What is the Student Plans feature?
Student Plans is a centralized, student-driven tool that helps students set goals, track progress, and document achievements while ensuring compliance with state-mandated career and post-secondary planning requirements. It provides a structured yet flexible way for students to plan their futures while reducing the administrative burden on educators.
Where to Find Student Plans
Student Plans is located in the Portfolio section of Find Your Grind (which now houses the links to student Notebook responses and their Favorite badges). Students can access it under the default “My Plan” tab.
Key Features
1. Dynamic Goal Setting
Students can create and update short-term and long-term goals through an easy-to-use popup window. Goals can be revised at any time to reflect changing aspirations.
2. My Next Steps
This section helps students break down big goals into actionable steps like:
Researching career paths
Gaining experience through internships
Preparing college applications
3. Artifact Upload & Evidence Collection
Students can upload up to 20 files (e.g., resumes, certificates, project files) to showcase progress and achievements. Supported file types include jpg, png, docx, mp4, mov, xlsx, pdf, and gif.
4. Progress Tracker
A visual progress bar at the top of the My Plan page tracks:
✅ Lifestyles
✅ Skills
✅ Goals
✅ Careers
✅ Mentors
✅ Next Steps
✅ Artifacts
✅ My Requirements (if configured by the district)
As students complete sections, their progress updates in real time.
5. District-Specific Customization
Districts can add custom requirements under the “My Requirements” section. If you don't see this section, please reach out to us today to get started!
Students manually check off these requirements once completed.
How Skills, Careers, and Mentors Populate in Student Plans
Find Your Grind dynamically populates Skills, Careers, and Mentors in the Student Plans based on a combination of earned and favorited badges. Below is a detailed breakdown of how each category is determined and how students can update them.
Skills (Top 5 Displayed in My Plan)
Logic for Displaying Skills:
Skills must meet both of these criteria:
The skill badge is earned.
The skill is favorited by the student (indicated by the heart icon).
If a student earns more than five skills, prioritization follows this order:
Skills discovered via chatbot activities are prioritized first.
If a tie occurs, skills are sorted alphabetically.
If a student removes the heart from a skill, it is immediately replaced with the next eligible skill.
How Students Can Change Their Skills:
Earn and favorite a new skill badge from the Explore → Skills section.
Unfavorite an existing skill by clicking the heart icon to remove it, allowing a different skill to populate.
Careers (Top 5 Displayed in My Plan)
Logic for Displaying Careers:
Careers must meet both of these criteria:
The career badge is earned.
The career is favorited by the student (indicated by the heart icon).
If a student earns and favorites more than five careers, alphabetical sorting determines which five appear.
If a student removes the heart from a career, it is immediately replaced with the next eligible career.
How Students Can Change Their Careers:
Earn and favorite new career badges in the Explore → Careers section.
Unfavorite an existing career by clicking the heart icon to allow a different career to populate.
Mentors (Top 5 Displayed in My Plan)
Logic for Displaying Mentors:
Mentors must meet both of these criteria:
The mentor badge is earned.
The mentor is favorited by the student (indicated by the heart icon).
If a student earns and favorites more than five mentors, alphabetical sorting determines which five appear.
If a student removes the heart from a mentor, it is immediately replaced with the next eligible mentor.
How Students Can Change Their Mentors:
Earn and favorite new mentor badges in the Explore → Mentors section.
Unfavorite an existing mentor by clicking the heart icon to allow a different mentor to populate.
FAQs
Does the progress tracker update automatically?
Yes! The progress tracker dynamically updates based on students' actions. For example, if a student earns and favorites five career badges, the “My Careers” section will display a ✅. If a student removes a favorited career, the checkmark disappears until another career is added.
Can districts customize Student Plans?
Yes! Reach out to our Find Your Grind team to let them know that you want to use this feature! When setup, all students in the district will see the customized requirements in the the “My Requirements” section.
What file types can students upload?
Students can upload jpg, png, docx, mp4, mov, xlsx, pdf, and gif files as artifacts.
How do students update their goals or next steps?
Students can edit their Short-Term Goal, Long-Term Goal, and Next Steps by clicking the Edit button. Updates are saved upon clicking Save in the popup window.
How to Introduce Student Plans to Your Students
To help students get started:
1️⃣ Direct them to the Portfolio section and click “My Plan”.
2️⃣ Encourage them to set goals and explore their recommended lifestyles, skills, careers, and mentors.
3️⃣ Have them upload relevant artifacts to document progress.
4️⃣ Use the progress tracker to review what’s completed and what’s next.
Pro Tip: Consider integrating Student Plans into class discussions to help students reflect on their career and academic goals.
With Student Plans, Find Your Grind ensures students take ownership of their future, while making it easier for educators to track progress and meet compliance requirements.