About Olney Central College
1,100+
students
50+
academic programs
67%
full-time retention rate
Communication with students has become so easy and is a great time saver. Rather than many calls and emails over time, we can text a student and get an immediate response similar to a face-to-face conversation. It saves hours of reaching out and waiting time. The implementation was not difficult and the staff at Modern Campus are amazing to work with!
Andi PampeAssistant Dean of Student Services
The Challenge
OCC received a Title III Strengthening Institutions federal grant, which included an objective to improve its academic advising services.
Advising staff all agreed that they needed to tackle one major challenge: communicating with students. Most students didn't regularly check their email, and many never listened to their voicemails. Thus, staff had no reliable way of reminding students about upcoming appointments, deadlines or incomplete paperwork.
Implementing Modern Campus Message
OCC staff decided to start using Message for three major areas: advising, nursing and a combined “support staff” program, which included financial aid, front-line staff and records.
Staff note that Message's segmenting feature has been critical to the program's success. Advisors can only see students in their caseloads, which avoids confusion. Also, segmentation allows advisors to text personal reminders, midterm and progress reports, and other information personalized to each student.
More recently, staff have branched out their programs, dividing the “support staff” program into three separate programs. Further, the team has created a program for the retention coordinator and recruiter.
The Results
Since staff began texting students, students are far more comfortable reaching out for help. In a way, texting “disarms” students before they even get to campus. Staff have seen increases in the number of students who seek out help on campus because they’ve already formed connections with staff.
Staff wanted to see if they were meeting the goal of their Title III Strengthening Institutions grant, so they used Message to send out a survey — asking students how they felt about recent changes made by the advising office. The results were overwhelmingly positive; 86% of students said they were satisfied with the recent changes, including the use of text messages. Many students also noted how much they appreciate being able to text their advisors any day, any time.
Message has produced transformational changes within student services at OCC. With the platform's blended messaging approach, we're building stronger relationships with students.
Ashley BigardTitle III Advising Specialist
Discover additional ways you can use text messaging to connect students with campus resources, extend staff resources and boost retention—and how doing so fits into the entire learner journey—in our free guide:
Related Case Studies
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How undergraduate academic advisors at a renowned private business school use Modern Campus Message to drive student success
Brigham Young University Engaged More Students in Peer Mentorship
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About Modern Campus
Modern Campus empowers 1,700+ higher education institutions to attract, engage, and retain learners for life with software solutions that enable a modern student experience.
The Modern Campus learner-to-earner lifecycle platform powers solutions for web content management, conversational text messaging, catalog and curriculum management, career pathways, student engagement and development, and non-traditional student management. The result: innovative institutions engage their modern learners for life, while providing modern administrators with the tools needed to streamline workflows and drive high efficiency.
Learn how Modern Campus is leading the modern learner-to-earner movement at moderncampus.com and follow us on LinkedIn.