How Our Digital Community Boosted Engagement Among KSU Students

By Daryl Love, AVP of Career Services and Professional Development at Kentucky State University

A large part of the educational experience we provide at Kentucky State University (KSU) centers around relationships. Many students come to KSU because they feel a sense of community and belonging. Our goal in partnering with InScribe to create a digital community space was to elevate and accelerate these connections, especially in the absence of face-to-face interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic. What we found was that our InScribe communities not only strengthened the student experience, but they created numerous efficiencies for our teams along the way.

The first digital community we launched was our Career Services and Professional Development space. The flexibility and support provided by the InScribe team allowed us to rapidly implement this and many other community spaces in the midst of the pandemic. During implementation, we brainstormed a list of services and people students were going to need access to and we had those communities up and running well before our students transitioned to online learning. 

It was also during this time that we asked ourselves “if we build it, will they come?” The answer was 'maybe' but we didn't want 'maybe'. As a result, we knew we needed to be intentional and authentic in our approach and we needed to give students a reason to connect and engage. This led us to curate relevant content to foster a collaborative space where students could share ideas and learn more about career fields of interest, not only from faculty, staff, and administrators but from each other too.

Early on, as pandemic restrictions began to roll out, we were tasked to think about how we would meet the needs of our students in these uncertain times. Because traditional interaction was not an option for the foreseeable future, we realized that technology would be a critical component in serving our students. Fast forward to today, our Career Services and Professional Development digital community is thriving. We've taken those all-important relationships to new levels and students are engaging at impressive rates.

For example, in the past, we used emails to reach out to students about career events and workshops, but the reaction we often got was, "Oh yes, I think I got an email about that." In an attempt to go grab their attention, we turned to the "Say Something" notification feature in the InScribe platform. For a point of comparison, when I emailed students last year about a mentorship program, I received minimal interest, even after much follow-up. This year, with the push notification approach, within two days I had double the number of students who signed up. Plus students continued to comment on my post, which drove additional interest and participation. I just needed to put it out there and students ran with it, engaging their peers along the way.

InScribe is a great destination point for information, but it's more than that. InScribe drives engagement. Momentum builds naturally and we've seen first-hand how we can leverage student activity to drive additional interest and participation. This makes our department far more efficient too. We've reduced redundancies and have more time to focus on student interaction, helping guide them on their professional journey.

Now that we've built our community, students are coming and the traction has been great!

About the Author

How Our Digital Community Boosted Engagement Among KSU Students

By Daryl Love, AVP of Career Services and Professional Development at Kentucky State University

A large part of the educational experience we provide at Kentucky State University (KSU) centers around relationships. Many students come to KSU because they feel a sense of community and belonging. Our goal in partnering with InScribe to create a digital community space was to elevate and accelerate these connections, especially in the absence of face-to-face interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic. What we found was that our InScribe communities not only strengthened the student experience, but they created numerous efficiencies for our teams along the way.

The first digital community we launched was our Career Services and Professional Development space. The flexibility and support provided by the InScribe team allowed us to rapidly implement this and many other community spaces in the midst of the pandemic. During implementation, we brainstormed a list of services and people students were going to need access to and we had those communities up and running well before our students transitioned to online learning. 

It was also during this time that we asked ourselves “if we build it, will they come?” The answer was 'maybe' but we didn't want 'maybe'. As a result, we knew we needed to be intentional and authentic in our approach and we needed to give students a reason to connect and engage. This led us to curate relevant content to foster a collaborative space where students could share ideas and learn more about career fields of interest, not only from faculty, staff, and administrators but from each other too.

Early on, as pandemic restrictions began to roll out, we were tasked to think about how we would meet the needs of our students in these uncertain times. Because traditional interaction was not an option for the foreseeable future, we realized that technology would be a critical component in serving our students. Fast forward to today, our Career Services and Professional Development digital community is thriving. We've taken those all-important relationships to new levels and students are engaging at impressive rates.

For example, in the past, we used emails to reach out to students about career events and workshops, but the reaction we often got was, "Oh yes, I think I got an email about that." In an attempt to go grab their attention, we turned to the "Say Something" notification feature in the InScribe platform. For a point of comparison, when I emailed students last year about a mentorship program, I received minimal interest, even after much follow-up. This year, with the push notification approach, within two days I had double the number of students who signed up. Plus students continued to comment on my post, which drove additional interest and participation. I just needed to put it out there and students ran with it, engaging their peers along the way.

InScribe is a great destination point for information, but it's more than that. InScribe drives engagement. Momentum builds naturally and we've seen first-hand how we can leverage student activity to drive additional interest and participation. This makes our department far more efficient too. We've reduced redundancies and have more time to focus on student interaction, helping guide them on their professional journey.

Now that we've built our community, students are coming and the traction has been great!

About the Author

Daryl Love, is the associate vice president of Career Services and Professional Development at Kentucky State University, a role he has held since July 2019. In his role, he is responsible for leading KSU’s Career Services and Professional Development Office.

Prior to joining KSU, Daryl had 31-year career at Valvoline and Ashland serving various roles in IT, HR and Communications and Corporate Affairs. Prior to his retirement, he served as Valvoline’s manager of community relations and engagement – leading two of Valvoline’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) focus areas - community engagement/philanthropy, and diversity and inclusion.

A native of Memphis, Daryl graduated from Lane College, in Jackson, Tenn., where he received a bachelor’s degree in computer science and mathematics. He received his MBA from Midway College. He served as a member of the Fayette County School Board from 2010-2020. Prior, he served as board chair of Hospice of the Bluegrass. He currently serves on the board of St. Joseph Hospital Foundation, Fayette County Education Foundation, is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and is also actively involved with his church, Main Street Baptist Church.

He and his wife Rhonda Love, have been married for 20 years and they have two sons, Landon and Langston.