View
21
Download
0
Category
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
NERCOMP 2008 Enhancing Retention: A Tool for Communication between Faculty and Advisors. Kostia Bergman Vanessa Ritz. Introductions. Kostia Bergman Associate Professor Biology – College of Arts and Sciences Northeastern University k.bergman@neu.edu Vanessa Ritz - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Citation preview
Copyright Northeastern University, 2008. Northeastern University Confidential
NERCOMP 2008
Enhancing Retention: A Tool for Communication between Faculty and Advisors
Kostia Bergman
Vanessa Ritz
Copyright Northeastern University, 2008. Northeastern University Confidential
Introductions
Kostia Bergman
Associate Professor
Biology – College of Arts and Sciences
Northeastern University
k.bergman@neu.edu
Vanessa Ritz
Lead – Customer Relationship Management
Information Services
Northeastern University
v.ritz@neu.edu
Copyright Northeastern University, 2008. Northeastern University Confidential
About Northeastern University
Founded in 1898 in Boston
5th largest private university in the United States
Northeastern is renowned for:
Experiential Learning (#1 in Coop per US News and World Report)
Interdisciplinary Research (over $70 million sponsored annually)
Urban Engagement in the heart of Boston
Copyright Northeastern University, 2008. Northeastern University Confidential
Project Background
Northeastern lacked the capacity to effectively identify and intervene with students who showed signs of poor academic performance, attendance, or other issues in a timely, consistent manner across campus
Every percentage point increase in the rate of graduation is worth $1 million to the University
A solution was needed to help identify and intervene with students who matriculate and then find themselves unable to adjust to the academic rigors of higher education
Copyright Northeastern University, 2008. Northeastern University Confidential
Project Background, cont’d
The College of Engineering (COE) developed a system in 2001 to provide a safety net for freshman engineering students
Technical and security issues made scaling this to a university-wide solution impractical if not impossible
A basic pilot application was put in place for Fall 2005 across all colleges for select freshmen-level courses
Faculty were asked to use both the university-wide (feature poor) and engineering applications (feature rich) for students
The university chose to deploy a new, expanded application for the Fall 2007 term to cover all undergraduate students
Received a grant from the Davis Educational Foundation
Salesforce.com was chosen as the application platform
Copyright Northeastern University, 2008. Northeastern University Confidential
Project Background, cont’d
Salesforce.com provided the platform to meet many of the critical success factors as defined by a user task force made up of faculty, advisors, and administrators
Web-based, user-friendly tool that is highly customizable
Easily integrated to provide visibility to near real-time data updates
Ability to track and view student interactions
Allow for the ability to increase communication between faculty and advisors
Automatic email based on database triggers, customizable by college
Easy-to-use, real-time reporting
Copyright Northeastern University, 2008. Northeastern University Confidential
Project Approach
Project coordinated by an Information Services resource
User task force created from a key user base of faculty, advisors, and administrators that met regularly to review deliverables and development efforts
Followed methodology to allow for iterative development
Copyright Northeastern University, 2008. Northeastern University Confidential
What is FACT?
“Faculty/Advisor Communication Tool”
Name selected to demonstrate expanded functionality
Replaced/expanded on former “Early Warning” systems
Includes progress reports for select students as well as non-participation concerns in the beginning of each term
Incorporates two-way communication between faculty and advisors
Consists of two applications:
Faculty J2EE Web Application for submission of cases
Salesforce.com front-end for advisors and administrators
Copyright Northeastern University, 2008. Northeastern University Confidential
Demonstration
Custom faculty application
Web-based
Accessed through the Northeastern Faculty Portal
Accesses Salesforce.com data via the API (only references data from Salesforce.com)
Salesforce.com for advisors
Web-based
Requires license and Northeastern credentials (authenticated through Northeastern LDAP)
www.salesforce.com/login
Copyright Northeastern University, 2008. Northeastern University Confidential
Analysis
We are currently in the second active term using FACT across the university
We had very strong compliance in the first term among courses that were a part of the former early warning program
Compliance constitutes submitting cases, or stating that no cases exist for a course
Overall compliance was not as strong due to a variety of factors – more senior-level courses, decreased “marketing” efforts, resistant faculty
Copyright Northeastern University, 2008. Northeastern University Confidential
Next Steps
Feature enhancements planned for each term
Spring 2008 included new functionality for first month and mid-semester reporting for athletics
Future versions may include special reporting for students on scholarship and academic probation
Formation of a steering committee
Regular meetings to be scheduled around releases made up of members from the original user task force and other champions
New “marketing campaign” targeting both faculty and advisors with the benefits of the tool
Recommended