Formerly Nontraditional Students Report
VOLUME 19, ISSUE 11
Highlights
BRIEFING
Review news related
to recruiting and retaining
adult learners. Page 2
STUDENT SUCCESS
Find out how CLEP credit
can help your institution’s
adult learners complete
their programs. Pages 6–7
MANAGING YOUR OFFICE
Learn to supervise difficult
staff members. Pages 8–9
LAWSUITS & RULINGS
Review summaries of
recent court cases and
agency rulings involving
adult learners. Pages 10–11
LEADERS & INNOVATORS
John Freeze, director of
the Center for Professional
Education at the University
of Tennessee, Chattanooga,
has generated growth in
adult program enrollment
by planning based on
community needs. Page 12
Writing
© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved
DOI: 10.1002/nsr
AUGUST 2017
GENERATING OPPORTUNITIES
Follow this advice
for an effective guided pathways program
By Joan Hope, Ph.D., Editor
NEW ORLEANS — Guided pathways have led to increased completion num-
bers for community colleges that have implemented them. The pathways provide
students with a clear map to completion. But just providing a list of courses for
students to take is not enough. Effective guided pathways require “long-term, large-
scale institutional change,” said Kay McClenney, senior advisor to the president
and chief executive officer at the American Association of Community Colleges.
McClenney introduced a panel of officials at colleges that have implemented
pathways at a session at the AACC annual convention. Their advice for success-
ful pathways included:
Make the pathways initiative comprehensive
“It can’t just be the flavor of the day,” said Eduardo Padrón, president of
Miami Dade College. Sophisticated and robust technologies need to be incor-
porated to enable students to individualize their completion paths. The right
Continued on page 4.
MARKETING
Using Facebook Live to recruit and retain
By Donna Talarico
When I worked in radio in the late 1990s, the live-action broadcast was
huge. Normal radio programming would be interrupted by a cut-in of the
morning drive or midday jock, who’d give an enthusiastic update from a car
dealership, furniture store, or oil change location. Those, of course, were paid
appearances — called remotes — that involved a set of commercials and the
two-to-three-hour on-site promotion. But, often, we also broadcast live from
our own events, community fundraisers, and, of course, concerts. These real-
time moments — even just by way of audio — brought people together, built
excitement, and created a loyalty between listener and personality (and, by
virtue, the radio station).
Continued on page 3.
Recruiting & Retaining
Adult Learners Marketing
Continued from page 1
More and more, video is a vital part of a digital
marketing strategy. But live video, more specifically
Facebook Live, is still new ter-
ritory for many. Livestreaming
commencement is becoming a
must, and this is an effort that
requires the time and talents of
many people from across cam-
pus. In this column, though,
we’re focusing on the quicker
hits: smaller, sometimes on-
the-fly productions involving
just one camera — usually a
phone. Let’s look at some ways DONNA TALARICO
you could take advantage of this platform.
Ways you can use Facebook Live
Every institution likely presents opportunities
specific to its own location, programming, and
people, but here are some ways you may approach
Facebook Live to reach either prospective students,
current students, or alumni:
➢ ➢ Infor mation sessions with admissions
counselors.
➢➢ Campus tours or highlights from current
students.
➢➢ Career service tips from advisors.
➢➢ Alumni interviews in the workplace.
➢➢ Writing, research, or study tips from staff
members.
➢➢ Mini-lectures from faculty members.
➢➢ Scenes from adult-learner-specific homecom-
ing events.
➢➢ Scenes from commencement-related events,
such as honors inductions.
It was intentional that most of these suggestions
include a person — the idea of video is that it can
build relationships, just as those radio station live
broadcasts always included an air personality.
Important considerations
While the YouTube era has made lower-quality
video more acceptable and while Facebook Live
is an alternative to the polish of a professionally
produced video, these productions are still an
extension of your brand. Proper planning, people,
and tools are still necessary for success. However,
it’s worth noting the lower cost of entry does allow
more wiggle room to experiment as you go.
Follow this advice to get started:
➢➢ Get the right tools. Consider a stand for
your phone and a microphone to up the audio and
© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company
All rights reserved
3
image quality. Refer to Facebook’s documenta-
tion about the technical side of the video process,
including how to ensure your video is shot at the
proper orientation.
➢➢ Involve the right people. Since this is live
video, choose a host/personality who is not just
good on camera, but also flexible, someone who
can ad-lib. Also, you might need a few people to
staff the shoot — someone to video, someone to
interact with viewers, and someone to help with
props, if applicable.
➢➢ Promote live video. People cannot attend an
event if they don’t know about it. Consider email,
social media posts, flyers, and even in-person pro-
motions. I’ve seen institutions sponsor Facebook
posts to promote the upcoming live video to a more
targeted audience. Also, give your video a proper and
clear title and description. Since it can be viewed
later, this is important for context.
➢➢ Measure your results. Analytics will tell you
how many views your video had, how long people
stayed around, and how many interacted. For ex-
ample, if it was a Q&A, how many people asked
questions? What were the questions like? Measure
calls to action as best you can. For example, did
more adult students schedule a writing center ap-
pointment after a chat with a tutor? If it was for
an admissions-specific effort, be sure to track what
happens next, perhaps adding Facebook as a lead
source in your constituent relationship manage-
ment system if it’s not already included.
➢➢ Grow and tend to your following. If you
haven’t nurtured your audience or, worse, haven’t
built one, you might want to put Live plans on hold
until you have an engaged audience. Suddenly
paying attention to long-forgotten followers could
be jarring, and spending time on a tiny audience
could be, frankly, a waste of time. The key to social
media success is consistency. If you lack in audi-
ence engagement now, build that up — or back
up — before attempting live video.
Facebook Live is a time- and budget-friendly way
to market to your varying audiences. Consider the
ways in which you could embrace its power. ■
About the author
Donna Talarico is an independent writer and market-
ing consultant with 20 years of experience in higher
education, e-commerce, media, and publishing. She
is the founder of Hippocampus Magazine and Hippo-
campus Books. Visit her online at http://donnatalarico.
com or follow her on Twitter at @donnatalarico. ■
Vol. 19, Iss. 11
DOI 10.1002/nsr