Kimberley P. Collins, Assistant Vice President for Academic Services at Monroe Community College (MCC), and her colleagues asked themselves this question--"Do students hear us above the noise?"--as they conducted a communications audit in order to better meet the needs of a diverse student body.
“Our communications audit was designed to question whether more communication is necessarily better,” said Collins in her recent SEM Quarterly article. “Students sometimes feel like they are bombarded by messages that are often not relevant to them. We risk them tuning out, ignoring ‘snail mail,’ and their overflowing college e-mail account.”
MCC also wanted to ensure all students understand the steps in the enrollment process. Staff from various offices, including admissions, placement testing, advising, registration and records, residence halls, health services, student life and leadership, orientation, technology services, and clubs, convened to discuss how they were informing students about enrollment.
“We took a step back and asked – what do we communicate, when do we do that, who do we target, and how?” Collins said. “Further, why do we communicate? What are our goals?”
MCC outlined the timing, frequency and delivery of messages, and found that it was sending an overwhelming amount—286 pieces—of enrollment-related communication to students. By tracking these efforts, Collins said, it “allows us to minimize unnecessary exposure and increase the likelihood of consideration.
“More isn’t better,” she said. “It’s just noise that we need to cut through to get our message out.”
To learn more about how MCC changed its communication strategies to better serve students, visit SEM Quarterly.
The April 2014 issue of SEMQ also features articles by Stanley E. Henderson, University of Michigan-Dearborn; Luke David Schultheis, Virginia Commonwealth University; Seth Marc Kamen and Marcy Shapiro, Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges; Linda Serra Hagedorn and Jiayi Hu, Iowa State University; Monique L. Snowden, Fielding Graduate University; and James Roche, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Topics include SEM leadership, creating a culture of excellence, institutional initiatives for servicemembers, new international student pathways, competency-based education, and performance and persistence results based on application submission timing.