Looking for Info About Online Degree Programs? U of A Adds Online Sessions

Three recruiters for University of Arkansas online degree programs traveled 31,864 miles last school year to talk with prospective students in person.

Among all those miles and face-to-face meetings, two of the recruiters added another option earlier this year, giving instructors a new way to offer information about their programs.

The recruiters have recorded 11 interviews about microcertificates and graduate certificates, 11 webinars about bachelor’s and graduate degrees and two interviews with representatives of offices important for students in online programs: Transfer Central and the Graduate School and International Education. All of these can be viewed on the University of Arkansas Online YouTube channel.

“We were brainstorming on how we can get information from the programs to the students,” Jeff Brazil said. “What is the story that faculty want to tell? There’s no better way to tell the story of the programs than to have someone from those programs talk about them and answer questions.”

Brazil began work in September 2024 as online student recruitment manager. He was joined by Will Hobbs, recruiter for online programs, two months later.

“Neither of us had any experience with this type of project prior to starting it, so we just basically dove in headfirst to figure it out,” Hobbs said. “But each time we complete an interview or a webinar, we look back to find out what went well and what didn’t; then, we make adjustments for the next one.”

 

Accessible Information

Brazil and Hobbs are members of the Innovation and Online Student Experience team at Global Campus. They work with Brett Reinert, admissions counselor for online programs, who is based in the central Admissions office on campus. The three recruiters visit college fairs, trade shows, professional conferences and other places potential students gather. Their travel tally of 31,864 miles (Earth’s circumference is 24,901 miles by comparison) included trips by both car and plane.

Last spring, Brazil and Hobbs started recording webinars with faculty that were shared by email with registrants, added to online program landing pages, and saved to a YouTube playlist. In less than six months, with assistance from the Media Production and Marketing and Communications teams at Global Campus, they completed 10 program webinars that attracted 863 total views. They continue to add more videos to the playlist.

Reinert was not involved in producing the videos but, like the other recruiters, he promotes upcoming webinars at events he attends.

For the webinars, a faculty member joins Brazil and Hobbs on a Zoom call in which information about eligibility, applying, program requirements and other aspects are provided. Anyone attending the webinar can ask the faculty member questions. The calls are recorded for those who can’t watch live to view later.

“If I was going back to school, I would be reading everything,” Brazil said. “Especially as a student making that investment, I would be watching everything I could. This gives prospective students a chance to interact with people online, to see who their faculty are going to be. It helps them put themselves into the situation to see what it’s going to be like.”

 

Information on Services

Global Campus provides support for academic colleges that offer degree programs delivered online as well as professional development programs offered both online and in person. The unit also offers many services to students in online courses. These services include liaisons who help with any questions prospective students may have, coaches who guide enrolled students to academic resources provided by the U of A, course preparation classes, online student orientation and the Online Student Union, a social media site exclusive to U of A students studying online.

The recruiters decided to seek out officials on campus who could answer questions routinely asked of the online student liaisons as well as at the information booths they set up when they travel.

Brazil interviewed Chad Cox, senior executive director of Transfer Central, and Julia Smith, associate director of graduate student support. In separate videos, Cox and Smith describe the services their offices provide and how they can help students in online degree programs.

Cox talked about the importance of planning with the overall degree experience in mind when a student intends to transfer from a two-year college to a four-year university. He called it a horizon perspective.

He talked about the benefits of applying as early as possible for admission to the U of A. His office also records webinars with information to assist transfer students.

Smith said the graduate school is another source of information for the many services provided by the U of A that graduate students enrolled in online degree programs can access. The graduate school is working on moving toward providing online access to more services, she said.

 

Program Videos

For the videos on individual microcertificates and graduate certificates, which are all offered by the College of Engineering, Brazil interviewed Melody Miller, assistant director of marketing for the College of Engineering.

If someone clicks a button on the online program website requesting additional information about a specific program, they will receive an email back that includes a link to the video covering the program or certificate in which they are interested. Everyone who receives an invitation to the webinar will receive a follow-up email with a link to the recording in case they were not able to attend.

The recruiters also take a QR code created for an upcoming webinar to conferences and display it on a screen so that people in attendance can scan the code and attend the webinar without providing any personal information.

 

Faculty Appreciation

Faculty were receptive when invited to participate in the webinars, Brazil said, and it helped once the team had several finished and could show faculty what to expect. They can also show engagement the videos are getting on YouTube.

“Now we can send them links, and they can see what we’re doing,” he said. “Now, we have that evidence.”

Several of the instructors as well as the staff members who came to Global Campus to be recorded appreciated the professional studio, equipment and staff of the Media Production team, Brazil said.

“It makes them feel good to know they are important and what they do is important,” he said. “We want to showcase that. We look forward to working with more faculty members.”

 

Always Learning

From these new videos and webinars, the recruiters learn information they can use when talking with prospective students, Brazil said. They have been as much of a learning experience for the recruiters as they have been for prospective students and faculty, Hobbs said.

Hobbs creates a PowerPoint to show during the webinars, which allows the faculty members to verify information being presented in advance.

“This has been a really fun project for me because I love the iterative design process,” he said. “Because we record these webinars, we have the ability to see the progress that we’ve made over the last several months and how we have grown as recruiters.”

The video project has put a spotlight on how people learn and engage differently with information, Hobbs said.  

“The webinars are done as live virtual events, and we’d like to have as many people as possible attend that session,” he said. “However, we’ve realized that this type of event isn’t for everyone. Some people prefer to watch the recording later, at their convenience. Where one person might prefer a live interaction with faculty, others might want to just watch a video, or visit the website, or read a document. So, we are actively seeking ways to meet those prospective students where they are, such as adding the PDFs of our brochures to the landing page and embedding the webinars onto the program-specific pages.

Overall, Hobbs said, he’s proud of what Global Campus has accomplished with this project and excited for where it is going.

“It has fostered a lot of interdepartmental interaction, and I feel like the effort we have put into this has been well worth it,” he said.