DAP Professional Spotlight: Meet Mary Towle-Hilt
At the literacy organization Reading Plus, summers are pretty quiet for the customer service department, and Mary Towle-Hilt was looking for a project.
Mary was first introduced to WalkMe in 2019, and since then, has been wearing the hats of both a customer service representative and Reading Plus’ primary Digital Adoption Platform professional.
Our DAP professional spotlight this month focuses on Mary’s inspiring journey and how she utilizes DAP to support educators change the way students read.
1. How did you become a DAP professional? And what problems were in the company that led to the creation of the DAP role?
Reading Plus is an adaptive literacy program that develops the fluency, comprehension, and motivation students need to be successful readers. It features an easy-to-use educator management system that provides quick access to a complete suite of reports that show growth at the student, class, school, and district levels.
I joined the Customer Service Team in the summer of 2019. Summers are pretty quiet in the department as most of the schools we serve are not in session. I needed a project, and the department needed a new WalkMe builder.
That same summer, we launched a new version of our Educator Dashboard that added reports, improved functionality, and a better, more intuitive design. It also looked completely different. WalkMe allowed us to announce the change and guide our educators on a tour of the new management system, introducing them to the basic navigation principles of the new dashboard.
After the launch, I worked on building Smart WalkThrus and was immediately intrigued by all the ways we could serve our educators better with WalkMe. I took every course I could and dived into learning jQuery and how to use Insight Analytics.
Today, I am the sole Digital Adoption Professional at Reading Plus in charge of planning, building, and quality assurance.
2. How is DAP used at your company?
We use WalkMe to allow educators to self-service on the Educator Dashboard. There is a wonderful wealth of information available at their fingertips about student performance in the program, and the amount can sometimes be overwhelming.
SmartTips define terms in reports. Launchers provide a nudge in the right direction during some of our trickier processes. Resources and Shuttles give educators easy access to classroom resources, and Smart WalkThrus provide step-by-step guidance to reports, updating student settings, and how to assign lessons and assessments.
3. What have been the greatest successes in implementation and DAP usage at your company?
Our use of WalkMe to service our educators has grown exponentially since I joined the project in the summer of 2019.
We have expanded application use from just ShoutOuts and Smart WalkThrus to SmartTips, Resources, Shuttles, and Launchers to provide more comprehensive assistance to our educators when and where they need the most help.
For example, this year we launched a solution to help guide site administrators through the Site Reset process. This process helps to prepare school sites for the new school year. In 2019, our Customer Service team closed 364 Site Reset cases. In 2020, with the publication of the Site Resource Solution, the department closed 252 Site Reset cases, a case reduction of 30.8%.
4. What are your biggest challenges as a DAP professional?
My biggest challenge as a DAP professional is finding the time to plan and build solutions. My primary role is responding to customer requests as a Customer Service Representative, not focusing on WalkMe.
I use any free time during the day planning, building, and maintaining our WalkMe build. However, with the success of the solutions, I have built this last year, my manager is hoping to carve out dedicated WalkMe time so that we can be more strategic about the solutions created.
5. What excites you the most about being a DAP professional?
Data! My favorite step in the solution build process is analyzing the data. It is so satisfying to see evidence that the solutions I build are helping our educators. I also love using the data to troubleshoot issues with the published solutions. It’s a real-world puzzle that I get to solve!
6. How would you describe being a DAP Professional in 3 words?
Building Guided Curiosity
