Get Connected — Multi Schools Learning Management System

Creating a futureproof careers guidance tool for schools

Overview

Career Connect is a large charity that helps young people and adults achieve their potential by providing career guidance, employment support, and training resources. A core component of its work with schools and colleges is its digital platform, 'Get Connected'. Originally created in 2015, Career Connect engaged us to review the platform and create a technical roadmap for its evolution.

Opportunity

The platform needed an update, but the pandemic's impact on how young people accessed education and careers guidance emphasised the need for a more significant overhaul. With 72% of schools highlighting careers guidance as more important than ever (source: The Careers and Enterprise Company), the solution required consistent, high-quality delivery, both virtually and in person. We began with a technical scoping exercise to identify gaps and opportunities, understand user needs (students, careers advisors), and pinpoint functionalities, integrations, and reporting data that mattered most. We also considered user engagement factors.

Service & Product

A thorough scoping process involved sessions with Career Connect staff, teachers, and students. This information helped us create a refined set of essential and desired features, along with technical specifications that would serve as a project roadmap for an effective and futureproof platform. We further analysed the existing framework for potential integrations with key systems.

The resulting technical scope combined features like CV builders, educational slideshows, and employability quizzes with the integration and streamlining of disparate school systems. The project then moved into the delivery phase.

The final product caters to remote working and adapts to logistical changes. It empowers teachers and Career Connect staff to respond to significant societal events by easily tailoring and deploying content relevant to local and global situations.

Meeting the scoping requirements, the platform boasts the following functionalities:

• Full integration with MIS systems
• Regular updates to align with all Gatsby benchmarks
• Ability for schools to extract various data, tracking completed activities by individual, year group, and institution
• Creation of bespoke pupil data for in-depth reporting in one location

Impact

Year 12 students at Trinity High School, current users of Get Connected, described the tool as "Straight to the point, interactive and Informative," "Easy to use," and "Informative even for the youngest year group." Over 120 schools are slated to be onboarded, reaching a user base of over 120,000 young people. Get Connected exemplifies how forward-looking organizations evolve existing solutions to meet new needs and expectations.

Sheila Clark, CEO of Career Connect, spoke about the platform:

“With over 20 years of experience working in schools, we understand that careers provision isn't just about running the program itself, but also documenting, monitoring, analyzing impact, and responding to insights. This is crucial for a truly embedded careers curriculum.

“We also recognize the vital role digital careers tools play in enhancing student careers education. Our aim with Get Connected is to consolidate student careers activity, recording, and data analysis in one place, helping schools save time, monitor impact, and be responsive to student needs.

“This, in turn, allows schools to shape future activities and empowers students to develop a coherent plan as they reach key transition points. Being able to reflect on their journey from year 7 to year 11 or 13 and witness their progress as their understanding of career paths develops is also a fantastic way to keep students engaged.”

Previous work whilst trading as Mashbo