If you enroll students in an educational institute’s courses, you probably maintain student information using Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, or Google Sheets. It might do the job, but there are numerous reasons why you should consider creating a student database. In this post, we’ll walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to create a student database with Kohezion.
Why Do You Need a Student Database?
Every school, college, and university at one point needs to create a database of all their students. The online database is convenient, can’t be misplaced, and you can easily update it. You have access to all the data you need from anywhere, at any time. It offers many benefits, some of which are listed below.
Smooth Interaction
A student database manages various information, from students’ attendance, assignments, academic reports to address, and other personal data. It facilitates smooth interaction between teachers and students. Teachers can also notify parents about important school events, such as parent-teacher conferences.
Admission Process
An efficient student database system takes care of the admission process as well. Students and their parents no longer need to stand in long queues to get an application form as everything is achievable online. The software handles the admission approval, documents, tests, interview schedules, and much more.
Reduced Paperwork
Not only is it more convenient for students, but the administration too. By keeping the digital track of student data, the database reduces paperwork. Other than personal records, schools create and file a lot of documents regularly. It is essential to maintain the security of these records because they may contain sensitive student information. Managing and securing a significant amount of paper files is not an easy task. Anyone may end up misplacing the files, or the files may fall into the wrong hands.
Data Security
With a student database, you neither have to worry about security risks nor about losing any physical file or confidential document. Role-based access will prevent unauthorized access to your highly personal files. The software offers many automatic data backups to make sure you do not end up losing them. Moreover, automated security updates also prevent the system from getting hacked by cybercriminals. Therefore, the software will store each document securely and track the required record in the blink of an eye.
Convenient Timetables
Creating a timetable for your school is possibly the most time-consuming of all administrative tasks. A student database software offers numerous features to help you schedule classes in just a few steps. It allows you to make changes to a timetable by canceling a class or scheduling a new one. You can set up notifications for teachers to let them know when changes occur in schedules. Additionally, you can enable daily timetable updates to parents and students to add to their convenience.
Library Management
Managing in-house operations of school libraries can be cumbersome. However, you can use database tools to ease the process. For example, it allows you to assign a barcode to each library book. That way, you get to facilitate seamless tracking, cataloging, and transaction of books. Users can also use it to search, check status, and read books and periodicals online.
Steps to Creating a Student Database
First Step
To get started on creating a student database, you will have to set up your Kohezion account first. Once logged in, you will have an option to start building your student database by:
- importing your .xlsx file and converting your spreadsheet into Kohezion
- selecting your desired style for the database from our list of templates
- creating your custom student database from scratch
If you’ve been working with students for a long time, you might already have an Excel file containing their information and courses. You can save time and avoid losing any data by converting your Excel spreadsheet to an online database.
Another handy feature Kohezion offers are the ready-made database templates. This way, the database is already set up, so you can start updating it with your students’ data. They are simple and straightforward, and you can still customize them to fit your needs perfectly.
Once you’ve made your choice, you can give your database a title and start editing.
Second Step
You’ll design and build your application in Application Builder. It’s located in the Builder tab that only account administrators can access. Here you can drag and drop desired fields into the form or overwrite the default field names with your content.
If your database is new, you’ll have to decide what student information you want to collect. When you ask for the right data in advance, you save time and headaches from tracking down this info in the future.
Some common examples of the student details you might want to store are:
- First and Last Name
- ID Number
- Date of Birth
- Phone Number
- Photo
- Address
- Department
- Enrolled Courses
To add a field to your form, simply drag and drop it to the position you want. Each of the given fields has properties you can modify in the property grid. For example, you can add the Single Line Text field for First and Last Name and a Number field for the student ID Number. For the Date of Birth, use the Date field, click on Show Age in the property grid, and Kohezion will calculate the years, months, and days automatically.
For Emails, addresses, or any other descriptive data, it’s best to use the Single or Multi-Line Text fields. However, if you’re working with specific student information, such as the Department, you should use the Checkbox field. That way you can rest assured that only your school’s or university’s departments will be included.
You might need to upload and attach files to some records. For this, you can use the File field. This could be any file type such as an image, Word document, or a PDF. If you wish only to attach photos, you can restrict the file type for the upload by activating the Image property.
There are a variety of fields to choose from. We advise you to go through all of them as you may find new interesting and useful data types to track.
Third Step
In the third and final step, you will organize your student’s information. For instance, you can classify students by their name, ID number, or department. Within the courses they’re taking, you can attach the name of instructors, class times, and grades.
After creating your student database and adding students, the dashboard is where you will visualize your data.
They consist of multiple widgets (pivot tables, pie charts, bar charts, data lists, calendars). You can configure this space to put forward precisely what you want to see and how you want to see it.
By default, all widgets are private. If you want to allow other users to see a particular widget, you can toggle its visibility. Once they’re public, widgets have a green outline. And of course, you can always add, edit or remove these widgets.
Having all of this information on hand makes it easy for you to manage your student base and analyze data. For example, you can see which classes are most popular. Furthermore, there might be new students, courses, or professors added to your school. Whatever change there is, you can easily add them and update your database to ensure consistent and accurate information.
Conclusion
If you want to boost your educational institution’s productivity, it is high time you invested in an efficient student database. It’s the only way to stay relevant in the age of digital transformation. Nonetheless, do your research before making the final decision. Make sure to pick a reliable and user-friendly student database software that will meet your institution’s requirements.
Kohezion offers several valuable features for private or public schools, colleges, and universities. If you follow the step-by-step guide provided in this article, you’ll be capable of creating a searchable and filterable student database. Opt for an all-in-one flexible student database that you can effortlessly search, sort, and filter directly from the front-end. In addition to this, you won’t have to worry about creating student accounts or giving students access to your site’s back-end. As new students, courses, professors, etc., join your school, you can easily add them to your database to ensure consistent and accurate information.
