Objectives
THE FASHION RETAIL ACADEMY CREATED A RESEARCH BLUEPRINT, OUTLINING A PLAN TO MEASURE STUDENT SKILLS OUTSIDE OF TYPICAL ACADEMIC ASSESSMENTS
The research blueprint outlined findings from academia, employer working groups, and wider research to create a comprehensive assessment framework for students' 'Progress.' This new framework measured competencies that could be recognised by employers, showcasing students' expertise and supporting improvement. The project's objective was to transform this research into a tangible digital process through development of native apps (iOS and Android) and an administration portal. NXT supported the FRA team in turning their vision into digital reality.
Solution
Building a competency matrix that enabled all levels of student courses to attain a standardised rating and score
The application was multifaceted, primarily designed to cater to students of the Fashion Retail Academy. Its main purpose was to provide an easily navigable system authenticated by the students' primary access credentials, granting them access to various features, including a rating tool. The primary functions of the application were to facilitate onboarding and provide comprehensive explanations of the overall rating process.
The application operated by aligning tutor-provided feedback with students' own input to generate a rating score. This score evolved throughout the academic year, assessing performance in tutorials, assessments, and project work. Notably, the application's unique functionality played a pivotal role in allowing less academically inclined students to showcase and enhance their core skill competencies, which were uniquely formulated by the Fashion Retail Academy.
Interactive tutorials and rating system
Every student and tutor is required to evaluate up to ten competency strands, which collectively constitute the foundation for the overall status grading. The continuous live assessments play a crucial role in generating tasks and targets for students, integral components of their ongoing personal development plans set by tutors.
We used a gamification model to band feedback into clear progress brackets of bronze, silver and gold levels to clearly show progression and improvement steps per category. We used a clear navigation to view current status, ratings, targets and tutorial feedback.
Management system to support staff and administrator functionality
Behind the native application, there existed a multi-tiered administration system granting staff and administrators access to varying levels of data. At the core of this system, tutors could assess students, assign tasks, and engage in communication through the app using email, SMS, and push notifications. Another aspect was the ability to view tutor groups, along with course-level achievements and status scores for both students and staff, facilitating benchmarking.
Designed with a clean and visually intuitive charting User interface (UI)
Via a user-friendly app dashboard, students can easily visualise their status and identify skill gaps where ratings deviate from those of the tutor. This UI design priorities swift feedback and visual reporting. The app empowers tutors to provide feedback, establish milestones for students' consideration, and maintain a record of assessments while sharing strengths and weaknesses through targeted insights. Additionally, the app facilitates the setting and measurement of mid- and long-term academic goals for students.
BUILT USING THE FOLLOWING technical framework
- .NET CORE / .NET MAUI / MVC / C#
- JavaScript frontend framework and charting system
- Microsoft Identity Manager (MIM) and Azure AD connector
- Integration with College Management system
- Power BI reporting suite
- iOS and Android applications
- Application notification system including; email, SMS and Push
- Student calendar integration
- User, tutor, employer and admin identity and user management suite with MFA
Result
Since its launch, more than 3,200 students spanning 16 distinct courses have actively engaged with and received ratings within the Progress platform
The rating data constitutes a crucial component of the comprehensive student grading program. Additionally, this data plays a pivotal role in assisting employers with the selection of top-performing students for active work placements. The visual guide empowers staff to curate a list of students who exhibit not only academic success but also other valuable qualities. Furthermore, the Fashion Retail Academy (FRA) now possesses a robust dataset, enabling in-depth evaluations across all levels of demographic and course-related data.
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