{"id":12319,"date":"2021-04-16T08:45:13","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T07:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/?p=12319"},"modified":"2023-07-14T11:31:41","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T10:31:41","slug":"what-does-your-community-actually-want-from-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/what-does-your-community-actually-want-from-you\/","title":{"rendered":"How GDST Put 25 Schools on One Platform"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>We sat down virtually with Craig Doyle, Project Manager, and Amy Icke, Online Learning &amp; Innovation Manager, at the Girls\u2019 Day School Trust to discuss the progress of their community platform and the importance of user experience.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-15891 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Screenshot-2021-02-12-at-13.11.36.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1172\" height=\"524\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gdst.net\/\">Girls\u2019 Day School Trust<\/a> is a family of 25 schools across England and Wales, made up of 23 independent schools and two academies. As a specialist in girls\u2019 education, the GDST tailors its teaching to the way that girls learn best \u2013 an approach that encourages its students to be confident, happy and fearless with the belief that there is no limit to what they can achieve.<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, the GDST partnered with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/\">Aluminati<\/a> to create a community platform \u2013 called GDST Life. This space is there for students when they join the sixth form, giving them the opportunity to connect with others across the GDST family of schools. And it connects alumnae in one social space, opening the door to a host of new networking opportunities, mentoring support, events, news and resources, and much more.<\/p>\n<p>For alumnae, this meant that, at the click of a button, they were able to find mentors, events and friends; something that previously had all been channelled through their former schools and the GDST\u2019s alumnae team. By giving alumnae the means to tap directly into their 70,000-strong community, the potential to optimise the power of their network became clear.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-15890 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ux-indonesia-qC2n6RQU4Vw-unsplash-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>One location \u2013 two communities<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As plans for the new community platform were being discussed, the GDST team realised the potential value of expanding the reach of the platform to sixth formers too. Through GDST Life, sixth formers have the chance to network across the GDST family of schools, form cross-school groups, societies and study groups, find new resources and join GDST-wide events. It also makes the transition from student to alumna much easier and ensures the GDST is able to continue to support its students after they\u2019ve left the physical school gates.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>\u201cGDST sixth forms offer the very best of independent learning, supercharged by our powerful network of schools and alumnae, and having access to GDST Life is central to this,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> Amy Icke, the GDST\u2019s Online Learning &amp; Innovation Manager, explained.<\/p>\n<p>She continued, \u201cDuring the pandemic, there has been an even greater sense of collaboration across the GDST. Over the last year, we\u2019ve had to find a way of pooling our resources and harnessing all of the great work that was going on in our schools across the country. GDST Life allowed us to do this \u2013 to share events, a library of resources and a safe, informal space where girls could connect without needing staff facilitation, allowing for an increased focus on student well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p data-wp-editing=\"1\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-15894 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/amy-hirschi-JaoVGh5aJ3E-unsplash-1024x683-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"512\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Flexibility and personalisation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To do this, the GDST required a highly personalised platform build to allow for the organisation\u2019s complex structure, with the ability to segment their community into staff, sixth formers and alumnae with ease.\u00a0\u201cThis was just not possible with other platforms we considered, which made Aluminati a clear choice for us\u201d, Craig Doyle, the GDST\u2019s Project Manager said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-15895 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/toa-heftiba-_UIVmIBB3JU-unsplash-1024x683-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"512\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>A helping hand<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Being a new venture for them, the GDST team was able to draw on the professional expertise of Aluminati\u2019s consultants.<\/p>\n<p>Maria Gutierrez, Strategic Consultant at Aluminati focused on the user journey mapping of the platform to better understand the potential requirements and pain points that the users may have.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe close connection between Maria on the consultancy team, and Rebecca Whitton, Head of Client Success at Aluminati, allowed for minor changes and alterations to our platform set- up to be made to be made easily\u201d, said Craig, \u201cPlus the ongoing feedback we were receiving at this stage was helpful, too \u2013 such as the positive response we got, for example, to the resources section.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>GDST Life has been up and running for some nine months now. With this, the team is currently in the midst of taking the next steps to build its online offer. Moving to the latest version of the Aluminate Community Builder by next month will enable greater customisation and functionality across the platform, and give the GDST the opportunity to build its online presence and communities even further.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/aluminate\/\">Find out how the Aluminate Community Builder can help your community thrive, whatever its needs and scalability requirements.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; We sat down virtually with Craig Doyle, Project Manager, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,90,42,107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aluminate","category-alumni-relations","category-client-stories","category-education"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - 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