"Best practices" in student services online selected by Center For Transforming Student Services

Services demonstrate ways in which institutions make effective services available over the Internet

The Center for Transforming Student Services (CENTSS) has just selected 10 higher education services as "best practices" in student services online. Selected from more than 50 submissions, in response to the center's second annual call for best practices, these services demonstrate ways in which institutions make effective services available over the Internet, providing models for other institutions to emulate. Those selected include:

• AskAU-Athabasca University in Canada implemented a smart FAQ system that providesanswers to students' most commonly asked questions via natural language searches.

• Quest-Ball State University in Indiana developed a career services tool to explore the university's majors and career opportunities.

• Honors Website-Broward County Community College in Florida launched a one-stop site for information and services relevant to the college's prospective and current honors students and honors faculty.

• Resume and CV Training Tools-Capella University in Minnesota devised career services tools to assist students in writing better resumes and CVs.

• Live Advisor-City University in Washington state developed a synchronous chat advising program that's integrated with its student data system for current students and provides transcripts of discussions.

• Orientation to Online Learning-Metropolitan State University in Minnesota created this service to welcome students to the university and online learning.

• E-Counseling-San Diego City College created e-counseling services using VoIP to provide private counseling appointments and group workshops.

• Catalyst Guides-University of Washington produced guides for students seeking independent, how-to assistance in the use of technologies.

• RUReady-University of Utah designed a self assessment and learning tool that allows prospective students to gauge their readiness to take calculus and other college-level math courses and to remediate specific academic areas of weakness.

• Online Concierge Service-Walden University in Minnesota offers personalized support for students from the time of enrollment until graduation.

The center's best practice profiles provide detailed information about each service, such as key features, goals, outcomes, technology infrastructure, and lessons learned. In addition to offering these best practice profiles, CENTSS licenses its Online Audit Tool to institutions interested in benchmarking their online student services.

Other CENTSS resources include links to articles related to providing services online and invitations to workshops and other events focused on providing better service to students with the use of technology.

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(CENTSS) The Center for Transforming Student Services (www.centss.org), founded in fall 2005, is a virtual resource for higher education institutions interested in assessing the quality of their student services offered via the web. WCET, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system (MnSCU), and Seward Inc. are CENTSS partners.

WCET, a nonprofit organization based in Boulder , CO , is an internationally recognized leader in advancing the effective use of technology in higher education. Its members are higher education institutions and government agencies, nonprofit organizations, schools, and corporations that are providers and users of educational telecommunications. For more information, see www.wcet.info.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system comprises 32 state universities and community and technical colleges serving the higher education needs of Minnesota . The system serves about 240,000 students per year in credit-based courses and an additional 130,000 students in noncredit courses. For more information, see www.mnscu.edu.

Seward Inc. provides high-quality, return-on-investment-based e-learning and e-business solutions to educational institutions, businesses, professional organizations, and government agencies, nationally and internationally. For more information, visit www.sewardinc.com.