Partner Appreciation Week 2024: Partner Spotlights

Each Partner Appreciation Week, we’re grateful to get to share some of the considerable impact that Knack has had on campuses across the country. It is on these campuses that we get to implement and nurture programs that help students achieve their academic goals, develop valuable and marketable skills, and persist to graduation. 

Today, we’re excited to share the achievements of a few institutions that we’re honored to work with to achieve stellar student outcomes. Read on to learn about these campuses and the intentional innovative work they’re doing to help students thrive.

Northeastern University: Global Reach with Local Impact

Headquartered in Boston, MA, but with a reach that spans the globe, Northeastern is renowned for its experiential learning model, high-impact research output, and deeply pursued partnerships. They pride themselves on “empowering not only students, but faculty, alumni, partners, and innovators to solve problems and pursue impact.” 

They displayed this commitment to impact in the fall of 2023, when they took the grand leap of powering all of their tutoring services with Knack - for all students, across all courses. For such a sprawling institution, this was no small task. But in doing so, they not only expanded access to peer tutoring for their student body, they expanded usage as well. Students at Northeastern are already exceeding pre-Knack peer tutoring usage statistics by over 50%, and 48% of those students had never taken advantage of such resources before. 

Reviews for the program have been glowing, with 98.2% satisfaction rates, and testimonials for tutors like “So patient, willing to explain everything and more, and is so funny!” to “I’m so confident going into this exam,” to “Her approachability and willingness to address my questions which made the learning experience productive and highly enjoyable.”

At a school where feeling seen might seem difficult, peer tutors addressed students' needs, fostering a globally expansive education supported by significant relationships.

Learn more about Northeastern’s Knack journey through this Program Snapshot.

Missouri S&T: Integrated Approach = Increased Awareness

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is proud to integrate education, research and application to create and convey knowledge that serves the state of Missouri and helps solve the world’s great challenges.

Their mindset of integration has been key to the successful adoption of Knack on campus, where they’ve supported tutoring for all students in all courses from day 1 of their contract. With Knack champions and campus partners who have been engaged, oriented, and enthusiastic from the start, students are constantly hearing about Knack’s peer tutoring program in a thoroughly integrated approach. 

Missouri S&T signed on with Knack in the summer, and wisely used the time ahead of a fall launch to promote the incoming program across campus, educating stakeholders about its potential as a student resource. Because of this “promote early and often” approach, Knack and its benefits are mentioned in their Freshman Engineering course as an available resource for academic support, promoted through the Library, Student Success Center, Office of Undergraduate Education, Student Involvement, Athletics, and more. Simply put: at every turn, peer tutoring is framed as a viable and vital piece of the educational experience.

The fruits of their labor became evident shortly after Knack’s debut on campus, with a 100% increase in student contact hours in one month, followed by another 100% increase two weeks later. The lesson here: when tutoring is treated as an integral part of the learning experience, students will follow suit.


Georgia Tech: Finding Success in Flexibility

The Georgia Institute of Technology, known better as Georgia Tech, is dedicated “to improving the human condition through advanced science and technology.” It’s an institution known best for its computing and engineering programs, but serves a broader scope of students than that - to be precise, more than 18,000 students across six Colleges of study.

Georgia Tech started their Knack partnership in January 2023 with a commitment to support its 7000+ engineering students. But after the flexibility and quality of peer tutoring raised usage numbers considerably, program administrators decided to grow the program. By mid-year, Knack tutoring was available to all students in all 8,000 Tech catalog courses. 

This was no small task, given Tech’s reach across multiple continents and the need to accommodate student schedules that included work, internships, research, families, and more. But by working in concert with the tutoring center to help students find their ideal support solution, the results have been exceptional so far. Tutoring sessions have been held literally around the clock, with some tutoring activity happening at every hour of every day. That flexibility seems to be driving new usage; 48% of Knack users had never previously taken advantage of campus tutoring options, and 100% of students with at least four tutoring sessions completed rating their experience as “Excellent” or “Very Good.”

And according to one student we surveyed, the experience is not just effective, but enjoyable. “Getting to sit and talk with someone about a subject who is positive and actively listening makes learning fun, rather than the chore of trying to push through coursework on one's own.”

 LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing: A Faculty-Driven Tutoring Boom

 LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing cares deeply about its commitment to “provide leadership and excellence in nursing education, practice, research, and public service.” Their partnership with Knack adds to the constellation of resources available in their Academic Source program, dedicated to “provid[ing] students with additional support to promote lifelong learning and critical thinking skills.” 

The constellation approach served LSU well in creating awareness and excitement about the program. While in their first semester adoption was slow, they ended the year having facilitated explosive growth. They wildly surpassed their goals for registered tutors, number of discrete tutoring sessions, and number of active tutors. Furthermore, faculty buy-in was demonstrated by recommending 144 students to become Knack Tutors. 

Temple University: Data-Driven Program Expansion

Over the course of three semesters, Temple University’s Fox College of Business expanded its scope with Knack from eight courses, to ten, to all courses offered in the college. This growth was due in large part to the efforts and enthusiasm of their Knack Program Administrator (KPA) Charles Allen. His close monitoring of program stats and vocal evangelism for the program led to a number of small touches that, over time, continue to raise awareness of Knack for students and tutors alike.

These touches include:

• Placing “Need tutoring? Visit temple.joinknack.com to connect with a peer tutor today.” in his email signature, encouraging faculty and other administrators to do the same;
• Networking with faculty to include mentions of Knack in their course syllabi; and
• Advocating to place Knack on course shells and in course tools pages in Canvas.

His efforts paid off significantly, with a 188% increase in the number of tutors covering courses and a 340% increase in the number of courses covered in November 2023 compared to last year at that time. We’re grateful for campus advocates like Chuck who tirelessly champion Knack and its potential for impact. 

Start your journey to telling success stories like these on your campus by visiting joinknack.com/partner.