Posts by Komail
Search is Live!
Hello OrgSyncers!
Today we’re excited to launch Search, an awesome update that is available to all users. The new search feature will allow you to search for anything you have access to in OrgSync.
Previously, search was limited to a single module, which didn’t allow you to access information from all your portals. Now, the new search box (located on the upper-right corner) will give you the ability to search all content that you have access to from any portal in your community.
Searching content will bring you the new “Search Results” page, where you can filter by types of content or by the organization from which the content is located. Let us know what you think about the new search feature in the comments section below.
Also, if you didn’t catch our Development Updates presentation at OrgSync Connect, watch the presentation here to find out what updates we’ll be making during the Summer and Fall!
[CASE STUDY] Reallocating Time to Focus on Student Development
Everyday campus departments struggle to meet the demand of student requests because of their paper-based processes and procedures. The result can be mounds of paperwork for staff to process, dissatisfied students, lost data, and low office morale. It is even more frustrating to see resources that should be dedicated to student growth and development programs reallocated to other areas due to inefficient operations.
This was the scenario at the Student Activities and Leadership Office at Portland State University before they adopted OrgSync. The department’s paper-based system required staff to spend 4 to 6 hours of their day processing requests manually and contacting students when forms were not filled out completely. As a result of staff focusing on administrative and logistical paperwork, they were unable to allocate time to develop meaningful programs and building relationships with students.
OrgSync has completely transformed how Aimee Shattuck, Director of Student Activities and Leadership at PSU, operates her department. After implementing OrgSync, Aimee’s staff now spends 30 minutes to an hour on administrative tasks, down from 6 hours prior to OrgSync’s implementation, a savings of more than 80%.
“As a supervisor, OrgSync has helped me introduce efficient processes to my department so that my staff can work on more meaningful projects for our students. OrgSync has had a direct correlation with me retaining great staff and doing better work with students.” – Aimee Shattuck
We’ve created a case study with PSU to illustrate how OrgSync has streamlined processes and procedures for the Student Activities and Leadership office. The office is now able to better serve students, reallocate staff time to student development, such as the new Leadership Fellows Program, and be more accessible to students.
[CASE STUDY] How La Sierra University Collects Involvement Data for Their Annual Assessment of Outcomes
When La Sierra University first joined OrgSync in the summer of 2010, they needed a better way to centralize student organization management and track co-curricular involvement on campus. However, as administrators on campus began to become familiar with the platform and its capabilities, they soon realized OrgSync could be used in multiple departments across campus and help them to achieve their goals and objectives.
The Office of Student Activities (OSA) at La Sierra University uses the involvement data captured in OrgSync to meet all seven of their department objectives for their Annual Assessment of Outcomes and WASC accreditation. OrgSync has enabled La Sierra to collect, report, and analyze student involvement data on their campus.
The case study we’ve created with La Sierra, outlines how OrgSync has played an active role in helping OSA meet their needs and validate the department’s objectives.
OSA’s seven objectives include:
- Students will be able to easily join and manage organizations that they choose to be in.
- Students can track and manage co-curricular involvement.
- Campus will be informed of events through various types of advertisement means.
- Student leaders will be mentored, trained, supported, and given tools to facilitate success.
- Provide a management and communication tool for student organizations and departments.
- Advisors will be trained, supported, and given tools to facilitate success.
- Community-wide calendar with individual organization and department management availability.
“OrgSync has either been the answer or has helped with the answer. The system has fulfilled more of our needs than we could have imagined. Our department most certainly could not achieve our goals and serve our students without OrgSync,”
We encourage you to share how OrgSync has helped you meet your department goals.
4 Reasons to Attend OrgSync Connect
In less than three months, campus partners from around the country will be gathered in Dallas for our first ever user conference, OrgSync Connect. The conference will take place in Dallas, TX from June 21-23, 2012 and provide educational opportunities for attendees through intentional discussions and collaborative learning.
Are you still debating whether or not to make the trip? If so, here are four reasons why it will be worth attending the conference.
Learn best practices and creative uses
We all know Dallas can be a fun place to visit, but the conference isn’t about nearby attractions. Learn best practices and creative uses of OrgSync and apply them to meet the needs of your college or university. Educational sessions will be led by campus partners who will share their stories and help you find ways to maximize usage. If you’re interested in presenting an educational session to share your knowledge and experiences, we’re currently accepting program proposals through April 16th, 2012.
Network with other Higher Education professionals
One of the primary goals of the user conference is to facilitate conversations among our campus partners. OrgSync Connect will be a great opportunity to connect with peers, learn about processes and programs, as well as gain insights from other OrgSync users. The relationships you build at Orgsync will stay with you and help create an engaged community of OrgSync users across the world.
Spread OrgSync across campus
Did you know other departments on campus like Campus Recreation, Residence Life, Alumni Associations, etc can all utilize OrgSync to meet their unique needs? During the conference, we’ll explore how multiple departments on campus can use OrgSync and how you can help them to get on board.
Be the first to hear about product updates
Our Development and Design teams have been hard at work preparing to launch many exciting new product updates and feature enhancements this summer. All conference attendees will get an exclusive look at these new updates and be able to give feedback directly to our teams.
To learn more about OrgSync Connect and reserve your spot today, visit the conference website. Remember, early bird registration is now open through April 16th, 2012. We hope to see you in Dallas this June.
The new OrgSync.com is here!
Today we are excited to launch a newly redesigned OrgSync.com. Our website has been completely restructured and features a number of improvements including a simplified navigation, making it easier to navigate and learn more about the many ways OrgSync can benefit departments across campus.
Here are a few pages we’d like to highlight that we think will be especially useful for you and others on campus:
- Features - Help your students gain a deeper understanding of all the tools and resources available to their organization and your campus. The features section gives you a complete overview of all the features available in OrgSync and how you can utilize them today.
- On Your Campus – This section provides a complete overview of OrgSync on your campus, including specific department, organization, and student benefits.
- Documents and Guides – Whether you’re a new user or a seasoned pro, our new Documents & Guides section is a collection of resources we have created to help you get started with OrgSync and spread usage across campus.
- Press Center – Find all the latest news, facts, and other information in our press center. If you’re searching for approved logos, we have a branding guide for you as well.
We hope you enjoy the new website! Please let us know what you think in the comments below.
How OrgSync Benefits Students [VIDEO]
As students begin to arrive back on campus, we know that many of our new campus partners are preparing to launch OrgSync this spring. To explain how OrgSync can benefit your students, we created this short interactive video. Students are the catalyst that makes OrgSync a success on every campus we work with, and we encourage you to share this with your students to help spread the word about OrgSync across campus.
Thanks to our designer, Jeff Jurica, for the hard-work and creativity on this project. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
NASPA Western Recap – The Conference on Anthology
The week before Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to join four other OrgSync Rockstars in San Diego for the NASPA Western Regional Conference (#naspawr11) at the Hard Rock Hotel. This was my first experience as a NASPA conference attendee, and let me tell you I couldn’t have been more excited about the opportunity to attend. With the theme of “Anthology,” this year’s conference focused on providing attendees “a diverse collection of practices, priorities and values, grounded in the learning of yesterday and today, and committed to the promotion of student learning and success today and tomorrow.” In addition to the theme, the planning committee didn’t print any programs in an effort to promote sustainability and the green initiative.
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| Aimee with Alex (left) & Andrew (right) |
During the conference, I had the opportunity to attend a number of sessions and listen to a variety of topics ranging from social media, personal branding, entrepreneurship, and assessment. On the opening day of the conference, Richard Setterson, Ph. D, from Oregon State University, shared his fascinating findings from his research and published book, “Not Quite Adults – Why 20-Somethings Are Choosing a Slower Path to Adulthood, and Why It’s Good for Everyone.” Take a look at the tweets and conversations during Mr. Setterson’s keynote presentation here.
That same day, I was able to catch our good friend, Eric Stoller, and listen in on his sessions about introductory and advanced social media practices. Because of my responsibility as OrgSync’s social media evangelist, I was thrilled to finally meet Eric in person and to hear how Student Affairs professionals and departments are utilizing social media to connect with their students and build their personal brands.
While exhibiting, the marketing team was able to meet our long-time campus partner Aimee Shattuck, Director of Student Activities and Leadership, from Portland State University. It was exciting to hear how OrgSync has completely transformed her department, allowing her and her staff to spend less time on paper work and more on student success and development programs.
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| Mobros! |
On Friday, I was able to listen to Garret Westlake, Director of Disability Resources at Arizona State University – Polytechnic Campus, share his amazing initiative to promote entrepreneurship amongst students with disabilities. This presentation really hit home for me, because of the entrepreneurship culture at OrgSync and our understanding of what entrepreneurs can do to make this world a better place. Afterwards, I attended Sandra Mahoney’s and Serjio Acevedo’s presentation on “Nurturing a Culture of Assessment, ” from the University of the Pacific. Serjio’s contagious passion for Multicultural Affairs and teaching assessment filled the room as we were able to participate in a mock behavioral based interview and learn how the University of the Pacific assesses their programs and initiatives. We also meet up with a couple Mobros from Pacific!
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| User Meeting at NASPA Western! |
The final day was really exciting, especially for us in marketing, because we were able to hold a user meeting. The following NASPA Western region rockstars joined us early Saturday morning: Boise State University, Long Beach Community College, Portland State University, University of California – Los Angeles, University of California – Santa Barbara, and University of Washington at Bothell. After eating a delicious breakfast, our campus partners had the opportunity to share OrgSync best practices, provide development feedback, ask questions about their implementation, and discuss techniques to market OrgSync to students. Overall, the conversation was very lively, which made the trip an even more success.
This year’s NASPA Western Regional Conference set the record for number of attendees at any regional NASPA conference. But, I believe what made the conference even stronger was the backchannel. The buzz about NASPA Western was very lively on Twitter and you could tell attendees were enjoying the conversations both in person and online. Take a look at this snapshot from #NASPAwr11.
We’re already getting excited and preparing for next year’s NASPA Western in Honolulu, Hawaii! See you next year!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Every year, the OrgSync team has a lot of fun celebrating the holidays. As an OrgSync tradition, this past Sunday, we held our annual OrgSync Thanksgiving celebration. Our annual potluck dinner allowed us to share the things each team member is thankful for and reminisce about the exciting year we’ve had. This year, we have plenty to be thankful for, including our noticeable and highly discussed Movember moustaches. For those who are unfamiliar with this phenomenon, Movember is a worldwide charity event that raises awareness and funding for men’s health research, specifically for prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. Hints why all the OrgSync men have distinguished “mos” on their faces. If you haven’t already, please take a look at this great cause, and make a donation today!
We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and we can’t thank you enough for being a loyal reader and OrgSync rockstar!
We’re Heading Southbound 35 to TACUSPA 2011
Next week (October 16th – 18th), Tracy and Cayce (pictured below) will be heading down southbound I-35 to the annual Texas Association of College and University Student Personnel Administrators (TACUSPA) conference in Austin, Texas. We are proud to be a sponsor of the conference and are excited to be able to network with 300 Texas Student Affairs professionals in the city where OrgSync started.
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| View ePortfolio | View ePortfolio |
If you’ll be in attendance, make sure you stop by and visit with Tracy and Cayce at our booth. Also, they’ll be sharing how 19 Texas colleges and universities are utilizing OrgSync daily in their student affairs departments, including Lamar University’s success after only one year of implementation.
As always, if you’d like to schedule a time to meet with us during the conference, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We hope to see you in Austin!
Ruby Hacknight hosted at OrgSync HQ!
Last night, OrgSync headquarters was occupied by 15 developers from all across the DFW area who congregated for our first ever Dallas Ruby Hacknight.
For those unfamiliar with the term “hacknight,” it’s essentially a meet up for developers with a variety of skill sets to share ideas, network with others in the community and get help with projects they are currently involved with. After filling their stomaches with some food and drinks, everyone began collaborating together to talk about recent Ruby updates, ideas on side-projects they were working on and asking questions about various concepts they wanted to discuss. Each developer had a wide range of expertise ranging from Ruby on Rails to Java to .NET and more.
We want to give a big thank you to Dallas Ruby Brigade for working closely with us to promote the hacknight. Join us every second Tuesday of each month at OrgSync for Ruby Hacknight! Hope to see you next month.