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		Communicating With Incoming Students: From Chaos to Order By Chris Gatesman, Associate Director of Residence Life, James Madison University With a growing concern for the quantity and quality of communications being sent to our newly matriculated students, conversations began in January of 2002 between the office of residence life and orientation services. It became clear that the number of university offices sending mailings with memos, letters, brochures, booklets, etc. was creating a very confusing summer for our rising freshmen and their families. Housing alone was guilty of packaging a 13-piece mailing and sending it to our unsuspecting new students. Because our students were hearing from so many offices and services and saw every style of communication imaginable, it was no wonder that so many of them missed important deadlines which were lost in a pile of mail from JMU. Where we were: Students were being sent a significantly high number of publications The publications were inconsistent in quality There was repetition across publications There were confusing deadlines among the communications What we did next: We identified as many of the offices, services or programs who were communicating with rising freshmen and invited them to participate in an exercise of process mapping (Galloway, Diane 1994) (Mapping work processes. Mequon, WI: ASQ press. Call 800-248-1946 for information). The process map was a visual representation of who talked to freshman, when and why. We were then able to see this information visually and relate it to a timeline. It was very clear there was a little too much communicating going on. What emerged: Because of the dialogue that occurred among this group of university representatives, problem solving started flowing from our earliest meetings. Eventually, it was decided that we needed to create a unified, streamlined publication that would make it easy for our incoming freshman to obtain all of the necessary information and complete all of the steps required to prepare for their arrival in August. The following stakeholders were identified to participate in the creation of this unified publication: Academic Advising and Career Development Admissions General Education Information Technology Institutional Research Orientation and First Year Programs Post Office Residence Life Telecommunications University Marketing Upper-level administrative staff members While we worked with this large group to gather information and ideas, a smaller, core group was created to move the project forward and to tend to all the details. This group was comprised of a representative from: Residence Life, Orientation and University Marketing. This smaller group was able to devote more time and energy to the project, promoting the new idea to university constituents and run interference as needed. The unified publication became known as The Onebook. It would provide our students with guidelines for navigating through the summer processes and serve as a single, well organized piece for all the necessary information. The book begins with a week-at-a-glance calendar that easily organizes the time period from matriculation to fall orientation. Each weekly calendar is accompanied with information relevant to that week. After the calendar, the book provides students with all the detailed information they need to prepare for their arrival at JMU. One book with One web site can make all the difference. Now that the publication was well under way, it was time to create a website that would further refine the process of information sharing and gathering for our new students. The Onebook website was created providing students with a 10-step process for getting all applications and required information completed in an easy and organized manner. The web steps are: Activate your JMU e-ID (Deadline: May 22) Explore JMU majors (Deadline: May 23 Orientation Reservations (Deadline: May 23) Housing, Dining, & Telecom Contract (Deadline: May 30) Theme Housing and First Year Adventures (Deadline: June 4) General Education Selections (Deadline: June 6) Math Placement Exam (Deadline: June 13) Visit e-Campus (Deadline: June 20) Freshman Survey (Deadline: June 27) Housing Assignment and Roommate Notification (Available after August 1) While students look at the week-at-a-glance calendar in the Onebook, they are notified of important web step processes by the presence of a computer icon. For example, on May 5th there is an icon indicating that the student needs to visit the Onebook website to set up their electronic id. Additionally, the website is revised each week to correspond to the information found in the Onebook for that week. For example, in the Onebook on August 1st, the computer icon indicates that there is a web step activity to be performed that day. The text on the calendar reads: Your room assignment and roommate notification is ready today! When the student goes to the Onebook website, they will find that the page has changed, providing them with more detailed information about preparing to arrive on campus. Once the student selects step 10, they are provided with a login screen for their user name and password (this was set by the student in step 1). Once in, they find a photo of their hall director along with a message welcoming them to their new residence hall community. Additionally, they receive all the relevant information about their roommate(s) along with the roommate’s home e-mail address. In addition to their hall and room assignment, the student receives telecom and post office information along with check-in day instructions. We are currently creating a preview format for the Onebook website and expect that this will be available by April 1, 2004. In the meanwhile you can still see the Onebook web page at www.jmu.edu/Onebook. So was it worth all the effort? The feedback from our students and families has been exceptional. Offices participating in this project report a drop in the number of phone calls they processed during the summer months from new students. The overall cost of designing, printing and mailing the Onebook was significantly lower than the cost of the multiple pieces and mailings from the previous year. Because of the large number of departments participating in this project, communication between operations was enhanced and consequently information flowing to students and families was now more consistent than ever. Finally, JMU’s Onebook was recognized by the National Orientation Directors Association (NODA) and presented with the Outstanding Orientation Handbook Award. This award is given for an outstanding example of book-type publications that outline programs, activities, academics and items of interest specifically for new students. Surely we could not have expected a greater success. About the Author Chris Gatesman is the Associate Director of Residence Life at James Madison University in Harrisonburg Virginia. He has been in residence life at JMU for 16 years. In addition to working in the housing operation, Chris is a part-time instructor in the College Student Personnel Administration graduate program.