| dc.contributor.author | Shouldice, Michael | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2010-06-23T17:46:45Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2010-06-23T17:46:45Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2010-06-23T17:46:45Z | |
| dc.identifier.other | Blending High Tech and High Touch: Improving Customer Service and Student Retention Institute Innovative Educators Conference in Cambridge, Massachusettes, July 10-13, 2007 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/2149/2581 | |
| dc.description | The Innovative Educator conference in Boston was very valuable. Over the course of the conference I was able to meet with and have meaningful conversations with industry leaders in Customer Service focused Higher Education Institutions. They include:
• Dr. Geri Anderson, Vice President and Provost for the Colorado Community College System,
• Dr. Diane J. Goldsmith, Dean of Planning and Assessment at the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium
• Eric Hodgson, Consultant with Estrada specializing in online social networks
• Barbara Macaulay, Chief Academic Officer at UMassOnline
• Dr. Neal Raisman, Consultant with Academicmaps
I was also able to meet a number of the attendees including the Director of Student Life, Bill Dean, at MacEwan and Tonya Wichenko, Manager of Student Central at the University of Saskatchewan were two key introductions as they are in the Canadian market and geographically relevant.
I attended nine sessions covering a myriad of topics and bringing a good many theories back to AU.
The session I presented was very well attended. Especially when the fact that it was the last session on the last day was taken into account. The two key indicators about the success of the presentation are that noone left and that the conference organizers who sat in on the session are interested in inviting me back to speak at another event. During my session I was able to display how Athabasca University utilizes the Intelliresponse product, branded as AskAU, to allow our geographically diverse students to self serve over 200 frequently given responses.
I look forward to strengthening the relationships I started with the other presenters as well as the Canadian contingent of attendees.
The implication on my future work is that I have new information supporting and to support the decisions made surrounding the operation of the Information Centre and the newly formed Contact Centre Group. Further it has helped me develop a network of likeminded and very skilled contacts to poll for knowledge about future endeavours. Finally as a public speaking engagement it provided me the opportunity to showcase Athabasca University and our utilization of tools to the point that I will hopefully be able to attend future conferences with this group and further develop the attractiveness of Athabasca University. | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Due to the increasingly competitive atmosphere in higher education, providing excellent service to students is more important than ever. Institutions must provide good services that initially attract students to their institutions, but they also must continue to offer students the services and support that make them feel valued and help them achieve their educational goals.
Conference sessions are designed to showcase the innovative customer service strategies that institutions of higher education are implementing (e.g. alternative delivery systems and 24/7 customer service hours) while staying committed to building relationships with students.
I will be attending the conference as a delegate as well as running a breakout session to promote our use of www.askau.ca as a tool for providing high touch - high tech services to our student body.
Benefits to the University are exposure at an International level in a city of higher education, Cambridge MA, exposure to our www.askau.ca tool which has been award best practice status from http://www.centss.org/
Benefits to the information centre are from the topics that will be covered Corporate Customer Service Models and how they relate to Higher Education Integrating Technology Developing and Maintaining a Student-friendly website How is your staff doing? Attracting and Retaining Online Students
Benefits to me are networking opportunities with my peers for tools and techniques research, further development of my public speaking skills, gaining knowledge towards developing existing staff as well as training tools for new staff | en |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Academic & Professional Development Fund (A&PDF) | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.relation.ispartofseries | 92.926.997; | |
| dc.subject | www.askau.ca | en |
| dc.title | Many Views of Athabasca University | en |
| dc.type | Presentation | en |
