Retention: Effective Communications
Honors
List Recognition Letter for Part-Time Students (Adobe Acrobat
File)
This Best Practice of Stanly Community College involves mailing a congratulatory
letter to part-time students who have maintained a 3.50 G.P.A.
Enrollment and Student
Services Comprehensive Assessment Process
A Best Practice from Central Piedmont Community College, the assessment
process is part of a commitment to placing learning at the core of every
effort at the college. As a co-curricular unit of the college, the Enrollment
and Student Services (ESS) area has spent the past year redefining its role
in a learning college environment. Historically its assessment processes
have focused primarily on student satisfaction with services; however, the
new assessment process incorporates not only program outcomes, but learning
outcomes as well.
Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA)
This website provides information on the law that ensures the privacy of student records.
The University of Texas at San Antonio's Report on Customer Service
2006 (Word File)
UTSA's primary external "customers" are its 27,000+ students. To gather
information from the students about their experiences, the institution administered
several customer satisfaction surveys focused on the quality of: education
received, student services; auxiliary services; fiscal services; webpages;
and university police. The improvements made in response to the survey are
outlined in this report.
"Celebration
Highlights GW's Customer Service"
This brief article by Zak M. Smith describes a weeklong celebration of customer
service at George Washington University, culminating in awards given to
individuals and departments based on nominations from the GWU community.
"A
Mickey Mouse Approach to Customer Service"
Paige Booth, Vice President of Marketing, St. Edward's University (TX) and
her marketing team—which functions as an internal marketing agency—
participated in a professional development seminar at the Disney Institute.
As this article explains, the team learned that everything students encounter
on campus conveys a message about the institution.
Engaging the
"Social Networking" Generation (Adobe Acrobat File)
This monograph from Noel-Levitz, Inc., although directed at student recruitment
practices, has implications for student communication aimed at retention.
In order to communicate with students, student development services personnel
need to recognize the growing importance of electronic social networking.
Ten
Tips to a Successful Website Redesign
While you may not be directly responsible for how your institution's website
looks and functions, you may sit on a committee that is charged with reviewing
proposed changes and updates. This article by Karine Joly, Editor of CollegeWebEditor.com,
provides an overview of what you should look for and also a list of pitfalls
to avoid.
Mind
Tools on Active Listening (Adobe Acrobat File)
This 4-part monograph by Kellie Fowler on good communication skills includes
the following sections: Hear the Message; Remove the Barriers and Hear the
Words; Listen, Learn, Achieve; and Listen and Improve Your Performance.
Ten
Tips for Effective E-mail
This short article by Ellen Dowling, Ph.D (published by MindTools), contains
simple suggestions for communicating clearly via e-mail.
North
Harris College (TX) Podcasts
In these audio podcasts, real students, faculty, and staff share their experiences
about life at North Harris College as well as useful information about services
and programs.
Butte College
(CA) Chronicles
This combination audio podcast and blog allows students to subscribe to
syndicated content and to respond by posting comments and questions about
the content on a weblog.
Folson
Lake College (CA) Podcasts
These podcasts cover topics like financial aid, registration, upcoming events,
the multi-cultural club, and more.
Incorporating
Appreciative Inquiry into Academic Advising
This article by Jennifer Bloom, Adjunct Associate Professor, Educational
Organization & Leadership, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, offers
a brief introduction to Appreciative Inquiry and how it can be used to help
students develop a positive view of their future during the advising process.
