OTTAWA, ON., December 12, 2018 – Vocantas is pleased to report successful summer/fall campaigns using Scaller™. Scaller helps improve retention rates at colleges and universities by proactively connecting students with existing support services and resources.

“Providing a virtual hug to students through an interactive phone call improves retention by giving academic staff at-a-glance reporting on students’ level of risk and commitment,” said Gary Hannah, CEO, Vocantas. “Students experiencing difficulty in an area are flagged. This empowers facilitators to focus time and attention on those students with early indicators to connect them with existing resources and support services before it’s too late.”

Scaller is a proven, easy-to-use interactive voice response (IVR) solution, designed in collaboration with education partners. Personalized messages or instructions can be sent and real-time acknowledgement and feedback is collected.

During a Scaller campaign, phone calls are made to students during critical points in the semester, or prior to the start of school, offering help in potential areas of need and proactively connecting them with existing support services and resources. On average, 10 to 15% of students in colleges and universities are lost to student attrition each year. Research has found that student drop-out rates can be reduced significantly in cases where outreach and intervention are initiated in the first six weeks of the semester.

Results from the latest summer and fall campaigns for Brock University, Lakehead University, Lethbridge University, Nipissing University, OCAD University, and St Clair College show that for students expressing an area of concern it’s likely to concern financial assistance, course planning, and/or help with academic writing and research skills. When students are contacted in the summer, Scaller provides an early indicator of how many students are planning to attend a particular school in the fall and areas of concern such as orientation programs and getting involved in school activities.

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