Academy to discuss the implementation of Sycamore Campus, and how their implementation has helped put them on the forefront as an industry leader.
Can you share any insights into the implementation process of Sycamore Campus and any potential challenges you faced during integration?
As a career school that operates in a non-traditional manner, we initially needed some help making certain features work in Sycamore Campus due to our unique setup. However, we have been very creative in utilizing the Workflow Tickets and Attendance Manager features, just to name a few. While we may not use these features as initially designed, we appreciate the adaptability in making them work successfully for us in our day-to-day operations.
Our main challenges were onboarding new students and teachers and getting them to employ the platform to its fullest potential. Since there are so many features and resources at our exposure in Sycamore Campus, we are still finding new ways to use the platform to our advantage and improve our processes. We also look forward to continuing to work with the support team at Sycamore Campus to help us improve these processes as our institution advances along with the Sycamore product.
In what ways has Sycamore Campus helped streamline administrative tasks and operations?
We have observed a significant improvement in the efficiency of students moving through the classroom. This has resulted in a smoother flow of activities and allowed us to cover more material within the given time. Additionally, we’ve been able to increase and streamline communication between faculty and students with the Pass-A-Note feature, which has been an exceptional communicative tool for us.
How has the use of Sycamore Campus contributed to the overall experience of your students?
As part of our onboarding process, we have made it mandatory for all students to take an orientation course before their first-course enrollment. This course, which we created and use in Sycamore, has proven to be an excellent resource and highly beneficial to what we’re trying to achieve with our students.
After we introduced the course to our students, we noticed a significant improvement in their overall performance. It serves as a valuable resource in providing guidance and support throughout their time with us. Whether they’re new to the school or returning for another year, our students can refer to this course to help them navigate the challenges of academic life and achieve their goals.
Blackboards and discussion boards have also emerged as excellent tools to monitor students’ progress on course material. Because we self-guide the majority of our courses, we rely on progress trackers, discussion boards, and workflow tickets to keep track of students’ completion dates. These tools help us stay informed and ensure that we can provide timely assistance when needed.
In what ways has using Sycamore Campus helped make you innovators in the pet grooming industry?
As we alluded to, we have been using the Campus product in a non-traditional way compared to other schools. We are introducing a new level of professional development education and a subscription plan. These offerings will benefit us as additional income, and we will also utilize Sycamore’s classrooms in order to accomplish this. We believe by best making use of the resources in Sycamore Campus, we can continue to grow and set our students up for success in their careers.
Overall, we are proud to be considered an industry leader in pet grooming education, thanks to our recent upgrade to Sycamore Campus’s educational platform. This decision has undoubtedly been the best choice for us and our future, and we are thrilled to have invested our time to make it work for our school and our students.
