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Student Experience

Colleges and services Student Experience

What we do

We are passionate about collaborating with staff and students across the University to develop, improve, and implement communication, orientation, engagement and retention activities that help students achieve success at Flinders. 

 

Our mission is to help students feel welcomed, supported and empowered with confidence to succeed at University

 

How we can help you

Across the team, we have a broad range of skills and experience in stakeholder engagement, strategic communications, marketing, event management, student support, data analysis, and design. See below the areas in which we can provide support to help you achieve your work goals.

Current student communication

Student communication should be timely, clear, consistent and relevant, across the University. For this to happen in such a large and diverse organisation, collaboration is key. We work with staff across the University to help coordinate, streamline and improve student communication. We have also developed a series of strategic communications plans for key milestones in the student lifecycle (e.g. exams, orientation, enrolment).

We are available to help you with student communication. We can:

  • work with you to develop strategic communications plans and activities for current students
  • tailor solutions for issues regarding current student communication
  • provide you with oversight of the University-wide communications schedule, to better coordinate your communication activities
  • provide you with creative design services and advice
  • assist you in developing and distributing messages through the University’s existing student communication channels
  • provide communication resources and templates to support your work.
Orientation planning and coordination

Orientation is a formative time in the student journey. We work with staff across the University to put in place a clear and consistent orientation program to set students up for personal and academic success. The program introduces students to support services, helps them understand their physical and online facilities and environment, creates a sense of belonging at Flinders, allows students and families to meet staff and other students, and stimulates an excitement for learning.  

We are available to help you with orientation planning and coordination. We can:

  • help you coordinate orientation events and activities as part of the bigger picture, to complement what else is happening across the University
  • provide advice and support regarding your orientation events and activities
  • help you promote your orientation events and activities, as part of a University-wide communications strategy.    
Student engagement

Student engagement is at the heart of everything we do. To help ensure students have a voice across major University projects and decisions we formed the Student View Group (SVG) which meets monthly. In addition to managing SVG engagement, we also coordinate other various student engagement campaigns and activities (e.g. the Student Success Campaign).

We are available to help you with student engagement activities. We can:

  • facilitate connections with the Student View Group to coordinate feedback on your work/project
  • assist in the creation of focus groups, student surveys or student engagement campaigns
  • provide strategic advice about student engagement activities, communication, and events.
Student support and retention

Student retention is a key priority across not only Flinders, but Universities nation-wide. We manage the Flinders Support Network (FSN), a student outreach campaign that helps connect students with relevant University support services with the goal of increasing retention. We also coordinate the bi-annual Drop In Support Lounge event, which connects students with support services face-to-face.

We are available to help you with student support and retention activities. We can:

  • help train and guide staff in student support and retention outreach activities
  • assist in coordinating events and activities related to student retention
  • advise staff regarding student referral to academic and professional support services
  • provide analysis of outreach to disengaged students (through the FSN and the Drop In Support Lounge). 

Contact details

 student.experience@flinders.edu.au

 

Leadership

Slavka Rosewall

Manager, Student Experience

 08 8201 2721
 slavka.rosewall@flinders.edu.au
 Profile

Melissa Veal

Senior Advisor, Student Experience

 08 8201 8943
 melissa.veal@flinders.edu.au
 Profile

Helen Hodges

Senior Advisor, Student Transition

 08 8201 9653
 helen.hodges@flinders.edu.au
 Profile

Stephanie Walker

Creative Projects lead

 08 8201 3309
 stephanie.walker@flinders.edu.au
 Profile

Graham Fordham

Student Support Advisor

 08 8201 5969
 graham.fordham@flinders.edu.au
 Profile

Our projects

Extended orientation program

Semester 1 2020

In partnership with College and portfolio staff across the University, Student Experience led the development and implementation of Flinders’ first five-week extended orientation program in Semester 1 2020.

In previous years, students have attended academic sessions, social events, and activities during O’Week (week zero) before being left to navigate University ‘on their own’ from week one. Furthermore, students who are admitted after O’Week and those who are unable to attend O’Week, miss out on this experience altogether.

Therefore, an extended orientation program was developed to better support all new students in their transition to University. The program started with O’Week and continued through the first four weeks of Semester. Each week included themed events, communication and activities highlighting support services and helping students establish a sense of belonging at Flinders. The themes were:

  • O’Week: Get to know Flinders, meet other students, and get excited for University.
  • Connect Week: Establish connections and a sense of belonging at Flinders.
  • Skills Week: Develop skills for academic, personal, and professional success.
  • Cultural Week: Celebrate the diverse cultures at Flinders.
  • Wellbeing Week: Build habits and skills to support your wellbeing.

More than 500 events and activities were scheduled across the five-week extended orientation program in Semester 1 2020 (please note that due to COVID-19 restrictions, all events in Cultural Week and Wellbeing Week were cancelled).

As part of the inaugural extended orientation program, the following initiatives were implemented:

  • A Welcome Hub at Bedford Park. Located at the ground floor of the Student Hub, the Welcome Hub provided a central, visible location for students to ask questions and learn about support services throughout the extended orientation program.
  • A Meet and Greet Space at Bedford Park. Located within the Welcome Hub, the Meet and Greet Space was a place for students to meet their peers through weeks 1 to 4.
  • Finding Your Way at Flinders (Digital Orientation Topic in FLO). This popular resource provided students with essential orientation information. On average, the topic had 10,500 student views per week throughout the five week orientation period. Views increased significantly in week 3 after the move to online teaching (due to COVID-19) totalling 19,348 views for the week.

Semester 2 2020

Due to the success of the extended orientation program in semester 1, an extended orientation program will be implemented in semester 2 2020.

Due to COVID-19 and social distancing restrictions, most events for semester 2 orientation will be delivered online, with some events and activations on campus at Bedford Park and Sturt.

Read more about the extended orientation program in semester 2.

O'Guides pilot program

In semester 1 2020, Student Experience led the coordination and implementation of the pilot Orientation (O’Guides) program in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences (CNHS), in partnership with CNHS staff.

Through the O’Guides program, all commencing CNHS students were allocated to groups and assigned an O’Guide. O’Guides are continuing students who volunteered their time to help new students settle in during their first few weeks. O’Guides met their groups at the College orientation events and were available at ‘drop in sessions’ at Sturt in weeks one and two.

Commencing students in CNHS were surveyed and overall, 96% of students who completed the survey found the program helpful. The majority said O’Guides made them feel welcome at Flinders and helped them make new friends.

Due to the success of the pilot program in CNHS, the O’Guides program will be rolled out across all Colleges in semester 2, 2020. New students will be allocated an O’Guides group that aligns with the discipline they are studying. They will then be able to engage with their O’Guides online, via Collaborate sessions, through the first few weeks of semester.

Read more about the O’Guides program.

Flinders Support Network

The Flinders Support Network (FSN) program was launched in 2018 as a student outreach and retention campaign. The goal of the program is to increase student retention by connecting specific cohorts of students with academic, wellbeing and study support services to help them achieve success at Flinders. Planning and Analytical Services provide student engagement data to inform the FSN outreach process.

In 2018 and 2019, specific cohorts of students were contacted via the FSN (e.g. all undergraduate students). In semester 1 2020, changes were made to the FSN due to the impact COVID-19 had on students. Therefore, the FSN program was expanded to include all students in semester 1 2020 to assist connection with support services during these challenging times. The objective was to provide greater awareness of, and engagement with, the support available to students.

Project Compass

Student Experience has been working with Digital Student and Teaching Services (DSTS) to deliver Project Compass (aka the Student Portal project).

In partnership with students, Project Compass aims to streamline and improve the ways that students find, access, and engage with the university community, support and services at Flinders to improve the student experience and support student success. This will be done through the development and implementation of an innovative and highly personalised online student portal.

The project team has engaged students as co-designers in the project to understand student pain points and priorities and how these can be addressed through a student portal. The portal will be delivered incrementally throughout 2020.

Read more about Project Compass.

Student communication channels

The Student Experience team manages a broad range of student communication channels, which enable targeted and streamlined communications with a range of student cohorts. To help you determine the most appropriate channel for your message, please use this short questionnaire. The Student Communication Guidelines will help you with understanding the range of communication channels available and how they can be used to share relevant information with current students. For help with using any of the communication channels or advice on creating student facing communications, please contact us.

Ping! all student newsletter

Ping! is the all student e-newsletter sent every Wednesday, during teaching weeks. To view the Ping! guidelines, previous editions or to submit an article visit the Ping webpage.   

Ask Flinders Facebook page

The Ask Flinders Facebook page is used to communicate a range of information from the University to current Flinders students.

SMS to current students

Where appropriate, text messages can be sent to current students. This should form part of a wider, strategic communications plan to ensure this channel remains for high priority communication only. 

Student emails

We can help you create targeted emails to specific student cohorts. We also manage the approval and distribution of emails to the all student list via Outlook. 

Digital screens

We manage the upload of content to the digital screens in Flinders Connect, as well as across the Bedford Park Hub and at Tonsley, Sturt and Victoria Square. 

Flinders University phone line messages

We manage the recordings and schedule for the Flinders Connect University phone line (1300 354 633) on hold message queue for current students. 

General FLO announcements

To discuss adding information as a general FLO announcement (visible to all students) contact  student.experience@flinders.edu.au

Ask Flinders FAQs

We manage updates and additions to the Ask Flinders database of Frequently Asked Questions.

MyFlinders website

We manage the content on the MyFlinders website.

Resources and templates

Here you can find survey data, reports and a suite of communication resources and templates that can be used to inform and support your work.

  • Communication questionnaire – help determine the most appropriate student communication channel to use, by answering a few simple questions
  • Communication guidelines
  • Communication Writing Style Guide
  • High-level University communications overview calendar
  • Student outreach campaigns calendar
  • Analysis of survey responses – available on request by emailing student.experience@flinders.edu.au
    • 2020 orientation feedback survey
    • 2019 orientation feedback survey
    • 2018 ‘what does success mean to you’ survey
  • Reports
    • 2020 Orientation Report Executive Summary (full report available on request. Email student.experience@flinders.edu.au)
    • 2019 O’Week report
    • Student Success Campaign report
  • Videos
    • Student Success Report
    • Student Support Services
  • Student support services referral chart
  • Student support services - quick guide
  • Student planner (Printed version available on request. Email student.experience@flinders.edu.au)
  • Student support services key contacts pocket guide (Picture is for example purposes only. Up-to-date printed resource is available on request. Email student.experience@flinders.edu.au)

Need further information?

Contact the Student Experience team if you want help or further information.

student.experience@flinders.edu.au

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Last Updated: 16 Oct 2020
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