Pacific University Puts the Time-Tracking Reins in Students’ Hands
Pacific University Puts the Time-Tracking Reins in Students’ Hands
The Challenge
Simplifying the Process to Make Everyone’s Life Easier
Pacific University was already using Time2Track when Rose Dahl became the Professional Practicum Coordinator for the school’s undergraduate Criminal Justice, Law & Society and Public Health Programs. It didn’t take long for her to appreciate the benefits. “I’ve been using Time2Track for about a year and a half now, since starting in the position,” Dahl said. “My predecessor was the one who got us involved with it and I’ve stuck with it. I’d been using a different time tracking tool in a previous position, so I can definitely draw comparisons.”
A lack of user-friendly features was one of the main challenges she faced with her old system. Making sure that students and staff understood how to use it properly took up too much of her time. Dahl reached the point where she thought it might be more productive to keep other users off of the system altogether. Time2Track’s streamlined, easy-to-use interface was a welcome change.
Results
With Time2Track, Pacific University:
Provides superior services for student interns, field instructors
Enhances efficient communication by automating all aspects of time tracking as well as reporting of internship hours and approvals
Positions itself as a best-practices role model for other colleges and universities that still rely on outdated and resource-consuming time tracking strategies
Time2Track saves a lot of time. Communication between the users is much more automated. That saves a lot of time for me and for the students and the field instructors as well.
The Solution
One Convenient Platform for Everyone
“One thing I appreciate about Time2Track is the interface. It’s very clean. It looks nice and professional,” Dahl said. “I feel comfortable having everyone — from students to field instructors to community partners and supervisors — use it. The system I’d used before was very clunky. It didn’t look nice and it didn’t look user friendly. I needed to be very involved in mediating my users’ interactions with it. For example, I was writing instructional documents for them. It got to the point where I was making sure they were using it as little as possible and I was the main one using it. On the other hand, Time2Track gives users the reins. It provides guidance but they’ve really been able to figure it out on their own.”
The University’s Outcome
Automation, Convenience and Enhanced Communication
Time2Track also makes Dahl’s life easier by allowing staff and student interns at Pacific University to access all the time-tracking tools they require using just one easily accessible online portal. “The fact that everything can be stored in one place and we have that archive is really nice. It takes away a lot of worry or concern I may have about organizing those things on my own. I don’t need to maintain as many computer or Dropbox files and label everything. With Time2Track, everything is catalogued in one place, including assessments and records of where we’ve placed students and when. Students can submit hours and get them approved. It just makes communication more streamlined,” Dahl said. “I love that aspect of it.”
She added: “Time2Track works well for us. If somebody were in a similar program, I would definitely recommend it. It’s meeting my needs so I could definitely see it meeting the needs of other folks in similar situations.”
About Pacific University
Founded in 1849, Pacific University is a diverse learning community offering a unique combination of nationally recognized undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in the arts and sciences, education, business, optometry and the health professions.
Learn More or Schedule an Online Demo Today