OATdb Archive

2010 - 2011

Visitor Center

Goal
ENHANCE TECHNOLOGY
Utilize advanced technology to enhance the visitation experience for prospective students

Objective
Update And Revamp Website
Web pages will be more concise and user friendly, allowing prospective students to access desired information and set up tours with greater ease.


Indicator
Electronic Tour Requests
A comparison of online tour requests vs. phone request will be conducted.


Criterion
Tour Numbers
Electronic tour requests will greatly outnumber phone requests, and we will see an increase in tour numbers.

Finding
Visitor Attendance
Electronic Tour Request greatly outnumbered phone requests.  Additionally, the online tour request process has allowed students to request tours 24/7 (the majority of tour requests are sent after business hours).  While overall attendance has decreased (mainly due to school group cancelations because of lack of funding) individual student tours (students visiting independent from a school or organization) have increased by 11.31% (#'s from Sept - June) over last fiscal year.

Action
Events Software
Due to the increase in online requests it has been determined that we will purchase an online software product to help with the registration of and communication to prospective students wanting campus tours.


Goal
Improve Campus Preview Day "Saturdays@SAM"
Improve Saturdays@SAM to increase the amount of students that attend and entice students to apply to and attend SHSU. 

Objective
Publications
Eye-Catching and Informative media SHSU publications will be distributed to all prospective high school juniors and seniors for the purposes of increasing attendance.


Indicator
Attendance Comparison
Attendance will be compiled and compared to last fiscal year's attendance.

Criterion
Attendance
Attendance will increase over last fiscal year (2009-2010).

Finding
Attendance Decrease
Saturday@SAM attendance decreased by 9.15% over last fiscal year.

Action
Explore
Search for new and exciting ways to increase attendance.  Additionally, we will investigate the feasibility of hosting smaller "mini" Saturdays@SAMs  (campus preview days) for prospective students.  This would give the student more date options as well as providing a more intimate/personal setting.

Goal
Improve Effectiveness
The Visitor Center will implement assessments to allow for improvements in areas that are not as effective.

Objective
Student Tracking
The Visitor Center will be able to track the actions of each prospective student who visits and determine if the programming is effective in enticing students to apply and enroll at SHSU.


Indicator
Hobsons
Through the use of data tracking, we will run reports through Hobsons to determine the percentage of students (of applicable age) who apply and subsequently enroll after they attend a visitor center presentation and tour.

Criterion
Student Actions
The percentage of students who apply and subsequently enroll after a presentation and tour will be greater than 50%.


Finding
Inconclusive
Due to the conversion of the university computer/records system there was an interruption in data rendering application/enrollment data for prospective students inconclusive.

Action
Assessment
Assess and report findings to our tour guides and then adjust training to provide desired results. 

Objective
Student Satisfaction
Students who visit SHSU will come away with all their questions answered and will leave having had a great experience.


Indicator
Survey
The Visitor Center will continue to survey visitors after they go on the tour to determine if students' needs and wants are being met.

Criterion
Survey Results
Survey results will be reviewed and overall satisfaction will be above average receiving a mark of good or great.

Finding
Survey Results
Students answered good or great 93.2% of the time.

Action
Continuation
Stay up to date on SHSU policies and procedures through cross training to effectively disseminate information to prospective students.  Train tour guides so that they are able to provide the most current and updated information to prospective students.



Update to previous cycle's plan for continuous improvement

Plan for continuous improvement The Visitor Center will strive to make each student's visit the best possible.  We will implement new training techniques as well as continue practices that have been proven effective.   The professional staff will work with other departments to increase our interdepartmental knowledge to best serve prospective students.  We will add new technology so that students are "wowed" each and every time they visit, with the ultimate goal of every student enrolling at Sam Houston State University.  When goals are not met, we will survey to determine which areas need to be strengthened.