My year in the life of Student Information Points

Last week the teaching year and exams finished at the University of Edinburgh and therefore the Student Information Points (SIPs) moved to holiday opening hours. This meant that the SIP at Kings Buildings closed for the summer and the one in the Main Library in George Square changed it's opening hours to 11.00 - 15.00 Monday to Friday.
The other thing that happened was that I left my role as Student Information Points Manager as I am taking up a new role at Heriot Watt University.

This year has been a very interesting and challenging year.
I've enjoyed working at the University of Edinburgh, it is a great university and it is vast - there is no way of understanding how big and diverse it is until you become part of it. Then you realise that it is all encompassing and also devolved. It is also very tolerant and very interesting. I wanted to work in a University and that was the reason for moving from an FE College and it has definitely fulfilled that criteria.
There are some beautiful historic buildings as well as some very quirky and odd buildings. The office for the SIPs is in Buccleuch Place, in an attic flat, with 92 steps to the top and although I'm sure it has done me good I'm not going to miss the climb.

I have gained valuable experience of working in a project - not only working in a project but starting from the very beginning and setting up a service from scratch at the very beginning of a project. It has been interesting and challenging to implement and develop an enquiry service while still planning and deciding which direction it should move in. It's been good to have that opportunity to have a flexible approach and have targets that are not set in stone apart from, of course, delivering an effective service. It's very different, or at least I found it very different, from being embedded in the organisational structure of the institution.
I enjoy and appreciate opportunities to work in a changing environment and manage change - the more situations that you are involved in then the easier it becomes to recognise that a particular tactic or strategy may work. Sometimes it is instinctive but as time goes on you react more efficiently to the situation - or at least I hope I do.

As ever managing staff is the best thing and also the most difficult thing. It was great starting with a team who were all brand new i.e the job roles of everyone were new, no one knew each other and there wasn't any baggage. All of the SIP team are personable, clever and enthusiastic which was great. It takes time to establish a working team and in hindsight I would have spent more time building although perhaps there is no quick way and it has to evolve. It takes time to establish working practices and ways of doing things and prior experience counts.
The job roles evolved differently than the initial job descriptions outlined and I think this is one of the key things about a new project - you have to adapt and change as you go along and fit to the demands of the service. The roles developed into more than an enquiry answering service and became a combination of  customer support, campaigns/resource creating and also research and miniprojects.
Being part of the project team, the Student Experience Project (of which the SIPs are one strand), has been brilliant - everyone has been funny, quirky, clever and mega efficient.

The successes of the Student Information Points have been:
1. Setting up and maintaining a face to face enquiry service for students, staff and visitors at a number of locations.
2. Providing other communication channels and ways of accessing information i.e. webpage, email, text
3. Logging and recording enquiries to inform the development of the service and to provide data about student information
4. Creating resources, paperbased and electronic, to provide information for students based on information collated from existing University information into more accessible and relevant formats. Also new information as and when needed.
5. Outreach activities which involved having a SIP presence at other parts of the University such as Edinburgh College of Art, the School of Education at Moray House, the Vet School at Easter Bush and the halls of residence at Pollock Halls.
6. Campaigns to raise awareness of the information / enquiry service and promoting an 'Ask us Anything' facility.
7. Liaising with staff across the university in central support services and support services in the schools and colleges
8. Involvement in feedback - surveys and focus groups
9. Planning for inductions, freshers week and other events and key dates in the academic year and student life cycle.

There is more, day to day things and strategic things that I've learnt about and experienced, but for now thats it, time to move on.

Campaigns

Campaigns are one of the initiatives that we've used to raise awareness of the Student Information Points and to advertise to students that we provide information. It has taken a bit of trial and error as it is quite a difficult concept to convey - that is, that the product you have is information about products and services.
We did an Easter Egg campaign where we had a basket of plastic eggs and some contained USB memory sticks and some sweets or chocolate. It was a lucky dip and gave us the opportunity to engage with students and raise the profile of the service.
Then we did a campaign where students could vote for a guide or publication that we would produce - they had to vote using ping pong balls for one of three options.
The winning option was for 10 places for £10 to visit in Edinburgh. This was a very good way of using a visual prompt to engage students and was simple but effective.



The most successful campaign that we've run is the Exam Locations Guide campaign. This was thought up by two of the SIP assistants at the end of last year for the December exams and then developed further and expanded for the May exams.
Exam locations are difficult for students because in a University such as Edinburgh the locations are widespread across the university and indeed the city. They are often in places students don't usually visit as they use the big halls not the usual lecture theatres or teaching rooms. There are quite a few university maps but none highlighting exam halls. So we produced a guide with a colour coded map and included other useful information. We also got various exam related items such as pens, stress balls, relaxation CDs, sweets etc. The guides plus the items were very popular and students appreciated the useful information at a potentially stressful time.

Gearing up for Induction

This is a belated blog post about an event held in April. It was an event for staff at the University of Edinburgh and was held in South Hall, Pollock Halls. It was organised by the Induction Development Planning team who are part of the Student Experience Project. The event was attended by academic staff delivering induction sessions, School/College administrative and support staff organising and delivering events and support for new students, staff from central support services who organise Freshers Week events and support and Students / EUSA.
The event was very well attended and there was a good mix of staff from the different areas. The aim was to share good practice and gain an understanding of what is happening across the University as far as Induction is concerned. It was also an opportunity to learn about the Induction strand of the project which is an important aspect for all those involved in the project in order to raise the profile of the work and collaboration that is taking place.
The keynote speaker was Michelle Morgan who gave an insightful talk about successful University Inductions. It's very illuminating for staff at Edinburgh to see how it is done elsewhere and how important it is to have a co ordinated approach as well as preserving the more individualised approach.
http://www.improvingthestudentexperience.com/student-practitioner-model/SEPM%20Books%20/table-of-contents/The rest of the day was split into sessions looking at good induction practice and also the challenges that are involved in enhancing the induction experience.
There is a great deal of good practice across the University and there was a 'Show and Tell' session of current induction practices. These included supporting
Non traditional students in the School of Education who have a variety of access routes and require support throughout their course of study as there may not be others to talk to.
Online Distance Learners of which 99% are part time with other commitments. Induction for them needs to be as early as possible and needs to focus on the technologies that they need to get started.
The School of Law have a variety of Induction events and have a very focused approach with a director of student experience. The students receive a welcome pack, introductory lectures with tea and cake, careers advice from week one, LAW PALs peer support.
Vetinerary Science students receive support around transition as it is very difficult to explain what it is going to be like as an udergraduate. They receive pre arrival support and have a bootcamp of study skills.
The day was very interesting and useful. A short plenary was given by one of the Vice Principals who reinforced that for inductions to be successful students must be at the centre and must thrive. They must do the best they can, understand the system, expand their horizons and leave with skills they can describe.

Looking ahead to Freshers Week and Inductions

Over the last couple of weeks we have started to think about what the Student Information Point service will be offering and participating in during Freshers Week and Induction.  There are no definite plans yet but we are liaising with other parts of the University to make sure that we have a joined up approach or, more realistically, at least know what is happening and how we can ensure that this information reaches students.  The Student Information Points are a strand of the Student Experience Project - another strand is Inductions and there are three Induction Development Planners.  It is great that we are part of the project with them as they work in the same offices and it is easy to collaborate with them.  They have just produced and circulated the draft central induction plan which outlines events and activities which take place centrally i.e. mainly University wide as opposed to at a College or School level .  This means that we can feature the SIP service and any activities that we propose running in the plan and also know what else is going on.
I have been to meetings of the Information Services Freshers Week Working Group so that we can liaise over activities and services that will be offered in the libraries.  The SIP desk in the central area is located in the Main Library so it is important that we know what is going on.  Also so we know how to direct students to the online information that they need and link this to information that we will be promoting and signposting to.
One of the main places that students need to go to during Freshers Week is to Adam House where they can get their University ID card if it has not been sent to their Halls and also to see Finance.  This year we are going to have a presence at Adam House as it is where there is heavy footfall of new students who will be trying to find out about everything and will have enquiries.  There is quite a big space but we have decide how to make best use of it - is it better to have an enquiry desk / information point set up or better to have a more flexible mobile approach and circulate among the crowd?  

Adam House Ground Floor

Regular meetings day

When I looked back over this blog recently I realised that I had been posting to it since 2009 which seems a long time ago now.  Also that some of the early posts in particular were quick posts about everyday happenings which are quite useful to have a record of to refer back to.  Recently I have posted more lengthy posts about more interesting aspects of managing a service or particular initiatives which others in a similar role might find useful.  However I miss the mundane posts so am going to pick up some of those too.
This week I had a day off on Monday which gave me a longer weekend as I had been to Cambridge.  Yesterday, Tuesday, I spent quite a lot of the day catching up on emails and catching up with the rest of the team.  Then we had the regular supervisors/managers meeting which is myself and the two supervisors and consists of a general chat of what has been happening with the Student Information Points, any meetings or events that have happened or are going to happen and anything that we need to have on the agenda for the team meeting.
The team meeting happens on a Wednesday morning and we open the Student Information Points slightly later to allow for this.  I think team/department meetings are very important and should happen on a regular basis for two main reasons.  Firstly to catch up with what is happening and plan operational stuff for the week ahead - if everyone's there it's easier to circulate the information and get a consensus and saves time.  Secondly, it's a forum and an opportunity for people to raise any issues they have - communication is important but also difficult unless you work at it and create opportunities for it to happen.
Also today I had my fortnightly catch up with my line manager - it's not usually Wednesday, it's usually Friday but gets moved around depending on diaries.  This is my opportunity to let him know what's happening, ask for his advice on some things and ask him to pass up to a higher level some issues that need decisions making.  It's also a chance for him to let me know what's happening at a more strategic level and for us to discuss where and how we want the Student Information Points to develop as part of the Student Experience Project.

Student Focus Groups

I have recently been involved in two sets of Student Focus Groups and have found them to be very interesting and informative.  The first group was one that is part of a number of groups that have been set up and facilitated by the communication strand of our project.  For background information, the Student Information Points that I manage are one strand of the Student Experience Project at the University of Edinburgh.  The other strands are Communication, Pre-arrival and Induction, Online and Innovation, Enhanced Selection, Emergency Response and also Surveys.
As the project has progressed and evolved there has been more collaborative working between the strands and this has been very positive.  It also means, on a practical level, that there is less chance of duplication of work and effort and more sharing of results.
A batch of focus groups was set up and facilitated for undergraduate students in December to ask them about communication at various stages of the student life cycle from application to pre-arrival to induction.  The questions and discussions were based on how the information was communicated to students at the different stages via different channels, methods and media.
The focus groups set that I helped to facilitate was with Postgraduate research students in the College of Science and Engineering.  There was a mixture of Home/RUK/International students and the questions were based around the ones that had been asked of the undergraduates.  The students were asked about the communication methods used by the University/College/School to inform them before they arrived and once they were at the university.  As these were PGR students there was obviously a difference between the amount of general information and methods as there was a greater involvement on a one-to-one basis with their supervisor.  It was interesting that some had been undergraduates too at Edinburgh so they had some prior experience of the institution.  The feedback was in general positive, they have high expectations and are very able so can filter and adapt information for their own purposes.  There is a need as a PGR student at any institution to be self motivated and this was evident from the feedback - you need to be persistent and spend time investigating the information you need.  This is good but obviously it means that any communication by the University/College/School has to be relevant otherwise it is filtered out.  (There is a complication with an institution as large as Edinburgh that you are going to get information from a number of places as you will get whole University information then College i.e. Science and Engineering information then information from your particular School (Faculty).
Two points that surprised me but are pretty obvious really and happen at lots of places are firstly that most students have their University emails automatically forwarded to a gmail account.  Secondly to find some information on the University website, sometimes it is quicker and easier to Google the phrase or key words you want and then follow the results link back to the website.  Simple.
The second group that I have been involved in (mainly as an observer) was one that was set up and facilitated by Registry with an external facilitator.  The format was that there were long sheets of brown paper stuck on the walls around the room in three sections.  1. Enquirer 2. Applicant 3. Student (this might have been a different title) - basically it was to get feedback at different phases of the student life cycle or journey.  In each section there was a series of post it notes at the top of a column with different subjects e.g. website, library, matriculation, scholarships, portal, induction, feedback etc. etc. The students were given green post it notes and pink post it notes and had to go round writing feedback about as many areas as they could (green = good, pink = not good) and stick them in the appropriate columns on the brown paper sheet.
There were about 20 students - a mixture of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, PGT, PGR - international and home.  They were all very engaged with the process and wrote lots of feedback on the post it notes.  They also discussed their opinions informally while moving around the room and also more formally during the round table discussion.
I've been impressed at how useful and informative the focus groups have been.  Student Information Points (SIPs) were added on at the end of both groups and the feedback is that students think they are a good idea, those that have used them have found them very helpful but they need to be more widely publicised.  We have done and are continuing to do a series of campaigns to raise awareness of the SIPs and the services they offer.  This year we will have the weeks leading up to Induction to promote the SIP service and already have started planning for Freshers Week activities and events.

Student Information Points - from start to some success

This is a very belated summary of the Student Information Points (SIPs) from when we began in August until the end of Semester 1 in December.  It has been an interesting, exciting and challenging 5 months - a valuable experience for myself and the rest of the SIP team.
We did a presentation event in November which went well and was a milestone for us as it enabled us to put down a marker at a certain point to say what we had achieved, or at least the progress we had made. The audience for this presentation was a cross section of staff from across the University including support / central services and also academic / schools. I presented a cut down but updated version of this presentation in the first week of this Semester and again it was good to 'mark' our progress.
On a practical level the Student Information Points have been operational on a daily basis since the 10th September which was the first day of Freshers week.  We've offered a face to face service and an online presence including the website and social media sites.  The SIPs have offered an electronic communication service including email and text.  
We have been based at the Main Library in George Square and also in two places at Kings Buildings. We are constantly reviewing our locations especially at Kings Buildings to work out where is the best place for us to offer an accessible and useful information service for students. We've also done some Outreach which is when we have set up a 'mobile SIP desk' in buildings at other campuses of the University.  These include the Edinburgh College of Art, Moray House - School of Education, Easter Bush - the School of Veterinary Studies.  

The SIP team have done an excellent job in collecting and collating information from across the University and as you are probably aware the University of Edinburgh is a vast and diverse place.  This has been one of the crucial factors contributing to the success of the service and means that we can answer any question.  We may not know the answer but the team know a great deal and know how to find it out if need be.
An important part of collecting the information has been liaising with staff across the University in central services and in schools.  This has been interesting and challenging and has included a lot of work by the team and myself at different levels to achieve this. We have liaised with individual staff and also through meetings, committees and groups.  I don't think there is a set formula for building up these relationships,  they are different in each area and some of the schools are very different to each other.  Also as we are part of a bigger project it is different to being part of a department ourselves so this has had advantages and disadvantages.
The logging and recording of enquiries has been valuable as it has given us the data we need to constantly review the service that we offer. It has also enabled us to give feedback about the sort of questions that students are asking and the sort of information that they need communicating to them.  Most of our enquiries have been from students although some have been from visitors, potential students and also from staff. We are looking at ways of collecting the data so that we have more information about the type of enquirer as well as the type of enquiry.   
We have lots of plans for Semester 2.  The Student Support Project, of which we are a strand, is growing so there are opportunities to collaborate with communications and with inductions.  We are developing our web presence and looking at ways we can communicate about our service and also be a communication channel for other services. We're looking at what else  we can offer in order to add 'substance' to the service and provide documentation that students need.  We held a competition for students to design a logo for our posters and materials so we are hoping to use these ideas to update our brand and raise our profile.
Lots to look forward to.