Creating a ‘Student Experience’ Pre-arrival

Natasha Black

Teaching Organisation Marketing Manager

The School of GeoSciences

@UoEGeos_TO

www.facebook.com/geosciences

natasha.black@ed.ac.uk

0131 650 7542

How do we want our new students to feel?

•Included•Excited•Motivated•Valued•Secure•Unafraid

How do we get them to feel this way?

• Regular, personal communication• Regular, formal communication• Virtual Open Days• Informal online chat sessions• …..Get them to do it themselves….!!

Empowering our new students

Using Wordpress we created a Campaign Site:

uoegeosciinductionweek.wordpress.com/

What we used it for

One-stop-shop for:•Programme handbooks•Programme structures•Putting faces to names including a welcome from HoS•Induction timetables•Q+As / Chat wall

Going forward•Pre-selection of option courses

Benefits

• One-stop-shop for all Induction info

• Faces to names / personal touch• Q+As / chat wall – takes

pressure away from Admin• It’s easy to use, maintain and

update!• Gets students familiar with

Wordpress / Blogging sites• Pre-selection of option courses

Fun add-ons

• Social media /#EdFreshers• Chat wall• Count down• Survey – how students found

out about us and why they chose to come

• Polls – what I am most looking forward to

The Stats…

August 2014•Views - 3382•Visitors – 574•Views per visitor – 5.89

Sept 2014•Views - 4599•Visitors – 1104•Views per visitor – 4.17

Feedback

“The Induction website was a great addition to our pre-arrival communications with our new cohort. We were able to hold information for each programme such as pre-reading lists, links to programme handbooks, programme timetables and programme-specific induction timetables. We were able to direct new students to this one site for all of their information needs and we knew they were viewing the most up-to-date material. Whereas before we had to send multiple emails with multiple attachments / updates to documents, we were able to sign post this website and make changes quickly and easily. It saved us a lot of time and meant we had more capacity to respond to more bespoke queries. Its design was really personable and friendly too which was very welcoming to new students. ”

Olivia Eadie, Deputy Manager of Teaching Organisation and PG Team Leader

Questions…?