Kareen

Kareen is an Alberta resident at Red Deer Polytechnic pursuing a degree in social work. Her degree is pre-registered and she feels fortunate to have less academic planning, but still needs to manage her progress to meet her goals. For that reason, Kareen primarily uses Stellic for quick access to grades and to keep track of all her planning resources & requirements, instead of registering for classes. Contrary to her previous on-paper academic planning sheet, she appreciates that with Stellic “you can do all your organizing and planning there and it’s not gonna disappear off your desk in a windstorm”. 

In regard to registering for classes, it is especially important to Kareen that her institution tracks her progress and is able to cater support based on what they observe. Kareen reports that feeling alone in the process and the fear that your plan is inadequate is what makes the degree planning experience stressful. Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available to her, Kareen recommended that institutions make sure there is straightforward navigation to student resources online.  

Without adequate degree management, “course registration is very stressful, very anxiety driving because I don’t want to have to take a class that is repetitive for me. I don’t want to pay for something I’ve already done”. Kareen emphasizes that finances are a limiting factor for most students who want to complete their degree, so there is little room for error in their academic plan, which makes taking repetitive/unnecessary classes all the more frustrating. With RDP's commitment to improving the student experience, Kareen is taking full advantage of Stellic to manage her degree.