THE CHALLENGE
Every year, the Trumbull County Educational Service Center provides thousands of teachers across dozens of school districts with essential training. While TCESC is committed to providing the highest level of educational instruction and professional growth, maintaining that level of quality requires a constant stream of feedback from trainees.
Unfortunately, a few years ago, the Center found that very few teacher trainees were completing their post-seminar satisfaction surveys.
“We train teachers, and getting them to complete surveys is not always easy to do,” says Robert Marino Jr., Assistant Superintendent at TCESC.
“So our response rates were very, very low.”
In addition to the low participation rate, TCESC staff were also dissatisfied with the capabilities of the survey tool they were using.
“We needed a platform that would allow us to collect and analyze multiple pieces of information,” explains Marino Jr.. “We were using another platform, but it was not as robust a solution as we needed, in terms of solicitation of input and being able to disaggregate that data into useful data points. Ultimately, we needed to measure the effectiveness of our trainings – but if we couldn’t drill down on the results, we couldn’t measure our success in serving the needs of our client districts.”
THE SOLUTION
TCESC asked James Rook, Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction, to take the lead on finding a more powerful feedback management platform.
“I was tasked with finding a tool that we could use to get better data and feedback on our sessions,” James says. “And I was a little bit familiar with Sogo to begin with, but then I really took the time to research exactly what it offered. Obviously, I signed up for the free trial, looked at the product in comparison to some of the other options, and concluded that it was a pretty easy choice to decide to recommend Sogo.”
Once the Center switched to Sogo, they took advantage of the platform’s QR code generator to increase participation. After each training seminar, teachers were immediately presented with a QR code to scan – which led to a satisfaction survey for that specific seminar.
“We played around with some different approaches to survey distribution,” James says. “The strategy we found most successful was printing the QR codes, setting those out on the table, and allowing trainees just to pull out their phones before they leave and complete the survey.”
THE RESULT
Higher Survey Participation and Satisfaction Ratings
After switching from Google Forms to Sogolytics, TCESC saw their survey participation rates essentially double.
“Beforehand, our response rates were around 40 to 50 percent,” says Marino Jr.. “Now, with using Sogo’s QR codes, our response rates are into the 90s.”
TCESC also feels more confident about the quality and visual appeal of the surveys they’re now distributing.
“I really appreciate the ability to customize Sogo surveys, and the ability to make them look very professional,” James says. “I’ve had a number of people comment on the professional look of our surveys. It’s not like the typical questionnaire, which is sort of bland and basic.”
The Center is also extremely pleased with the
87% satisfaction rate they’ve achieved while using Sogo.
Superior Reporting and More Insightful Feedback
Sogolytics has enabled TCESC to create more efficient surveys that collect valuable, real-time data, which can be leveraged to implement immediate process changes and improvements.
“We’re currently running huge dyslexia trainings in our county to support a state law that requires 18 hours for all teachers to be trained,” says Marino Jr.. “We have three separate days of training for this, and after each session they take a survey. And the first session was virtual, so afterwards we surveyed the teachers, got the data back, learned a few things, and tweaked the training immediately based on the responses. The second session was an in-person training, and again the teachers provided feedback on that session, and we were able to quickly process the results. So we were able to very acutely make changes for the last training, which occurred last week.”
Sogo’s segmentation and data visualization features are so rich and easy to understand that many instructors at the Center now take an active interest in their own feedback.
“I think in the past, people were not as excited to see their specific feedback or what their ratings were for the session that they delivered,” says James. “And now, because of the visually appealing nature of some of the reports, and the way you can break down the data, instructors are actually excited and coming to me to ask, ‘Hey, can you break down my feedback that I received just on this past session?’”
By making it so easy to collect and analyze real-time feedback data, Sogo is helping TCESC achieve their mission of continually providing high-quality training to thousands of educators.
“I certainly would recommend Sogolytics to anybody who’s looking to collect actionable feedback about events that are taking place in real time.”
