Open SUNY Online Student Concierge Panel moderated by Michele Forte
Channel: SUNY Online Teaching
Date: 2016-03-01

Research on online education suggests that online students are more likely to succeed when they have access to systematic, personalized, one-on-one attention. The Open SUNY Concierge Model was developed to help online students navigate their degrees and find a place within the broader University community. Simply stated, the concierge is a “single point of contact” – the person or people to whom students can turn for information, support, and guidance. Depending on campus culture and programmatic need, this single point of contact may be an ‘” faculty advisor,” or a “mentor” or an “academic advisor.”

Many campuses across the SUNY System have implemented effective, robust Concierge models. This panel will showcase three such examples.

This panel will showcase three such examples.

Finger Lakes Community College
At Finger Lakes Community College, the Concierge Model operates as an online specific “Onestop,” offering administrative, academic and technical support and/or direction to other services. Additionally, the concierge serves as an academic advisor to new online students, and part-time online students who are not assigned to an advisor.

The College at Brockport/SUNY
The College at Brockport is developing its Concierge Model, supported by a newly created Graduate Assistantship. A work-in-progress, this conceptualization phase is being approached with an eye on our academic culture, faculty use of existing early alert tools, delineations between students enrolled in fully online degree programs versus those taking an online course or two, and online orientation constructs already in place in other student support offices.

SUNY Plattsburgh
The concierge for the RN to BS program at Plattsburgh works very closely with recruitment and admissions, as well as the registrar’s office to ensure that there is a singular message delivered to potential nursing students. Once students are on board, the concierge becomes a vital contact to each student as they work their way through the program. In an online setting especially, clear and timely communication is key, and Plattsburgh’s nursing program concierge ensures that the virtual door is always open.