VIRTUAL ADVISING AND RECRUITING:

Opportunities to Increase Recruitment and Retention of Adult Learners

Cathi Jones

“It is within the power of technology to deliver personalized experiences on a massive scale. Mass personalization has already fomented revolutions in health care, government, manufacturing, marketing, and dozens of other human endeavors, and it would be a strange quirk of the universe if somehow education were exempt from what seems to be a fundamental human dynamic,” (DeMillo, 2012).

VIRTUAL ADVISING AND RECRUITING

What?

Why?

Where and How?

WHAT?

Virtual - adjective

Created, simulated, or carried on by means of a computer or computer network.

(Ex. virtual conversations in a chat room)

WHY?

VIRTUAL RECRUITING AND ADVISING CAN HELP TO “BRIDGE THE GAP” FOR ADULT LEARNERS IN

HIGHER EDUCATIONPROVIDING A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CAMPUS

For every year of this report series online enrollments have increased at rates far in excess of those of overall higher education.

The number of additional students taking at least one online course grew as much this year as it did last year.

The number of students taking at least one online course increased by over 570,000 to a new total of 6.7 million.

The proportion of all students taking at least one online course is at an all time high of 32.0 percent

Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States – Allen & Seaman (2013)

INCREASING RETENTION COULD ALLEVIATE BARRIERS TO GROWTH IN ONLINE INSTRUCTION

CAMPUS TECH COUNTS

87% of current college

students considered their

institution’s technology offerings

when selecting their college

92% of administrators say

their #1 priority is:

Attracting and retaining students

*From the CDW G 21st Century Classroom Report, www.cdwg.com/21stCenturyClassroomReport

Adult Students

Older

Prefer self direction in

learning

MotivatedServe multiple roles

Re-entering student

COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF ADULT STUDENTS LEND TO USING VIRTUAL TECHNOLOGY

Research on Adult Learners: Supporting the Needs of a Student Population that Is No Longer Nontraditional By: Jovita M. Ross-Gordon

TECHNOLOGY HELPS HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS PROVIDE FLEXIBLE , EFFICIENT CONTACT WITH THE ONLINE ADULT LEARNER

PREPARATION FOR RECRUITING SESSION

ADVISOR/RECRUITERSTUDENT

•BOOKMARK INFORMATION FOR PROGRAM

•EMAIL INFO TO STUDENT BEFORE APPT.

•HAVE ADVISING SHEET READY

•SEND INSTRUCTIONS OR GIVE THEM URL FOR INSTRUCTION PAGE

•CHECK EQUIPMENT (INCLUDE HEADPHONES FOR FEED BACK IF NECESSARY)

• ASK FOR FEEDBACK FROM STUDENT (SURVEY, COMMENT, ETC.)

•MAKES VIRTUAL APPT. WITH ADVISOR

•RECEIVE EMAIL FROM ADVISOR WITH INFORMATION FOR SESSION OR LINK TO INSTRUCTION PAGE INCLUDING EQUIPMENT SUGGESTIONS

•SEND ADVISOR TRANSCRIPT

•CHECK EQUIPMENT (INCLUDE HEADPHONES FOR FEED BACK IF NECESSARY)

• JOIN ADVISOR CALL OR SESSION

Skype Google Hangouts

Big Blue Button

3 Technological Methods Used

SKYPE AS A TOOL FOR VIRTUAL RECRUITING

STATUS NOTIFICATIONS VIA SKYPE

VIRTUAL ADVISING SESSION IN SKYPE

OPTIONS IN SKYPE

ADDING PEOPLE TO A CALL

CHECKING EQUIPMENT

BIG BLUE BUTTON VIA SAKAI:SETTING UP MEETING WITH STUDENT

CREATING THE MEETING

SELECTING PARTICIPANTS

EMAIL STUDENT RECEIVES WITH INFO FOR MEETING

SAKAI SESSION WITH STUDENT USING BIG BLUE BUTTON

SAKAI SESSION WITH STUDENT USING BIG BLUE BUTTON

GOOGLE HANGOUTS

VIDEO CONFERENCING COMPARISION CHART

Product # of part. Recording Presentation Sharing

Privacy Support

Mobile/ios support

Skype 2yes with 3rd party software; Evaer; records to hd.

yes, only with one voice calls

Skype loginyes/ios/android/blackberry/windows phone/kindle

Facebook 2 no no Facebook login no/no ios

Google Hangout Up to 10 yes

yes; desktop sharing and send files

Google + user login not student email

yes/ios/android

Big Blue Button Up to 80 yes yes, desktop

sharing student # login Android; needs

flash for ios

Hello(Firefox) 2 no no not sure yes

Tango 2 no no not sure yes

REFERENCES

Allen, I. Elaine, Ph.D. & Seaman, Jeff, Ph.D. (2013). Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States. Retrieved from:

http://onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/changingcourse.pdf CDW G 21st Century Classroom Report (2011). CDW Government. Retrieved from

www.cdwg.com/21stCenturyClassroomReport Ross-Gordon, Jovita M. 2003. “Adult Learners in the Classroom.” In “Meeting the

Special Needs of Adult Students,” edited by Deborah Kilgore and Penny J. Rice, special issue, New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education 102: 43–52.

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