Comments after Online Student Services Session 1 - Academic, Career & Personal advising and counseling & Tutoring

Degree Audit - determined to be the most important online student services tool

DARS degree audit was visually pleasing, easy to read and understand.  Students able to see what they had left to complete degree, also has a "what if" function.  Truly a tool for self directed learners.  Our degree audit requires counselor intervention.

• Concerns with accuracy of MC degree audit
• Someone commented that it was useless and no one disagreed
• Solution - focus group with counselors and SCT Banner folks
• Process - bring up request to AAC
• Homework - decide what functionality we need and what look we want - be specific at focus group

Communicating remotely with students

• Student email accounts are coming, but students seem to prefer the immediacy of instant messaging & chat.  Certainly don't typically want to "talk" to someone either by phone or in person.  Anecdotal accounts from those with teenagers followed.
• Consider making instant messaging available during peak times
• Use automated phone messaging to communicate with students

Website - no differentiation between external (.edu) and internal (MyMC) sites

• Students can't find advising, transfer, career information - needs to bubble up to the top
• Integrate services from all campuses
• Make it easier for students to find information
• No online personal counseling, but community resources should be made available along with information about issues common to college students.  Community resources are available, but buried too deep.  This is one of my favorite sites for personal counseling issues

  Abridged version - http://counseling.uchicago.edu/resources/virtualpamphlets/

  Unabridged version - http://www.dr-bob.org/vpc/

• Need to encourage departments to develop websites and maintain syllabi

Software for students to make appointments with counselor from the website. 

• Consider pros and cons
• Look into Adviser Tracker and Time Tracker

Smarthinking - 3rd party tutoring - http://www.smarthinking.com/

• Very expensive
• Considered 4 years ago - pilot - not well utilized - times have changed
• Perhaps time to consider again
• Low risk way to try - some publishers are including Smarthinking tutoring for the semester for students using particular textbooks (expense passed onto student)
• Study Guide Resource

  http://www.howtostudy.org/resources.php

   

Weekend students need student services.  Online resources one way to provide - flexible/available 24/7.

Create an interactive catalogue rather than (or in addition to) the current pdf version

 

Please let me know what I left out or what I reported inaccurately.  I was enjoying and wasn't paying enough attention to taking notes.  Let's continue the discussion next Thursday when we will learn about Developing Online Communities. 

I've developed a webpage with Online Student Services information.  The presentation is there so you can easily take a look at the websites that the presenter recommended.  I'll post these notes on the site.

http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/Departments/studevgt/onlinsts/Resources/onlinestuserv.htm

Anita