Grads that I have never met
I have been finding it extremely difficult to get in touch with some unplaced grads via phone, email, and FB. Has anyone found other strategies to get in touch with older grads? Thanks
Rosio,
Great tips about how to use Facebook for a variety of reasons. We are always surprised at what traditional-aged students use as their communication resources. We expect lots of texting but get surprised. We assume emails but we find emailing is used less and less. Makes me think we need a teen on staff! Also reminds me about the need to think about what our signature page and other documents look like on various devices. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
I also find text a great way to reach students, it is a lot easier for those who do not have their emails linked to their smartphone or a Facebook set up. However, I also suggest browsing through the FB of those students who may have been in the same class around the same time, I find that sometimes students/graduates use different names, and when we have 3+ common friends, usually it is the person i was looking for.
Josephine,
Good idea to use social media. You do have to watch for any compliance issues re texting. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
Text messaging has been very helpful for us. We are an online school so we never "meet" our graduates. We rely heavily on communicating in ways that are conducive to student's communication preferences. We set up a google voice account (it's free through google) and are able to text our graduates. It's been a great tool fo us.
Joseph,
This is a very common problem with only one solution. Stay in touch early on and consistently. People change address, cell phone, and emails. So there has to be a system at your school where students completing their programs and grads are contacted. One way to do this is by Alumni Communities. These are organizations at your school that engage grads so they want to stay in touch and keep you updated as to their whereabouts. If grads want their transcripts they must make the request through an Alumni website and at the same time update their personal information. If you offer a variety of services and incentives grad will want to stay in touch. Maxknowledge offers an online course that includes how to set up and benefit from Alumni Communities. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
