Case Study: The College of St. Scholastica streamlines social work placements with Exxat STEPS

Optimizing the Placement Process for a Social Work Program

The College of St. Scholastica’s Master of Social Work program needed a better way to manage a complex student placement process involving students, field instructors, agencies, and university staff. The existing paper-based and spreadsheet-driven approach created errors, limited transparency, and made it difficult for the field director to manage a program of around 60 students efficiently. To address these challenges, the college turned to Exxat and its STEPS fieldwork education management platform.

Using Exxat STEPS, the program centralized placement data, streamlined communication, and automated workflows for requests, interviews, learning contracts, and reporting. The result was a major reduction in administrative effort—about 70% less work, with administrative time and effort cut nearly in half—along with improved transparency, stronger agency relationships, and better decision-making. Exxat also helped the program operate smoothly during COVID by eliminating paper forms and adapting to changing site availability.

The College of St. Scholastica

Nicholas Navaro

Field Director