Pathways to Education Case Study
Pathways to Education reimagines the process for collecting and implementing student insights
Partner Context
Venture 2 Impact partnered with Pathways to Education Canada, a charity providing youth in low-income communities with the resources and networks of support to graduate from high school and build the foundation for a successful future. Through this partnership, Venture 2 Impact facilitated a design sprint to develop innovative ideas to improve access to timely and actionable insights from the students.
“Including the input from youth from the outset really helped take concepts and the implementation into directions we might not have otherwise gone.”
“I feel very connected and engaged with the process, and feel closer than ever to the people our work is intended to support. As a member of the technology team, we can feel a bit distant from the front-line work but the Design Thinking process managed by V2I helped bring the mission and impact back to the forefront for me”
“(The design thinking process resulted in) a significantly deeper connection between the youth voice and the decisions and discussion around technology. The two feel closer than ever”
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The Challenge
Re-imagine the way product insights are consistently collected, reflecting an intimate and deep understanding of the day-to-day experiences of the youth Pathways needs to reach, guiding future product design and iterations.
The Innovation
Venture 2 Impact implemented their human centered design approach to conduct research with key stakeholders of the Pathways to Education program. This research was used to uncover problems, needs, and aspirations of the Pathways organization through focus group interviews with 11 alumni, 10 staff persons, 2 former staff and 1 industry peer.
From this research, V2I produced a readout report to highlight key insights and opportunities. Insights from the report informed the concepts that were then developed through a design sprint in which volunteers produced innovative ideas for receiving student feedback. The Pathways stakeholders were also involved in the development of the innovative concepts and participated in a design lab where volunteers shared the concepts and facilitated a discussion on how they might work and benefit each individual stakeholder, as well as sustain the future of Pathways. From the design lab, two new models of collecting insights from youth were developed and one was adopted as the most appropriate and successful model.
Ultimately, the design process resulted in the development of a branded prototype application populated with a series of youth-friendly micro surveys and a basic website to serve as a platform for hosting and distributing microsurveys. Youth participants were recruited to pilot the new prototype, and attended a focus group to voice their opinions on the new technology.
Outcomes
- Increased access to clear data demonstrating whether or not young people will participate in this concept
- Increased insights on what young peoples’ motivations are for participation
- Strengthened Pathways ability to incorporate youth insights into product development
“(The best part of the volunteer experience was) collaborating directly with the key stakeholders at Pathways and creating something tangible through the partnership”
“Channeling (the Pathways staff) passion for his role with Pathways and the larger goals and vision associated with this project was infectious. That, combined with applying the Gen-Z research to the end product the Gen-Z group would actually use brought the experience pretty full circle and helped me to connect to the audience Pathways is committed to serving”
“(I) gained a greater understanding of how Pathways helps people”
“I cannot wait to work with Pathways and/or other organizations on these projects in the future!”
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By the numbers...
- An estimated $70,000 in savings was achieved for Pathways staff by receiving the new prototype to facilitate microsurveys
- An estimated 150-200 hours of Pathways staff’s time has been saved by receiving this new prototype for collecting student feedback
- 100% of volunteers indicated that they were either likely or extremely likely to participate in other skills-based volunteer projects, based on their experience
- 100% of volunteers indicated that they were extremely likely to recommend participating in a skills-based volunteer project to their colleagues
- 100% of volunteers indicated that they felt it was extremely likely that their volunteer efforts had a positive impact on the Pathways to Education program
- Both Pathways staff respondents indicated that their confidence had significantly increased as a result of access to the new innovative tools
- Both Pathways staff respondents indicated that they felt empowered to leverage the technology that was produced by the V2I volunteers