The Intersection of Technology and Services to Students or eServices 2.0

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The Intersection of Technology and Services to
Students(or e-Services 2.0)

• Session 039
• ATC, July 15, 2007
• David Johnston, Executive Director e-Strategy
• Student and Enrolment Services
• University of Calgary

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Agenda

• Context, History Background
• University of Calgary Situation
• Observations
• What the Future May Hold

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University of Calgary

• Medical / Doctoral, Research Intensive
• Young(ish) 41 years old
• 28,000 Students
• 11 Undergraduate Faculties
• 2 Graduate Faculties
• 3 Professional Faculties
• Only University in city of 1M

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Me

• 26 years in the business
• admissions, institutional research, registrar
  services, student information systems, registrar,
  e-Strategy
• Simon Fraser University (Vancouver)
• University of California, Davis
• University of Calgary

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Zen and the Art of Service to Students in the
21st Century

• We want to provide quality service to each
  every student on our campus
• But, we dont actually want to see them, talk to
  them or answer their emails

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A Brief History of Time

• With Apologies to Stephen Hawkings

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In the beginning there were the Faculty
Socrates
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Students
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Buildings
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Registrar
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Registration
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Registration
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Front Counter
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Technology
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Technology
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Ubiquitous Technology
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Service Technology Culture

• Big Mess
• Drive to reduce admin costs as education costs
  rise
• Limited investment in student affairs
• Managing changing enrolment profiles
• Need to justify investment demonstrate ROI
• Lack of senior level understanding

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Service Technology Culture

• Mailing admission packages
• Mailing grades
• Mailing registration / class schedule notices
• Mailing Fee invoices

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Service Technology Culture

• Built a registration system
• Threw up a Web Site
• Snapped on some bits and pieces
• Voila
• The New Service Environment
• Self Service
• Everything is on-line
• Do it yourself

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Uh Oh!
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Service Technology Culture

• Time for a change
• Need to rethink the role of technology as we
  reinstitute a service culture

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What the students are saying

• Technology isnt perfect. I think all of us
  realize that, but it can be used to enhance our
  university experience. It can be a good way of
  communicating. . . Technology can make a big
  university seem personal, likes its a small
  community, like its connected to me.
• Jessica, a millennial student, from Educause
  Review, Sept/Oct 2005

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What the IT professionals are saying?

• There is an increasing expectation from students
  to have more technology involved. It's one more
  tool to be able to do something a little more
  easily than you could before to engage students.
• Bob Gagne, chief information officer in computing
  and network services at York University in
  Toronto.

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And The Student Affairs Professionals

• . . . However, the leadership for improved
  student services should not be expected to come
  from the technology ranks. Rather it must come
  from those charged with advising and registering
  students, administering student aid, admitting
  students, collecting tuition fees and so on.
• Jim Wager, Vice Provost for Enrolment Management
  and Registrar at Penn State in Educating the Net
  Generation

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The University of Calgary

• Existing new leadership
• President
• Retiring Provost
• Special Advisor to the President on Students
• A plethora of new Deans

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Students, Students, Students

• Return to our roots
• Students at the Centre
• Engagement Agenda has arrived
• National Survey of Student Engagement
• Canadian University Survey Consortium
• Use technology as strategic lever

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U of C Environment

• Pieces of technology all over the place
• Limited expertise
• P/S coming at us like a train wreck
• Little coordination
• Requirement from the top that students be a
  priority.
• Recruit, retain and reward highly qualified
  students

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Call to Action

• We had
• Inconsistent service hours
• Multiple service points
• Removed email address
• Hidden phone numbers
• Languishing attention to prior investments
• Web site that was the poster child for siloed
  information

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Call to Action

• Re-organized student affairs division
• 2 pillars, Student Services and Enrolment
  Services
• 2 cornerstones in central support and e-Strategy
• Created an integrated services office
• Tasked to figure out the technology question

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Students Back at The Centre
Students
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Pieces already in place

• Electronic Document system (e-file)
• Queue/line management (partial)
• Degree Audit
• Student Web Self Service
• Knowledge management (partial)
• On-line survey tool
• Portal / Blackboard / IT infrastructure

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Pieces not in place

• Call management system
• Help / incident management system
• Enterprise resource system
• Student centric Web
• CRM

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Steps taken

• Physical renovation - inline experience
• Instituted help software
• Revitalized knowledge base system
• Implemented Call Centre technology
• Reduced and eliminated phone numbers
• Combined email addresses into one
• Virtual renovation online experience

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Take a ticket please

• Line management system
• Used with triage during peaks
• No line-up, comfortable waiting area
• Behind the scenes it is compiling and storing
  powerful management information

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Good Afternoon, Enrolment Services How may I
help you?

• Call management software
• Web based
• Scalable
• Provides a soft landing for callers
• Behind the scenes is compiling powerful
  management information

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You have mail

• Using help desk software
• Mainly to track emails
• Can be used to record other issues as well
• Integrated with our IT Department
• Transparent to the customer (sort-of)
• Behind the scenes compiling powerful management
  information

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By The Numbers
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By The Numbers
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By The Numbers
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Data Driven Decisions

• Used data to plan for current registration
• Used data to involve other areas
• Used data to plan staff levels and vacancies
• Using data to prepare budget HR submissions

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Harm Reduction

• Fall Registration in PS started recently
• Used data to create new Web site
• Leveraged tools to allow students to log problems
  directly into the system via the web
• Keeps them off the phone and out of line

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Ask the Rock

• Interactive Q A
• 24 x 7 x 365 access
• Access when they want it
• Expected to reduce emails phone calls
• Enhanced service to the community
• Made relevant and current

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Web for the Students

• Implemented a campus CMS
• Refocused much of the student portion
• Deliberately student centric
• Much improved, but lacks Web 2.0 features
• Rich user experience
• Speaks to the main audience

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Communication to the Students

• Remember Email is for Old People
• (Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 6, 2006)
• Created e-Bulletin boards
• Created a student (and staff) Widget
• Created an E-Zine
• Digest emailed to students with links
• Now have a prospective student version

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Widget
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E-Bulletin Boards
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Staff Orientation

• Large staff change over
• Cultivating a new attitude
• Need a common service culture
• Awareness that orientation matters
• Wanted a fun element

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Service Technology Culture

• Focused on the self serve ethos
• Problem is we havent created a true self serve
  environment
• Not everyone is comfortable with doing everything
  on-line

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Moving from Vision to Reality

• Changing culture and climate
• Creating a community of engaged learners
  supported by technology enabled services for
  learning and student administration
• Connected Campus
• Making as many services, and information, as
  possible available in a self serve mode on-line

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What to draw from

• Deliberate
• Strategic
• Student centric

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Technology

• Its not about the Technology
• Technology is an enabler
• Think of it as also a catalyst

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Technology as an Enabler

• Allows students (and staff) access
• To information
• To services
• To transactions
• When and where they want

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Technology as a Catalyst

• Frees staff to provide more, and better, personal
  service for those who need it
• Link related services
• Anticipate when they may want a service
• Tell them information they need to know

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Business Processes

• Need to design flexible, accessible, simple,
  administrative technology tools to make the
  business of attending a college or university
  easy (or at least easier)
• Need to provide students and staff access to the
  multiple systems and databases we have

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Key Objectives

• Not about the Technology
• Its about organizing, managing and creating to
  enable staff to do their work
• Its about providing the students access to
  services and information in a first class manner,
  on-line in person

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What is next

• Eliminate procedural bottle necks
• Understand, then simplify processes
• Understand student use of the web
• How do they search for information
• What is important to them

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Business Processes

• Success will ultimately be determined by our
  ability to adjust processes to reflect ease of
  access to services and to get things done

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Conclusions

• Kvavik says
• Students are expecting new ways of learning and
  doing business with the University
• I say the distinction between administrative and
  academic services is blurred, and we have to
  account for this

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Conclusions

• Not about the technology
• Its about using technology as a strategic tool to
  better serve our community
• Its about using the students in understanding
  their use of technology

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Travel Tips What to do if you go here

• Business Process Analysis
• Ensure resources are there for sustainment
• Understand you will slow down before you speed up
• Senior leadership buy-in

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Thought to leave withWabi Sabi

• Imperfect, incomplete, impermanent
• Nothing lasts
• Nothing is finished
• Nothing is perfect

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References

• Technology in Student Affairs Supporting
  Student Learning And Services, Kevin Kruger
  Editor.
• New Directions in Student Services, Jossey-Bass,
  Number 112, Winter 2005
• The Future of Student Administration. Robert B.
  Kvavik, University of Minnesota Senior Fellow
  EDUCAUSE Center for Applied research.
  Presentation to University of Calgary August 2004

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References

• EDUCAUSE Review, various issues
• Educating the Net Generation,
• EDUCAUSE, 2005
• www.educause.edu

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Questions?

• David Johnston, Executive Director e-Strategy
• Student and Enrolment Services
• University of Calgary
• david.johnston_at_ucalgary.ca