Speechwriting for Campus Leaders: Tips for New or Occasional Speechwriters

Once you have defined your institution’s strategic messages and found your leader’s voice, the next task for your speechwriting assignment is to get words on the page. But knowing how to keep your listeners’ attention can be especially challenging when you aren’t a full-time speechwriter. Join our expert instructor, Chuck Toney, online for easy-to-implement tips on how to effectively incorporate technical and rhetorical tactics into your next speechwriting assignment. You will learn how to prepare the physical text of the speech and how to add impact through devices such as repetition, alliteration, rhythm, and emphasis. You will also leave the session with three types of speeches every campus speechwriter should have ready for delivery.

Using Retention Metrics to Support At-Risk Online Students

The human and technological resources needed to ensure student success online are expensive to acquire and difficult to maintain. Consequently, institutions must make data-driven decisions about where to invest their resources. However, the data needed to inform such choices can be hard to isolate and are subject to misinterpretation given the complexities and constantly changing characteristics of online education. Examine how you can use metrics to better support retention efforts and improve the success rates of your online students. This webcast will address the use of data for modeling and prediction, and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions, including: Data available to your institution Mechanisms for obtaining data Conclusions that can and cannot be drawn from data about your retention and success initiatives Identifying at-risk students through analysis of predictive behaviors Using interventions to help reduce the risks Monitoring the interventions for effectiveness

Selecting a Learning Management System

Selecting a learning management system (LMS) is a complex endeavor that requires spending hundreds of hours vetting different options; balancing the competing needs of faculty, students, and administrators; and making a multi-year commitment. Join us online as our instructor walks you through the crucial steps for selecting an LMS on your campus. Having recently selected a new solution for his own campus, Tom Cavanagh will share a collaborative process for vetting, evaluating, and selecting the right LMS for your institution. You will leave this webcast with proven approaches and key considerations to effectively guide your selection. While this program will help you better understand the process for selecting an LMS, it is not intended to help you evaluate your current system or explore features within specific platforms.

Alumni Career Services: Developing an Online Programming Series

Career services are one of the most requested resources from alumni. Capitalize on this interest by expanding your online offerings to include a live and recorded webinar series. Join us online to learn how you can develop a low-cost, online, career programming series that engages your alumni as both participants and presenters. Through a showcase of the program at Georgetown University, our expert instructor will share information and advice around the key components of an alumni career services webinar series, including: Choosing a platform to deliver your webinars Selecting the right topics to interest your alumni Recruiting and managing engaging presenters to deliver your content Marketing your programming appropriately Assessing your programming

FERPA: When to Involve Legal Counsel
and Leadership

In working to meet the FERPA obligations of your campus, you’ll inevitably interact with board members, legal counsel, or other administrative leaders. Sometimes these leaders will call on you to release information or offer advice related to FERPA, and sometimes you must call on them in order to make a tough decision on FERPA. But managing these requests, and knowing when to ask for help, proves especially difficult when the stakes are high. Join us for this webcast to learn how to effectively manage FERPA requests from leaders while knowing when to ask legal counsel for assistance. You will leave with examples of FERPA situations you can resolve on your own and examples of situations in which you should always ask for help. Your purchase of this program includes access to the live webcast, as well as access to a website that houses a recording of the live webcast and other FERPA resources. You will be able to access the recordings and resources on the site through December 31, 2013 regardless of purchase date, so register now for this bundle! The sooner you register, the longer your access period will be. Beginning October 16, 2013, we will no longer offer […]

Recruiting and Retaining a Talented Advancement Team

Exceptionally high turnover within a development team can lead to impaired donor relations and can jeopardize future donations.  While nearly every shop recognizes the importance of recruiting and retaining talented development professionals, few have an intentional strategy to ensure they are recruiting the right development officers for their team and providing professional development opportunities and other incentives to ensure top performers stay and progress within their organization. Join us for a session that will highlight best practices that support longer advancement team tenures within an organization. Our expert instructor will share information and advice about the following: Preparing to recruit talented development professionals Using search firms, dedicated human resources staff, and in-house recruiter models Building retention into the interview and hiring process Developing sound hiring criteria and an effective hiring rubric Promoting from within/growing your own Incentivizing employees when budgets are tight Developing performance reviews that support your culture

Instructional Strategies for Blended Learning

Instructional strategies that have evolved in classrooms and lecture halls typically have minimal success in blended instruction. To teach well in the blended environment, instructors need to explore new pedagogical options and craft learning activities that fit the medium. Join us online to learn key strategies for teaching successfully in blended courses and effective practices for engaging your students. Our expert instructor will share examples of courses that demonstrate effective student engagement and sound instructional practices in a blended format.

Performance Metrics for Prospect Research and Management Staff

Determining if your fundraising professionals are meeting their dollar goals is relatively easy. However, your prospect research and management positions are fundamentally different, requiring an evaluative approach that balances front-line needs with production timeframe realities. Join us online to learn how to develop prospect research and management staff metrics for your shop. Our expert instructor, Marianne M. Pelletier, Senior Consultant, Cornell University, will share three evaluation models for both prospect researchers and managers, and you will leave knowing which model will work best for your shop. We will also discuss: Setting realistic expectations around performance metrics Specific metrics for both prospect researchers and managers Effectively tracking your solution and graphing results Building buy-in for your solution

Designing a Sophomore Living-Learning Community

A well-designed sophomore living experience program applies student development theory to sophomores, fosters student engagement, increases interaction with faculty and staff, and increases retention. Join us online to learn specific steps you can take to get your sophomore living-learning community program off the ground or what you can do to improve an existing program. Our expert instructors will share information about the following: Considerations to use when designing a sophomore living-learning community Identifying partnerships you need to pursue for an effective sophomore living-learning community How to assess the success of your program using best practices and national assessment instruments

Disability Services: Accommodating Student Veterans Webcast Recording

For many veterans, making the transition from life in a war zone to life as a college student can be challenging. More than ever before, disability services staff members, with their understanding of the unique challenges veterans are facing, can often become advocates for helping veterans connect to available resources. Join us online as our experienced instructor details specific accommodations that your disability office might consider for veteran students. This event will emphasize how disability service administrators can train others on campus to better serve veteran students with physical and psychological disabilities and help them succeed academically and socially. Our instructor will also suggest some longer-term projects you can use to more broadly assist veterans through disability services