UserVoice
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UserVoice is a feedback forum that companies and organizations use to let their customers be heard. At Second Baptist School, we use UserVoice to enable the general public to submit ideas, as well as utilize private forums for our Students, Teachers, and Staff to submit ideas and vote on them.
This is such a great process because people actually get to follow their suggestions as we work toward fulfilling them. In this way the line of communication is open and our feedback comes directly to the Tech Department. We really value everything that is contributed to UserVoice. As students and teachers submit ideas, they encourage their friends to submit more votes, and it engages and builds community around certain ideas.
From an Administration standpoint, the Tech Department works with the Curriculum Specialists to begin to integrate the ideas into the classroom, or provide specialized professional development for that teacher. The process and use of UserVoice has helped our community focus on its needs to strengthen our school as a whole. The process of getting an idea, and seeing movement and a want for that via the voting system, has been incredible and pushed all of us to really work together on creating the best environment for our students.
Our students notice a difference when they post ideas and those ideas become reality. It really reinvests them into their learning experience, because they have a direct input in enhancing their school. Not every idea is taken, but there is a comment sent to all that voted on the idea with an explanation. This creates transparency to help students and faculty learn about the process together.
Parents are now starting to post to the public forum we have created to help us keep track and understand some concerns they have about the school website. This has been beneficial to help streamline our processes and see what really matters to parents across the board in all levels of the school.
Also, it is always beneficial to have customers and colleagues involved with one’s company, and UserVoice can give everyone a voice in what matters to them. It increases a sense of engagement in the workplace. You will certainly be surprised with what your business can do to make changes in the lives of others in and around your company.
We are already seeing benefits since the initial creation of the forums, and our school is learning from itself. We are growing, and continue to grow organically due to the reliance on our families to tell us what they would like and what is really important. UserVoice is just one tool to help us gather information. We still rely on face-to-face conversations to get most of our information; however, UserVoice is a fantastic way for everyone to reflect on the ideas.
We would like to thank our community for pushing us to stretch our ideas so we can implement what is best for them during every stage of the process.
Blake Skidmore
Director of Technology
Second Baptist School
www.secondbaptistschool.org