We share our past experiences in education, employment and interests with others so that connections can be established. We find ourselves doing this all the time; whether it be to apply for a job, or submitting an application to a university. We repeat the same information over and over again; where we’ve gone to school, the degrees we’ve earned, our past employment, and the things we do best.
What makes iQ different, is incorporating rich, academic profiles for all members to represent their academic learning journey. Members can use a profile that tracks the history and progress as they go. Learners can track their achievements, certificates, skills, courses, grades, portfolios, employments, and even payments. Profiles can also track competency-based learning programs and any online courses a student has taken. This modern-day online transcript enables institutions to more efficiently review an applicant’s information. Viewers see an organized and mapped-out journey of the learner, rather than a disordered group of events packed into a couple paragraphs. Using this unique iQ feature, members applying to an online institution can apply with just a click of a button, submitting what they already have built up on their rich academic profile.
In addition, connections between students, peers, and content is easily accessible through advanced recommendations. Social learning enables smart recommendations for connections, content and research to aid the online learner. Rather than hunting for content and connections, recommended content and subject matter experts are pushed to the learner based on academic goals and interests. This enables learners to create smart networks instead of only social networks. Students in need of subject expertise, can easily search for the topic of interest and can find tutors in a matter of seconds. Students looking for a particular club can type their interests into the network-wide search engine covering the entire institution’s connections. The student will not only find the particular clubs matching their interests, but can find other students who are are involved in those same activities.
Online institutions can now be connected with their students and potential applicants more than ever before. Applicants can now build their own academic profiles to show institutions what they have to offer, getting credit for every course they have taken and every degree they have earned. Students can now drop repetitive college applications, and submit what they already have constructed on their online profile. Because their academic profile grows as they do, students don’t have to worry about leaving information out when applying to a desired institution. Social learning truly threads the student journey between prospect, enrollment, campus life and student-to-student connections.