OrgSync would like to announce our Implementation Webinar Series in June. We will focus on two campuses, one large and one small, who have already established the implementation process on their campus. They will share their best practices, successes, challenges, and suggestions for making the transition to OrgSync.
Our large campus implementation model will be on Thursday, June 11 at 1:00 EST and will feature Deborah Felder of the Student Organization Resource Center at North Carolina State University. NCSU began working with OrgSync last summer and developed a marketing plan to increase awareness of OrgSync to their 500+ student organizations and 31,000 students. Deborah has been an instrumental partner in helping define best practices for implementation and providing helpful feedback and suggestions for our new developments. Sign up for the large campus webinar.
We will feature our small campus implementation webinar on Wednesday, June 24 at 1:00 EST. Our feature presenter will be Rebecca Delo, Assistant Dean of Students for Student Life and Leadership Development at Muskingum College. Muskingum also joined the OrgSync family last summer, and Rebecca was very proactive in establishing the student organization registration process through OrgSync, as well as successfully attaining a high level of student adoption on her campus across their 100 organizations and 1500 students. Sign up for the small campus webinar.
We hope that our new clients and anyone who could benefit from these free webinars will attend! Please contact us with any questions.
Eric Fortenberry and I (Nicole Andreas) recently returned from a campus visit at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa! We were warmly welcomed by Dr. Stacy Jones and her team in the Student Involvement and Leadership office.
Nicole and Eric with the Leadership and Involvement Staff
The Division of Student Affairs at the University of Alabama is actively pursuing opportunities to maximize each UA student’s learning experience. “After searching for a solution to manage students’ co-curricular involvement on the student side, campus side and staff side for about three years, we brought OrgSync to our campus as the “Source” to manage our student involvement. After conducting focus groups composed of faculty and students, we quickly learned OrgSync was the only choice that fully met our management needs and excited students,” said Dr. Stacy Jones.
UA is creating an entire program and team dedicated to providing their students with the services and tools they need to manage their student organizations and involvement needs. They are branding the program as the “Source”, as in: the source to go to for all student involvement and student organization management.
To kick off the launch of the Source powered by OrgSync, Stacy Jones and Kristen DuBose planned an exciting Launch Party on the Plaza with games, prizes, food and fun to intrigue students about the new Source program. Everyone signed up on OrgSync through their “My Bama” accounts(a single-sign-on solution that UA chose to implement to simplify user registration through their current campus sign-on information), and the Launch Party was a brilliant success.
Our visit also included meetings with several campus departments including Bama faculty, advisors and administrators. Each department was excited about bringing OrgSync to campus for different reasons. Vice-President of Student Affairs, Dr. Mark Nelson, immediately saw value in getting every campus department at UA on board. He even asked, “Does OrgSync print money too? What can’t this [OrgSync] platform do!?”
Signatures for the Children's Miracle Network
In between scheduled meetings, Eric and I were shown around Alabama’s extraordinary campus by Daniel Ware, a student leader from UA’s Residence Hall Association. It was fascinating to learn the history behind the Tuscaloosa campus, and it was great to meet so many friendly students during our tour. While traveling through campus, Zeta Beta Theta and Phi Mu were campaigning on the Quad to gain signatures on a giant blow-up ball. For each signature, a donation would be made to the Children’s Miracle Network. Of course, Eric and I had to sign the ball. We are all about giving back to those in need.
Daniel was a great tour guide! He brought us to see the football stadium and to see the famous “Walk of Champions.” The Walk of Champions honors Bama football coaches who have lead the school to victory, and it displays the SEC titles and awards the football team has been recognized for.
After our tour, we met in the Student Recreational Center on campus to get all of the club sports team signed up. We had a great turnout and we met with many different teams who were excited to start using OrgSync in the Fall. The women’s soccer team was especially excited to be able to manage different user groups and target their specific information to manage and engage their team more efficiently. Primarily, the players were particularly excited to learn that they could juggle their hectic sports schedules AND their involvement with other campus activities from just one place.
Before we left, Eric and I were asked to share our story with two entrepreneurial classes in the business school. We really enjoyed talking to the students, and we felt inspired as these future entrepreneurs sat in the same seat I was in not too long ago. I think a lot of them were inspired too, just to know it really was the same seat, and many of them told us about their dreams of starting their own company some day. Several students even came up to us after the class to learn how they could get involved, and help spread the word about OrgSync.
Overall, our visit was extremely successful, and I can’t wait to go back to the University of Alabama. Roll Tide!
The OrgSync team is dedicated to educating the higher education community about experiential learning, co-curricular management, leadership development and other important issues challenging higher education professionals and student leaders. Our series of educational webinars is developed for both higher education professionals and student leaders to learn, teach and collaborate with one another to better the higher education community as a whole.
As an educator, the following video clip really resonated with me. Technology has advanced greatly since I was in school, but uses of technology in the classroom have not advanced that quickly. We may have transitioned from overheads to PowerPoints and from VHS to DVD, but the essence of the classroom is still the same; rows of students listening to an expert lecture creating isolation between student and teacher and student to student. Not a conducive learning environment for collaboration!
Kaplan University has run a series of commercials, and is basing their teaching model on the principal of “attend our online classes anytime, anywhere, 24/7.” Take a class at home, on your lunch break, or on the train during your morning commute. Thinking about what all my iPhone can do, it’s not a huge leap to image Kaplan creating an online class application.
Don’t get me wrong I do not want to do away with the “traditional” university model, but where is the classroom innovation? If we truly want students to learn, then why do we not teach them in a manner or style that is conducive to learning? Well I think Uncle Phil says it best in the new Kaplan commercial. “I think it is time for the University to start adapting to you rather than you adapting to it” and my favorite line “[It is time] To learn how you learn so we can teach you better.”
What are your thoughts? How could your University adapt better? What would an ideal learning classroom look like for your campus?
In an effort to continue to build strong relationships with our campuses, OrgSync announces its new Campus Liaison Internship Program. Through the program, participants will gain valuable experience about how to use social media for marketing, as well as presentation, event planning, leadership, and communication skills. We are very excited to offer this valuable experience to the student leaders on our campuses!
The goal of the Campus Liaison Internship program is for college students on OrgSync campuses to utilize social media to create visibly active communities, while ensuring that every campus gets the most out of the OrgSync experience.The students will work closely with OrgSync’s Client Services team to design campaigns on their campuses to increase awareness and get more students involved with OrgSync. We believe that every student should benefit from the many features of OrgSync, and our Campus Liaisons will help us achieve this.
Candidates must complete an application in order to be considered for the program, and our top performers will qualify for all-expenses-paid trips to OrgSync headquarters in Austin, TX each semester! Applicants should be creative, innovative, active leaders on an OrgSync campus with a strong willingness to learn about social media and marketing.
This past week Cayce and I (Eric Fortenberry) traveled to the Sacramento (‘Sac’) State campus to meet with campus administrators and train student leaders. We met with various departments including Student Affairs, Career Services, Event Services and Student Government. During our first meeting we were honored to present OrgSync to Edward Jones, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, Campus Life. Edward expressed interest in providing OrgSync to all the student affairs departments to improve their communication and cross department scheduling. We were very exciting when Edward realized “OrgSync’s only limitation is our imagination.”
Eric and Cayce with the Student Activities Staff
During our meeting with Sac State’s accounting department we discussed their student organization treasury needs. An online treasury solution is much needed and will be implemented slowly to assure that current treasury processes can be re-worked for efficiency. Another highlight was meeting with the Career Services department. They gave us some great feedback and suggestions on how we can continue to improve our resume builder and Co-curricular transcript manager. Lastly, we had Rebecca Dietzler and Rich Clakeley from Events Services walk us through their entire room reservation process. It’s always so exciting for us to have the opportunity to sit around a table and collaborate with campus leaders to brainstorm how our innovative software can benefit their campus in more ways then we ever intended.
Student Activities presents Success Through OrgSync
The OrgSync leadership training for student leaders was held all day Saturday. We kicked off the day with a 90 minute in-depth walkthrough of all the “Nuts & Bolts” of OrgSync. Thanks to the Buzz Café, there was plenty of coffee and breakfast foods to keep everyone attentive. After the walkthrough we got the opportunity to visit with many excited student leaders. They wanted to know why OrgSync hadn’t been implemented on every campus years ago! After more food from the Buzz Café, the student leaders broke out into groups based on their positions. I co-hosted the planning and time management session with Leanna Neves-Bogetti, Student Activities Program Advisor, and enjoyed showing students how they could leverage our Calendar and ToDos modules to better plan and manage their time. At the same time Cayce was presenting in the philanthropy and community service session where he demonstrated how students could track their involvement and activity hours using our resume builder and co-curricular transcripts.
Student Leaders learning to use OrgSync
At the end of the day the Student Activities Office was excited to use their new Plinko board to raffle off prizes to the 75+ students who attended. They gave away everything from an iPod Nano to Peak Adventure trips and team paintballing. It was a great end to an already amazing day!
Overall, our trip to Sacramento State was very productive and gave us the opportunity to gather feedback from both students and campus leaders. We were also glad to build closer relationships with Tom, Karlos, Joanne, Leanna and Courtney in the Student Activities Office. They have been with us for over a year now and we are thankful for all of their efforts to spread OrgSync across the Sac State campus, as well as for their helpful feedback and feature suggestions that will improve the OrgSync platform for all. I can’t wait to book our next trip to Sac State!
Our final stop along the tour was Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, OH. As we drove from Toledo, OH to Delaware, OH it looked like we were driving through a Normal Rockwell Christmas Card. We also drove through Ben Roethlisberger’s hometown of Findlay, which may have been fitting for the upcoming Super Bowl. OWU was a great way to end the trip. When we arrived at the hotel they had a welcome package waiting for us. What a nice surprise!
OWU has less than 2,000 students but can boast of producing Nobel Prize winners, former Vice-Presidents, social justice activists, and Hollywood notables. OWU has a diverse population with students from all over the world, with a beautiful campus that happened to be under a blanket of snow when we arrived.
The Student Activities Office did a great job promoting their student leadership summit, which we were proud to be a part of. When we arrived in the Union we saw posters and flyers promoting OrgSync. Before we arrived students knew the name OrgSync even if they were not fully aware of what our solution offers.
During the Leadership Summit we were able to present and train all of the student organization presidents and advisors. OWU hosted the first Leadership Summit we have been invited to, and we were excited for the opportunity. We were also able to meet the new president of OWU, Dr. Rock Jones, and the keynote Speaker Dr. Ron Binder from the University of South Carolina. Dr. Jones (who likes the students to call him ‘Rock’) and Dr. Binder did a great job of inspiring and motivating the full house of excited student leaders. The students provided a great audience to work with; understanding the importance, as student leaders to leverage programs and technology, such as OrgSync, to help improve the management and communication for their organizations.
I look forward to building a long lasting relationship with OWU and watching the campus embrace OrgSync’s full capabilities!
Jeff Jackson, Debra Lamp and Nancy Rutkowski chatting about student involvement!
Eric Fortenberry and Jeff Jackson training student leaders at the OWU Leader Summit.
OWU Student Leadership Summit attendees learning about OrgSync.
If you have read this blog for any amount of time you already realize how much OrgSync loves and appreciate our clients. We also love the opportunity to travel to new campuses, meet our clients face to face, conduct on-site trainings, and discuss the best way to launch an individual campus to meet their needs. Since I worked on college campuses for 10 years, I always feel at home regardless of the location. Eric and I (Jeff) just wrapped up the first leg of our Tour de Ohio with a trip to Bowling Green State University. We spent 2 days meeting with the Student Affairs staff, student leaders, and IT staff.
We spent most of our time learning about their student organization processes so we could best construct an implementation plan to meet their needs and make their life a little easier. I was extremely impressed with the support they give their student leaders. BGSU has an extensive student organization funding process, and a dedicated staff that counsels and advises organizations on fiscal responsibility. It was great to sit down with their staff and brainstorm how OrgSync could help simplify their process and free up time for the Student Affairs Office to work on increasing student engagement.
One of the highlights of the trip was when we were showing OrgSync to a group of students, and one of them blurted out, “Where has this website been?” As if she has spent a life-time manually filling out paperwork and tracking down advisors for signatures. The students were all very excited to explore OrgSync and are looking forward to all the capabilities OrgSync brings to BGSU. We look forward to working with Bowling Green State University and building a long lasting relationship with them.
Recently, OrgSync has had the opportunity to conduct on-site trainings at North Carolina State University and Owens Community College in Toledo, OH. We always enjoy on-site visits because we get to finally meet clients face-to-face after hours of phone conversations.
There are 2 key things I learned during these on-site trainings that I would like to share with our OrgSync community:
1. On-site training is key to adoption. Many students were content with using their facebook groups or listserves, and the really ambitious students tried to build a mini version of OrgSync on their website. After every session, students came up to us excited about using OrgSync and shared how a specific module was going to make their life easier. If the schools just told the students to use OrgSync without any support or training, the adoption would be much slower, and they would not have a clear understanding of how OrgSync can benefit them. Within a week of each training, user accounts have tripled on the respective campuses and continue to grow.
2. The students are going to follow the administrators’ lead. NC State does a great of using the umbrella portal. They have created a form for club registration, and have added campus wide polls and discussions on the forum to solicit student feedback. They require all presidents to create a profile and join a presidentʼs portal to improve communication by giving them a one-stop-shop for updates from the Student Life office.
I am looking forward to monitoring the user growths of these campuses, and continuing working with all of our clients to ensure strong adoption rates and excellent customer service. I look forward to returning to Owens in the spring for a follow-up training. We love our schools and the opportunities to visit and meet the students and administrators who are using OrgSync.
OrgSync recently started working with the Student Activities office at California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB).This is the fourth CSU campus to take advantage of OrgSync’s tools and services.San Bernardino, San Marcos, and Sacramento have also provided their student organizations access to OrgSync’s portal system.From the CSU system, 61,000 students and over 530 student organizations are now going to improve communication for their members and administration.
“They have created an online community that is user-friendly for students, cost effective for campuses, and provides a structure by which busy Student Affairs administrators can leverage their time…”
Mark Hartley
Director, Student Leadership & Development
California State University, San Bernardino
The California State System has made a commitment to helping the environment by reducing paper usage on its campuses. OrgSync will support sustainability efforts by providing online promotion of student organization and club activities. OrgSync will also replace paper forms with an online forms module.
Bakersfield has started implementation and training, taking advantage of OrgSync’s unlimited training by conducting separate training sessions for student officers and university administrators.They are holding multiple training opportunities for all of their student organization leaders.It is with great excitement that we welcome Bakersfield into the OrgSync family as we look forward to building a strong lasting relationship with them and all of our clients.
