Reaching Students

Some higher education administrators were grappling with the question of reaching the student body even before the tragedy at Virginia Tech and the attendant question of a communication breakdown. Expect it to surge in importance in higher ed IT departments across the country, like disaster recovery did after Katrina. Any serious discussion of the future of effective communication channels must begin with an honest examination of current technologies.

The article E-Mail is for Old People (in the October 6, 2006 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education) explores the varying philosophies regarding communication at different institutions. Some administrators are entrenched in their policy that all official school communication will come via email and it is the responsibility of students to check it. But most students don't have email on their mobile devices and find that it isn't instantaneous enough for them. Besides, students can begin to feel harassed by the number of contacts through their campus email, both official and unofficial. Content may range from college officials plugging under-filled classes, campus performances, students seeking a new roommate, or any of a number of other topics that most students consider to be spam. Students are likely to shun this email account and miss critical official notifications.

It is important to maintain separate student comm channels for separate purposes. For instance, an email account that is not regularly checked may still be a viable choice for formal notifications such as registration confirmation, grades and contact with professors. That can work but the "dilution effect" must be discouraged. Some colleges are creating MySpace pages for informal communications, performance and other event advertisements. For universities of mostly traditionally college-aged students, that's taking your message to where they live. (In keeping with the tone, a college so cited also has a posted cartoon declaring, "College prepares you for the real world, which also sucks.") But, as Putting Student Communication in Con-TEXT from the 2/15/2007 concurs, for urgent and timely communications it's all about reaching out and texting students.