With rising tuition fees and the increasing dependence on technology, students are expecting a tech-driven university experience, we gathered with Salesforce and Cal State East Bay to discuss how best to solve the latest challenges facing higher education today and in the future.
The VP of Student Success at Salesforce.org, Jason Belland, hosted a Q&A with California State University East Bay and Fonteva on how the university is creating a truly connected campus, encouraging participation from the students and engaging alumni long after they’ve graduated. Representing the University was its CIO, Jake Hornsby, who was joined by Patrick Swords, Events Sales Manager at Fonteva, speaking on the importance of innovative tech to engage students and harness better insights from those engagements.
Jason: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and Cal State East Bay?
Jake: Cal State East bay is made up of over 14,000 students and a network of 130,000 Alumni. We offer 49 Bachelor degrees covering a range of topics including business, arts, and social sciences. The Wall Street Journal recognised us as a Top 10 college in the west for diversity. Our main aims are to increase diversity and engage students beyond their time with us.
Jason: What gets you the most excited when you think about the future of Cal State East Bay and the role technology will play in the student experience?
Jake: I was one of the first-generation students- and college was kind of hard then- I don’t think I would pass today! Now people are seeing the pain our processes can cause and we are well ahead of them to provide them with the innovative tools needed for everyone to use at different scales. The scale is important, especially understanding the roles of faculty, staff and students who have different needs. We have seen a rapid increase in technology and a slowly increasing willingness to adopt. Students now face increasing complexities so tools need to be simple, direct and timely to make things easier for them.
Jason: We often focus on student engagement, but student empowerment is a step further. What are some of the shifts you’re seeing?
Patrick: Something we’ve noticed is how students and alumni want to participate in their education further than just attending class or attending prescribed events. Students want to be empowered to create and design their own events; having this choice means they build on that relationship with their University. This means they can build their own communities which the University may not have thought of otherwise, which also helps with Diversity and inclusion.
Jake: Absolutely, we usually provide very downward directed solutions versus flexible applications. Fonteva is an example of a flexible solution and we had them modify their solution to support our student community. We are providing students with the self-service experiences to be empowered members of society post-graduation, by enabling them to create their own events in line with university standards, by being able to express their personal and community needs in a meaningful way. This creates an increased sense of belonging for students to create their own events and attend numerous events at school.
There is a shift from giving choices to inspiring possibilities; it’s important to tap into student interests and mindset from compliance to self-direction. We are passionate about accessible, secure product development that puts control in the hands of the students. There is a shift of focus towards stronger change management, especially with new technology, and how that can impact the student experience.
Jason: So we have a lot of people in the audience that are interested in ways to better engage students at their institution but they don’t know where to start. How did you get started and what advice do you have for those looking to get started today?
Jake: The connected campus experience, including alumni engagement, doesn’t start when the students graduate. You need to engage students throughout their university experience. Events are crucial to engagement. Higher Education is very different from a commercial organisation in that most events are not to raise money but to gain participation. We started by establishing the needs of different teams, particularly the student, and used the technology to support these needs.
Interested in taking your next step to increase student engagement with Events? Learn more about Fonteva Events today.