The Problem
Two-way communication with students in a specialized undergraduate program is extremely challenging. Universities have technological infrastructure to handle typical student lifecycle requirements (e.g., application, registration, course selection, grading, etc.). Because university policy & federal law set strict controls on how student data is stored, this infrastructure includes robust safeguards to protect sensitive data at all stages. For this reason, however, distributing and collecting individualized student information beyond that scope is highly limited.
For example, existing collaborative, data-sharing technologies, such as Google Docs, Sheets, etc. (very popular among students), do not allow for individualized sharing. An administrator cannot have a master document containing all students’ data and set restrictions so that each student can see and update only their own.
Communicating by email is not effective because students use it so infrequently. Also, student responses would not be compiled, meaning that each email “campaign” would represent a huge amount of follow-up work on the part of the administrator.
Communicating by more trendy means, such as social media platforms yields much faster turn-arounds, but not all students are on the same platforms, and again, the responses are not compiled.
The Solution
This Student Lifecycle Management process is far from streamlined, but once set up, but at least it provides the following advantages:
- increased response rates
- real time statuses for each student
- compiled email lists for sending follow-ups by category
- automated summary/reminder emails, making follow-up emails optional!
- centralized information that students can easily access, eliminating the need for the administrator to (re-)send information over email or for students to search through old messages for instructions, explanations, and other important data.
The Process
As described in the slideshow above, the process contains the following components:
- A website with a tree of sub pages systematically addressing key processes
- Google forms for each process that are individually accessible from their corresponding web pages
- A master Google Sheet workbook that collects all form responses on individual pages
- A status/assignment tab within the master Google sheet workbook that allows the administrator to list all students and which processes are required of each one
- Functions within the status/assignment tab that determine whether each student has submitted their required form with satisfactory data
- Code that iterates over student statuses on a regular basis (once per week) and sends automated emails to each student with a full list of their overdue or upcoming tasks, along with links to the instruction web pages and to the Google forms associated with them.
Focus on Agile
This was and is a very large project. Administrative processes unique to the program begin the day a student is accepted and continue beyond graduation. In order to get buy-in from students and to come up with the most efficient process possible, it was necessary to begin with only the most essential, and most widely required tasks.
- The first to be tackled were interdependent onboarding tasks:
- Submit immunization records
- Change term of entry from fall to summer
- Register for summer classes
- Complete the summer financial aid application so that we can post their summer scholarships
Each of the above processes must happen in the sequence given and by specific deadlines. Since students are motivated to register, and even more motivated to receive scholarship funds, we were able to get buy-in for the entire process by linking them together.
After successfully rolling out the process for these basic tasks (and making adjustments based on student feedback), we began developing follow-up modules for additional tasks that stretch through the freshman year (giving course section preferences and registering for language proficiency testing sessions at the end of each term).
The process continues to grow, with the next phases addressing study abroad options and administrative tasks, eventually leading to processes by which alumni can update their statuses and post or gain access to new job opportunities.