For my research, I hope to learn how we can utilize digital learning communities to onboard new students, build a sense of community, and ultimately decrease attrition rates of newly admitted students especially from less privileged backgrounds.
The resulting research about the strategic use of digital communities can be used to inform and develop new and existing onboarding practices at the university. The targeted audience would be the Student Recruitment team, Admissions team, and Academic Advising and Career Centre. These three departments currently collaborate on recruitment, admissions, and onboarding strategies to increase rates of admission and enrollment, and decrease new student attrition rates.
The most effective way to present the findings to these teams is through a small group workshop presentation to the managers from these three areas for buy-in and collecting feedback. Ultimately, the knowledge would be used towards enhancing the onboarding process via the integration of a digital learning community or aspects of one to engage new students.
Alternatively, a professional development workshop can be designed to help these teams learn how to use the existing digital learning environment and admissions portal to engage newly admitted students. This includes strategies on the types of resources and activities to incorporate in order to help new students orient and participate in the online community.
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