Best practices / Music ConstructED

Hitting the right notes: 400% growth in enrollment

Doubling engagement, boosting retention, and transforming music education access

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Honorable mentionMusic ConstructED began as a dream and a mission. Sarah Fairfield and Kate Hagen, both teachers in the Iowa City Community School District with over 20 years of experience, envisioned an online platform that could provide practical and relevant classroom resources and professional development opportunities designed specifically for general music educators. The Music ConstructED crew is committed to providing a solid foundation for general music educators to access the tools and resources they need to create a comprehensive music education program. 

“Music ConstructED’s vision is to provide comprehensive support for teachers at every stage of their music teaching career by offering access to high-quality, teacher-vetted resources including lesson plans, articles, downloadable resources, and an extensive catalog of professional development relevant to this specialized teacher. Training and continuing education is essential for both licensure and to keep up with the changing trends and needs of music education and music students.”

Paige Sifuentes, Business Support Assistant

INDUSTRY

Music education

COMPANY SIZE

Small enterprise

HEADQUARTERS

Coralville, IA

SERVICES

Professional development

The challenge

  • Finding an LMS with an easy-to-use interface and user friendly navigation
  • Incorporating gamification into course content
  • Needed integration support and troubleshooting through platform problems

“Our previous LMS presented significant challenges that hindered both user and instructor experiences. First, there was no ability to troubleshoot problems independently, leaving many course errors unresolved. The platform itself was new and riddled with bugs, further complicating its functionality. Navigation was confusing and counterintuitive, making it difficult for users to find what they needed. Additionally, the LMS lacked personalization options, neither accommodating company branding nor addressing individual customer needs. Gamification features were entirely absent, reducing engagement opportunities. The reliance on multiple plug-ins rather than native solutions added layers of complexity, making it difficult to mobilize an assortment of apps and programs into a seamless and efficient platform.”

Paige Sifuentes, Business Support Assistant

The solution

  • Gamification drives higher site traffic and user engagement
  • Integration support has bolstered B2B client relationships
  • Intuitive design helps save time updating courses

CYPHER solved all of these issues and added more than we could have imagined possible for our LMS. 

The helpdesk provided on-demand support that was an extension of the truly outstanding customer service we received at every step. The breadth and depth of knowledge that each person possessed, no matter their title, was truly noteworthy and set CYPHER heads and shoulders above their competition. 

While the plug-in feature of WordPress created headaches, the apps available for customization through CYPHER provided nuanced opportunities for customization. For example, gamification helped us more than double our time on site and helped generate more sales through promotions offered by attaining different levels. 

Single Sign On (SSO) was a must-have in order for us to do business with school districts, and CYPHER provided both the technology and the direct support to help us implement this new feature. Further serving our key B2B clients, the app that made portals possible allowed us to provide secure, customized learning experiences for entire school districts

Features

The templates and hierarchies allowed us to easily build robust courses that were easily combined and customized for multiple customers. The ability to sync sections also significantly reduced the time required to keep our courses edited and up to date. A significant point of friction was onboarding of learners and instructors. However, CYPHER mitigated that issue because we were able to create onboarding courses for which students and presenters are automatically enrolled

Additionally, automation is the other significant impact that CYPHER has had for our company. We were handling all quizzes, checks for understanding, certification, and most communication manually as individual tasks for each learner and teacher. Every aspect of learning experience is now able to be automated, which provides outstanding user experience as well as reducing the hours required to support the learning platform.

"CYPHER isn’t just a solution for today: it’s a partner in progress.”

Paige Sifuentes, Business Support Assistant

The results

  • Doubled site traffic, driving higher engagement
  • Saw a 400% increase in enrollment
  • 70% course completion rate, up from just 33%

Since implementing the CYPHER platform, several key performance indicators have shown remarkable improvement. Time spent on the site has doubled, reflecting increased user engagement and interest in the platform's content. Site traffic has more than doubled, demonstrating broader reach and visibility. Additionally, the number of districts enrolled has experienced a staggering 400% increase, underscoring the platform's effectiveness in attracting and retaining institutional partners. These metrics highlight the transformative impact of CYPHER on user engagement and overall platform growth.

Our completion rates skyrocketed. On our former LMS, approximately 1/3 of students completed their courses. Now on CYPHER, we estimate almost 70% of learners complete their courses. The ability to template quizzes made it easy to build knowledge checks into every type of learning experience that we offer. Because they were consistent, both students and instructors were able to maximize the ability to check for understanding and guarantee retention.

understanding and guarantee retention.“We would and already do recommend CYPHER Learning to other organizations! The responsive, knowledgeable, and personal customer service that you offer is your biggest differentiator. We interviewed several different platforms before choosing CYPHER. There was no comparison to CYPHER’s willingness to help and solve problems and support us until our issues were resolved. The support was always timely and every person with whom we interacted was a stellar representative of the company. Additionally, the continuous development of technology and options make CYPHER an agile and highly-desirable partner in the rapidly evolving market of educational technology.”

Paige Sifuentes, Business Support Assistant

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