Keeping the Pulse on Student Needs

Kayleigh Terry:  What led to the creation of these text campaigns?

Regina Wine-Nash: The focus of this department is to look at what data we can use to support students, and what is the best way to reach students. This led us to create these text campaigns; they allow us to connect with incoming students, including first-year and transfer students, who need support.  

Terry:  What role do these campaigns play in supporting students? 

Wine-Nash:  Text campaigns help us identify where students are struggling. Once we have collected responses from the texts, we can offer assistance and connect students to appropriate resources.  Text responses also allow us to identify trends that we can share with campus partners.  

Terry:  How are these text campaigns formatted and how do you use them to communicate with students? 

Wine-Nash:  Our office conducts weekly or biweekly check-in surveys via text message to all first-year students and transfer students (about 5,600 students).  Our goal is to connect with students, while also gathering meaningful and actionable data.  Outreach is holistic and conducted during times where students may need additional support, such as when they are settling into their new living environment, midterms, enrollment, etc.  The communication style of text messages is student-centered, normalizes barriers, and encourages support.  Prompts for these texts can look like the following: 

• Press 1 if you are reaching your goals 
• Press 2 if you are not sure and want me to check back in next week 
• Press 3 if you are not reaching your goals and would like additional support.   

Terry: Have you seen an increase in student engagement?  

Wine-Nash: While we have seen a decrease in engagement as the semester has progressed, students who are responding with “2” and “3” are increasing. This highlights how there is an increased rate of students reaching out for help and support.

Terry: How do you utilize emails to communicate with students?   

Wine-Nash: Our office initiates data-driven, proactive, and collaborative campaigns regarding indicators that may impact student success. Most campaigns are focused on these four indicators: 1) academics, 2), well-being, 3) sense of belonging, and 4) basic needs.    

Using various data sources, such as data from the ISAAQ and first-year student surveys, we identify those students who would benefit from additional outreach. Our goal is to connect with these students to normalize their barriers and be a resource for them in times of need.    

Terry: How successful are email campaigns in increasing retention rates at JMU?  

Wine-Nash: Students’ needs are always changing, so it varies depending on the semester. For example, 568 students were emailed in Spring 2024 reminding them of an Incomplete grade from Fall 2023. We provided them with information and resources and encouraged them to meet with their advisor. ​ At the end of the semester, 473 out of 598 had addressed their incomplete grade. 20.9% had let their incomplete lapse into “F,” down from 28.4% the prior semester. 143 of those 598 students also met with their advisor within weeks of the campaign.  

Terry: What are your future goals for these text campaigns?  

Wine-Nash: We want to continue to identify what efforts can be added to support our students or investigate efforts that already exist and increase recognition of these resources. We are always looking for opportunities to collaborate with partners across campus to build and improve our surveys and campaigns to facilitate student’s success. We will continue to assess and refine our efforts, processes, and systems as we continue to learn from data.