Hilton College has used several different online platforms to assist learners with career guidance. They were blown away by the innovation on the Yenza platform. One of the best things they said about it was that it was very easy to set up and use when students were learning remotely.
We wanted to find out more, so we chatted with Janna de Gouveia from Hilton College. Here’s what she had to say.
Q1: How does the Yenza app compare to other online career services you’ve seen?
A: I have found it to be more comprehensive and more research-based. It was very accessible to the students who used it, but as a professional, it also did everything that I needed it to do from a psychological and technical perspective.
Q2: We often hear online solutions can be very hard to manage operationally. How did your school experience rolling out Yenza to your pupils?
A: I have used several different online platforms to assist learners with career guidance and Yenza is the platform that I have had the least glitches with. I appreciate the fact that it works on a tablet, laptop or computer. I also appreciate that it doesn’t require technical software such as Flashplayer which often trips students up – especially if they are trying to complete questionnaires online at home where I cannot assist with the technical/technological issues which they may encounter.
Q3: If you experienced COVID disruptions last term, did you find having a tool like Yenza to be valuable?
A: Yes I did. We had two out of five Grade 9 classes who were able to complete their Worker Type questionnaire in their actual LO lessons on campus. Thereafter, all the students were sent home and we had to adopt an online learning approach. Between the Yenza intro video and screen sharing the instructions over Teams, the other three classes all managed to get their Worker Type questionnaires done with no major problems. This was not the case with a different platform which we used last year!!!
Q4: When it comes to career guidance, it’s critical that the pupil goes through their own personal process to make the right choices. Do you feel the Yenza platform delivers on this?
A: Yes I do. I think the students will obviously still need to take a high level of responsibility and actually make the effort to plug into their Yenza profiles etc. But, the opportunity is there, and with appropriate guidance and encouragement from their parents and teachers, I am optimistic that this will happen.
Q5: When your Grade 9’s did their subject choices, did you find that Yenza enabled them to navigate through an overwhelming amount of information very easily and quickly?
A: It looks like it. Once they completed their Worker Type questionnaires, they seemed to navigate to appropriate places and info spaces on the Yenza site very quickly and easily.
Q6: Often we hear Counsellors, Edu. Psychologists and LO teachers struggle to dedicate enough time to each pupil when it comes to career guidance. Do you find a tool like Yenza helps with this?
A: It definitely helps – I still compiled individual reports for each student; however, it is a MASSIVE help to be able to say to parents that each of their sons has a membership with Yenza under which most of their subject choice and career guidance activities will fall. And to actually be able to direct them to the site to look at what their son has been busy with, as well as to use the site to answer questions that high volumes of parents all have (e.g. what do different subjects entail).
Q7: Most importantly, what was the feedback you received from your pupils? How did they find the assessments? What was their experience using the app?
A: They seemed to enjoy it. It was quick, easy and they enjoyed the visual aspect.
Q8: You’ve got more than a decade of experience in the careers education space. Given what you know about what other services offer, do you think Yenza is a high value product especially for its price point? If so, why?
A: Yes I do. I think Yenza gets the balance right in terms of allowing professionals the space to use their data for their own purposes (e.g. I have incorporated each boy’s Worker Types into his Subject Choice report and used the worker types to make subject recommendations) whilst giving students something to work with and on so that they themselves are invested and can do their own research.
Q9: You purchased Yenza for your Grade 11’s which you are still to rollout, what aspect of the app do you think they will benefit from the most?
A: Our Grade 11s are about to embark on a job shadowing module. I think the Yenza platform will help them to distill the careers they are interested in and hopefully narrow down their focus so that they can choose one or two meaningful careers to job shadow.
Q10: Would you recommend Yenza to other schools, if so, why?
A: Yes – it is cost effective, quick and very easy to administer. I like how easy it is to incorporate into an LO module on careers or to use in a career guidance/therapeutic process.
To find out more about Yenza and their amazing Career Guidance Tool, email Jared Molko via email at [email protected] or contact him on 076 958 5885. To view their website, click here