Erasmus University College Brussels (EhB) has a clear humanistic vision. EhB is not only a place to study, but also a community where everyone can be themselves and develop. Today, with more than 5,000 students, the university college can call itself the largest, truly Brussels-based, Dutch-speaking university college.
Elke Moortgat is affiliated with the Nursing programme at Erasmus University College Brussels. She has a dual role within the university college. Her main responsibility lies in her role as internship coordinator, but she is also a lecturer and internship supervisor.
Challenge
As internship coordinator, Elke ensures that everything related to the students' internships runs smoothly, from planning to supervision and evaluation. This task takes up about 40% of her time, while the rest is spent supervising students and supporting colleagues.
"By being involved in both the programme and the internship supervision, we can work more efficiently and better support students in their learning process."
In her role as internship coordinator, Elke experienced some challenges with organising and keeping track of all the information.
"My colleague at the time was tech-savvy and wanted to integrate ICT solutions. I was still doing everything in Excel spreadsheets. It was a lot of work to constantly search for information in different files, and it felt cumbersome. I wanted a more compact overview, where I could quickly access all of a student's data and didn't have to constantly search between paper and digital documents."
The use of OnStage arose from the need for a more accessible and efficient way to support students and teachers.
"I was actively looking for a solution that could bring everything together in one system. OnStage offered exactly what I needed: accessibility for both students and teachers, an affordable price, and lots of options for internship planning and evaluation. It was the only platform that met our vision."
Solution
The implementation process for OnStage was not without its challenges.
"It was difficult at first, especially because I had no IT background and my technical colleague was no longer working with us."
It took some time to get everything up and running, but once it was properly set up and with the excellent guidance from OnStage, the system works perfectly for Elke.
"I am now very happy with how things are going, especially when I see how much time we save in internship supervision."
Elke's expectations were mainly focused on overview and efficiency.
"I wanted to have all the information in one place and not have to search endlessly. My goal was to be able to see quickly and clearly how each student was doing. Now that everything is digital and continuously up to date, we have much more insight and can also assess students in a consistent manner."
Since its introduction, she has also noticed more enthusiasm among her colleagues.
"At first, there was some resistance to digital changes, but now colleagues are actively thinking about how we can use the system even better. Efficiency has increased enormously and it has become easier for everyone to keep track of student files."
In addition, the system offers Elke enormous added value because it is free for students.
"It is very student-oriented and offers various integrations for planning internships. For example, students can also upload and track their own progress. I am also able to plan everything for the students in one system, which helps to avoid duplication. OnStage saves me a lot of time and improves the efficiency of our team."
Result
The results speak for themselves for Elke. They have saved a considerable amount of time, both for teachers and students. But as a planner, Elke also saves a lot of time and can focus more on guiding her students.
"The system provides a complete overview and makes planning and evaluating internships much easier. We can now respond much more quickly to students' progress, and they can better track their own development by seeing everything in the same system."
Elke therefore argues that it is valuable to dare to choose innovative solutions, despite the initial investment. "Since switching to OnStage, we have been working entirely digitally, except for a few daily evaluations on paper. This has enabled me to stay better informed about the students' progress.
Elke looks to the future with confidence, with OnStage as a tool to help her achieve her goals.
"The system not only helps us to optimise current processes, but also gives us a solid foundation for the future.”