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Prospectus
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Extend the potential for online provision of Information Advice & Guidance
The most powerful yet easy to use course search on the market
Places emphasis on usability and data quality
Good IAG in the right place helps young people make a more informed choice
Search results can be refined by the user in an intuitive and relevant way
Delivering pathways information in context to the courses searched
Supports integration of CAP, ILP, DARt and Learner Voice amongst others
Ability to integrate course information from many areas into one system regardless of each individual prospectus
After obtaining feedback from young people and other users, the latest version of Idaho’s 14 - 19 prospectus search tool takes the facility back to basics and uses techniques key search players such as Google have championed. Users may search in a more natural freeform way, combining keywords and phrases as appropriate. The system suggests courses as the user types. It evens allows young people to find providers that offer very specific combinations of courses, for example a provider that offers "sport and tourism and French and German" courses.
Users can find the range of courses in their area daunting. Idaho’s prospectus makes this an easy process and we even help flag new diploma courses to visitors when this is needed.
Idaho’s provider management console places an emphasis on usability, data quality and lays the groundwork for the implementation of the CAP. The system uses a QAN-based approach for the creation of new courses. The provider types a QAN number and key fields are automatically completed such as title, category, level and type significantly reducing the chance of poor quality information appearing in the prospectus.
This uses data provided by the DCSF and NDAQ and ensures that courses are described in a similar way across different sites and authorities, providing much more consistency for young people when searching. Course data is now split into multiple academic years, an important foundation for the CAP in order to distinguish between course and application data held year on year.
Tools are provided to allow larger providers to insert and maintain their data from existing systems using a bulk management facility. Ongoing development of the console will ensure that emerging standards such as XCRI are supported in order to further enhance the quality of data between different sites facilitating cross-border searching and common applications.
Information, Advice and Guidance is key to young people having the best understanding of courses and careers and the Idaho Prospectus prides itself in the quality of IAG data shown in context – something it is hard to find in other prospectus products currently available.
Not only does the prospectus pull in video content relevant to the area onto the homepage it also suggests careers-related videos that are relevant to the result list whilst searching, showing young people talking about their experiences that will hopefully allow better and more informed career decisions to be made.
If we hear or read a piece of information we only retain 10% of it after 3 days. The impact of video and images will allow you to remember 65% in the same timeframe.
Users may refine results in a much more interactive way, for example by deselecting certain areas and types of courses. The result list updates immediately without having to reload the entire page. This will allow users to pin point exact results that interest them. These features are paramount to an intuitive search tool and mean young people can easily chop and change the data they see to compare results and find the best solution for their needs.
Using innovative search techniques users are able to search using visual aids rather than just a check box or input box. Try using the slider on the right to see how a distance pod could work.
The Pathways element of the Prospectus allows users to obtain a ‘birds-eye’ view of provision available for a particular sector across all levels. It is essentially a simple, easy to use wizard that allows young people to select a general sector and drill down through possible routes that starting point could lead to. During these Pathways relevant information, links to courses in the prospectus and case study videos are shown in context.
This prospectus features a fully functioning pathways section which can be completely customised and populated by the prospectus administrator.
Idaho’s prospectus sits at the centre of our product range and seamlessly incorporates CAP, ILP, DARt and Careerstube - which is an invaluable IAG and Learner Voice tool. Our products are made specifically to allow integration with other products – including external - as well as ensuring future DCSF requirements and guidelines can be met at later dates
Greater Manchester LSC has developed an overarching 14-19 Prospectus covering the ten local authority areas in Greater Manchester. Each 14-19 Prospectus is individually managed within the local authority and holds the information about what courses are available in that area. The overarching 14-19 Prospectus allows young people to search for courses across the whole of Greater Manchester returning a list of relevant opportunities from all ten 14-19 Prospectuses. It then allows the young person to click on the courses, at which point the young person is taken to the individual 14-19 Prospectus website
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