News & Events
Leadership Exchange Magazine Features CENTSS Audit Tool
January 24, 2011In the winter 2011 issue of Leadership Exchange Magazine (http://naspa.org/pubs/default.cfm), The Center for Transforming Student Services (CENTSS) audit tool was featured in the article “The Virtual World of Student Services: Evolving Practices for Engagement and Student Success,” by Joellen Barnhart. The magazine is published by NASPA (http://naspa.org/), the foremost professional association for student affairs administrators, faculty, and graduate and undergraduate students, with over 11,000 members at 1,400 campuses, and representing 29 countries.
The article discusses that, with the increase of virtual learning programs, virtual services are being sought by parents, vendors, alumni, staff, faculty, and even legislators. These constituents require online support as part of campus outreach. Barnhart says, “As a parent of a University of Massachusetts student, I receive news alerts, newsletters, updates, and other information through a 24/7 electronic format aimed at keeping me informed and appropriately engaged with both the university and my child.”
The CENTSS audit tool helps institutions by giving them the tools and training they need to develop and deliver the high-quality student services online their constituents are demanding. Effectively implemented student services are a critical component of student retention, engagement, and satisfaction.
Vicky Frank, President of Seward Inc. and CENTSS co-creator, is quoted in the article saying, “We no longer use the term best practices. Now we refer to our pioneering work as ‘innovations.’” She adds, “There is no one way to implement an online student service because each institution is unique.” In the article, Frank also explains that online services were once designed primarily for students enrolled in online courses. “As it turns out, campus students regularly use the virtual services. The online environment now provides an opportunity to deliver integrated students services, blurring the boundaries of departments.”
Through CENTSS, institutions are able to blend the power of technology with the personal attention of traditional support services to serve these students.
Center for Transforming Student Services (CENTSS) Announces 2010-11 Innovation Award Winners
October 15, 2010The Center for Transforming Student Services (CENTSS) has
announced the winners of the 2010-11 Innovation Award in Online
Student Services. These college and university student services
professionals have used tools, creative strategies, and fresh
thinking to design, develop, implement, and maintain online student
services that have produced measureable results. CENTSS accepted
entries from many areas of student services, including student
communications, registration, admissions, advising, career
planning, financial aid, legal services, disability services,
and more. Awards were given in five CENTSS student service
areas.
View the winners.
Center for Transforming Student Services (CENTSS) Announces Innovation Award Call for Entries
May 20, 2010The Center for Transforming Student Services (CENTSS) announces its 2010-11 Innovation Award in Online Student Services: Call for Entries. CENTSS is looking for student services professionals who want to share how they have used tools, creative strategies, and fresh thinking to design, develop, implement, and maintain online student services that have produced measureable results. CENTSS accepts entries from many areas of student services, including student communications, registration, admissions, advising, career planning, financial aid, legal services, disability services, and more.
CENTSS will publicize the innovations to the higher education community through press releases and conference presentations. Winners also receive:
- A "CENTSS 2010-11 Innovation Award" badge for your website
- A plaque commemorating your award
- A trend report from the CENTSS database
Entries will be accepted through July 15, 2010. Winners will be announced on October 15, 2010.
Entries are accepted at: http://www.centss.org/services/innovations.html.
Ohio Learning Network Renews CENTSS Online Audit Tool License to Further Improve Online Student Services
March 8, 2010The Ohio Learning Network has renewed its license for the CENTSS online student service audit tool for two more years. The CENTSS tool helps higher education institutions assess their development of online student services. Ohio initially piloted CENTSS in 2007 with four institutions, expanded the pilot to 12 more institutions later that year, and added six new institutions in 2008. To further improve their data around online student services, Ohio will add 6 institutions to the CENTSS audit program this year for a total of 28 participating two- and four-year, public and private institutions.
The leaders of the Ohio Learning Network became interested in CENTSS because they wanted to improve their web-based student services, perform gap analyses of student services technology as a means to calculate ROI, and create a basis for making technology purchases at the system, collaborative, or institutional level.
After using the tool for three years, the CENTSS audit has allowed Ohio educational institutions to:
- Establish a baseline of how they are delivering online student services now
- Identify “low hanging fruit” services that can be added with little investment
- Quickly identify problem areas and develop strategies for improvement
- Benchmark their progress against peers, locally and statewide
- Track their progress year over year with comparison audits
- Inform decisions about technology purchases using tested and individualized data
Additionally, George Steele, Director of The Ohio Learning Network, says that the CENTTS audit helped the Ohio Learning Network create a common language for improvements to online student services. One Columbus State staff member who took the audit observed, “We realized the importance of thinking functionally rather than departmentally and aligning our online tools to enable students to progress through the enrollment process without barriers and limitations.”
To date, more than 200 institutions have used the audit tool to assess their services. Additionally, all of Minnesota's institutions have used the CENTSS audit to identify areas in online student services in need of improvement.
