Lead Volume and Outreach

From June 30, 2023, to June 30, 2024, our team diligently managed and followed up on a substantial number of requests for information from prospective students. We received 3,441 request for information (RFI) submissions through the NIU Online website, EMMC marketing campaign, and Wiley marketing campaign, reflecting a significant interest in NIU’s online program offerings. We proactively engage with prospective students to address their questions, provide detailed information about NIU’s program offerings, and understand their individual needs. This approach ensures that students feel supported and well-informed as they explore their educational options.

The framework followed is outlined below and is modified based on each personalized interaction:

• Day 1: phone call/email or text message
• Day 3: phone call/text message
• Day 8: email
• Day 17: phone call/text message
• Day 30: email
• Day 45: final voicemail/text message

We implemented this outreach strategy and began engaging directly with students in August 2023. From August 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024 our team made over 12,086 interactions in Slate, 13,952 interactions in Navigate, and held 420 one-on-one, pre-scheduled student appointments. We have worked diligently to identify the best way to capture interaction data through Slate queries and we are still working on perfecting this process to ensure accurate numbers.

Slate Automated Email Drip Campaigns

Our 1:1 outreach complements the strategic automated email drip campaign developed in Slate that provides students with information about their prospective program, important details about the student services they are eligible for, the availability of online student success specialist virtual office hours, and tips for being successful as an online student. See samples of automated email messages for each of the following online programs:

All other NIU online programs currently receive a series of 4-5 automated Slate emails from our office that promote our virtual office hours and provide tips for how to be successful as an online student. We hope to collaborate with the academic units to assist with building these out further.

Events

We have dedicated significant effort to developing virtual events, now included in the NIU Calendar, for prospective, new, and continuing online students.

See Our Events Calendar

Online Admitted Student Webinar

One of our flagship events is the NIU online admitted student webinar. These sessions are designed for newly admitted online students and offer a comprehensive overview of online student life at NIU. They provide essential information about the next steps following admission, financial resources, an introduction to Blackboard, available student services, and strategies for success in the online environment. We welcomed over 140 new online students to NIU through these sessions for the summer and fall 2024 semesters with an 80% overall attendance rate. 

M.S. in Digital Marketing Course Previews

We partnered with the M.S. in Digital Marketing (MSDM) program to offer virtual course previews for new and prospective students. These sessions highlight our digital marketing faculty and offer students a glimpse into the content covered in our program’s courses. Take a peek at a sample AI in Marketing webinar recording.

Virtual Open House for College of Business Online Programs

In November, we collaborated with the College of Business to host a virtual open house for the online business programs we support. This event featured a welcome from the dean, a student panel, and program-specific breakout rooms. 

Virtual Trivia Night

We hosted a virtual trivia night for the 2024 graduate student appreciation week to bring our online students together for a friendly competition to showcase their knowledge across various NIU themed questions.

Program-Specific Informational Sessions

We also developed program-specific informational sessions, allowing prospective students of select programs to meet their online student success specialist in real time. These sessions provide an overview of the program, offer an opportunity for attendees to ask any questions they have, and occur 1-2 times every month. We have also attended a number of recruitment events in person at Illinois community colleges and on campus.

Program Celebration Events

We participated in the M.S. in Digital Marketing’s end of year student celebration. We strive to continue to strengthen our campus partnerships and show a supportive environment for our online students by being present for their milestones.

New Student Enrollment

The online student population the Office of Online Learning now supports all the way through to graduation saw a significant increase in new student starts for the fall 2024 semester. New starts for this population is up 26% overall year over year from last fall prior to having a dedicated internal NIU team to provide comprehensive online student success services and support.

Continuing Student Support

Our team plays a crucial role in supporting the retention and persistence of continuing students in eight of NIU’s online programs. We assist departments with building course plans to ensure each individual degree path meets students’ needs. We handle the mass registration of students across these programs each semester to streamline the enrollment process and ensure students are seamlessly integrated into their courses. We then closely monitor student engagement levels and log in activity in Blackboard to identify any issues early on. We collaborate with academic units to address and resolve any barriers online students may encounter in their programs.

Serving as vital liaisons, we facilitate connections between online students and various support units across campus, ensuring that they have access to all available resources and are aware of their existence. We connect students with a variety of professional development resources and actively promote engagement opportunities to foster a more enriching educational experience. We engage in strategic, proactive outreach and provide ongoing support throughout each semester to continuing students and to those who have paused their studies.

Additional Developments

We have undertaken several additional projects to enhance support for NIU’s online student community.

Application Pipeline and Program Enrollment Dashboards

These dashboards provide academic leadership, program directors, and advisors with insights into applications and enrollment trends. These dynamic dashboards include up to date information on the online student application pipeline, program enrollment, and provide transparency to our campus partners. Dashboards are available for academic leadership, program directors and advisors in SharePoint.

See Sample Application Dashboard

See Sample Enrollment Dashboard

Online Student Registration Authorization Form

A new registration process was launched for online programs that participate in assisted registration from the Office of Online Learning. New incoming students for those programs complete a registration authorization form that allows their online student success specialist to enroll them in courses each semester. If students have not logged into their course(s) by the posted drop date, they are administratively dropped from the course to avoid unexpected tuition charges.

"Welcome Calls"

We introduced ‘welcome calls’ for select online programs, where each online student success specialist reaches out to students via phone following their acceptance into the program. During these calls, they personally congratulate the student, guide them through their immediate next steps, inform them about the next upcoming next admitted student webinar, and get them excited about officially becoming a Huskie.

Weekly Virtual Office Hours

Each online student success specialist has established weekly virtual office hours, providing a designated time each week when they are available live on Zoom to engage with prospective and continuing students in real time. These virtual office hours are promoted through our Slate drip campaign and included in each online student success specialist’s email signature, like this:

Review of Institutional Online Student Services

In collaboration with support units across campus, our team completed a comprehensive review of the institutional online student services currently offered utilizing the OLC Quality Scorecard for Online Student Support. This scorecard provides guidelines and best practices for institutions seeking to improve the services they provide to online learners and serves as a framework to make recommendations for improvement. Resulting recommendations, timeline and accountability plan are being compiled that will guide future online student support efforts.

New Online Student Orientation

We assisted with launching the new online student orientation in Blackboard on July 15th for all fall 2024 new online students. The orientation provides new online students with the skills needed to navigate the digital learning environment, helps them apply tips and techniques for establishing goals and managing their time, teaches them how to access digital tools they will use in their courses, and provides information about the supports offered to them institutionally.

Redesign of NIU Online website

A redesign of the NIU Online website is currently underway, with the aim of transforming it into a comprehensive resource for both prospective and continuing online students. The redesigned site will clarify processes, highlight student services, offer tips for success, humanize the online learning team, showcase online student Huskie Spotlights, and convey the unique story of NIU Online and what distinguishes us from other institutions.

Completed Coaching Essential Training

All online student success specialists have earned their badge of completion from UCF’s Coaching Essential Practitioner 40-hour training program. This credential signifies that our philosophies and practices align with NIU’s focus on student success. The program teaches fundamental understanding of basic coaching techniques and skills, and how to apply these coaching skills to work with students.