Evaluation of Student Success within Social Work Education’s Signature Pedagogy
Over 250 Sonia users came together in October to share best practices and learn more about Sonia's newest features and functions during our Asia-Pacific and North America Virtual Sonia User Group meetings. In the next five blog posts will present some key highlights from our four days of user group sessions, starting with information on site allocations and a user presentation from the University of Wollongong.
Are you interested in more than a recap? You can find links to the session recordings and slide decks at the end of this blog post.
Tips and instructions for site allocations in Sonia and the Sonia mobile app
2022’s Sonia user group would not have succeeded without Sonia implementation specialists Ben Hackett and Abigail Manwell, who provided informative coaching on some of Sonia’s most valuable features and functions. The first coaching session was dedicated to site associations and preferencing, site rankings, ranking communications, and site allocations. In this session, users learnt the difference between site preferences and site associations. Our coaches reviewed negative and positive site associations and demonstrated how students could see and/or enter site preference ideas in Sonia Online. They also showed how to stipulate which associations and preferences are considered in the auto-allocation process (i.e., preventing students from being allocated to sites with which they have a negative association). Finally, they explained the ranking process and demonstrated how users can easily streamline the submission of placement requests to sites based on student site rankings.
The second coaching session was dedicated to the Sonia mobile app and mobile communications. Our coaches explained how students could access and log into the Sonia mobile app. They reviewed the many valuable features of the Sonia app, such as allowing students to opt-in for auto timesheet entry while they are on placement (a feature that uses the phone’s GPS to determine when students are on site) and allowing students to track and upload documents to their “Checks” in the app. Students can also access, edit and submit forms in the Sonia app. Next, our coaches provided an overview of where students could access their placement information in the app and submit timesheets manually. Finally, they demonstrated one of the most valuable features of the mobile app, which is the ability for placement officers to send notifications to students directly through the Sonia mobile app. These notifications were automated to be sent at specific times, such as when a form is due or incomplete.
The University of Wollongong – Creating a Work Integrated Learning Committee
Lia Gasparro, WIL Systems Coordinator at the University of Wollongong, in her presentation titled “Rolling out Sonia as the enterprise placement management system at the University of Wollongong (UOW) – Governance, training, support model and outcomes,” discusses the Sonia system and shows examples of how programs moved from outdated paper processes to more efficient and streamlined processes using Sonia’s workflow management and other features.
Lia explains how one of the keys to the success of the university-wide implementation of Sonia at UOW was the creation of a Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Advisory Committee via the university’s strategic plan. The committee is responsible for enabling the execution of the UOW WIL Plan. A Sonia Working Group and a Sonia User Group report to this committee. The working group is chaired by the Director of Learning, Teaching and Curriculum, including representatives from every faculty/unit using Sonia. The user group is open to every UOW Sonia user and meets every two months to discuss any issues that need to be reported to the working group. These reporting structures “ensure that Sonia issues at the UOW can easily be reported up and down,” comments Lia. Through this structure, the university achieved consistent branding, formatting, and layout of the Sonia portal across all divisions, created standardized templates and manuals, and implemented regular training and feature demos for all Sonia users at UOW.
While concluding her presentation, Lia highlights the four main benefits of rolling out Sonia as the enterprise placement management system at UOW:
- Enhanced student experience
- Students now complete one form, which can even be completed on their phone
- Students do not have to physically meet with the Subject Coordinator
- Quick turnaround on paperwork
- Greater efficiencies
- No admin team resource required
- Students don’t have to look for information as they receive all instructions automatically when enrolled
- Improved risk management
- Easy to track student placements
- Subject Coordinator can reach specific students easily and quickly
- Ensured transparency in case the Subject Coordinator changes or is on leave
- Easy and accurate reporting
“Rolling out Sonia as the enterprise placement management system” at UOW is available on the recording below: APAC User Group Day 2, starting at 8 minutes 05 seconds.
Watch the recordings, including Lia Gasparra at the University of Wollongon, and access the slide decks from our 2022 Sonia User Group here: Sonia User Group 2022 Recordings and Resources - Articles - Sonia Community (soniabyqsr.com)
(users must sign in or sign up for the Sonia community to view)