Jessica Columbia College Chicago 2017 Fashion Business

Jessica Jensen , Aurora University
Kelci Kosin , Columbia College Chicago

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the best moments in advising were the daily, in-person interactions with students: meeting on-campus for a cup of java, hosting complimentary-breakfast Fridays, offering candy/snacks and a welcoming infinite, and just virtually any opportunity to connect beyond the realm of a typical advising appointment. Motivation for advisors was and is driven by balancing meaningful connections through bookish advising to create relationships based on trust and care. Through intentional outreach and interactions, students meet advisors every bit supportive and caring individuals that guide them through their bookish journey.

The shutdown in March of 2020 challenged communication efforts in advising significantly. The in-person interactions were reduced to virtual interactions via Zoom, telephone calls, and frequent exchanges via email. Luckily, students are often conditioned to cheque institutional emails regularly and, prior to the pandemic, many advisors utilized emails as a way to regularly check in with students and share informative content and resources. Just the increase in e-mail exchanges during the pandemic took a cost, and we equally advisors noticed an increasing number of students that began fugitive email as a ways of disconnecting and coping with the challenges and changes of the pandemic. According to an ongoing report on email statistics past The Radicati Group, a technology market research firm, individuals transport and receive over 120 emails daily, and that number is increasing annually (Radicati, 2018). To no surprise, the information finding suggests that email remains the nigh pervasive class of business communication. Students and advisors certainly felt the weight of constantly having to manage increased electronic mail activity during the pandemic, and the negative impacts became articulate: a alter in productivity, creativity, and overall motivation to engage.

Our Social Media Journeying

1 of the challenges we faced every bit advisors was changing the setting of traditional advising and the means in which we communicate with students. For us, the authors, it became a quest to find alternative ways to collaborate with students in meaningful ways across e-mail outreach. Our mission: to run into students on their level and offer communication, that despite the challenges of a pandemic, would provide caring and impactful interactions to holistically back up students and their bookish success.

Our journeying began with YouTube. We began creating video content to connect with students beyond email. We could utilise video content to share important information and institutional deadlines/policies and also permit students to absorb the data while seeing our grin faces and hearing the inflections in our voices. This proved to be favorable amongst students. The initial purpose of the YouTube video messages was to check-in and let students know we were thinking of them. This was crucial early on in the pandemic when students were of a sudden sent dwelling for the semester and asunder from the campus and community. Gradually, the videos became bi-weekly outreach in which nosotros could connect with students to share important information, resource, and deadlines in a creative yet timely style.

Eventually our social media journeying inspired united states of america to explore outreach and communication via Instagram. This social media platform allowed us to share video content, pictures, and informative posts/captions all while creating a space for students to get to know united states beyond the realms of our on-campus presence. We started to see how these small initiatives impacted students and deepened our interactions during advising appointments. Students started sharing more than information with us in advising appointments and we were able to make more accurate referrals based on both their academic and personal needs. Something was happening. Students were responding!

Guidelines for Creating Content

Typically, outreach via social media aligns with the deadlines and timeline of the individual institutions and, as authors, we both recommend that when because social media usage, be intentional with content. Call back that the bespeak is to offering communication that is 18-carat and connected. Students appreciate authenticity and honesty, so when making content via social media, be yourself. Advisors practise not have to be social media influencers to create content that is meaningful and engaging for students. The path to meaningful outreach via social media does not have to be flashy or polished. Create content that gives the pupil an experience that is as real and personal as in-person encounters while remaining professional to uphold the standards of the establishment. Information technology might be helpful to consider the following four principles when creating content for students:

• Create to inform.
• Create to inspire.
• Create to connect.
• Create to celebrate.

Create to Inform. When creating content, particularly when it comes to relaying important data, it is a expert thought to set deadlines/ create a schedule for producing and sending out the content. Using social media gives advisors the power in a very creative way to ensure students are enlightened of of import information regarding their academic path and institutional policies/procedures. Base of operations your post theme on the needs of your students. Is information technology a critical time in the semester with lots of dates and things to retrieve? If so, cull to create content to inform.

Create to Inspire and Celebrate. Maybe it is a difficult fourth dimension in the semester or there is something major happening in the world that is impacting students. While an advisor's responsibility is to make sure students are enlightened of policy and academic requirements, they can too use communication via social media to empower and uplift students equally they confront challenges. Sometimes sharing inspirational content is plenty to make a difference. Create content to inspire and celebrate.

Create to connect. Connectedness is imperative when because retention, pupil success, and a pupil'due south well-existence (Jorgensen et al., 2018). Past interacting via social media, advisors are extending that line of advice and showing students that they will meet them at their level. Advisors tin can conform to ensure their students know they are thought of and cared about across the discussion of an academic plan. Create content to connect.

Implications and Side by side Steps

Meeting students on their level via social media usage is simply one in which advisors can become more holistic in advising. While nosotros are sharing informative content with an agenda to guide students academically, we are also taking the time to permit them know that we run into the personal struggles they encounter through their journeys, and we are here to be a support system. These interactions encourage students to connect with united states of america in advising, to foster a space of trust and care, and ultimately social media interactions accept given u.s.a. the space to get to know our students in a unique way. Afterall, when nosotros are open and vulnerable to our students, they tend to exist open and vulnerable equally well, which ultimately creates a foundation for a relationship of growth and trust. What starts as a conversation nigh a mail or a video can grow into discussion about academic plans, the challenges students face up in courses, and schoolhouse/life balance.

The discovery and exploration of creative ways to communicate has but sparked marvel for time to come initiatives to connect with students in advising. There are many aspects that remain explorable and researchable. Ane area in which we promise to explore is information analysis to better sympathize how social media is received by students. Our hopes are to understand how many students engage in viewing the content and if at that place is a more successful platform for outreach. Many social media platforms, similar YouTube, offer data analytics for users and we hope to deport future research on how social media outreach correlates with students and their efforts to schedule advising appointments as a result of viewing content. We also hope to address alternative methods of communication beyond email communication lone. Can we limit electronic mail communications via interactions beyond e-mail and will this positively affect our students overall collegiate experience? These are merely a few of the questions that we hope to explore every bit we continue to seek methods to come across students on their level. We promise that this inspires other advisors to question the traditional methods of student outreach and consider exploring options that might be more attainable, meaningful, creative, and overall benign to not just the bookish student merely, more than chiefly, the whole pupil.

Jessica Jensen
Bookish Advisor
Aurora University
jjensen@aurora.edu

Kelci Kosin
Academic Advisor
Music Department
Columbia Higher Chicago
kkosin@colum.edu

References

Jorgensen, D. A., Farrell, L. C., Fudge, J. L., & Pritchard, A. (2018, January). College connectedness: The student perspective. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 18(one), 75–95. https://doi.org/10.14434/josotl.v18i1.22371

Kardash, Southward. M. (2020, June). Holistic advising. Bookish Advising Today, 43(2). https://nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Academic-Advising-Today/View-Articles/Holistic-Advising.aspx

Radacati Grouping, Inc. (2018, March). E-mail statistics study. https://www.radicati.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Email_Statistics_Report,_2018-2022_Executive_Summary.pdf

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Cite this commodity using APA way as: Jensen, J., & Kosin, Thou. (2022, March). On their level: Making meaningful connections with students via social media. Academic Advising Today, 45(one). [insert url hither]

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