A student's first six weeks, end to end
The first six weeks of university are when a student is most likely to quietly disengage — and least likely to ask for help. This guide follows one student through those weeks and shows how the app, the nudges, and the staff console work together to catch a wobble early, without anyone feeling watched.
The principle throughout: make the helpful thing the easy thing for the student, and give staff a calm, aggregate picture rather than a surveillance feed.
1. Arriving
A student signs in for the first time and lands in their workspace. There is no long setup — the point of week one is a few small wins, not a form marathon. The first-week walkthrough is the student-facing version of this moment.
The institution's branding is already in place, because the tenant was set up before any student arrived (see onboarding an institution).
2. The timetable becomes the backbone
The student imports their timetable, and from then on the app has a frame to hang everything else on: classes, deadlines, and the quiet gaps where things slip. The timetable import and tasks and your timetable cover the mechanics.
This matters because a nudge tied to a real deadline lands; a generic one gets ignored.
3. Checking in becomes a habit
The student does lightweight check-ins — quick, low-friction, never a questionnaire. Over a few weeks this builds a gentle signal of how they are travelling. Crucially, the student stays in control of what they share, and the app is explicit about who can see it (see who sees my check-ins).
A check-in is never a grade or a judgement. It is one input that helps the student see their own pattern and helps staff notice a cohort-level dip — nothing more.
4. Nudges meet the student where they are
Staff author nudges and resources once, in the console, and the app delivers them in context — tied to the timetable and the moment, not a blast to everyone. The content lifecycle behind this is its own guide: from draft to a student's screen.
5. Staff see the shape, not the surveillance
In the console, staff see the cohort's pulse — an aggregate picture of how a group is travelling. Small groups are suppressed so no individual is identifiable from the aggregate. When a student does reach out, staff see only what the student shared, framed in what staff see.
Staff do not browse individuals for fun. The default view is the cohort. An individual comes into focus when there is a genuine signal — a help request, a crisis, a pattern the student themselves surfaced.
6. If something goes wrong, the safety net holds
If a check-in or a help request tips into crisis, the crisis path takes over: immediate resources for the student and a reliable, multi-channel alert to staff. That path is built so no single failure can break it.
What the six weeks add up to
By week six, the student has a habit, a timetable that works, and a quiet sense that someone would notice if they slipped — and staff have spent their attention on the few who needed it, not on everyone. That is the whole design: help that is easy to accept, and a picture that respects the people in it.
Common questions
Does the student have to share everything?
No. Check-ins are voluntary and the app is explicit about who can see what. The student controls what they share; see who sees my check-ins.
Can staff see individual students whenever they want?
The default is the aggregate cohort view, with small groups suppressed. An individual comes into focus on a real signal — a help request or a pattern the student surfaced — not idle browsing.
Why focus on the first six weeks specifically?
It is the window where early disengagement is most common and most reversible. Catching a wobble in week three is far easier than recovering a student who has already drifted by week ten.
Related
The fastest answer is usually one question away.