Transition Week - First-Time in College Tips for Freshmen Students

When the beginning of the year starts at Tarleton State University, many first-time in college students comprise the newest class of students at the university. Since 2012, the university as offered a unique interactive learning experience for these new students.

This experience is Transition Week and it engages almost 1,500 students each fall semester. The students persist through a very organized schedule to learn about campus resources, the location of their classes, and they have a change to get to know their class peers before the rest of the students come back to campus (you know those - sophomores, juniors, and seniors). 

During this week, we also have a first-year convocation which simulates an actual graduation ceremony for new first-time in college students. Here's a glimpse into the ceremony.

Unfortunately, some students are not able to attend the sessions as a result of attending national guard boot camp or finishing up a college class at a local community college. The students receive transition week credit for attending the classes and they have to complete the Online Transition Week components.

So, I created an alternative way to complete the online components through Blackboard Modules. Here's the overview of the Blackboard Module course:

Enjoy the content! Please feel free to ask me questions about the Online Transition Week. 

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
Higher Education Speaker and Researcher

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University Faculty - We Have an Easier Way to Take Attendance!

Virtual attendance? Sign me up! I enjoy the Student Success Collaborative system to take attendance and I wanted to encourage others to do the same! It also functions as an early alert system.

If you take attendance on another system, the data just LIVES on that system and no one can know if a student is experiencing difficulty in multiple classes. The Student Success Collaborative system is a game changer for faculty who are concerned about student success.

Here's the email that I sent to faculty:

[University] Faculty,

We are excited about the new Student Success Collaborative system at Tarleton State! Through this system, you can:

- Raise early alerts for undergraduate students in your classes without logging into the system
- Take digital attendance
- Create events for undergraduate students in your classroom and remind them of the event via email/text.
- Send proactive email messages to your undergraduate students.

After you complete this form (and watch the video), we will provide you with access to log-in to the Student Success Collaborative system. - http://tinyurl.com/SSCFacultyAccess

If you have any questions, please email jtedwards@tarleton.edu or send a message to @drjtedwards on Twitter (at anytime).

Please share this form with your colleagues.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
Assistant Vice-President for Student Success and Multicultural Initiatives
Tarleton State University

In English

The Result

We had a great response (viewers on the YouTube video) and accesses to the EAB platform. I am totally focused on academic analytics!

Have you adopted a similar campaign? Do you have any suggestions or questions for me?

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards

My Social Media Channels!
Of Course You Follow Me on Twitter! @drjtedwards
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Higher Education Technology Campaign - How to Print Your Schedule and Email Your P

This semester, we are utilizing the Education Advisory Board's Student Success Collaborative software to communicate with students. I definitely love this software for communication campaigns! I mean, I LOVE the advising scheduling feature, but I completely admire the ability to message specific groups of students.

When I discovered that some students experienced difficulty accessing and printing their schedule, I jumped at the opportunity to incorporate the scheduling feature in the Student Success Collaborative software as a back-to-school campaign! I also made sure that the videos were captioned and in English/Spanish.

On the first day of school, I sent the following email to all FTIC students at 8:05 am:

Do you want an EASIER way to check (and print) your schedule for this semester? Log on to http://tarleton.campus.eab.com/

Watch this Video for Step-by-Step Instructions in English
How to Print Your Schedule and Email Your Professors on SSC@Tarleton State (English)
https://youtu.be/GfCAoFZMo5c

Watch this Video for Step-by-Step Instructions in Spanish
How to Print Your Schedule and Email Your Professors on SSC@Tarleton State (En Espanol)
https://youtu.be/WQtbHNkgADo

For more information, please contact Student Success and Multicultural Initiatives (968-9480) or just reply to this email.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
Assistant VP for Student Success and Multicultural Initiatives

In English

En Espanol

The Result

We had a great response (viewers on the YouTube video) and accesses to the EAB platform. I am totally focused on academic analytics!

Have you adopted a similar campaign? Do you have any suggestions or questions for me?

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards

My Social Media Channels!
Of Course You Follow Me on Twitter! @drjtedwards
I Am Also on Instagram! http://www.instagram.com/drjtedwards/
Have You Subscribed on YOUTUBE yet?
Become a Fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook!
If You Love Periscope as Much as I Do...Follow Me There! - http://www.periscope.com/drjtedwards/
Email Me! I am PR Friendly! - jennifertedwards@gmail.com

Why Did You Choose to Go to College? - A Technology-Focused Retention Campaign

It has been an INTENSE summer and I am excited about the fall semester. We have such an amazing group of students. In fact, over 90% of them submitted their first college assignment to the Provost...on-time! This is a very positive sign for our retention numbers.

My numbers are possibly skewed as well, because I utilized the Education Advisory Board's Student Success Collaborative to send the Provost's email to all of the first-time in college students (FTIC) students who experience our university during Transition Week. Here's her email:

Subject: Here's Your First Assignment (Due Thursday at 5pm) - Dr. Murray

Tarleton Student,

Here's your first assignment. Answer the following questions in an email and send to [specialemailaddress]@tarleton.edu by 5:00 pm on Thursday, August 24.

- Why did you choose to go to college?
- Why did you choose Tarleton State University?
- What are the five main things (goals) you want to accomplish here over the next four years during your journey at Tarleton?

Sincerely,

[The Provost]

I forgot to add...
I also sent a text message from my account the next morning from EAB and I received over 100 responses within a 1-2 hour time period. Most of those responses were from parents who wanted to make sure that their students had the information as well. So, I utilized the next three hours to update...each...cell phone number...for each student. Yup, I am dedicated to student success.

So, this was my week:
Monday (email was sent)
Tuesday (text reminder) at 9:00 am
Wednesday (walking around to random students to ask if they received the email)
Thursday (reminder text was sent to students)...more cell phone number updates from parents...

The results?
All week = a SUPER successful campaign! The impact of the email was amazing! We had a WEALTH of responses and I would definitely do it again!

Any questions about how our campus utilizes the Education Advisory Board's Student Success Collaborative to make our dreams work? Email me! - jennifertedwards@gmail.com

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards

My Social Media Channels!
Of Course You Follow Me on Twitter! @drjtedwards
I Am Also on Instagram! http://www.instagram.com/drjtedwards/
Have You Subscribed on YOUTUBE yet?
Become a Fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook!
If You Love Periscope as Much as I Do...Follow Me There! - http://www.periscope.com/drjtedwards/
Email Me! I am PR Friendly! - jennifertedwards@gmail.com