Communications on Campus
Meetings
Initial Discussion: 1/8/2009
Things to Consider
1) What is our scope?
A focus group of staff and faculty on internal communications was conducted last summer by Beth McDermott and Amy McGill (see attached focus group questions and results). Direct results include the MIIS@Work blog and the emergence of new communication tools such as Yammer. Should we, then, focus entirely on communications to and amongst our student population? Or are there still issues with employee communications that need to be addressed?
- People consume information differently
- People may not be getting to YouTube videos through the website -- may be accessing through YouTube directly, Facebook, etc.
- Short-term quick fixes may be helpful to creating successful long-term communications
- New student orientation information -- the information was given to them, yet new students didn't know where to find it
- Faculty and staff need to understand where things are and relate the information to students
- Information overload: if ALL the information is there, people may not read it all/digest the information
- Develop a quick information sheet listing available tools and where to find them
- Create a short new student FAQ (top 5 or 10 questions)
- Where do I find my books?
- How do I find a syllabus?
2) What are the primary communication issues as we see them?
3) What are our current methods of communication?
If I remember correctly, someone was tasked with developing a list of blogs, conferences, etc.- is that true? Could we go through that list as a group and get a general sense of which methods are effective and which are not?
4) What do we foresee changing in our communications with the move to Outlook?
5) What is/are the best way(s) to find out from students/faculty/staff what needs improvement, and what we already do well?
Would a survey be useful? A focus group? Would the questions used in the earlier focus group be useful here? How should we implement one or more of these processes?
6) Are there any changes we can implement immediately?
If we decide on a process of inquiry that will take longer than this January winterim, are there “quick fixes” to our communication issues that we can implement in the meantime?
