8 Reasons why educational institutions need intranets

Jonathan Davies
9 mins read

While bored students might not be anything new, educational institutions are facing bigger challenges as a result of the shift to digital learning.

A study by OneClass found that 75% of college students are unhappy with the quality of online classes, and 35% have considered withdrawing from school.

And while most schools and colleges have since returned to in-person teaching, many educational institutions have adopted a hybrid approach—whether that’s by continuing online lectures or introducing digital homework activities.

The main problem is that digitally native students expect ‘Netflix-like’ digital experiences. But in reality they are faced with poorly integrated systems and, more often than not, user interfaces straight out of the early 2000s.

Luckily, online education platforms don’t need to be stuck in Windows 2000. There is a way out. Modern intranet platforms can digitally transport educational institutions into the (right side of the) 21st century.

8 reasons why educational institutions need intranets

It’s not just students struggling with legacy platforms and approaches, teaching staff also face a number of challenges on a daily basis. Without an intranet platform, most teachers are over reliant on email to communicate with their students, and don’t have the right tools to collaborate with fellow staff members online.

By centralizing information and communication channels, and enabling collaboration with tools, intranets can help schools bring together different departments, foster teamwork, and improve productivity.

Fast up-to-date knowledge access

One of the biggest challenges for educational institutions without an intranet system is sharing important information such as deadlines, timetables, policies, resources, and events—and keeping them up-to-date.

To avoid keeping your students’ anxiety levels high, an intranet solution makes it easier for them to know where to access important information—whether that’s a deadline for an upcoming assignment, necessary reading for the course, or a new school policy that’s being implemented.

How this looks in Happeo:

Happeo’s federated search allows you to find pages, channels or specific content, across the platform and third-party apps, with just a few keywords. Students and staff will no longer have to sift through unorganized email inboxes to find what they’re looking for.

Personalized content experiences

Intranets allow teaching staff to personalize the learning experience for the different classes they teach. Teachers and professors can assign tasks with deadlines, grade coursework, and leave feedback.

When paired with in-person class work, intranets can help to keep students engaged with discussion groups, quizzes, and virtual “office hours” with staff members.

How this looks in Happeo:

Happeo’s Pages feature enables your teaching staff to create a customized homepage for their different classes in a matter of minutes, without needing to code. Staff members can drag and drop the sections their students need to see, such as course materials, video recordings, the latest assignments, and even discussion groups.

Better staff collaboration

Intranets make cross-departmental collaboration a walk in the park. Whether you need to work on a new curriculum for the year or turn staff meeting points into a project with actionable steps, having a centralized platform where people can work on things collaboratively makes life so much easier for your staff members.

How this looks in Happeo:

Happeo’s Channels feature allows your staff to create a centralized, online ‘space’ where selected employees can collaborate and communicate in real time.

An accurate view of staffing resources

Intranets allow you to keep an online record of teachers, admin staff, part-time workers, faculty heads, lecturers, and even Ph.D. students—making it easier to find staff members and their contact details.

How this looks in Happeo:

Happeo’s People section allows you to find anyone in your institution, see where they sit in the org chart, and connect with them in a couple of clicks.

Centralized platform to manage internal information

Whether you’re announcing a faculty dinner, a list of extracurricular activities, or posting a recap of an event, an intranet with a blogging platform can help you share important information in a more dynamic and engaging way—with videos, images, and links.

How this looks in Happeo:

Happeo’s intranet employs a web-based content management system where educational institutions can manage digital content on one single platform: from creating and publishing content to updating, sharing, and archiving it.

Integrated with existing workflows

Happeo has native integration with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, allowing you to work with Gmail, Outlook, Calendar, Drive, Meet, Teams, and more—without having to leave the Happeo interface.

Secure and compliant knowledge sharing

As an educational institution with students and teaching staff, you’ll want to control who can access and contribute to certain pages and channels.

How this looks in Happeo:

Happeo is an intranet solution that’s been built with security in mind. All customer data stored in Happeo is housed in the Google Cloud, which means users benefit from Google’s best-in-class security protocols.

Customizable to fit your brand

As your intranet will be used on a daily basis, by teachers and students alike, you’ll want the platform to reflect your institution's personality and culture.

How this looks in Happeo:

Happeo’s full branding add-on lets you customize the look and feel of your intranet.

Education intranet examples

Here are two examples of educational institutions that are taking full advantage of Happeo’s intranet solution.

Inspire Education Group

Inspire Education Group, formed after the merger of two colleges, employs 1200 staff members who teach around 10,000 students every year.

See how Happeo boosted Inspire Education Group’s digital transformation

Launch your intranet faster with Happeo

With branding, style, and section templates, Happeo is easy to use and easy to maintain. Happeo is trusted by leaders in the Education industry.