After education institutions were forced to transition online in the spring of 2020, many students started reporting feelings of isolation and loneliness. Once Fort Hays State University (FHSU), led by Andrew Feldstein, D.P.S., Assistant Provost for Teaching Innovation and Learning Technologies, got through the semester in the new normal of virtual learning, the administration looked for ways in order to help students with their emotional needs.
"When students reported in a recent survey that they were feeling isolated, unmotivated, and in need of more social interaction, we knew we needed to take action,” said Feldstein in a recent Webinar hosted by InScribe, discussing the launch of Tiger-2-Tiger, a unique social content site developed specifically for the students at FHSU.
Powered by InScribe, Tiger-2-Tiger aims to replicate casual hallway and classroom conversions online. The platform also empowers students to share ideas, get advice, boost student engagement, all while lifting emotional well-being.
Also, on the Webinar was InScribe’s Co-founder and CEO Katy Kappler, who described her product as “a virtual community platform designed to help connect students with peers, faculty and staff across a university” so that they can connect, find answers, and share resources. Ideally, it will connect students through the entire academic journey from enrollment and onboarding to academics and career.
Feldstein said that the Kansas public university began preparing for online only learning in January of 2020, as some of the international students were in China where the pandemic hit first. Still, the university was interested in getting student feedback from previously virtual and classroom-based student about the transition. While the survey first and foremost focused on academics, it also left a place for open ended questions about students’ experiences dealing with COVID-19 while trying to juggle course work.
Feldstein said that students were feeling a loss of that important “third space” where student process and synthesizing happens: Walking to class, after class, in the coffee shops.
“We had gotten response really missed the library not just because of the resources but because it was a place outside of the classroom where they could hang out and process what happens in class,” Feldstein said to the audience.
So, the next step was to envision a space that best replicates that interactive experience, but without the structure or oversight of a faculty or staff member.
Some objectives put forth from FHSU for this new platform included:
- Create a transparent, intuitive social learning environment for FHSU students to contribute, interact and share ideas;
- Encourage students to discover and share relevant content, and teach and learn from one another;
- Build a private place within FHSU by and for students.
Kappler noted that while the platform could be built for communities studying the same materials and for specific courses, Feldstein wanted to start with “a place where people will find others they may not have otherwise found,” he said. “My first step was to try and create a wholistic community for the entire campus so people could discover people they did not know.” Potentially down the line, Tiger-2-Tiger could be integrated with other school-based platforms so that the tool can be used for faculty and students to connect. Also, perhaps integrating with a video platform so that students can have live chats.
At first glance, Tiger-2-Tiger looks like any social media network, with different forums and topics that people can click on and enter conversations. It also tracks views and followers.
“You were committed to keep the design to be nonprescriptive, pretty open ended. You said let’s let the students come in and decide what to talk about,” Kappler said.
The InScribe platform for FSHU does currently not give students the ability to create smaller communities. For now, Feldstein is concerned with getting as many eyes on the page as possible.
“Even those that don’t feel comfortable enough to post are still going to gain a lot from this community just by reading about the experiences of others,” he said. “So being able to share those experiences more widely was really our goal for this platform.”
Feldstein called some of the messages he’s seen on the discussion boards as “heart-warming.” One of the first posts was one from a non-traditional student who had always been virtual, never taking in-person classes. She wanted to introduce herself and say how thankful she was that she could finally connect with other FSHU students.
Beyond valuable for the students, Tiger-2-Tiger can also be a place for the administration to collect data and extract feedback for FSHU.
“We can look at this as another feedback loop from students and ask: ‘What can we do to help that situation,’” Feldstein said.