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Student bulletin launched and other improvements to student comms

Much work has been done over the past several months to improve communications to Dawson students, including the launch of a new student bulletin on Jan. 10.

During the Strategic Planning process, the topic of student communications arose with some frequency. For some time now, student communications have been decentralized, uncoordinated, duplicative, and spread over multiple channels (e.g., Dawson email, personal email, the Dawson website, Omnivox, TV screens on campus, information kiosks, social media, etc.).

A student survey carried out in May 2024, and a follow-up student focus group in November 2024 provided many insights.

What the students told us

• Omnivox is the communications channel most frequently visited by our students.
• There is no hierarchy of messages in Omnivox, and valuable information and deadlines in the newsfeed and calendar are sometimes buried by less consequential posts.
• If we overwhelm or annoy students with ineffective, scattershot communications, we lose them. They tune out, important messages go unread, and this can have an impact on students’ engagement and continuation at the College.
• A unified institution-wide approach to student communications is needed to ensure we are all pulling in the same direction. We must be selective about the messages sent, the appropriate channel for each message and its timing. The needs and preferences of students should guide the College’s approach to student communications if messages are to achieve our intended purpose.

Over-arching themes:

• Simplification: Make it easy for students to find what they need.
• Hierarchy: Clearly distinguish important College communications from general information. Make important messages highly visible and consistently use a designated channel.
• Curated information: Allow students to opt in/opt out of receiving non-essential information on certain topics.
• Brevity: Distill the essence of a message and lead with key details.
• Consolidation: Bundle messages using a vehicle such as a newsletter. Communicate less frequently and with more intentionality.

Future Directions

The following plan has been developed by the Communications Office, which – as of Winter 2025 – will act as a clearinghouse for messages in Omnivox:

• As a pilot project, a weekly student bulletin was launched on Jan. 10. It is being sent via MIO to all students and includes information about services, events and activities on campus and key dates and deadlines.
• A protocol is being developed for the submission of documents in Omnivox, including an attractive new template with appropriate branding.
• A global calendar of documents for students will be created and distributed each semester, along with a notification system for front-line staff.
• A new protocol will be piloted for the submission of information to appear in the Omnivox Newsfeed, which – going forward – will be populated by staff in the Communications Office. The goal is to facilitate more streamlined and curated student content.

We recognize that these are significant changes to our way of doing things at the College. These changes are necessitated by a clunky and inflexible student portal, by student feedback about the need for more personalized, concise, and timely communications, and by our goal of ensuring that messages to students reach our audience and achieve their intended purpose.

We look forward to your continued collaboration as we work towards making tangible changes to improve the student experience at ³ÉÈ˺ÚÁÏ.

If you would like to discuss any of these changes, please contact Dianne Hawryluck (dhawryluck@dawsoncollege.qc.ca).