Presentation from the 2011 NAVPA Annual Training and Conference for school certifying officials and veterans program administrators

1. Leveraging Technology:
Strategies to Engage your Students
and Make your Job Easier!
Chryssa Jones, Veterans Services Coordinator
University of California, Riverside
chryssa.jones@ucr.edu

2. What Are Your Challenges?
Tweet them now using the #NAVPA11 tag

3. What Are Your Challenges?
You are too busy
Busy researching overpayments & debt letters
Busy calculating net payer adjustments
Busy monitoring student registrations, degree plans,
add/drop/changes, fee changes, & attendance
Busy processing certifications & paperwork
You are busy answering student questions
Students don’t read email
Students don’t listen to what you tell them
Students don’t use the resources they have
No time for outreach (because you’re too busy)
New tools are too complicated

4. Technology Can Help!
Job Processes:
Reporting tools & campus
data systems
MS Office tips
Cloud-based collaboration
Sharing “Best Practices”
Outreach:
Social media
Your “official” website
Direct email vs. list-serves
Old-fashioned Word of Mouth
SuperSCO

5. Job Process Improvements
Banner & other systems
Banner Workflow
Take the time to learn your
data systems
Write improvement
proposals
Data Elements
VA file number
Chapter 33 eligibility %
Certification data
Restricted fund sources
Processing Comments
Document Imaging
Easy to review at any time
Automate Processes
Installment Plans
Degree-plan Checking
Report batching
Reporting Tools
Cert reports
Add/drop reports
FinAid adjustment reports

6. Sample Cert Report

7. Other Tips & Tricks:
Use email templates & auto-responders
Improve your Excel skills for data analysis
Use Mail Merge Wizards to send customized
(more effective) messages
Use SharePoint and other cloud-based tools
when appropriate
Learn from others & share with others!

8. Outreach & Collaboration
Social media
Your “official” website
Email
Student peer support
Community events
Goal is to ensure
comprehensive Transitional,
Academic, and Peer Support

9. Why Use Social Media?
It’s where your students are
Empowers your students to help
each other
Improve your situational
awareness
Establish a voice in your
community
BUT…. You have to do it right!

10. Facebook Pages
Friends are individuals
Pages are for
businesses and
organizations
Keep your page fresh!
“Like” other pages to
easily share content
Use scheduling tools
like Hootsuite to
manage future updates

11. Facebook Groups
Used for groups of
“Friends”
Ideal for your student
organization
You can’t post as your
page, only as yourself
Group posts are more
likely to be seen than
“Page” posts

12. Twitter
Your students are on
Facebook, but your
colleagues are on Twitter
Follow others for updates
and easy retweets
Link accounts for easy
updates to both
OR optimize each
separately for maximum
reach

13. Keep Your Website Current
Your website is your
information portal
Easy to find info = fewer
student phone calls
Link to VA pages and
other sites (but check the
links periodically)
Great tool: a Twitter box
automatically updates
your website with your
current tweets
http://www.jccc.edu/veterans/veterans-week.html

14. Other Collaboration Tips
Partner with your local VetCenter
Make contacts with other service
organizations in your community
Participate in community-building events
Find service opportunities for your students
Do joint events with other schools in your
community
Recruit student volunteers to lead the way

15. Comments?
Please tweet your feedback!