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Assignment: Final Reportfor

Instructional Systems Recruiting Committeeand

Instructional Systems Alumni Advisory Council Recruiting Committee

Team OneLaura Bryant

Lea Ann GatesAlisa JacobsGina Minks

Kendall St. Hilaire

Florida State UniversityInstructional Systems Program

EME6691: Performance Systems Analysis—Fall 2009December 5, 2009

EME 6691—Phase 5 Final Report 2

Contents

Executive Summary................................................................................................................................... 4

Business Analysis.................................................................................................................................... 4

Performance Analysis.............................................................................................................................. 4

Gap Analysis............................................................................................................................................ 6

Cause Analysis........................................................................................................................................ 6

Intervention.............................................................................................................................................. 7Campus Recruiting.............................................................................................................................. 7Conferences........................................................................................................................................ 7Corporate Recruiting............................................................................................................................ 7Journals............................................................................................................................................... 8IS Website Improvements.................................................................................................................... 8Social Media........................................................................................................................................ 8Steam-line communication to prospective students.............................................................................8

Business Analysis................................................................................................................................... 10

Purpose................................................................................................................................................. 10

Analysis Questions................................................................................................................................ 10

Approach............................................................................................................................................... 10

Data Collection and Analysis Results....................................................................................................10Specific Recruiting Goals................................................................................................................... 11Recommended Business Goal..........................................................................................................13Creation of Goals............................................................................................................................... 13ISRC and ISAACRC Collaboration....................................................................................................14Measurement of Goals....................................................................................................................... 15Internal and External Forces..............................................................................................................16Research Sources and Methods........................................................................................................16

Performance Analysis............................................................................................................................. 19

Purpose................................................................................................................................................. 19


Approach............................................................................................................................................... 19

Data Collection and Analysis.................................................................................................................20Current Recruiting Practices..............................................................................................................20Recruiting Performed by the ISRC and ISAACRC.............................................................................20Information Gathered to Facilitate Recruiting Efforts.........................................................................22Current Recruiting Goals...................................................................................................................22ISRC and ISAACRC Interactions.......................................................................................................24Use of Information Gathered by the Recruiting Committees..............................................................24Optimal Recruiting Practices..............................................................................................................25Competitiveness of FSU’s IS Program Compared to IS Programs of Other Universities...................27Performance Measures...................................................................................................................... 28


Gap Analysis............................................................................................................................................ 33

Purpose................................................................................................................................................. 33


Approach............................................................................................................................................... 33

Data Collection and Analysis Results....................................................................................................33IS Program Recruiting........................................................................................................................ 33Performance Measures...................................................................................................................... 33Analysis of Gaps Related to Current Enrollment Numbers and Recruiting Activities.........................36Analysis of Gaps Related to Communications with Prospective Students.........................................42

Cause Analysis........................................................................................................................................ 44

Purpose................................................................................................................................................. 44


Approach............................................................................................................................................... 44

Analysis Results.................................................................................................................................... 44Performance Measure 1: Number of Students Actively Enrolled each Academic Year.....................44Performance Measure 2: IS Program Representation at Recruiting Events......................................45Performance Measure 3: Contact of Prospective Students during the Admission Process..............49

Intervention Recommendations.............................................................................................................51

Recruiting Process................................................................................................................................. 51On-Campus Recruiting...................................................................................................................... 51Conferences...................................................................................................................................... 52Corporate Recruiting.......................................................................................................................... 52Journals............................................................................................................................................. 52Website.............................................................................................................................................. 53Social Media...................................................................................................................................... 53

Contacting Prospective Students...........................................................................................................54

Limitations and Constraints................................................................................................................... 55


Executive SummaryThe Instructional Systems Recruiting Committee (ISRC) is a committee is tasked to carry out recruiting efforts with the intent to market and attract strong applicants to the Instructional Systems (IS) Master’s and doctorate degree programs at Florida State University. The Instructional Systems Alumni Advisory Council Recruiting Committee (ISAACRC) committee is comprised of IS alumni that work alongside the ISRC to improve the strength and reputation of the IS program at FSU.

The ISRC requested an analysis of the current recruiting processes. The ISRC representative recognized that to date the processes and procedures related to recruiting have not been formalized at a systems level. While there are some recruiting activities taking place, there has not a formal analysis performed to determine if the current processes are effective, or if there are formal programs that could be put in place to improve the recruiting process.

This report outlines the findings of Group 1 with regards to the current state of recruiting as they relate to the business goal of the ISRC and ISAACRC, performance measures that need to be in place to support the business goal, gaps between the current practices and the ideal recruiting performance, the cause for those gaps, and specific interventions that will help the committees reach the ideal recruiting performance level.

Business AnalysisInformation about the current state of recruiting was collected by surveying the ISRC and ISAACRC committee members, IS faculty members, IS staff, current students, and alumni. Upon review of the data collected, it became apparent that neither the ISRC nor the ISAACRC have a specific, measurable recruiting goal.

The team was unable to clarify a business goal with the ISRC and ISAARC, because of the limitations and constraints encountered in this project (discussed in greater detail in the Limitations and Constraints section). To move forward with the analysis project, the team assumed the business goal of increasing active student enrollment by ten percent annually going forward, where active enrollment is defined as the number of IS program students actively enrolled in courses. Increasing active student enrollment was mentioned as a goal repeatedly in the surveys and interviews conducted with the ISRC, the ISAACRC, and the faculty (see the Business Analysis Section). The percentage was based on research of current and past recruiting efforts and enrollment data collected from the past five academic years.

Performance AnalysisIt was unclear from the research how the ISRC measures student enrollment. Currently their recruitment process for the IS program is divided into two categories: proactive recruitment and on-campus activities. In an effort to recruit potential students from an outward-bound approach, recruitment is conducted as on-campus outreach. All other recruitment activities appear to take place after a prospective student completes an application to the graduate program or makes a request for more information after visiting the IS website. The planned communication with prospective students seems to be unbalanced, with most of the contact occurring after the individual has expressed interest in the IS program.

In order for the recruiting committees to meet the business goal of increasing active enrollment by ten percent each year, the committees should consider the following performance goals:


1. Number of students actively enrolled each academic year2. IS Program representation at carefully selected recruiting events (both on- and off-campus)

throughout the academic year3. Contact of prospective students at various points in the admission process by specific ISRC,

ISAACRC, IS program faculty member, and IS studentsTo achieve these performance goals, the committees must undertake several recruitment initiatives. First of all, the number of active students must be measured, as it is the key performance measure that will indicate if recruiting is effective. Recruiting efforts should be formalized, and annual goals should be establish to measure the efficiency of these efforts.

The formal recruiting program should include the following elements:

Element Specific measurementsOn-campus recruiting

Visit diverse undergraduate classrooms to promote the IS program Participate in spring and fall recruiting, as well as GradQuest

Conferences Funding should be secured for attending conferences for recruiting purposes

A packet to market the IS program should be created so that staff, faculty, students, and alumni who attend conferences have a tool with which to recruit potential students.

A mentoring program to ensure everyone participating in recruiting activities properly represents the IS program brand

Corporate Recruiting

A formal plan for recruiting from employees of corporations should be instituted

Journal Advertising Funding should be secured to advertise in trade journals such as T&D and CLO Magazine

IS Website The website should be overhauled and updated on a regular basis

Social Media A social media strategy should be developed to expand the reach of the recruiting efforts of the ISRC and the ISAACRC

Finally, direct communication with prospective students should be carefully managed during the admission process.

On-campus recruiting:

Corporate Recruiting

Journal Advertising

IS Website

Social Media


Gap AnalysisDuring the performance analysis phase, three broad performance goals were established in order to meet the organization’s goal of increasing the number of students actively enrolled each academic year.

The first performance goal that will measure the success of meeting the goal of increasing active student enrollment is measuring the number of active students. Based on most recent data for 2008/2009, this will mean an increase of 7 Master’s students and 4 Ph.D. students. From data collected in years 2004 through 2009, there is a 30% gap of Master’s students (101 optimal versus 72 actual), and a 17% gap of Ph.D. students (54 optimal versus 45 actual).

Since the main indicator of meeting the business goal of increasing active students is not being met, it is logical that the performance goals set for recruiting are also most likely not being met.

On-campus recruiting occurs, but there are no visible goals or plans for improving performance from year to year. Classroom visits are done in an ad hoc manner by faculty, and only to one major.

Currently funding is not secured so that the ISRC can attend conferences for the purpose of recruiting, so faculty attempt to recruit at the conferences they attend.

Corporate recruiting is not done at all. Currently funding is not secured for recruiting in trade journals. No one is responsible for the IS website. Because of this, the website is out of date, and there is

not a formal procedure to update its content. There is not a social media strategy for IS recruiting, and no one has been identified to own this

process.

The process used by ISRC, ISAACRC, IS program faculty members and IS students to communicate with prospective students is somewhat disorganized. There are several initial contacts at the beginning of the admission process, and then communication with prospective students gradually reduces.

Cause AnalysisThe reason that there has not been a 10% increase in the number of active students may be that there was a transition in the ownership of the recruiting program. During the transition, there was a two-year gap during which there was no recruiting conducted at all. This may have had an impact on the number of active students enrolled in the program.

Another reason that the number of active students has stagnated may be that the current recruiting activities are conducted in an ad-hoc manner, and they seem to be limited primarily to on-campus recruiting. The IS Program conducts a limited number of on-campus recruiting activities and/or events. Also, FSU’s IS Program does not formally recruit students at conferences due to lack of funds. Faculty and staff, however, attend a limited number of conferences and recruiting events on an ad hoc basis.

Additionally, the IS Program does not recruit potential students from the corporate field. Unfortunately, this issue has not been addressed so no one has taken the responsibility to pursue it further.

FSU’s IS Program does not advertise in trade publications because the marketing budget does not allocate sufficient funds to cover the associated costs. The IS Program website is not regularly updated, and the lack of recent information reflects poorly on the state of the program. There is no apparent process or responsibility for updating the site. No reporting is done on the number of visits to the IS website, or how prospective students find the program’s website. This is a critical issue, as this may be the first point of contact for potential students.


Finally, social media sites are not being used consistently to recruit potential students and network with those who could spread the word about the IS program. There is no apparent delegation of duties for this area.

InterventionThe primary intervention that can be undertaken to increase the number of students actively enrolled in the IS program is to create a formal recruiting process. As many of the suggested interventions currently exist in an ad hoc manner, the interventions recommend formalizing these activities. The new suggestions include recruiting at corporations and using social media for recruiting purposes.

Campus RecruitingA process should be created to plan, organize, and record all campus recruiting activities. Each activity should be reviewed after it has been executed, and the results should be used to plan for and improve future recruiting events. A diverse list of FSU undergraduate majors should be visited each year by faculty, students, and alumni to advertise the purpose and benefits of the IS graduate and doctorate program.

ConferencesConferences are an important place to have contact with potential students, as well as individuals who can suggest the IS program to potential students. However, attendance at conferences should be planned both for faculty/staff, as well as students. Research into potential conferences should be conducted and funds should be allocated to attend conferences for recruiting purposes. The current set of ad hoc documentation should be analyzed and used as the basis for a recruiting packet that can be used by any faculty member, alumni, or student attending a conference.

Corporate RecruitingCorporations with HR and Learning organizations may be interested in funding the advanced education of their workers. The employees of many corporations are paid to complete a higher education or certificate program. Targeting a population who have already secured funding for their continuing education is surely a way to meet the over-all business goal of increasing active student enrollment.

A target list of these companies could be constructed using the following information sources:

1. Current Students2. Alumni3. Companies that recruit from the program4. Winners of training and development awards (e.g. Training magazine’s Top 125, CLO awards)

A packet targeting corporate workers should be compiled and made available on the IS website. Additionally, five companies should be targeted annually for recruiting purposes and presented with information that has been prepared for especially for corporate leaders. These presentations do not have to be made in person; in fact it may be more desirable to demonstrate the department’s ability to interact with remote audiences using technology. Finally, these relationships should be nurtured and maintained from year to year.

JournalsAdvertising in print journals is expensive, but it would help to achieve the business goal of increasing student enrollment. Money should be set aside to advertise in print journals four times a year.


IS Website ImprovementsOne of the biggest complaints of students, faculty, and alumni cited in the team’s research had to do with the website. The website is out of date, and could do a better job at explaining the IS program. The current state of the website may actually discourage prospective students from engaging in the recruiting process. Our research did not find any information on the number of visits to the site annually. This number should be determined, and a goal should be set to increase the number by 30% each year.

One way to increase visits is to improve the website’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The goal should be to come up in the number one position in a Google search for the following searches: “ISD graduate programs,” “HPT graduate programs,” “ISD Ph.D. programs,” and “HPT Ph.D. programs”.

An easy way to increase SEO is to have current content. Content such as the IS Recruiting schedule, current research projects, and the upcoming conference attendance schedule for faculty, staff, and students should be posted on the IS website. In addition to increasing SEO, this information shows individuals that the IS program is vibrant and active, and this should encourage them to engage in the recruiting process. Additionally, social media information such as a Facebook page, a LinkedIn group, a Twitter account, and a YouTube channel should be published. This will give prospective students another view into the department and using widgets from these social media sites can help keep the pages of the website fresh. The YouTube channel can be used to host videos that will encourage prospective students to apply to the program.

Social MediaSocial media is an inexpensive way to connect with prospective students. Social media is not currently used in a proactive, strategic way for recruiting and should be integrated into the website.

A Twitter account should be actively used to build a network of individuals interested in the IS program, as well as to search for individual who are looking for graduate or doctorate programs. The Facebook page should be used strategically to advertise recruiting events, as well as other IS program activities that would attract prospective students. LinkedIn is a network of professional people, and the ISRC should establish an official LinkedIn group to connect with other IS and HPT professionals. Finally, the ISRC should be active on the alumni Ning site.

The responsibility of the website and social media maintenance should be delegated to one person. We recommend finding undergraduate interns who are interested in obtaining real world experience to maintain the website and social media. The interns should be managed by an IS faculty member.

Steamline communication to prospective studentsProspective students are over-contacted by stakeholders. A more strategic, managed approach to contact initiated from the IS department would make a more professional impression on these individuals. The process of initiating communications to prospective students should be re-engineered and managed by the ISRC.

ConclusionAs discovered during the Business Analysis phase of this project, IS program enrollment has increased


14.8 percent over the past five academic years (from a total of 304 active enrollments for the 2004-05 academic year to 349 for the 2008-09 academic year). This increase occurred despite a lack of formal recruiting practices in the past two years, and a lack of leadership for the recruiting committee for two years prior to that. With the implementation of formal recruiting processes, and expansion of these processes to include new territory such as corporate recruiting and social media, the team is confident that the proposed goal of increasing overall IS student enrollment by ten percent annually is attainable.


Business Analysis

PurposeThe purpose of the business analysis is to identify key organizational goals, and in the case of this project, the most important goals of the FSU Instructional Systems (IS) program recruiting committee. Once identified, the goals were evaluated to determine their appropriateness in terms of being measurable, specific, time-bound, output-focused, and relevant to the organization.

Analysis QuestionsSpecific questions were posed during the business analysis. Each of these questions related to the organizational goals. It was vital to understand what the organization wants to accomplish. Questions for the business analysis phase included:

What are the specific goals/needs of the IS Recruiting Committee (ISRC)? As you list the goals, please rank them in order from most important to least important.

How were these goals created? Are they given to you by the university, or does the committee create its own goals?

How do the IS Graduate Program Recruiting Committee and the IS Alumni Advisory Council Recruiting Committee interact to work toward these goals?

How do you measure results or progress toward your goals? What internal/external forces work for or against achievement of these goals?

ApproachThe business analysis was conducted through research, interviews, and surveys. Research on the current practices and the history of recruiting for the IS program was conducted to put current efforts and challenges in the context of what has been successful in recent history.

An initial interview with Dr. Tristan Johnson, current chair of the recruiting committee, was held in order to identify stakeholders with whom to consult. After identifying key stakeholders, interviews and surveys were used to collect data from members of the Instructional Systems Recruiting Committee and members of the IS Alumni Advisory Council Recruiting Committee. When one member of the Alumni committee, Marguerite Foxon, became unavailable for interview, Team One exchanged survey data for Team Three’s notes from an interview with Ms. Foxon.

Data Collection and Analysis ResultsData was collected to determine the Instructional Systems Recruiting Committee’s current goals and challenges in the context of the recent history of recruiting for the program. Dr. Tristan Johnson, current chair of the recruiting committee, was interviewed to learn about current recruiting practices, goals, and challenges. After interviewing Dr. Johnson, research was conducted on the recruiting committee’s wiki (http://fsu-instsys-recruitingcomm.wikispaces.com/) to understand how the current recruiting committee works. In addition, Dr. John Keller, former chair of the recruiting committee from 2005 – 2006, was interviewed to gain some knowledge about how recruiting was conducted in the past.

Based on information obtained from Dr. Johnson and Dr. Keller, a picture of recruiting over the past several years came together as demonstrated in Figure 1.

http://fsu-instsys-recruitingcomm.wikispaces.com/


FIGURE 1: IS PROGRAM RECRUITING LEADERSHIP HISTORY

The team conducted interviews with members of the IS recruiting committee and the IS Alumni Advisory Council Recruiting Committee. The individuals interviewed include Mary Kate McKee (Program Coordinator), Eric Sikorski (M.S./Ph.D. recipient, member of Alumni committee), and Christie Suggs (Ph.D. student, Recruiting Coordinator and Vice-President of Student Relations for the Instructional Systems Student Association). In addition, Dr. John Keller, Chair of the IS recruiting committee from 2004 through 2006, was interviewed.

Additionally, Teams One and Three exchanged information collected during this phase: Team Three interviewed Marguerite Foxon and provided the information obtained during that interview with Team One, and Team One provided responses to the surveys they deployed to Team Three. A survey was created and deployed to select faculty within the Instructional Systems department – specifically including those who currently have or have in the past had responsibility for recruiting activities. (Two additional surveys were created and deployed – one to current students, and another to program alumni. Results of these surveys will be discussed in the performance analysis and subsequent project documents.)

Specific Recruiting GoalsIn each interview or survey, members of the IS Recruiting Committee and IS Alumni Advisory Council Recruiting Committee were asked to articulate the recruiting goals for the IS program. In general, a common goal of increasing enrollment is present.

History of the IS Recruiting Program

2004 2006 2009

Dr. Reiser2006 and earlierIS Alumni Advisory Council Recruiting Committee currently reports to Dr. Reiser

Dr. Johnson

2009 – current2009: added Recruiting Coordinator position (currently held by Christie Suggs)

Dr. Keller2004 – 2006Jim Russell (former faculty)MS AssistantRhett BrymerConsulted with Reinhart Lerch (ODDL)

Gap in leadership


ISRC and ISAACRC members and IS program faculty responded to the question, “What are the specific goals of the recruiting committee?” during interviews and in surveys distributed by the team. Verbatim responses received from the IS Recruiting Committee Survey included:

Christie Suggs: Only goal – get as many students as we can get

Erik Sikorski: Main goal: Increase student enrollment in the IS program Getting students to enroll in FSU IS once they are accepted Determining student needs / values in a graduate program and specifically in an IS Program Making sure marketing tools are effective and current (e.g. website)

Darren Brooks: Attract high quality students to our Masters and Ph. D. programs Engage alumni in helping transition new students into the program and act as a sounding board

for applicants Raise awareness about our program to organizations and institutions that may reach potential

students of our program Promote the engagement of IS alumni in building a strong partnership with the Department which

ultimately improves the Departments ability to recruit high quality students

Greg Stevens: The goal is somewhat vague. However, generally it is to help the ISD program meet its recruiting

targets.

In an interview Team Three conducted with Marguerite Foxon, she shared the following response to the same question:

Support recruiting efforts for the IS program Generate ideas Initiate some actions of our own if we can

Mary Kate McKee cited the following goals for the ISRC: 25 students a year More local focus for Masters Current Masters students for PhD (most domestic students come from Masters program)

The following verbatim responses relating to the recruiting goals were derived from an anonymous survey conducted with IS program faculty participants:

Get more F2F masters students and more domestic doctoral students To recruit someone who is a strong “traditional” systems person Increase enrollments by 5% each year Make our IS program more well-known Raise enrollment Campus MS: to get a full class of 15- 25 per year Online MS: more, more more!!! Ph.D.: 10 – 15 per year, more domestic Overall: Maintain or raise (esp @ MS level) standards

What is not entirely clear when reviewing the responses, however, is what increased enrollment means – is it five percent or five students, and at what level(s) – Masters or Ph.D. – is that increase needed? Some


answers did present the specificity needed in order to have measurable goals, but others were lacking. The team also reviewed enrollment numbers from the past five academic years (see Figure 2).

FIGURE 2: ENROLLMENT HISTORY OF IS PROGRAM SINCE ACADEMIC YEAR 2004

2004-2005

2005-2006

2006-2007

2007-2008

2008-2009

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

113 113127 125 134

191 185 172199

215

304 298 299324

349

IS Enrollments PhDIS Enrollments MastersIS Enrollments Total

Academic Year

Enrollments, as measured in Figure 2, are the number of students actively taking courses in the IS program. Between Academic Years 2004-2005 and 2006-2007, combined Master’s and Ph.D. enrollment changed little. Academic Year 2007-2008 saw an increase of approximately eight percent. The following academic year, enrollment increased nearly eight percent once more.

Recommended Business GoalAfter reviewing the responses by the interviewees and survey participants, the team recommends the following shared goal for the ISRC and ISAACRC:

Achieve a ten percent increase from year to year in the number of students actively enrolled in courses that ultimately yield an advanced degree in Instructional Systems.

This goal is specific, measurable, time-bound, and appropriate. Its output can be documented through student enrollment numbers.

Also noteworthy is that the IS Alumni Advisory Council Recruiting Committee does not appear to have its own goal(s) relative to recruiting efforts. Dr. Foxon indicated this committee exists to “support” the IS Program Recruiting Committee, but in the notes received from Team Three’s interview with her, that goal lacks specificity. It is recommended that the ISAACRC create an appropriate goal for how it will support the ISRC in future recruiting efforts.

Creation of GoalsThe consensus is for the committee to create the recruiting goal while remaining accountable to Dean Driscoll and the University as noted in one of the responses from the ISRC survey referenced above.Clarifying the origin of the goal may provide valuable context to all committee members, and lead to meaningful discussion about the goal.


On the ISRC survey, committee members were asked “Did the committee or the University create these goals?” Verbatim responses included:

Christie Suggs: Committee

Eric Sikorski: My understanding is that increasing student enrollment is a goal at every level: University,

college, department, and program. We are not at desired enrollment and the directive has come from Dean Driscoll to increase this enrollment, especially with the desire to hire new faculty.

Darren Brooks: The committee created the goals in partnership with current Department faculty and student

representation.

Greg Stevens: The committee did with assistance from Dr. Reiser. The ISD department sets the specific

recruiting goals.

As a follow-up question to the ISRC, committee members were asked “Who is held accountable for reaching these goals and in what way do they contribute to reaching them?” The verbatim responses received included:

Christie Suggs: Christie and Tristan, by emailing, advertising, and holding events.

Eric Sikorski: My perception is that Dean Driscoll would be held accountable to the university, and Vanessa

Dennen (IS program leader) and the faculty to Dean Driscoll. Faculty participates in recruiting and communicating with accepted students. Formed recruiting committee.

Darren Brooks: The chair of each alumni council committee is held accountable for monitoring the progress of

each subcommittee/team. The committees work with faculty and students to ensure objectives are obtained.

Greg Stevens: From a committee standpoint, the chairperson is accountable to Dr. Reiser.

ISRC and ISAACRC CollaborationWhen queried about collaboration between the ISRC and the ISAACRC, there was not a recurrent theme among the responses to this question. However, several individuals were identified as key liaisons between the two committees. It appears that there is an opportunity to more clearly define how these two committees interact, and their purpose in working together.

On the ISRC Survey, committee members were asked “How do the graduate program committee and the alumni advisory council recruiting committee interact to work toward these goals? The following responses were received:


Christie Suggs: Christie is the liaison, funnels everything through Mary Kate

Eric Sikorski: Never have been too sure on this. There is some overlap, like Marguerite and me asked to

participate in on campus recruiting organized by graduate program committee. I think Marguerite is kept in the loop for the grad committee and keeps them in the loop of our activities but have to ask her.

Darren Brooks: Each committee has a chair that is responsible for tracking the progress of each subcommittee and

reports back to the alumni council.

Greg Stevens: We interact on a very informal basis. Some of the coordination between the two committees

comes through Dr. Reiser. We do try to support one another’s efforts. One example is when welcome emails are sent to students who are admitted to the program. The ISSA, the Faculty Advisory, and the Alumni Council all send welcome emails to the students. Before emails were sent this year, the three entities shared an example of their email so that they were complementary to one another.

Measurement of GoalsWhen asked about how progress and results were measured, no specific measures were indicated in the responses given. Although one respondent pointed to individual measures for each deliverable, specific deliverables were not offered. There continues to be a lack of specificity around the responses given, and as such, the team believes there is an opportunity to communicate the goal to the members of both the ISRC and ISAACRC. Putting the specifics around the recruiting goal will enable the members to track progress and measure success.

On the ISRC survey, committee members were asked “How do you measure results or progress toward your goals?” The following responses were received:

Christie Suggs: They are not measured, Tristan and I cannot attribute increases or decreases to their efforts

because economy now could play a role, would have to explore that once they are admitted with a survey

Eric Sikorski: No established measures other than student enrollment numbers (Ph.D., Masters FTF and online).

Bob Reiser presents these numbers to the alumni advisory council (including recruitment committee) every year.

Darren Brooks: Each goal is different and measured based on the completion of a deliverable.

Greg Stevens: At the annual Alumni Council meeting, the number of students enrolled in the various programs

is shared. During the year, numbers are shared informally by Mary Kate and Dr. Reiser. The actual contribution of the Alumni Council’s Recruiting Committee is not measured as its efforts are just one of many variables that contribute to an individual student’s enrollment.


Internal and External ForcesThe program’s history and reputation, along with the work conducted by Mary Kate McKee, were cited as the forces contributing to the goals. The website was mentioned on this survey and during other interviews as a force working against the recruiting goals. Funding was mentioned by two individuals who responded to the ISRC survey. It was also cited as the most significant need by 60% of those responding to the Faculty Survey deployed by the team. Others mentioned time was a challenge – both for faculty and alumni.

When asked “What internal/external forces work for or against achievement of these goals?” the ISRC committee members surveyed responded as follows:

Christie Suggs: Mary Kate is an internal force for The website is a force against More faculty response for and against Funding is a force against

Eric Sikorski: Against: Money – ability to offer large scholarships Against: Some uncertainty what ISD is beyond ISD community For: authentic IS projects for students to work (e.g. LSI) For: program has very strong reputation and rich history

Darren Brooks: For alumni, the obvious external force is time. Most alumni work full-time and possibly have

family or other commitments that allow only a limited amount of time. Also, proximity from the University may be a hindrance to getting access to certain resources. This is where we rely on students and faculty to assist.

Greg Stevens: Probably the greatest external force against achievement of the goals is the limited funding that

FSU provides to graduate students. A survey was conducted last year of prospective students who were accepted but declined to enroll in the ISD program. The survey results showed that funding was a large influencing factor in a student’s decision. Internally, a force against is a lack of time and a lack of connectedness after the annual meeting.

Research Sources and MethodsResearch was conducted on the Florida State University—Instructional Systems Graduate Program—Recruiting Committee wiki (http://fsu-instsys-recruitingcomm.wikispaces.com/) to understand how the recruiting committee works. The purpose of the wiki is primarily to support the efforts of the IS Recruiting Committee. The items contained within this wiki include:

Flyers Ideas for banners to be used at recruiting events Committee Tasking Media Recruiting Committee Meeting Agendas from April and August 2009 Volunteers for Recruiting

http://fsu-instsys-recruitingcomm.wikispaces.com/


Additional research was conducted on the ISRC’s Google site (http://sites.google.com/site/isrecruitingcommittee/home). This site includes information about:

Oct. 20, 2009 recruiting event information Oct. 7, 2009 recruiting event information IS Video Planning link Contact log of prospective students Graphics (not yet populated) IS Banner (not yet populated) IS Video Planning (not yet populated) Marketing (not yet populated) The websites of competing programs were also explored to gain insight into what other

universities are doing to recruit new students to their programs.

Also, documentation related to recruiting activities for the last few years was reviewed. This information was included in a series of documents that include the following items:

Memos exchanged between department members and alumni that address student survey and results from 2006 and requesting their assistance in recruiting potential IS grad

A list of instructional systems (and/or related programs) contacts at different universities across the U.S. (2006)

Marketing strategy discussions to include costs of designing and distributing collateral information and costs of executing marketing campaigns at different venues

Samples of distributable collateral which promotes the program Invoices from ASTD and other professional associations whose publications were used to

promote the program An early draft of a memo to FSU and other universities’ undergrad students promoting the

program and inviting them to apply for admission to the IS program A listing of potential advertising venues for the IS program (2005) A listing of low-cost/no-cost ideas for recruiting students A report to faculty about the recruitment activities being proposed and a review of recruitment

committee work (Jan, Feb 2005) Recruitment options costs listing (2004-2005) Notes and plan for recruitment event scheduled for March 2008 Suggested recruitment activities (2004) Deck used for IS recruitment event in 2005 Notes from recruitment meeting in January 2005 Memo from February 2006 directed to faculty and the alumni committee to go over recruitment

activities and a partnership with Human Resources to share costs A listing of suggestions of potential recruitment tasks from the alumni in the committee (2004 &

2006)

Although all of this documentation is too lengthy to include in this report, it will be included in a separate file along with all data collected for the project to date.

Research performed relative to how other universities attract potential students to their competing programs yielded some additional data to be considered. Although information about the recruiting efforts of these universities was not readily available, the team was able to learn a bit about what these universities offer to potential students to their programs. This information is worth evaluating in the context of what FSU IS students indicated was important to them in selecting the program they would attend. These factors included cost, strength of the curriculum, access to faculty and more. The

http://sites.google.com/site/isrecruitingcommittee/home


information collected about competing programs is presented in the appendix, and will be analyzed in relation to the alumni and current student surveys in future analysis documents.


Performance Analysis

PurposeThe purpose of the performance analysis is to determine the current state and optimal state of how recruiting is conducted. The responsibilities of the members of each organization were explored in order to determine if the performance requirements are linked to desirable goals. In order to benchmark the IS Program’s success, research was conducted to study how competing universities conduct recruiting. Following analysis of current performance and research of recruiting practices at other universities, the team worked to outline optimal performance requirements that would enable the ISRC and ISAACRC to meet the recommended business goal of increasing active student enrollment by ten percent annually.

Analysis QuestionsTeam One used the data collected from key stakeholders to answer the following questions about the IS program:

How is recruiting currently executed? What steps would an ideal recruiting process include? During the analysis phase, the data collected about program competition, program recruiting

history, how recruiting is currently accomplished, and best practices for accomplishing recruiting was analyzed to answer the following questions:

What are the current recruitment goals? How is recruiting currently executed at FSU? How do the IS Recruiting Committee (ISRC) and the IS Alumni Advisory Council Recruiting

Committee (ISAACRC) interact to recruit new students? What sort of information is gathered to facilitate the recruitment efforts? How is the information gathered by the recruiting committees used? How can the recruiting committees increase awareness of the program to prospective students in

the United States and abroad? How competitive is FSU’s IS program in comparison to IS programs of other universities?

ApproachTeam One conducted the performance analysis by reviewing survey data from the recruitment committee and IS program faculty that discussed several aspects of the recruiting process. Individuals directly involved in the recruiting process were also interviewed. Alumni surveys were used to gather suggestions for future recruiting success. Based on initial data collection results, research was performed in an attempt to learn more about the competition as well as how other universities perform recruiting.

An initial interview with Dr. Tristan Johnson, current chair of the recruiting committee, was held in order to identify stakeholders with whom to consult. After identifying key stakeholders, interviews and surveys were used to collect data from members of the Instructional Systems Recruiting Committee and members of the IS Alumni Advisory Council Recruiting Committee.

The analysis provided the information required to create organizational charts for the ISRC and the ISAACRC, a relationship map to illustrate how each organization currently conducts recruiting, and a process map to show what the ideal recruiting process would look like.

The analysis also illuminated other areas that need more research. These include more time available to research the recruiting processes of competing universities and more time to offer participants for completing the surveys.


Data Collection and AnalysisCurrently, there are two groups that recruit for the IS program. The following information was collected during the business analysis phase, and was analyzed to answer the performance questions. The data is broken down into two categories based on how the groups currently recruit students and the ideal state of recruiting.

Current Recruiting PracticesThe current state of recruiting was determined based on interviews with members of the ISRC and the ISAACRC (see Figure 3). The only outward-bound recruiting currently conducted is on-campus outreach. All other activities occur after a prospective student either applies to the university or requests more information about the IS program through the university admissions site.

FIGURE 3: CURRENT RECRUITING PROCESS

Recruiting Performed by the ISRC and ISAACRCThe ISRC is chaired by Dr. Tristan Johnson. Christie Suggs, a PhD student, assists him as IS Recruiting Coordinator. Mary Kate McKee, IS staff member, also works with the ISRC to recruit students (see Figure 4).


FIGURE 4: ISRC ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

The ISAACRC is chaired by alumnae Dr. Marguerite Foxon (see Figure 5). She reports to faculty member Dr. Bob Reiser on all activities of the ISAACRC. The ISAACRC is comprised of subcommittees who perform an array of recruiting activities, such as on-campus recruiting. The names of the subcommittees were not disclosed. Through research of the ISRC’s wiki, two other alumni involved with the ISAACRC were identified as Darren Brooks and Eric Sikorski. Dr. Foxon was unavailable to provide any information on the subcommittees or other committee members.

FIGURE 5: ISAACRC ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

Faculty members are involved with recruiting students and it appears that some new methods are being used to reach out to distance students (see Table 1).

TABLE 1: WHAT METHODS ARE USED TO REACH OUT TO STUDENTS?

Response SourceThe faculty responded with ways they reach out to students. Visit FSU classes Set up meetings with current students Emails to interested candidates Plans to Skype with interested candidates Website On-Campus recruiting events Quality of the courses

Faculty Survey and Interview with Mary Kate McKee


Information Gathered to Facilitate Recruiting EffortsMary Kate McKee provides information about students who have either formally applied to the program or requested information through university admissions. This information is the only internal source of information about prospective students used by the ISRC and the ISAACRC (see Table 2).

TABLE 2: WHAT ARE THE INTERNAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION THE RECRUITING COMMITTEE RECEIVES?

Response SourceISRC members cited the information from interested students that Mary Kate McKee passes on to the committee as the only internal source of data.ISAACRC members provided similar answers: Mary Kate McKee and faculty/students assist in gathering information or

gaining access to resources Notification of when students have been accepted to the program Record of students who have decided not to enroll

Recruiting Committee Surveys and interviews

The ISAACRC has several sources of external information, including email lists, alumni, and other professionals (see Table 3).

TABLE 3: WHAT ARE EXTERNAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION USED BY THE RECRUITING COMMITTEE?

Response SourceExternal sources of information the committee receives includes: Email lists Internet for information about other programs and general recruitment data Other alumni or professionals


The only form of communication a potential student receives is email. If the student declines to enroll, they are asked to fill out a survey. It is unclear what kind of approach is being used or the feedback being sought by the committee (see Table 4).

TABLE 4: WHAT IS DONE WITH INFORMATION GATHERED?

Response Source ISRC contacts individuals by email ISAACRC sends welcome email to newly accepted students We created a student survey for students that decided not to enroll asking

them why (result seemed to be money) Depends on the task/goal. Using feedback from students and external data

sources helps use better define our approach.


Current Recruiting GoalsCurrently there is not a specified goal for the two committees. However, we have recommended (see Business Analysis Report) that an appropriate business goal for the ISRC and ISAACRC is to achieve a 10% increase in number of students actively enrolled in courses each year in both the Master’s and PhD programs.

According to the data collected, there appears to be no formal goals for executing recruiting for either the ISRC or the ISAARC (see Table 5). If there are formalized recruiting goals, they have not been communicated to all interested parties in a clear manner. The two groups have their own goals and processes, but neither group has an overall process that drives the recruiting process. There are no evident formal processes in place to measure the success of recruiting efforts (see Table 6). Committee members


provided different answers to this question, signaling the need for the groups to decide upon measurable objectives for their recruiting progress.

TABLE 5: CURRENT RECRUITING GOALS AS DESCRIBED BY ISRC, ISAACRC, AND FACULTY

Response Source Increase face to face student enrollment, ensure full classes of 15 – 25

students Increase the amount of domestic PhD students Increase the amount of online students Increase enrollments by 5% per year Make IS program more well-known Maintain and raise standards, particularly with regard to the MS programAt least one respondent appeared to have thought the question was about recruiting faculty, and indicated the goal would be to recruit someone who is a strong “traditional” systems person.

Faculty Survey

The ISRC’s goal is to increase enrollment, though the specificity of this goal varies based on who is asked.The ISAACRC members listed goals such as: Increased student enrollment in the IS Program Getting students to enroll in FSU IS once they are accepted Determining student needs/values in a graduate program and specifically

in an IS Program Making sure marketing tools are effective and current Attracting high quality students to the master’s and PhD programs Engaging alumni in helping transition new students into the program and

act as a sounding board for applicants Raising awareness about the program to organizations and institutions that

may reach potential students of the program Promote the engagement of IS alumni in building a strong partnership with

the Department which ultimately improves the Department’s ability to recruit high quality students


TABLE 6: HOW DO YOU MEASURE PROGRESS TOWARD YOUR GOAL?

Response Source There are no established measures other than student enrollment numbers

(PhD, Masters FTF and online). Bob Reiser presents these numbers to the alumni advisory council (including recruitment committee) every year.

They are not measured, Tristan Johnson and Christie Suggs cannot attribute increases or decreases to their efforts because economy now could play a role, would have to explore using a survey once students are admitted


The analysis indicates individuals involved with the recruiting process have a wide range of opinions about who is responsible for this process (see Table 7). Our analysis indicates that currently recruiting is only done occasionally on campus, and these events are organized by the ISRC. All other contact identified during the team’s data collection phase is initiated by Mary Kate McKee after students apply to or request information about the program. If other contact occurs, it was not evident from the data reviewed by the team.


TABLE 7: WHO IS HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR REACHING THESE GOALS AND IN WHAT WAY DO THEY CONTRIBUTE TO REACHING THEM?

Response Source Christie and Tristan, by emailing, advertising and holding events My perception is that Dean Driscoll would be held accountable to the

university, and Vanessa Dennen (IS program leader) and the faculty to Dean Driscoll. Faculty participates in recruiting and communicating with accepted students. Formed recruiting committee.

The chair of each alumni council committee is held accountable for monitoring the progress of each subcommittee/team. The committees work with faculty and students to ensure objectives are obtained.


ISRC and ISAACRC InteractionsWhile it seems that the committees work together in some capacity, direct comments from the committee members make it clear that there is no formal process to leverage the activities of each group to recruit new students to the IS program (see Table 8). TABLE 8: HOW DO THE ISRC AND THE ISAACRC INTERACT TO RECRUIT STUDENTS?

Response Source Christie is the liasion, who funnels everything through Mary Kate McKee. Never have been too sure on this. There is some overlap, like Marguerite

and me (Eric) asked to participate in on campus recruiting organized by graduate program committee. I think Marguerite is kept in the loop for the grad committee and keeps them in the loop of our activities but have to ask her.

Each committee has a chair that is responsible for tracking the progress of each subcommittee and reports back to the alumni council.


Use of Information Gathered by the Recruiting CommitteesThe ISRC has created a variety of promotional items to assist them with on-campus recruiting. The ISAACRC has used the information from surveys to map the process from application to enrollment. They also have plans to produce a recruiting video (see Table 9).

TABLE 9: WHAT ARE THE OUTPUTS OF THE RECRUITING COMMITTEE IN TERMS OF INFORMATION AND PRODUCTS?

Response SourceThe ISRC has created promotional items (banners, bookmarks, advertisements), correspondence, distributed flyers on campus.The ISAACRC has mapped the student application, acceptance, enrollment process. A recruiting video is in the works. However, they essentially are still in the data collection and idea stage.



Optimal Recruiting PracticesAn ideal recruiting program would identify target populations of desirable potential students, and focus activities to attract their attention to the FSU Instructional Systems program. The team asked the faculty and alumni for their opinions on how an ideal recruiting process would be structured.

How can the recruiting committees increase awareness of the program to prospective students in the United States and abroad? The faculty believes increasing awareness of the program is required to attract new students. They also mentioned program attributes required to attract students. These include:

Funding for students High profile instructor More face-to-face courses

The alumni also saw the need to promote the IS program to potential students. They recommended increasing the awareness of the program to the following undergraduate programs:

Performance Management The Social Sciences College of Business

The alumni also offered many concrete suggestions for promoting the program (see Table 10):

Multi-lingual informational seminars Using an alumni network Finding employers who need to bolster the skills of their education and HR departments Using conferences and professional organizations

Marketing to domestic and international students is a priority. Currently the only marketing is done beyond the campus of FSU is the internet material, promotion at conferences, and faculty talking with folks in their normal line of work (e.g. out of town meetings). Prospective students searching for information about the program will most likely first look at the website. The lack of up-to-date information on the website was mentioned by several sources as a problem. In addition to an engaging website, using social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter could expand the marketing footprint. Another marketing target could be corporations and institutions with education departments with employees that do not hold degrees in the fields of Instructional Design or HPT.


TABLE 10: WHAT STEPS WOULD AN IDEAL RECRUITING PROCESS INCLUDE?

Response Source Providing funding for admitted students Attracting high profile instructors Offering more face-to-face courses Creating awareness of the program for potential MS students.

Faculty Survey

Partnering with other top IS programs to broadly advertise about the IS field

Link to each program because many undergrads don’t know about the opportunities in the field of IS

Web-Seminars in Spanish for prospective students and young professionals

Use the caliber of international graduates to promote the program Continue to recruit from FSU undergrad professional tracks (e.g.

performance Management, the social sciences, and College of Business) Use the Alumni Network Seek out employers and offer them online courses to bolster current

employees (ID’s without degrees) an opportunity to take FSU IS classes Advertising the top tier reputation through conferences, websites,

publications and organizations Market through ISPI ASTD, a decent website and a YouTube video Market the field to business and government entities to cultivate

employment opportunities Stress job placement, the ranking of the program Offer programs in the areas of technology enabled learning Link with Latin American universities (ex: ITESM, ITAM from Mexico) Advertise more to main stream venues (ex: Google, AOL) Add additional classes that focus on Flash, new authoring systems,

assessments, evaluation, provide a more business focus Help with job placement after graduation- publicizing this would

encourage more people to come to this field

Alumni Survey

The faculty was also queried about their opinions of the most important recruiting activities (see Table 11) and the least important recruiting activities (see Table 12) to get an idea for what they feel is working in the current recruiting process. The team considered these responses when outlining optimal recruiting processes.

When the faculty was asked to list the most important recruiting activities, monetary support was mentioned as an important way to attract students. They also felt that maintaining a high profile faculty will strengthen the program’s academic reputation. Finally, faculty believes increasing awareness of the program is critical as many people do not understand the purpose of the major (Instructional Systems).

The faculty does not think that passive advertising is an effective form of recruiting. While the local social campaigns might attract FSU undergraduate students, more should be done to reach potential applicants outside the realm of Florida State University.


TABLE 11: MOST IMPORTANT RECRUITING ACTIVITY

Response Source Providing funding for students we admit

o One respondent indentified the funding should support PhD students

Develop and establish high profile faculty, recruiting from other institutions if necessary

Build awareness of the program for Master’s candidates Create word-of-mouth buzz by offering more face to face courses,

enhancing course quality, have faculty spend more time teaching, and raising the grading criteria

Faculty Survey

TABLE 12: LEAST IMPORTANT RECRUITING ACTIVITY

Response Source Raising more grants to provide more student scholarships and

assistantships Local social campaigns Advertisements- because they are rather passive

Faculty Survey

Competitiveness of FSU’s IS Program Compared to IS Programs of Other UniversitiesThe faculty was surveyed with regards to the competitiveness of FSU’s IS program in relation to IS programs at other universities. The faculty thinks that the program is in the top 5 schools for Instructional Systems and views the program as a contender among academically strong universities (see Table 13). Although the faculty believes the program is strong, they realize that it does not hold the top spot in the field (see Table 14 and Figure 6).

TABLE 13: WHICH UNIVERSITIES COMPETE WITH FSU'S IS PROGRAM?

Response Source Indiana University Penn State Arizona State University of Georgia One response also suggested that universities local to students also

compete for IS Master’s candidates.

Faculty Survey

TABLE 14: HOW COMPETITIVE IS THE FSU IS PROGRAM?

Response SourceThe majority of the faculty surveyed feel that FSU’s IS program is moderately competitive.

Faculty Survey


FIGURE 6: FSU IS PROGRAM COMPETITIVENESS

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

How Competitive do you believe FSU'sIS Program is compared to IS programs of

other universities?

The intent was to take the list of the universities that are considered to be competition, and analyze their recruiting practices. Unfortunately, there was not time to perform a full competitive analysis.

Performance MeasuresAfter reviewing the data collected relative to current recruiting practices of the ISRC, ISAACRC, and IS program faculty, the team did not uncover specific measures used to track progress made toward the non-formalized goal of increasing IS program student enrollment. Although it would be preferable to continue data collection and interviews to gain consensus on a business goal, time constraints prevent that from being possible. In lieu of those actions, the team recommends the following performance measures:



ISAACRC, IS program faculty member, and IS students

Number of Students Actively Enrolled Each Academic YearThe most commonly-cited goal stated in surveys and interviews was to increase IS program student enrollment at both the Master’s and Ph.D. levels. Actively enrolled students would include those students enrolled in the IS program who are also enrolled in classes. This is a direct way to measure performance relative to the proposed business goal.

IS Program Representation at Recruiting EventsWhile gathering data regarding current recruiting practices, the team learned that planned recruiting activities take place on-campus at various points during the year. Fall and spring recruiting events target identification of students interested in Instructional Systems, as do occasional visits to Psychology classes made by Dr. Robert Reiser. When possible, faculty presenting papers at industry conferences talk to individuals about the IS program in order to spark additional interest. The team recommends that these practices be standardized and additional efforts be made in the areas of corporate recruiting and recruiting via industry journals and social media. Table 15 summarizes current and ideal practices of recruiting activities.


TABLE 15: SUMMARY OF CURRENT AND IDEAL RECRUITING ACTIVITIES

Recruiting Activity Current Practice Ideal PracticeCampus Recruiting Occasional faculty visits to

psychology classes Fall and Spring Recruiting Event

(week prior to class registration) Career Center's Grad Quest (annual

event) Flyers

ISSA, Alumni, ISRC, Faculty, current students visit 20 classes of different majors annually and hand out flyers

Fall and Spring Recruiting Event: gather 25 student names each event

Career Center's Grad Quest: target 25 student names

Conferences Faculty perform recruiting functions on an ad-hoc basis

Plan to attend 4 annual conferences Create a flyer or packet for faculty to

distribute at conferences Whenever a paper is presented,

recruiting materials should be presented as well

Encourage and equip students to attend conferences to advertise the program

Corporate Recruiting Currently employees of corporations with large education or HR departments are not targeted for recruiting

Prepare packet of information targeted at Corporations about the IS program

Offer the packet for download on the website

Prepare list of companies from following sources to target:

o T&D top 30o Top 125o Companies employing current

students and alumnio Companies that recruit from

the program Prepare a presentation about the

program Target 5 companies from the list to visit

and present to each yearJournal It is not clear from the data collected

if any Journal advertising is currently being performed

Place ads in Training Industry Journals:o T&D (ASTD)o CLOo ISPIo Journal of Engineering Research &

Development Journal


Recruiting Activity Current Practice Ideal PracticeWebsite The following static information is

posted on the website:o Information about MS and

PhD programso Information about MS and

PhD Admissionso Alumni informationo Current Student Resourceso Faculty/Staff information

Information posted on the website should also contain current events, to reflect the vibrancy of the program. It should include:o Static Info (updated as program

changes): Information about MS and

PhD programs Information about MS and

PhD Admissions Alumni information Current Student Resources Faculty/Staff information

o Dynamic info (updated as events happen): Current recruiting schedule Social Media contact

information Information about current

research Information explaining the

purpose and history of the program

Information on conference presentations and attendance


Recruiting Activity Current Practice Ideal PracticeSocial Media From the information gathered, it

does not appear that social media is being used for recruiting purposes at the present time.

The following social media tools should be used to enhance the recruiting effort:o Twitter account

Advertise upcoming recruiting deadlines and events

Advertise conference attendance

Post links to all changes on the website

Refer interested students to existing inquiry process

Contact point for interested students

Join education community on Twitter, find new prospects, build awareness of program

o Facebook Group Advertise upcoming recruiting

deadlines and events Advertise conference

attendance Post links to all changes on the

website Contact point for interested

studentso LinkedIn Group

Advertise upcoming recruiting deadlines and events

Advertise conference attendance

Post links to published research

Refer interested students to existing inquiry process

Contact point for interested students and alumni

o Participation in Alumni Ning Group Advertise upcoming recruiting

deadlines and events Advertise conference

attendance Post links to published

research Refer interested students to

existing inquiry process Contact point for interested

students and alumni


Contact of Prospective StudentsIn order to optimize the number of students accepted into the IS program who continue on to enroll in and complete courses, the team examine current student contact practices. Contact currently occurs at three points in the process – prior to the prospective student submitting an application, upon submission of an application, and once a decision is reached whether or not to admit the prospective student. Table 16 summarizes current and ideal practices of prospective student contact.

Current contacts:Pre-application (AY or website) - Mary Kate and ISRC (Christie)Application - Faculty, ISSA, and Alumni

TABLE 16: SUMMARY OF CURRENT AND IDEAL PROSPECTIVE STUDENT CONTACT

Recruiting Activity Current Practice Ideal PracticeProspective Student Contact

Pre-application (AY or website):o Mary Kate* o Recruiting Coordinator

Application:o Facultyo ISSAo Alumni

Acceptance:o Email from Dr. Becker

(chair of the department)

*may have additional contact with MK based on questions, incomplete applications, etc

Interest/Pre-application:o Mary Kateo Recruiting Coordinatoro Alumni

Applicationo Faculty (acknowledges

application, provide contact information for questions)

Acceptance:o Email from Dept Chairo ISSAo Advisor


Gap AnalysisPurposeThe purpose of the gap analysis is to identify the disparity between the current state of performance of the teams responsible for recruiting new students to the FSU IS program and the desired state of performance. In other words, the gap analysis will identify if there is a difference between current and optimal performance. Optimal performance will enable the teams to meet their business goal of increasing student enrollment by ten percent.

Analysis QuestionsThe following questions guided the gap analysis process:

What is the current performance level of the ISRC and ISAACRC relative to the stated performance goals?

To what extent is the current performance level not meeting the goals of the ISRC and ISAACRC?

What is the impact of not meeting the desired level of performance? How costly will it be to resolve the gap?

The main goal of the gap analysis was to determine if a difference exists between the current performance and the optimal performance required to achieve the business goal.

ApproachThe performance analysis phase produced two broad performance goals for the ISRC and ISAACRC teams. These goals are related to IS representation at various recruiting activities and how often and by whom prospective students are contacted once they have expressed interest in the IS program.

Each broad goal was broken into performance components. These components were derived from the surveys, interviews, and research conducted during the business analysis phase. The performance components were divided again into the subcomponents it would take to perform the main performance component. Each subcomponent was assigned a measureable goal. Finally, data derived from the Performance Analysis stage was used to determine how the committees’ performance with regards to recruiting matched up to the performance components.

Data Collection and Analysis Results

IS Program RecruitingThe current recruiting committee had the task of restarting the recruiting efforts, given the lapse of two years of no deliberate recruiting effort. Processes have been established and the committee is working with limited resources. At this time, there are little or no performance measures that the committee can use as benchmarks for success in recruiting. Through the performance and gap analysis, the analysis team has developed an ideal scenario for both recruiting and contact of prospective students. From the current and ideal scenarios, the team determined the gap of the recruiting procedures. This information is explained in the following tables.

Performance MeasuresTable 17 outlines the recruiting component, subcomponents, and measurements, providing benchmarks for success in recruiting.


TABLE 17: RECRUITING COMPONENTS, SUBCOMPONENTS, AND OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE

Recruiting Component Subcomponent Optimal Performance

1. Campus Recruiting

1.1. Organize visits by ISSA, Alumni, ISRC, Faculty, and current students to different majors annually and distribute flyers

20 classes of different majors per year are visited

1.2. Participate in Fall and Spring Recruiting Events Gather 25 student names each event

1.3. Participate in Career Center's Grad Quest Gather 25 student names

2. Conferences

2. 1. Attend 4 annual conferences 4 conferences attended

2.2. Create a flyer or packet for faculty to distribute at conferences

Flyer/packet designed, created, and available to conference representatives

2.3. Present recruiting materials whenever a paper is presented by students or faculty

Create and maintain a wiki that is available to anyone who attends a conference to capture the results of informal recruiting

2.4. Encourage and equip students to attend conferences to advertise the program

Create and maintain a list or wiki on the website for all upcoming conferences

Provide mentoring for students interested in presenting

Provide mentoring in how to advertise the program

3. Corporate Recruiting

3.1. Prepare packet of information about the IS program targeted at corporations3.2 Offer the packet for download on the website3.3 Prepare list of companies from following sources to target:

T&D top 30 (ASTD publication) Training (magazine) Top 125 Companies employing current students and

alumni Companies that recruit from the program

3.4 Prepare a presentation about the program3.5 Target companies from the list to visit and present to each year3.6 Contact companies visited in past years to provide program updates and maintain relationship

Prepare packet tailored to corporationsPost packet on websitePrepare target list and update twice a yearPrepare program presentation

Visit five companies a year to deliver presentation

Maintain relationships with companies visited in past years



4. Journals

4.1. Place ads in Training industry Journals, such as: T&D (ASTD) CLO ISPI Journal of Engineering Research & Development

Journal Training

Place ads in at least 4 print journals annually

5. Website

5.1 Maintain Static Info (updated as program changes):5.1.1 Information about MS and Ph.D. programs5.1.2 Information about MS and Ph.D. Admissions5.1.3 Alumni information5.1.4 Current Student Resources5.1.5 Faculty/Staff information

Increase visits to the website by 30%.

Improve search engine optimization (SEO) so that the following Google searches result with the IS website in the top position:

ISD graduate programs HPT graduate programs ISD Ph.D. programs HPT Ph.D. programs

5.2 Develop Dynamic info (updated as events happen):5.2.1 Current recruiting schedule5.2.2 Social Media contact information5.2.3 Information about current research5.2.4 Information explaining the purpose and history of

the program5.2.5 Information on conference presentations and

attendance

5.2.1 Recruiting schedule posted must not be older than 1 semester

5.2.2 Social Media contact information should include:

Facebook page Twitter account

LinkedIn group

YouTube Channel

5.2.3 Current research posted must not be older than 1 semester

5.2.4 Purpose and history of the program must contain 5 multi-media elements

5.2.5 Conference Presentations and attendance information posted must not be older than 1 semester



6. Social Media

6.1 Manage Twitter account6.1.1 Advertise upcoming recruiting deadlines and

events6.1.2 Advertise conference attendance6.1.3 Post links to all changes on the website6.1.4 Refer interested students to existing inquiry

process6.1.5 Contact point for interested students6.1.6 Join education community on Twitter, find new

prospects, build awareness of program

Tweet once a day

Gain 300 followers per year

6.2 Manage Facebook Group6.2.1 Advertise upcoming recruiting deadlines and

events6.2.2 Advertise conference attendance6.2.3 Post links to all changes on the website6.2.4 Contact point for interested students

Update two times per month

6.3 Manage LinkedIn Group6.3.1 Advertise upcoming recruiting deadlines and

events6.3.2 Advertise conference attendance6.3.3 Post links to published research6.3.4 Refer interested students to existing inquiry

process6.3.5 Contact point for interested students and alumni


6.4 Participate in Alumni Ning Group6.4.1 Advertise upcoming recruiting deadlines and

events6.4.2 Advertise conference attendance6.4.3 Post links to published research6.4.4 Refer interested students to existing inquiry

process6.4.5 Contact point for alumni


Analysis of Gaps Related to Current Enrollment Numbers and Recruiting Activities

Table 18 below describes the gap between the current enrollment numbers and ideal enrollment numbers in the IS Program. Based on average enrollment data from the school year 2008/2009, enrollment numbers should increase by ten percent, which would mean an additional 7 Master’s students and 4 Ph.D. students.

Table 19 below describes the gap between the current and ideal recruiting activities conducted by IS Program stakeholders. Campus recruiting is minimal, and recruiting beyond the campus is only conducted on an ad hoc basis. Journal advertising is not currently placed. The website is not regularly updated.


Social media outreach is in its beginning stages with the program and only used by a few faculty members.

Performance Measure 1: Number of Students Actively Enrolled each Academic Year

TABLE 18: GAPS RELATED TO ENROLLMENTS

Step Optimal Performance Gap 1.0 Student Enrollment

1.1 Actively enrolled students (students enrolled in the IS program who are also enrolled in classes) will increase by 10% each year. Based on most recent data for 2008/2009, this will mean an increase of 7 Master’s students and 4 Ph.D. students

The target performance measure is to increase enrollments annually by 10%. From data collected in years 2004 through 2009, a desired 10% increase year over year shows a 30% gap of Master’s students (101 optimal versus 72 actual), and a 17% gap of Ph.D. students (54 optimal versus 45 actual).Note: It is unknown how many students leave the program annually. Were this information tracked, it could be useful in further refining the target.

Performance Measure 2: IS Program Representation at Recruiting Events

TABLE 19: GAPS RELATED TO THE CURRENT RECRUITING PROCESS

Step Optimal Performance Current Performance Gap 1.0 Campus Recruiting

1.1 SSA, Alumni, ISRC, Faculty, current students visit 20 classes of different majors annually

Faculty visits psychology classes on an ad hoc basis

The target performance measure is to visit 20 different classes of different majors annually. Currently classroom visits are not tracked, so the precise gap is unknown, however it is apparent that the groups are falling short on the number and diversity of classrooms visited.

1.2 Gather 25 student names each Fall/Spring Recruiting event

ISRC participates in Fall and Spring recruiting events

The goal is to gather 25 prospective student names at the spring and fall events. Current numbers not monitored, though from observation at Spring Recruiting event the actual falls short of the target of 25 student names.

1.3 Target 25 student names at Grad Quest

ISRC participates in Grad Quest

The target is to gather 25 names at the Career Center’s Grad Quest event. Current performance is unknown because numbers not monitored, however it is apparent that the groups are falling short of the target.


Step Optimal Performance Current Performance Gap 2.0 Conferences

2.1 4 conferences attended Currently, there are two to three conferences attended by Faculty and/or staff members per year.

The target performance measure should be 4 attended conferences per year. Currently the faculty and staff attend 2 or 3 conferences a year, for an average of 2.5. The performance gap is 1.5 conferences a year.

2.2 Flyer/packet designed, created, and available to conference representatives

Various flyers exist and have been used at various recruiting events

The performance goal is to create a packet of materials for use at all recruiting opportunities. Currently there are flyers that exist for recruiting opportunities. The gap is a cohesive set of documents gathered into one recruiting packet.

2.3 Create and maintain a wiki that is available to anyone who attends a conference to capture the results of informal recruiting

No such wiki exists The performance goal is the existence of a wiki that can be used to capture conference recruiting results. No such wiki exists, so the creation and maintenance of the wiki is the performance gap or 100%.

2.4 Create and maintain a wiki on the website for all upcoming conferences

No such wiki exists The performance goal is create a wiki of upcoming conferences on the website. Currently, no such wiki exists. The gap is a wiki that lists upcoming conferences or 100%.

2.5 Provide mentoring for students interested in presenting at conferences

There is no process for students to learn about submitting to and presenting at conferences.

The performance goal is to provide mentoring to students interesting in presented in presenting at conferences. Since this mentoring process does not currently exist, the gap is the mentoring process or 100%.

2.6 Provide mentoring in how to advertise the program at conferences

There is no sharing of information on how to advertise the IS program at conferences

The performance goal is to provide mentoring for advertising the conference at conferences. Since this mentoring does not take place now, the gap is the mentorship process or 100%.

3.0 Corporate Recruiting3.1 Prepare an information packet about

the IS program that is tailored to corporations

Currently there is not an IS program information packet tailored to corporations

The performance goal is to prepare an information packet about the IS program that is tailored to corporations. This packet does not exist currently. The gap is the information packet or 100%.

Step Optimal Performance Current Performance Gap


3.0 Corporate Recruiting (cont.)3.2 Post information packet on the IS

websiteCurrently, the information packet does not exist and is not posted on the website.

The performance goal is to post the information packet on the IS website. Currently there is no packet posted so it does not exist. The gap for this performance goal is posting an information packet on the IS website or 100%.

3.3 Prepare target list of corporations with Training and HR departments that may have employees who would benefit from the IS program, and update that list twice a year

Currently a list of corporations that may have employees who would benefit from the IS program does not exist.

The performance goal is to prepare a list of corporations that may have employees who would benefit from the IS program, and to update the list bi-annually. Currently the list does not exist. The gap is the creation and maintenance of this list or 100%.

3.4 Create an IS program presentation tailored to corporations

Currently a program tailored to the needs of corporations does not exist.

The performance goal is to create an IS program presentation that is tailored to the needs of corporations. Currently, such a presentation does not exist. The gap is the creation of this presentation, or 100%.

3.5 Visit five companies a year to deliver presentation

Currently the IS program does not visit companies for recruiting purposes

The performance goal is to visit 5 companies to deliver the presentation. Currently, no companies are visited, so the performance gap is 5.

3.6 Maintain relationships with companies visited in past years

Currently the IS program does not have recruiting relationships with any companies

The performance goal is to maintain relationships with companies that have been visited in previous years. Currently the IS program does not have this sort of relationship with companies, so the gap is maintaining any relationships that will be developed.

4.0 Print Journals4.1 Place ads in at least 4 print journals

annuallyThe IS program does not presently advertise in journals

The performance goal is to place ads in at least 4 print journals. Currently the IS program does not advertise in print journals, so the gap is 4.

5.0 IS Website

5.1 Increase visits to the website by 30% Data was not collected on current website statistics

The performance goal is to increase website visits by 30%. There is no current data on website traffic, therefore the gap cannot be determined.


Step Optimal Performance Current Performance Gap 5.0 IS Website (cont.)

5.2 Improve search engine optimization (SEO) so that the following Google searches result with the IS website in the top position:

ISD graduate programs HPT graduate programs ISD Ph.D. programs HPT Ph.D. programs

Currently, the IS website is not returned as the top result for any of the required Google searches

The performance goal is to improve SEO so that the IS website first upon searching Google for ISD graduate programs, HPT graduate programs, ISD Ph.D. programs, and HPT Ph.D. programs. Currently the ISD program is not returned in the number one spot for any of those searches, so the gap is 100%.

5.3 Recruiting schedule posted on the IS website must not be older than 1 semester

No recruiting schedule is posted

The performance goal is to ensure the recruiting schedule on the IS website is not older than 1 semester. Currently, no recruiting schedule is posted on the IS website, so the gap is 100%

5.4 Social media contact information should be posted on the IS website. This should include:

Facebook IS group

Twitter account LinkedIn group YouTube Channel

Currently social media information for the IS Alumni Ning site, an Alumni IS Facebook group, and an IS LinkedIn group are posted.

The performance goal is to post social media contact information (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube) for IS recruiting on the IS Website. Currently there are Facebook and LinkedIn groups posted, however the official IS Facebook page is not posted. The gap is 75% as YouTube and Twitter contact information is not posted, and the official IS Facebook page is not posted.

5.5 Current research posted on the IS website must not be older than 1 semester

No current research is posted on the IS website

The performance goal is to ensure research posted on the IS website is not older than 1 semester. Currently there is no information about current research processes, so the gap is 100%.

5.6 Purpose and history of the program posted on the IS website must contain 5 multi-media elements

Neither the purpose nor the history of program contains multimedia elements

The performance goal is to use 5 multi-media elements to describe the purpose and history of the program. Currently neither the purpose nor history of the program is described using multimedia elements, so the gap is 100%.

5.7 Conference Presentations and attendance information posted on the IS website must not be older than 1 semester

Conference presentations and attendance information are not currently posted

The performance goal is to ensure the information about conference presentations and attendance is not older than 1 semester. Currently this information is not posted on the IS website, so the gap is 100%.


Step Optimal Performance Current Performance Gap 6.0 Social Media

6.1 Twitter: Tweet once a day, and gain 300 followers per year

Although a few faculty members are using social media, Twitter is not being used strategically as a recruiting tool

The performance goal is to tweet once a day, and build a network of 300 followers in the first year. Currently, twitter is not being used strategically as a recruiting tool, so the gap is 365 tweets and 300 followers

6.2 Update Facebook two times per month

An IS group exists on Facebook, but it is not regularly updated by ISRC members. It was created in July 2009, and had 3 posts in July, 21 posts in August, and 1 post in Sept.

The performance goal is to update the Facebook group twice a month. Since it was created, the IS Facebook has been updated an average of 5 times per month. However a disproportionate amount of those updates occurred in one month. For the past 2 months, there have been no updates resulting in a 100% gap in performance. One month missed the goal by 50%

6.3 Update the IS LinkedIn group two times per month

A LinkedIn group exists for the IS alumni community, but not for the IS program. The alumni group is not updated regularly by the ISRC

The performance goal is to update an IS Program LinkedIn group twice a month. There is not a IS Program LinkedIn group, so the gap is 100%.

6.4 Create discussions in the Alumni Ning community two times per month

The IS Program Alumni Ning exists, but it is not updated regularly. In the past year, 1 discussion was added in February, 3 in March, 1 in April, 1 in May, none in June, 3 in July, 1 in August, none in September, one in October and 1 in November.

The performance goal is to update the Alumni Ning Community twice a month. Since February of this year, there were on average .83 discussions started a month. This misses the goal by 1.17 discussions.


Performance Measure 3: Contact of Prospective Students during the Admission Process

Table 20 below outlines the recruiting component, subcomponents, and measurements to streamline the contact process:

TABLE 20: RECRUITING COMPONENTS, SUBCOMPONENTS AND OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE RELATED TO COMMUNICATION WITH PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

Recruiting Component

Subcomponent Optimal Performance

7.0. Prospective Student Contact

7.1 Interest/Pre-application:7.1.1 Mary Kate7.1.2 Recruiting Coordinator

*may have additional contact with MK based on questions, incomplete applications, etc

7.1 Interest/Pre-application:7.1.1 Email from Mary Kate7.1.2 Email from Recruiting Coordinator (Christie Suggs)7.1.3 Email from Alumni

7.2 Application provide contact information for questions

7.2.1 Faculty (acknowledges application

7.2.2 ISSA7.2.3 Alumni

7.2 Application provide contact information for questions7.2.1 Email from Faculty (acknowledges application)

7.3 Acceptance7.3.1 Email from Department Chair7.3.2 Mary Kate

7.3 Acceptance7.3.1 Email from Department Chair7.3.2 Email from ISSA7.3.3 Email from Advisor

Analysis of Gaps Related to Communications with Prospective Students

The team found that although there are several communications taking place with individuals interested in or applying for admission, the schedule of those contacts needs to be adjusted to provide the most value to the prospective student. It is helpful for the individual to receive information from different perspectives (alumni, current student, ISRC faculty member) but the focus of contact during the application process should be with a faculty member. Once the individual has been accepted, contact from ISSA and alumni would be more appropriate and helpful as they make their plans to enroll in the program. Table 21 below describes the gap between the current communication process and the ideal communication process.

TABLE 21: GAPS RELATED TO COMMUNICATION WITH PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

Step Optimal Performance Current Performance Gap 7.0 Student contact7.1 Interest/Pre-application Currently, individuals who

express interest in the program are contacted several times by different people:Emails from Mary Kate, emails from faculty, emails from ISSA, emails from alumni

The performance goal is to have Mary Kate, the RC, and an alumni representative contact the prospective student. Current performance is that in addition to these three contact points, ISSA and faculty contact the students. The performance goal is being missed by the 2 extra contact points


Step Optimal Performance Current Performance Gap 7.0 Student contact (cont.)7.1.1 Email from Mary Kate Mary Kate currently sends

emailMary Kate meets the performance goal 100%

7.1.2 Email from Recruiting Coordinator (RC – Currently Christie Suggs)

The RC currently sends email

The RC meets the performance goal 100%

7.1.3 Email from Alumni Alumni sends email The Alumni meet the performance goal 100%


Currently, the individual is contacted by a faculty member, an ISSA officer and an alumnus.

The performance goal is to restrict contact at the time of application to a Faculty member. Currently, an individual making an application is contacted by a faculty member, an ISSA officer, and an alumnus. The goal is being missed by 2 extra contact points.

7.2.1 Faculty (acknowledges application) Faculty sends email Faculty meet the performance goal by 100%

7.3 Contact once accepted Currently, the only contact a student has once they have been accepted is an email from the Department Chair and Mary Kate.

The performance goal is to contact students upon acceptance by department chair, ISSA, and the student’s advisor. Currently only the Department Chair and Mary Kate contact the student once they have been accepted. The gap is contact by ISSA and the student’s advisor.

7.3.1 Email from Department Chair Department Chair sends email

Department chair meets the performance goal by 100%

7.3.2 Email from ISSA ISSA does not send email ISSA misses the performance goal by 100%

7.3.3 Email from Advisor Advisor does not send email

Advisor misses the performance goal by 100%


Cause AnalysisPurposeThe purpose of the cause analysis is to identify the reasons that the recruiting committees are not successfully recruiting new students to the FSU IS program. In other words, the cause analysis will identify what is keeping these organizations from meeting their business goal of increasing student enrollment by ten percent each year.

Analysis QuestionsThe following questions guided the gap analysis process:

Why isn’t the performance goal of 10% increase in student enrollment annually being achieved? Why aren’t the performance measures of campus recruiting, attending conferences, corporate

recruiting, recruiting in print journals, and using the IS website and social media being met? What is causing the gap in performance in the performance measures that support the process to

contact prospective students during the recruiting process?

The main goal of the cause analysis was to determine why the organizations are not achieving their business goal of increasing active student enrollments by ten percent annually.

ApproachIn the Performance Analysis, the team previously identified three performance measures:



ISAACRC, and IS program faculty members, and IS students

The performance measures were analyzed to determine the optimal performances. From there, the team identified the gaps in performance. Analysis conducted in this report determined why these gaps exist.

Analysis Results

Performance Measure 1: Number of Students Actively Enrolled each Academic YearAlthough a formal recruiting committee existed in the past, there was a two-year gap during which there was no recruiting conducted at all, in the years 2007 and 2008. It can be extrapolated from the enrollment data from a five-year period that enrollments should be higher than they are now. The drop in enrollment may be due to the time gap in recruiting. Figure 7 represents average semester enrollment data from academic years 2004-2005 through academic years 2008-2009. Table 22 describes the cause for lack of enrollment increases.


FIGURE 7: AVERAGE SEMESTER ENROLLMENT NUMBERS

2004-2005

2005-2006

2006-2007

2007-2008

2008-2009

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

PHD Average/SemesterMasters/Semester

TABLE 22: NUMBER OF STUDENTS ACTIVELY ENROLLED EACH ACADEMIC YEAR

Step Optimal Performance Gap Cause1.0 Student Enrollment

1.1 Actively enrolled students (students enrolled in the IS program who are also enrolled in classes) will increase by 10% overall each year. Based on most recent data for 2008/2009, this will mean an increase of 7 Masters students and 4 Ph.D. students.

The target performance measure is to increase enrollments annually by 10% overall. From data collected in years 2004 through 2009, a desired 10% overall increase year over year shows a 30% gap of Masters students (101 optimal versus 72 actual), and a 17% gap of Ph.D. students (54 optimal versus 45 actual).

The cause of the drop in enrollment could be attributed to the lack of recruiting process. Due to time limitations, this cause could not be identified more clearly.

Performance Measure 2: IS Program Representation at Recruiting EventsRecruiting on campus is not at optimal performance. Gaps were identified relating to on-campus recruiting to provide target performance measures for visiting classes and gathering prospective student names at the Fall and Spring recruiting events, as well as at GradQuest. The recruiting gaps exist due to lack of funding and formal processes. It is not possible to evaluate benchmarks because of the lack of measurable goals set by the committees.

Conference attendance for recruiting purposes is not at optimal performance. Gaps were identified regarding number of conferences that should be attended, and the lack of materials to supply to conference attendees for marketing. Another identified gap is the lack of a wiki for use as a repository of information about recruiting and what conferences should be attended. Mentoring students to present at conferences was also identified as a gap. The cause for gaps in attending and marketing at conferences is due to lack of funds, prior commitments for faculty and lack of established processes.


There is no formal process for reaching out to the corporate field, so that area has not been tapped for recruiting. Information should be gathered about corporations and a packet of information should be assembled with targeted information about specific corporations, available to disseminate in person and through a maintained wiki. Once this information is assembled, IS Program stakeholders should make visits to corporations to identify their education needs. Once contacts have been established, maintaining those relationships are critical.

In the past, print advertising was used to promote the IS Program. In recent years, however, lack of funds prevent the IS Program from advertising in trade journals.

Several areas were identified to improve the IS Program website. These areas included strategies to increase search results on the Internet, including information about the program’s purpose and history, as well as current research. Information about conference presentations and recruiting schedules were also identified. In addition, social media contact information was identified. However, the website remains outdated due to lack of delegation for updating information and expanding information on other areas of the website. Social media outlets, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Ning, have not been utilized due to lack of delegation as well. Table 23 describes the causes for gaps in IS Program representation.

TABLE 23: IS PROGRAM REPRESENTATION AT RECRUITING EVENTS

Step Optimal Performance Gap Cause1.0 Campus Recruiting

1.1 SSA, Alumni, ISRC, Faculty, current students visit 20 classes of different majors annually.

The target performance measure is to visit 20 different classes of different majors annually. Currently classroom visits are not tracked, so the precise gap is unknown, however it is apparent that the groups are falling short on the number and diversity of classrooms visited.

There is no formal process or measurable goal for the committees to achieve.

1.2 Gather 25 student names each Fall/Spring Recruiting event.

25 student names. There is no formal process or measurable goal for the committees to achieve.

1.3 Target 25 student names at Grad Quest.

The target is to gather 25 names at the Career Center’s Grad Quest event. Current performance is unknown because numbers are not monitored; however it is apparent that the groups are falling short of the target.


2.0 Conferences

2.1 Attend 4 conferences. 1.5 conferences a year. Faculty members are not given materials or direction for recruiting.

Funds are limited for conference attendance.

2.2 Flyer/packet designed, created, and available to conference representatives.

The gap is a cohesive set of documents gathered into one recruiting packet.

Faculty members have higher priorities than recruiting and have time constraints.


Step Optimal Performance Gap Cause2.0 Conferences (cont.)2.3 Create and maintain a wiki that

is available to anyone who attends a conference to capture the results of informal recruiting.

No such wiki exists, so the creation and maintenance of the wiki is the performance gap, or 100%.


2.4 Create and maintain a wiki on the website for all upcoming conferences.

Currently, no such wiki exists. The gap is a wiki that lists upcoming conferences, or 100%.


2.5 Provide mentoring for students interested in presenting at conferences.

The mentoring process, or 100%.


2.6 Provide mentoring in how to advertise the program at conferences.

The mentorship process, or 100%.


3.0 Corporate Recruiting

3.1 Prepare an information packet about the IS program that is tailored to corporations.

The information packet, or 100%.

There is no formal process for reaching out to corporate organizations.

3.2 Post information packet on the IS website.

Posting an information packet on the IS website, or 100%.


3.3 Prepare target list of corporations with Training and HR departments that may have employees who would benefit from the IS program, and update that list twice a year.

The creation and maintenance of this list, or 100%.


3.4 Create an IS program presentation tailored to corporations.

The creation of this presentation, or 100%.


3.5 Visit five companies a year to deliver presentation.

Visit 5 companies. There is no formal process for reaching out to corporate organizations.

3.6 Maintain relationships with companies visited in past years.

Maintaining any relationships that will be developed.


4.0 Print Journals

4.1 Place ads in at least 4 print journals annually.

Ads in 4 print journals. There is no funding in the budget to support advertising.


Step Optimal Performance Gap Cause5.0 IS Website

5.1 Increase visits to the website by 30%.

The performance goal is to increase website visits by 30%. There is no current data on website traffic; therefore the gap cannot be determined.

The website does not contain current content and is not appealing to potential students.

5.2 Improve search engine optimization (SEO) so that the following Google searches result with the IS website in the top position: ISD graduate programs

HPT graduate programs ISD Ph.D. programs HPT Ph.D. programs

Currently the ISD program is not returned in the number one spot for any of those searches, so the gap is 100%.

Website maintenance responsibility has not been delegated.

5.3 Recruiting schedule posted on the IS website must not be older than 1 semester.

Currently, no recruiting schedule is posted on the IS website, so the gap is 100%.


5.4 Social media contact information should be posted on the IS website. This should include:

Facebook IS group

Twitter account LinkedIn group YouTube Channel

The gap is 75% as YouTube and Twitter contact information is not posted, and the official IS Facebook page is not posted.


5.5 Current research posted on the IS website must not be older than 1 semester.

Currently, there is no information about current research processes, so the gap is 100%.


5.6 Purpose and history of the program posted on the IS website must contain 5 multi-media elements.

Currently, neither the purpose nor history of the program is described using multimedia elements, so the gap is 100%.


5.7 Conference Presentations and attendance information posted on the IS website must not be older than 1 semester.

Currently, this information is not posted on the IS website, so the gap is 100%.



Step Optimal Performance Gap Cause6.0 Social Media

6.1 Twitter: Tweet once a day, and gain 300 followers per year.

Send 365 tweets and have 300 followers.

Social media maintenance responsibility has not been delegated.

6.2 Update Facebook two times per month.

Since it was created, the IS Facebook has been updated an average of 5 times per month. However a disproportionate amount of those updates occurred in one month. For that one month, the goal was missed by 50%. For the past 2 months, there have been no updates resulting in a 100% gap in performance.


6.3 Update the IS LinkedIn group two times per month.

There is not a IS Program LinkedIn group, so the gap is 100%.


6.4 Create discussions in the Alumni Ning community two times per month.

Since February of this year, there were on average .83 discussions started a month. This misses the goal by 1.17 discussions.


Performance Measure 3: Contact of Prospective Students during the Admission ProcessThe current process contains extraneous communication from stakeholders at the beginning that would be more appropriate later in the process. Potential students are contacted by the program coordinator, the recruiting committee, and an alumni representative. In addition, someone from the Instructional Systems Student Association (ISSA) and a recruiting committee faculty representative contacts the prospective student. It would be more appropriate to discontinue the contact by a faculty member and ISSA at this stage in the process, and instead have the faculty member contact the prospective student upon receipt of the application and ISSA make contact upon acceptance. These contact points would reduce the time commitments required by the faculty and ISSA, and also offer the prospective student the opportunity to ask relevant questions at more meaningful points in the application process. Table 24 describes the causes for gaps in prospective student contact.


TABLE 24: CONTACT OF PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS DURING THE ADMISSION PROCESS

Step Optimal Performance Gap Cause7.07.1 Interest/Pre-application The performance goal is to have

Mary Kate, the RC, and an alumni representative contact the prospective student. Current performance is that in addition to these three contact points, ISSA and faculty contact the students. The performance goal is being exceeded by the 2 extra contact points.

The current process contains too much contact at this stage of the process.

7.1.1 Email from Mary Kate Mary Kate meets the performance goal 100%.

The current process meets this step.

7.1.2 Email from Recruiting Coordinator (RC – Currently Christie Suggs)

The RC meets the performance goal 100%.


7.1.3 Email from Alumni The Alumni meet the performance goal 100%.



The performance goal is to restrict contact at the time of application to a Faculty member. Currently, an individual making an application is contacted by a faculty member, an ISSA officer, and an alumnus. The goal is being exceeded by 2 extra contact points.

The current process contains too much contact at this stage of the process.

7.2.1 Faculty (acknowledges application)

Faculty members meet the performance goal by 100%.


7.3 Contact once accepted The performance goal is to contact students upon acceptance by department chair, ISSA, and the student’s advisor. Currently, only the Department Chair and Mary Kate contact the student once they have been accepted. The gap is contact by ISSA and the student’s advisor.

The current process does not allow for these additional steps.

7.3.1 Email from Department Chair Department chair meets the performance goal by 100%.


7.3.2 Email from ISSA ISSA misses the performance goal by 100%.


7.3.3 Email from Advisor Advisor misses the performance goal by 100%.



Intervention RecommendationsRecruiting ProcessThe primary intervention that can be undertaken is to create a formal recruiting process. Recruiting should encompass not only reaching out to an identified audience of prospective students, but also pushing a cohesive message about the program to previously unknown pockets of prospective students.

A defined recruiting process would help the IS program meet its overall business goal of obtaining a 10% increase in student enrollment. As many of the suggested interventions exist in an ad hoc manner, it is recommended that the steps are taken to formalize these activities. Two net new suggestions, recruiting at corporations and using social media for recruiting purposes, are also being recommended to increase the size of the net cast for potential new students.

On-Campus RecruitingCampus recruiting should be planned, organized, and recorded. The results should be used to plan for and improve future recruiting events. Campus recruiting is currently carried out in such a sporadic manner it is impossible to gauge how close to IS program is to the performance goals. By formalizing the on-campus recruiting process and instituting specific, measurable goals the IS organization will be able to identify prospective undergraduate students when they are first deciding on their graduate school plans. The more undergraduate students that are exposed to the IS graduate program, the better chance that they will choose to become students. This will help the IS department meet their goal of increasing student enrollments by ten percent each year.

Currently, classroom visits are made sporadically by professors, and only to psychology classes. A list should be constructed of viable undergraduate majors, such as majors in the College of Information and Communication and Education. A schedule should be created to visit these classes. In addition to the faculty, the alumni and ISSA should also participate in visiting undergraduate classes.

A goal of collecting 25 student names at the fall and spring recruiting events as well as the Career Center’s GradQuest should be established. This goal should be explained to anyone who volunteers at this event. After the event, a review should be made on the techniques that worked to obtain student names. This review should be used to improve results at the next recruiting event.


ConferencesConferences are an important place to have contact with potential students. However, annual attendance at conferences should be planned. Currently, only 1.5 conferences are attended, but the performance goal should be set at 4 conferences a year. In order to reach this goal, research should be conducted about potential conferences, and funds should be allocated to attend conferences for recruiting purposes. Funding needs to be provided to the ISRC so that they can attend conferences to recruit new students. Proactively recruiting new students is the only way to meet the goal of increasing enrollment by ten percent.

A recruiting packet should be designed from the current set of ad hoc documentation that is being used currently by faculty and the ISRC. Especially in the case that funding cannot be obtained to attend conferences for recruiting purposes, this packet can be used by any faculty member, alumni, or student that attends a conference. The documentation should be stored on a wiki, and made available to each of these groups. The ISRC should mentor people on how to use the packet effectively, so that a cohesive message about the IS program is shared with prospective students. The ISRC needs to make preparing the packets a priority, so that this burden does not fall to the faculty.

Another way to pull the interest of prospective students is to encourage current IS program students to participate at conferences. A process to mentor students interested in submitting materials to conferences should be created. The mentoring processes should be implemented with formal, measurable goals that result in showcasing the academic strength of the program by student presentations at conferences.

Corporate RecruitingThe Corporations with HR and Learning organizations may be interested in funding the advanced education of their workers. In fact, several members of this team are having this education funded by their workplace. Helping corporations bolster the skill set of their workers is an untapped territory for finding prospective students for the IS program. In many cases, corporations pay for the advanced degrees of their workers. This may provide an extra incentive for these workers to enroll as students, helping the department meet the goal of increasing active students by ten percent each year.

A target list of these companies could be constructed using the following information sources:1. Current Students2. Alumni3. Companies that recruit from the program4. Winners of training and development awards (e.g. Training magazine’s Top 125, CLO awards)

A packet targeting corporate workers should be compiled and made available on the IS website. Additionally, 5 companies should be targeted annually for recruiting purposes and presented with information that has been prepared for especially for corporate leaders. These presentations do not have to be made in person; in fact it may be more desirable to demonstrate the department’s ability to interact with remote audiences using technology. Finally, these relationships should be nurtured and maintained from year to year.

This recruiting process should be led by the ISRC or a member of the faculty.

JournalsAdvertising in print journals is expensive, but it would help to achieve the business goal of increasing student enrollment. Money should be set aside to advertise in print journals four times a year.


WebsiteThe IS department’s website could be a tool to push information about the program to anyone in the world. Unfortunately, one of the biggest complaints of students, faculty, and alumni cited in the team’s research had to do with the website. The website is out of date, and does not explain the mission, purpose, and current status of the IS program. In order to determine the size of the potential audience of this message, visitors to the site must be tracked. Our research did not find any information on the number of visits to the site annually. This number should be determined, and a goal should be set to increase the number by 30% each year. Increasing the size of the audience will increase the number of prospective students to the program.

One way to increase visits is to improve the website’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Prospective students will most likely turn to the web when they begin their search for graduate programs. The goal should be to come up in the number one position in a Google search for the following searches: “ISD graduate programs,” “HPT graduate programs,” “ISD Ph.D. programs,” and “HPT Ph.D. programs”. Currently, the IS website doesn’t even come up in the first page of results for these searches. Improving SEO will increase visits to the IS website, which will increase the number of prospective students to the program.

An easy way to increase SEO is to have current content. Content such as the IS Recruiting schedule, current research projects, and the upcoming conference attendance schedule for faculty, staff, and students should be posted on the IS website. Additionally, social media information such as a Facebook page, a LinkedIn group, a Twitter account, and a YouTube channel should be published. Current content will trigger search engines to re-index the site, which increases the SEO. Additionally, fresh content will give prospective students another view into the department and using widgets from these social media sites can help keep the pages of the website fresh. The YouTube channel can be used to host videos that explain the purpose of the program to prospective students. The current content proves to prospective students that the IS program is active, and will be a selling point to encourage more students to enroll.

In order for any of these things to happen, the responsibility of the website should be delegated to one person. We recommend finding an undergraduate intern who is interested in obtaining real world experience to maintain the website. The intern should be managed by an IS faculty member.

Social MediaSocial media is a way to connect individuals interested in similar topics online. It is an inexpensive way to connect with prospective students. Popular social media sites include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Ning networks. Social media could be used strategically to

Pull together faculty, students, and alumni into an online community Connect the IS community to other IS departments and industry Pull in new prospective students


Social media is not currently used in a proactive, strategic way for recruiting. This inexpensive way of establishing the IS department as a proactive community of practice should be exploited as a way to increase the number of active enrolled students.

A Twitter account should be established for the ISRC. Initially, it can be used to “listen” for individuals who are looking for information about graduate schools, as well as to connect with the vibrant education community that exists online. It can also be used to notify prospective students about recruiting events, as well as to share news about IS professors and students.

There is a Facebook page, but it is not updated regularly. According to a study done by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 73% of adults (18 and older) have a Facebook account (Lenhert). This would indicate that there is a huge potential audience on Facebook, and it should be used as a communication vehicle much as the Twitter account is recommended to be used. The same Pew report found that 14% of adults have a LinkedIn account, however there is not a LinkedIn group that is owned by the IS department. IS participation in the IS Alumni Ning group is sporadic. All of these social networking sites can be used to create a vibrant IS community that prospective students will want to join.

Resources must be applied to the social media strategy for it to be a vehicle to improve IS student enrollment numbers. We recommend finding an undergraduate intern who is interested in obtaining real world experience in implementing and measuring the success of a social media recruiting strategy. The intern should be managed by an IS faculty member.

Contacting Prospective StudentsProspective students are currently over-contacted by stakeholders. A more strategic, managed approach to contact initiated from the IS department would make a more professional impression on these individuals. Over-communicating at one step of the process, and then under-communicating at another may possibly dissuade a student from enrolling, thus endangering achieving a 10% increase in student enrollments. The process of initiating communications to prospective students should be re-engineered and managed by the ISRC.


Limitations and ConstraintsThe most significant constraints faced during each phase of the project were time and access to stakeholders. It would have been desirable to have adequate time to conduct the business phase before moving on to the performance/gap phases. During the data collection, it would have been ideal to deploy each survey individually and allow the surveys to remain open for a longer period of time. Had the team been allowed adequate time for data collection, each subsequent survey would have built on the previous one as additional questions were identified by reviewing the responses.

Also relative to time, follow-up interviews with each stakeholder following initial work on the business analysis were not possible within the given timeframe. When analyzing the data that was collected, additional questions arose that, if answered, might increase the value of the analysis. Unfortunately, in this case, those questions could not be asked in the time allotted to complete this phase of the project.

Although interviews were conducted with Mary Kate McKee, Christie Suggs, and Eric Sikorski, the team was unable to interview Marguerite Foxon directly. Attempts were made to interview Dr. Reiser for additional historical background on recruiting efforts, but Dr. Reiser was unavailable when the calls were placed. Ideally, each stakeholder would be interviewed in a face-to-face setting.

At the end of the business analysis phase, the team would have ideally spent additional time clarifying current business goals. Given the limitations and constraints discussed above, as well as the need to move forward with the project without conducting further data collection, the team moved forward with the recommended goal of increasing active student enrollment by ten percent annually.

Regarding the performance analysis stage, overall the team received a fair number of responses to the surveys conducted; however, some groups did not have much participation. Only 50% of the faculty members who received the survey completed it. Some participants returned surveys too late to incorporate into the data.

Some stakeholders were unwilling to commit to more than one interview, despite the fact three teams were working on this project, and the team faced some resistance when we approached our subjects a second time. Team One collaborated with other teams in order to meet with some of the committee members and exchanged information when one committee member was unavailable to some teams.

Another limitation included the low turnout of faculty surveys; only half of the faculty who received the survey answered the questions and were willing to provide feedback. Their insight would have been valuable when determining the recruitment goals of the program.

Time constraints also prevented adequate research on the recruiting processes of competing universities. The lack of stakeholder availability also prevented the team from accessing valuable information about the organization in context with the marketplace.

Regarding the gap and cause analysis phases, the single most important limitation of the team’s research is the lack of benchmarks for the determined performance measures. Therefore, benchmarks had to be established after review of the data collected. This caused the team to draw its own conclusions in the gap analysis phase based on the team’s benchmarks. The cause analysis took the conclusions a step further.

The team wanted to use Thomas F. Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model for the cause analysis, but there was insufficient data collected and inadequate time to carry out the analysis using this model. The “5 Whys” approach was considered, however there was not enough time for additional interviews with the stakeholders to refine the analysis with this method.


These issues have weakened the analyses slightly; however, the team is confident that the information gathered presents a well-balanced view of the analysis of both the ISRC and ISAACRC relative to recruiting.