Higher Ed Live

When your institution's website visitors can quickly and easily find what they are looking for, they are more likely to stay on your site and feel good about their experience. A good search tool should work fast and search everything, including your various file formats (even PDFs) and links. To provide a friendly user experience, a search tool should offer suggested words or phrases, catch misspellings and guide the visitor through searches where content is not found.

From the web management end, institutions should have control over the look and feel of their search tool, what gets featured, and which file types get included. It's also important to have access to useful reports, like up-to-date summaries of the queries taking place on your website. Last, you want a tool that is flexible enough to quickly adjust search capabilities to satisfy user needs.

Join host Tony Doody as he speaks with Peter Lake, professor of law, Charles A. Dana chair and director of the Center for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy at Stetson University College of Law.

Some of the questions addressed in this episode include: How can Student Affairs practitioners keep up with the sea of legal issues, lawsuits, regulations, and legislative policies on campus? What are some of the legal principles and issues we should consider in creating policies for public forums and speech? How can we best navigate the requirements and tensions of Title IX, the Clery Act and FERPA? What are some good practices in development of student conduct codes, policies, and procedures? What are the “next big legal issues" that will impact Higher Education dramatically over the next decade?

Research reports 75% of academic leadership are claiming online education as a pillar of their strategy moving forward, yet the overall market (for all education) has declined 1.7% year over year. For-profits lost 13% of the market share in one year alone. It's time to check in on the state of online education, so we've tapped our network founder Seth Odell for this broadcast and asked him for his take on what's happening and what to watch.

Is the online education market completely saturated? Supply seems to be way up, while demand is down. Does online education offer the promise of great opportunity for universities? The reality of the market is – it has never been more complex or competitive. If institutions go into this space without a rock solid business plan is seems they are going to be eaten alive.

Navigating workplace dynamics might be one of the most critical—yet often unacknowledged—challenges facing student affairs educators. Unlike other careers that are competitive and driven by sales-and-profits, student affairs educators often seek opportunities to form connections, increase collaboration, and foster productive team-centered workplaces. Yet, underlying tensions between individuals, groups, departments, or even campuses can seriously undermine our effectiveness and our core purpose—serving students.

In this episode of Student Affairs Live, host Heather Shea Gasser talks with Dr. Kathy Obear, co-founder of the Social Justice Training Institute and author of a new book Turn the Tide: Rise Above Toxic, Difficult Situations in the Workplace, about strategies for recognizing triggers, choosing intentional reactions, and maximizing our effectiveness through self-care and healing.

The world of alumni relations is constantly in flux. In the midst of evolving audience expectations and a rapidly changing communications landscape, alumni relations professionals are tasked with cultivating relationships between alumni and their alma maters, as well as mobilizing those audiences in support of the institutions. In this episode, Host Andrew Gossen discusses the challenges and opportunities confronting alumni relations practitioners in 2016 and beyond with two experts: GG+A’s Andy Shaindlin and UCLA’s Julie Sina.

Admission decisions have been approved. Acceptance letters have been sealed and delivered. Now, the work shifts. In this step in the admissions cycle our messaging must shift with our work.

In this episode of Admissions Live, Daniella Nordin, digital engagement manager at Skidmore College, joins host Chris D’Orso to talk yield strategy. Find out how Skidmore plans to increase yield using a multimedia approach (yes, even print!) and walk away with a few tips you can incorporate at your own institution.

Topics discussed in this live broadcast include:

Utilizing your acceptance packet as an online driver

Incorporating purls and unique landing pages into your yield strategy

Building momentum and relationships using hashtags

Integrating multimedia into your on-campus yield events