Interview with Kortext stream’s Product Manager

In the weeks leading up to Kortext stream’s biggest ever release, we sat down with Product Manager Joel Hewitt to talk all things student engagement analytics.

Together, we explored his mission to build software that helps tackle one of higher education’s most pressing challenges: identifying and supporting students before they fall through the cracks.

Kortext stream – ‘the do and not the who’

‘Kortext stream is a student engagement analytics platform, but it’s more than just charts and numbers,’ says Joel.

‘Our mantra is “the do, not the who” – race, creed, colour or background don’t matter – stream looks at what individual universities expect of each student as far as engagement goes, initiating alerts that help support students whose engagement drops below a set threshold.’

Kortext stream monitors for the moments when a student starts to drift – fewer logins, no library activity, missed lecture playbacks – and flags those patterns early, giving tutors and support teams the chance to reach out before a situation becomes a crisis.

‘Being present on campus is great,’ Joel explains, ‘but you’ll find that a student who shows up 100% of the time may not be engaged compared to a student who can’t make every class but is watching lecture playbacks, getting things out of their digital library, actively engaging.’

When engagement drops, preset alerts go to the student and their tutor. Interventions get logged and the student gets the support they need before their situation can escalate.

It’s not just about academic achievement. Joel explains, ‘it’s helped a lot of students out, even with the grimmest of things, and universities have seen a lot less attrition – instead it’s helped them support students with mental health struggles.’

A platform steered by its users

Before moving on to become Product Manager, Joel was the previous Training and Education Manager for stream.

‘I built up a relationship with a lot of universities and people that use stream, speaking to them and having my own thoughts and opinions on the platform.’

He goes on to explain, ‘Once I started (as Product Manager), we began a product steering group each semester. Two representatives from every partner university come along and we spend about two hours giving them updates and sharing the list of recent feature requests from customers and voting on priorities.’

Joel summarises this brilliantly, stating: ‘Almost everything in stream has been a request from customers. It’s having that kind of relationship where the universities themselves have more of a say and a stake in stream than just selling them something that they can just plug in and hopefully it works out.’

He describes planning each release as striking the balance between law and dance:
• Law: headlining, non-negotiable features
• Dance: small, flexible fixes

‘I have to balance suggestions from customers, stream service desk and wider business priorities, so usually there’s a big headline feature – the law side – and then as many fun smaller fixes that we can squeeze in each time – the dance side.’

5.0: setting stream up for the future

Kortext stream 5.0 is the platform’s biggest release in years.

What started as a planned incremental update turned into something far more significant when they redesigned the platform to be WCAG 2.2 AA conformant. ‘This time around we wanted to make stream as accessible as possible which then snowballed into a complete redesign.’

The new tech stack has facilitated the implementation of enhanced charting technology, so dashboards are now snappier and more interactive.

‘We’ve always had chart visualisations throughout stream, now the different technology allows users to zoom in and out, hover over to pull specific information…it’s definitely more user friendly.’

Joel highlights the importance of these updates for users with additional needs, facilitating a platform that everyone can use with ease.

‘There’s a major change in navigation around stream for 5.0. It can be used with just a keyboard for people who can’t use a mouse, and with screen readers for those who have visual difficulties.’

He adds, ‘There’s going to be a subsection of people that would never have been able to use it, even for myself – I’m colour blind and to be able to see colours better outside of dark mode – that to me is a huge move.’

The redesign has also helped align stream with the other products in the wider Kortext portfolio, as Joel explains: ‘The tech stack change meant that we’re aligned with the rest of Kortext and are in a better place to integrate going forward. Moving our foundation to fusion means that data can easily be brought into stream and other Kortext applications.’

Impressively – despite a total rebuild of stream – Joel and his team have managed to squeeze in some key new features that further enhance platform functionality.

These include:
• A new workflow for alerts setup
‘Alerts is a huge part of stream and it has had a complete facelift.’ Joel explains. ‘Now the system is very simple because it’s laid out very clearly, section-by-section then a summary at the end. That will be a major thing that users will notice I think.’

• Smoother filter implementation with faster loading times
‘We’ve added simple user enhancements. So, as you start to check filters, it takes a second to work out whether or not you’re going to select something else and then it’ll just load everything once which dramatically cuts down the amount of time that people spend waiting.’

• Space for confidential notes
Limiting the visibility of sensitive personal information to specific users.

What are you most proud of about stream 5.0?

‘I’m incredibly proud of the stream team for rallying together to get it done – that’s the thing that I’m most proud of outside of the platform. Making stream WCAG AA 2.2 conformant is hugely important for our users and it means that we’re providing an inclusive environment for users with different needs.’

Without giving too much away, what’s next for Kortext stream?

‘We’d love to integrate Kortext IQ into stream. A tutor could go in and say: “Hey IQ, show me engagement trends for this week” and it looks at all of their engagement and says “Hey Jeff, here you go…” That would be really fantastic.’

‘We could do it from a student side as well – a student could log in and say, “My engagement’s down, what’s going to be the best way for me to be able to bring that back up?” It could work on both sides.’

‘Facilitating students on multiple courses is also a huge one. Outside of that, the world is our oyster. For me personally, I’d love to be able to implement a more direct messaging system with students, a more student-focused approach where they can instigate a conversation with their tutor themselves.’

Kortext stream undergoes continuous improvements and it’s Joel’s job to make it the best it can be for our customers: ‘As soon as 5.0 goes out, the clock restarts and it’s on to the next, which we’re already starting to work towards…’.

To find out more about Kortext stream 5.0, read our blog.

To see how stream can transform student support at your institution, talk to us today.