Effective communication is important for any college to function smoothly. Whether you need to let students know about a cancelled class, exam resources, or just need to keep them positive in the current situation, communication is key.
Build An Official App Or Website
Every college should have an app or website. These can be helpful in lots of ways; you can use it for students to track their attendance, communicate schedule changes, and more. Teachers can provide assignment questions online.
An app or website can also be used to solve some communication issues. Students who have missed class can keep track of missed lessons, for example.
An app needs to function well, as a failing one makes communication problems worse.
Use Displays On Campus
Digital display signage on campus are popular college campus improvement ideas. These digital signs can be used to share announcements, social media, lists of events, and emergency alerts. This could be very helpful as students return to campus after quarantine, as you can share information about mask-wearing, social distancing, or other safety measures.
Use Emails And Text Messages
Emails and texts can be used to communicate with both staff and students. For example, if a change has taken place in a department around the syllabus or timings of classes, you can send an email to the faculty to remind them to inform their students.
If schedule student-faculty meetings, use text or email to remind both groups.
Schedule Online Orientations
Orientation seminars are important to students, and will them to understand how the college works and how their courses will go.
Students might sign up for a course, and then back out later on, after finding it isn’t for them. This happens when the college doesn’t properly describe the course in detail, giving students an incorrect perception of it.
To avoid this issue, you could record videos of professors discussing the course in detail and put these videos on the college’s app or website before the semester starts.
Reminders can be sent to students to watch these videos via email or text message. If students have questions, they could contact the teacher at a specified time directly through a call, or by emailing or texting.
Personalize Communication
If you have a lot of clubs or groups on campus, recruiting for volunteers can be a pain. Club leaders can reach out to students via social media, emails, and calls, but these have a bigger chance of being ignored or forgotten about.
With broadcast texting, a lot of students get contacted but in a non-personalized way, which can be often be treated as spam.
Peer texting can be used instead. This solves the issue by making the contact a lot more personal, which can generate a lot more interest in the process. It’s a much more convenient tool for communication, with a higher chance of succeeding. Peer texting can also be used for fundraisers, organizing club meetings, and other messaging that needs to be sent out.
