TITLE OF PRESENTATION TO GO HERE

							2010 ATEM Student Service Centres
Conference – 2020: A Vision for
Student Focused Services




 Blending the Old and the New to Better
 Serve Our Students
 Presented by Bridene Doherty and Marty Mag Uidhir
A little bit of background...
    The University of Newcastle (UoN) first introduced online
enrolment in 2000. Delivered via Peoplesoft student system,
student interface called myHub.

    All program handbooks at UoN are also online.

    UoN has had a growth in student numbers of 6000 since 2005,
with no comparable increase in administrative staff. This means that
we’ve broken the 30,000 student mark.

    In 2009, through feedback on the student experience, UoN
discovered that not all of our students were 100% impressed. This
was at great odds with the University’s strategic plan, and our
intention to make student satisfaction paramount.

    We were providing convenience and self-sufficiency through
online services, but it clearly wasn’t the silver bullet.


…….so how to address this problem?!
Step One: Bring back some Face-to-Face time!                                                         3



  Program specific information sessions provided by Program Convenors and Program
  Officers for every program.

  Student Administration talk given at each session to deal with the nuts and bolts of uni life,
  eg. Getting a student card, where to go when you need help etc.

  Online enrolment demonstration, also explaining online tutorial registration.

  Online enrolment labs set-up with a lot of staff to help students, individually, to sit down and
  complete their enrolment.

  The sessions were aimed at approximately 5,000 commencing students.

  Sometimes the program was tweaked ‘on the run’ to keep up with various contingencies.
  Flexibility, and an ability to think on your feet, was highly desirable!
Step Two: Ensure Staff Are Well Trained!                                                         4

  UoN’s Enquiry Centre employed 46 new casual staff early in January. This brought our pool
  up to nearly 60. Definitely an expensive exercise, but necessary.

  Many of the staff in this pool were current or recently completed students, so were able to
  identify closely with the students who were enrolling.

  A week long program of training was arranged covering all aspects of Student Administration
  and general, ‘what you need to know at uni’ topics.

  Particular emphasis was placed on the main issue of that time of year, namely Admission
  and Enrolment.

  UoN’s online learning system, Blackboard, was utilised for storing important resources and
  for adding instructional quizzes. These were also available for revision and reference. This
  depository can be added to and updated at any time with relevant materials.

  Video tutorials, made with Adobe Captivate, were posted on the web for existing staff to
  familiarise themselves with the appearance and use of the system.

  The video tutorials were also available to students, and we had great feedback from our
  Singapore Campus and distance students about them.
Step Three: Stand Back and Evaluate                                                             5


 A debriefing was held for all parties involved in the program and enrolment sessions.
 Discussion was lively, but the general consensus was that the project had gone well.

 The new staff were surveyed about the training that they received. The staff felt well
 prepared in general, but actually found the enrolment sessions a great training exercise in
 itself.

 Our online tutorial registration period went better than ever before in regards to volume of
 enquiries.

 Students who missed the sessions were calling the UoN Enquiry Centre after speaking to
 fellow students who had attended to ask how to get the content they missed out on!

 We knew it would be big, but perhaps we didn’t realise just how big!

 This model for enrolment, blending online services with face-to-face time with staff members
 has proven immensely successful, and I quote a UoN Executive Committee member ‘the
 orientation and enrolment approach has been a great success’ . 2011, here we come!
                                                                                                          6


      What will we do differently for 2011?
 1.     Ensure that the student invitation letter informing the students of the events is crystal clear
        about:
         a) When they should come,
         b) What will be happening,
         c) That attendance is highly recommended.

 2.     Make sure that all Faculties are sticking to the program as far as possible to try and deliver
        a uniform experience.

 3.     Start planning the whole thing waaaayyyyyyyy earlier!!!




29 June 2012
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Any questions or
   comments?