2. Introduction
• Propose a problem and its solution within FIC in
details
• The Communication Processes
• Focusing on Students and Advisors.
3. The Problem
• There is not enough Advisors to meet the
demand from students for seeking them in the
peak periods.
• For Example, the beginning of the semester and
before the Final Examination.
4. Possible Consequences
• Students cannot get the information they need in
time.
• Students may have poorer emotions when they
communicate with email because of the usage of
language and words.
• Students may not understand as of the difference
of languages
5. Case Study
• Kate, joined FIC at 2014 Summer
• At her first semester in FIC, she doubts that will
the Global Health Science credits be counted in
her business major. Then she try to seek for the
advisors.
• When she tried to reach to the advisors, she saw
the queue was so long and she cannot reach
them before her afternoon lesson began.
6. Case Study (con’t)
• After that, she went home and sent an email to the
advisors. But the email she used was her own one,
not to school one because she does not know there
is a school email.
• Two days later, she found out that the advisors had
not replied yet. She felt so bad and her mind was
filled by the worries. She then lost her motivation.
• At last, she gained acknowledgement from her
friend that the credits will be counted.
7. Solution 1
• Train the front desk staff so that they can answer
some basic questions which they usually ask to
the advisors.
• Examples: Check GPA, Immigration issues,
life-oriented problems (driver license, applying health
insurance, VISA)
• How->
• Train for a week by the advisors
• Train to familiarize IT system.
8. Solution 2
• Develop and update guidelines on moodle for students.
• Example: FAQ and Documents in the student portal
• How->
• Ask advisors and students for what problems they
usually ask for to create FAQs.
• Survey students after each semester and to update the
FAQ
9. Solution 2 (Con’t)
• Example: A link in the “extending study permit”
document.
• http://students.sfu.ca/isap/handbook/extending-
documents/extend-studypermit.html
11. Solution 3
• Making advisors able to reply students by using
smartphones online texting application and portal live chat
on computer.
• Example: All texting applications and create a live chat in
the portal like the one on the FIC home website.
• How-> Advisors can login to their account during their office
hours to reply problems on their phones and computers
with clear meanings.
• Record messages to students on their texting application.
12. Solution 4
• Allot different types of questions on different days
by priorities.
• Example: Monday and Tuesdays for academies
Wednesday for Transferring
• How-> Making one of the two advisors everyday
to answer the prioritized question, the other stays
the same as usual.
13. Solution 5
• Making students able to make appointments with
the advisors for 10 - 15mins.
• Example: They can make appointment on the
portal for at most 15 minutes.
• How-> Make a timetable on portal for students to
fill in the time slot to make an appointment with
the advisors.
14. Conclusion
• Up to now, there is not enough advisors to
answer all the questions from the students at the
peak periods.
• Students may not get the information in time and
may not understand the information due to
language differences.
• There is many solutions but no action has been
taken so far.
