Virtual Conferences Higher Ed Professionals Can’t Miss in 2021
Campus Engagement, Higher Ed, Student Affairs

Virtual Conferences Higher Ed Professionals Can’t Miss in 2021

May 14, 2021
In 2020, the world changed in ways no one in higher education anticipated. On-campus events, including class attendance, came to a halt. University staff, including faculty and advisors, displayed true grit as they worked tirelessly to serve students. It's 2021, and higher education is still feeling the impact of a global health crisis. Most staff and students would agree—we're all figuring out how to live in a new normal. Last year many annual events were canceled, including the array of conferences higher education professionals look forward to attending. Not this year! The conference calendar is complete, and many organizations have…
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10 Event Ideas College Students Will Actually Attend
Campus Engagement, Student Affairs, Student Engagement Platform

10 Event Ideas College Students Will Actually Attend

Apr 09, 2021
Planning and hosting campus events for college students can be difficult to implement, and even more challenging to track and measure success. There are a number of factors to consider, like student engagement, budgets, novelty, and the "cool" factor, just to name a few. But when you successfully put together a program that has a good turn-out and gets students excited, there’s no more gratifying feeling. So to help you achieve that success on campus, here are 10 college event planning ideas that will get so much interest, you’ll need a waiting list. Puppy Play Parties What has become a…
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The Higher Ed Professional’s Guide to Reducing Zoom Fatigue
Campus Engagement, Higher Ed, Student Engagement Platform

The Higher Ed Professional’s Guide to Reducing Zoom Fatigue

Apr 01, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the landscape of higher education beyond recognition over the past year. Once-buzzing seminar rooms lie empty, while students spend most of their days learning via Zoom or other video technologies. For many higher ed professionals, the ability to deliver information and student programming while surrounded by home comforts represented a luxuriant novelty during the early days of the pandemic. If you’ve come to dread a long day of Zoom-based classes and departmental meetings, however, you’re not alone. The exhausted feeling that creeps up on you during virtual meetings is now popularly referred to as ‘Zoom…
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Do’s and Don’ts of Connecting with Students Virtually
Campus Engagement, Student Engagement Platform

Do’s and Don’ts of Connecting with Students Virtually

Feb 23, 2021
As the country continues to grapple with the pandemic, education has had to shift to online learning. Since school closures at the end of the 2019-2020 school year, school-sponsored distance learning rose from 65% in March to 83% in April, and this figure is set to continue on an upward trend as the current academic year unfolds. Millions of students needed to adjust instantly to the new realities of distance learning. In one survey, teachers reported that only 60% of their students were regularly engaging in distance learning. They further claim that engagement continued declining through the rest of the…
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‘Tis the Season to Build Student Engagement and Connection Virtually with these 10 Tips!
Campus Engagement, Student Engagement Platform

‘Tis the Season to Build Student Engagement and Connection Virtually with these 10 Tips!

Dec 08, 2020
The holiday season is approaching and although many college students are currently off-campus and at home, there’s still ways to provide virtual programs for student engagement to help students feel connected with their university in easy and accessible ways during this holiday break. 1) Let’s Meetup with a Netflix Streaming Party Whether you’re a fan of the holiday romantic comedies starring Vanessa Hudgens or are already in need of a break from all things holiday-related and would rather watch something less festive, plan a Netflix Movie party. To get started install the app, send an invite with the details to…
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Why Traditional Student Engagement Platforms Fail to Engage
Campus Engagement, Student Engagement Platform

Why Traditional Student Engagement Platforms Fail to Engage

Oct 15, 2020
It’s become the norm for universities to utilize a student engagement platform to help manage student communications, maintain organization, connect student groups, simplify processes, and track and measure student engagement. Traditional student engagement platforms help you accomplish all of these, but can be limiting when it comes to modern capabilities and essentials for the modern student body. Modern student engagement platforms go beyond these essentials and offer a roster of features and benefits that can help universities thrive when it comes to operation and offerings. There’s multiple ways traditional student engagement platforms fail to truly engage, and where modern platforms…
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Safety in Numbers: How to Make Your Residential Communities Thrive in Small Groups
Campus Engagement, Higher Ed, Residence Life

Safety in Numbers: How to Make Your Residential Communities Thrive in Small Groups

Oct 14, 2020
It's 2020, and nothing is as it was a year ago. In years' past, college and university residential communities would have been teeming with packed lobbies, movie nights with dozens - or more - residents packed into community spaces within the residence hall. Today, these busy, large-scale campus events are memories of the not-so-distant past, replaced by, in the best cases, small group activities led by student residential leaders. While this shifting dynamic has been received by most students as temporary, leaving them eager and anxious to a return to the campus experience they once knew, there are some great…
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Beyond the Dashboard: How to Communicate COVID-19 Updates on Your Campus
Campus Engagement, Contact Tracing, Higher Ed, Student Affairs

Beyond the Dashboard: How to Communicate COVID-19 Updates on Your Campus

Oct 10, 2020
While campus contact tracing and COVID-19 dashboards have become the norm at many colleges and universities worldwide during the second half of 2020, there are still some innovative ways to communicating with students in an interactive and informational format. Many institutions have established blogs, updated case counts, and other timely COVID-19 updates on web-based dashboards, there are a few ways beyond the dashboard to reach students, maintain order, and calm nerves. Make 2-Way Communication Possible It's not a great leap to suggest that most people - students included - are completely overwhelmed by the amount of information related to the…
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Campus Safety: Contact Tracing That Actually Works
Campus Engagement, Contact Tracing, Higher Ed

Campus Safety: Contact Tracing That Actually Works

Sep 15, 2020
As many colleges and universities prepared to bring students back to campus this fall, most prepared detail return to campus plans that include strategies like testing, isolation housing, virtual learning opportunities, and contact tracing. When followed as planned by students, these plans were designed to minimize community spread of COVID-19 in the otherwise socially driven culture of campus. What many institutions have found, though, is that students returning to campus are sporadically following, or in some cases, blatantly disregarding these well-laid plans. That's led to more than a few headline-capturing outbreaks as the start of the academic year kicks off.…
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