How Ukrainian Hub Streamlined Workflow and Improved Learner Retention by 30%

An educational pillar for Ukrainian entrepreneurs and businesswomen worldwide, Ukrainian Hub is a non-profit organization dedicated to offering knowledge, support, and access to the global startup ecosystem to those who are developing businesses. 

In 2020, the Ukrainian Hub needed a hybrid learning solution to host courses during COVID-19 and found EducateMe. 

Today, they organize startup delegations at Web Summit and offer mentorship, bootcamps, and diverse programs for owners of startups and innovative ventures in Ukraine, Portugal, and the United States.

What was their learning provision journey and how EducateMe helped them along?

We had a chat with Olesya Malovana, Co-Founder of Ukrainian Hub, and Margaryta Chorna, Program Coordinator at Ukrainian Hub, to learn why they picked EducateMe and how it answered their needs throughout the years.

Challenges Ukrainian Hub Faced: What Are They?

As the pandemic hit, Ukrainian Hub needed an online platform that could be a place to organize learning remotely. Even then, their programs were advanced and oriented at providing insights, support, and case-specific knowledge. 

The huge focus of the Ukrainian Hub is on the support and mentorship on the way to the development of the business. It means students read and watch lectures, participate in sessions, and, more importantly, solve issues in practical cases. 

Such an approach allows the organization to “offer guidance and help learners implement best practices” within their ventures. 

What were the challenges that the Ukranian Hub encountered when using such a method?

• A need to place complex programs with multiple activities in one place;
• A need for advanced tracking and feedback collection tools;
• The necessity to retain students in the first stages of the learning journey;
• The burden of managing user accesses and events for groups and cohorts;

Challenge #1. A need to handle materials, events, assignments, and Q&As in one place

Due to a dedication to quality learning, the Ukrainian Hub required a system that could effectively handle different activities under one roof. 

The organization actively uses pre-recorded lectures, presentations, PDFs, live sessions, project assignments, and mentorship sessions. That’s why a structured flow with event, task, and feedback administration was one of the key requests in the long run.

Solution: EducateMe’s integrations, module structure, and assignment management 

To provide comprehensive learning programs, the Ukrainian hub resorted to the advanced features of EdcuateMe for events, content embedding, and assignment management. It included a Zoom integration to keep events and sessions in order, and the ability to easily manage course structure and content.

Other than that, EducateMe’s assignment dashboard became fundamental to reviewing and managing tasks given to the students. 

Challenge #2. Monitoring performance and collecting feedback

Ukraining Hub sets high standards for its students. To finish the course or program, they should meet certain requirements in terms of lecture attendance, participation, module and task completion, etc. Such a selection process was quite a burden for admins. 

At the same time, the Ukrainian Hub pays significant attention to feedback and reviews, constantly communicating with learners. For them, it is the best method to provide real insights and expertise and adopt learning needs in real time.

Solution: Scoreboards and feedback management

EducateMe learning analytics and feedback tools turned out to be of great help, affecting the data management and analysis flow. For instance, the scoreboard system, with advanced filters and tags, allows one to see data on each course or learner and export this data. 

Regarding feedback collection, Ukrainian Hub actively applies an automated feedback feature to get insights about programs, mentors, and learners’ needs.

Challenge #3. Retaining learners in the first stages of the learning journey

As Ukraining Hub is a non-profit organization, its programs are free. And the issue is that many learners just stop their journey at the registration stage. For the Ukrainian Hub, it was vital to make onboarding smooth for learners and create straightforward learning experiences for diverse learners. 

Solution: EducateMe’s interface and smooth onboarding

Ukrainian Hub sees changes in how students behave at the initial stages, asking fewer questions and resorting mainly to the guidelines provided upon registration. 

The onboarding process plays a huge part there, making it great for diverse audiences, both for tech founders and non-tech savvy business owners as well. 

Challenge #4. Managing user accesses and activities for multiple groups 

Ukrainian Hub widely applies cohort or group learning approaches in the provision of business programs. 

That’s why, the organization needed a well-thought system for access and group management. With it, admins and mentors could deliver courses to different audiences, groups, and even groups within groups.

Solution: EducateMe’s level of access and tags 

Ukraining Hub has managed user groups effectively thanks to the segmentation and three levels of user access on the platform. In particular, the admins could assign mentors and students to courses or sessions and manage programs based on tags and filters.

EducateMe Implementation: Factors That Still Matter

For the Ukrainian Hub, the decision to use EducateMe for program delivery during these years lies in several factors. What are they?

Intuitive interface and navigation. At the very beginning, the organization tested several platforms. It used Hopin, an advanced platform for session management with breakout rooms and engagement. Yet, they quickly realized they needed a simple and understandable solution.

Custom solutions and feedback. The communication and cooperation with EducateMe are the other factors the Ukrainian Hub considers. In the long run, the organization significantly benefited from the support and custom solutions by EducateMe in terms of learner data tracking, export, and management. 

Platform’s flexibility and versatility. As EducateMe grows, some features change, and Ukranian Hub seems to like them, improving their flow as well. With the improvement of the content embedment system, Ukrainian Hub doesn’t apply a library to upload content but uses links and benefits from the content preview EducateMe provides.

Key Result: Ukrainian Hub’s Success

More courses launched 

With the bootcamp principles at the core, Ukrainian Hub started with one program in 2020. Since then, EducateMe has helped the organization to organize 8 long-term programs, with the largest one having more than 150 learners in it.

Growth of the number of learners

Since the start of cooperation, Ukrainian Hub used the EducateMe platform to help 600+ learners on the way to the development of their businesses.

Students do not drop off after registration

An interesting result is that the Ukrainian Hub managed to improve learner retention, or in other words, decrease the drop-off rate at the registration stage 一 from 30% on the first program to 0% on the latest ones. They consider the user experience and onboarding as the key factors for it.