Figure 1: Growth in CSU forums
Leslie Burr, Deputy Director, Student Services, Charles Sturt University. Email: lburr@csu.edu.au and Liz Smith, Senior Online Learning & Development Coordinator,Student Services, Charles Sturt University. Email: elsmith@csu.edu.au
The eBox is an online delivery point for official communications between the University and its students. Introduced in 2001, the eBox provides a secure and authenticated online environment where messages sent and received are stored and tracked to provide students with a permanent, web based record of communications.
The introduction of any new system requires consideration of change management practices. This was certainly the case in the eBox Project, particularly as the change involved the entire University community. Strategic planning became critical, particularly as it related to student services and support.
This paper will explore the institutional planning and enterprise drivers behind the development of the eBox, its functionality and production, and how the evolution from a paper based system to an online communications system was introduced to the entire student population. The paper will also report on initial evaluations and lessons learned from the project.
'The only way you can manage change is to create it. By the time you catch up to change, the competition is already ahead of you.' (Drucker 2000)
Charles Sturt University (C.S.U.) has long been recognised as one of the largest providers of distance education in Australia. The advent of the internet allowed the University to establish itself as an international leader in the delivery of online support and services. Since 1998 all distance education subjects have been offered as a hybrid delivery model using online to 'wrap' services (e.g. online forums, email, electronic assignment submission and tracking, online resource links, library) around the well established print delivery model. Over the past 6 years the University has focussed on the development of enhancing online support services to students, including in house development of a student portal, online enrolment and an online communications system for students - the eBox.
In August 2000, the University determined that online systems and processes should be developed in order to enable most administrative activities with students, currently undertaken using paper and postage and other electronic communication media, to be conducted online. The principal reasons for the University's decision were to:
The development of the eBox was part of a University wide undertaking known as Project e2 - the e-environment. Project e2 seeks to enable the University to tap the full potential of electronic information, communications and technologies by developing the e - environment to support both staff and students (Burr 2001a). The University is a major distance education provider both within Australia and internationally. Of the 40,000 students, over 25,000 study by distance education. More than 35,000 different users have already accessed the portal, eBox, or forums.during 2003.
The introduction of the eBox occurred during an enormous growth phase in the use of the online environment. This can be seen from the significant increase in the use of online forums during February each year (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Growth in CSU forums
Because the University's main client basis is external to its campuses, this provides a major challenge to the institution in terms of supporting its students. For this University, online services are not an "add-on" feature, they are critical to its survival within an increasingly competitive tertiary education market place.
Furthermore, due to the University's large number of part time and overseas students, the University has a relatively low EFTSU compared to the total number of enrolled students. Since this is an increasing rather than decreasing trend in our student profile, it is imperative that the University business models increase efficiency in providing services (in the widest sense) to its students.
In order to further the objectives of the e-environment, it was clear that a new application was required. This application needed the ability to create, transmit and track messages between potential, current and past students of the University within an authenticated and secure web environment.
For all of the above reasons, and based on the experiences of other universities such as the University of Colorado (Fox, 1998), email was quickly discounted!
Although a message transmission and retrieval system is quite rudimentary in functionality, the design of the application was increasingly complicated by the need for:
'Change flourishes in a 'sandwich'. When there is consensus above, and pressure below, things happen.' (Pascale 1990)
As with most technological innovation, the development of the eBox was driven as much by external pressures as by institutional initiative. While the provision of enhanced support services to students was a major motivating factor, the opportunity to remain competitive in a global education market and the ability to reduce administrative costs in response to reduced government funding of universities were also contributing factors behind the eBox development.
The past several years have seen universities embrace online technologies and the associated potential they represent to learning environments. As such there has been a significant increase in the online delivery of higher education.
Providing this level of online support in learning environments creates almost an expectation from students that support services will also be available online. While it had long been recognised that increasing numbers of students preferred to study by distance affording them the convenience of an 'any time, any location' education, the provision of essential support services should also be available through the convenience and speed made possible by the internet. As such, perhaps the most fundamental support service - that of communication between the University and the student, became a priority for online development. Initially, a sophisticated online forum environment was developed (Burr 2001b), the success of which facilitated the climate for the successful introduction of the eBox.
In 2001 the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA) commissioned a report on the provision of Australian university web based subjects, courses, administrative and support services (while the findings indicated that all universities were employing the web to some extent for teaching and learning purposes, it is interesting to note that far fewer, (27.5%) provide administrative services such as online registration and none appeared to have a formal online communications system in place other than email. (DETYA 2001).
In addition to increased flexibility and convenience, and reduced costs to the student, the use of the eBox situates C.S.U. students in an online environment immediately that they enrol at the University, providing them with key skills for life and employment in the 21st century. As a desirable graduate attribute, the development of online proficiency begins as soon as a student commences study with the University, providing situated learning in the use of ICT as an integral part of their university experience.
As Drucker states (Drucker 2000), we must 'Accept the fact that every institution, every business, every non-governmental institution has to be globally competitive and everyone has to learn to be a change leader.'
In his review of Australian Higher Education Dr Brendan Nelson also refers to the importance of Australia actively positioning itself within an international 'knowledge based economy', and the demands this has placed on higher education (Nelson 2002).
While participation in a global education market opens up many opportunities to Australian institutions, one of the demands it places on universities is the pressure to meet the needs of international and full fee paying students. As universities are increasingly judged not only on the courses they provide but also their level of service, an online communications system such as the eBox was seen as a necessary development to meet those needs. Increasingly students are making a significant financial investment in their educational experience and are coming to expect excellence in online service delivery.
In an environment of increasing competitiveness and decreased university funding, institutions are having to find more innovative ways of generating income and saving on expenditure. The cost of each postal delivery to the entire student population is in the order of $ 35,000, so there are obvious savings to be made by the introduction of online delivery. Whilst the development costs of such an application do not come cheaply, the investment is quickly returned.
In addition to providing a far more convenient and reliable way of delivering official university communications, it is estimated that within 2002 the eBox saved the University $ 500,000 in postage and printing costs alone.
The costs in not providing such enhanced services to students however, can never be measured.
Together with providing increased efficiencies for the University, the eBox provides many advantages for students:
In order to enhance the visibility of the new application, it was decided that the interface to the application would be via the University portal (Figure 2). This decision also allowed the streamlining of two awareness and education campaigns to be rolled into one.
Figure 2: eBox Located within the Student Portal
The three most recent unread messages appear as summarised headings in the eBox at the top of the student portal, together with a total number count of unread messages. Concurrent with an eBox message appearing, an email is also sent to the student, directing them to the portal - not to the content of the message.
Students click on a message title in order to open a message.
Figure 3: Student view of Inbox
At the same time, a trigger is sent back to the management system indicating that the message has been read. If required the student can respond to the message and a copy will be saved in the Sent Items file.
The application also has a management function for originating messages to students. Messages can either be based on automatic jobs run from the central student administration system (e.g. enrolment notices) or the finance system (eg Monthly invoices). Messages can also be manually created and sent to selected individuals or cohorts. The management function also nominates where responses to each message will be directed and allows this person to respond to any replies sent if necessary.
Figure 4: Message compose area of the eBox
It was critical to the success of the eBox that students understood how it would be used. All official communications from the University would be sent to them via the eBox and not by post, and failure to check the eBox on a weekly basis may mean missing important enrolment information, thus jeopardising their future enrolment. Concomitantly, a decision was made that only critical information would appear in the eBox. It was important therefore that the eBox be kept free from 'University spam'. Thus an institutional definition of 'Official Communications' needed to be established. In the initial instance 'Official Communications' were defined as any communication originating from the Divisions of Student Administration or Finance which were critical to a student's enrolment at the University.
Feedback received from students highlighted two previously overlooked points. Firstly the eBox was taking on a persona of the bearer of only bad news delivering mostly bills and requests for action. In fact only a last minute inclusion of a 'welcome' message from the Vice Chancellor prevented a HECS Payment demand as being the first ever eBox message!
Secondly, the messages were infrequent and students complained that if they were being asked to check the eBox on a weekly basis then there should at least be something new there.
The definition of Official Communications was always intended to include 'non-system' generated messages (such as enrolment notices and invoices). Although originally slated as a Version2 inclusion, the ability to send "manual" messages was quickly moved up the priority list. This enabled Student Services to send proactive messages relating to student support. These messages were timed so as to fill identified periods where no other messages were being sent from Finance or Student Administration. Student Services ensured that these messages were relevant and timely so that the perceived value of the content of the eBox by the student was not diminished. Thus both of the original user criticisms were quickly addressed.
Official Communications has now been widened further in order to ensure a more regular flow of new messages - although extreme care is still taken with the content of each eBox message in order that the importance of the eBox is not devalued.
As a regional university, C.S.U. is committed to meeting the needs of all its students. The Digital Divide in Australia report stated that:
'While Australian Internet use overall is increasing very rapidly, disparities in online access do exist. People on low incomes, without tertiary education, living in rural and remote areas, of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, with disabilities, with a language background other than English, aged over 55 are less likely to use the Internet.' (N.O.I.E., 2001)
As many CSU students are representative of the equity groups referred to above, this was of a definite concern when developing on online communication system. As such, a report into the access and equity issues associated with delivering official communications to students only online and not by post was commissioned as part of the e2 project and prior to the development of the eBox .
The report concluded that "'the key to accommodating diversity among students is flexibility. Assume that not all modes of communication or instruction or assessment or resources are equally accessible to every student." (Ross 2001).
In response to this report, a user deregistration system was developed where those students studying by distance education who were unable to gain access to the internet were able to deregister as an online user. In this instance the student would continue to receive official communications by post. Students who deregister are not disadvantaged relative to the services that they previously received. However it is inevitable that they are disadvantaged in terms of the enriched experience that the online forums and other online services can provide.
Students studying on campus are unable to deregister as they have access to university computer laboratories. The exception to this is when on practical placements without internet access or on leave from the University.
Interestingly, as at March 2003, only 800 students have deregistered. Deregistered students are able to re-register at any time should they gain online access.
From June 2001, the University adopted online as its 'normal' way of communicating with students for administrative purposes. That is, wherever possible communicating and conducting transactions with students is carried out online.
By any measure this is a large challenge in terms of change management to a very large client base.
The challenge for the University was to move from the University's 'normal' operational model of largely print and surface mail to a mode where the online technologies are used to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our administrative and support activities. That is, how to move from a situation where online services and transactions to and from students are regarded as atypical and an optional service, to where students regularly check their online environment for new messages and services.
A staged implementation of the eBox and student use commenced in July of 2001. Because the introduction of the online delivery of official communications represented such a paradigm shift in the operations of the University for both students and administrative staff, the changeover from traditional postal communications to complete online delivery was treated as on ongoing process of education and awareness rather than a distinct one off event.
In order to move from postal to online communications there was a semester of transition where students began receiving communications online via the eBox but continued to receive these details by post. This period of 'doubling up' allowed students to become accustomed to the new system while also providing a time of testing and refinement of the application.
At the completion of the trial semester the postal delivery of University communications ceased. On campus students began to receive University communications exclusively via the eBox while students studying by distance education were strongly encouraged to use the eBox but also had the option of deregistering as an online user in which case communications would continue to be sent by post.
"Any program of systemic change requires training in order to insure implementation. At the same time, to provide training is to drive change in existing systems" (Centre for Media Literacy 2003)
In order to make students aware of the introduction of the eBox and how it would affect them, the University embarked on a comprehensive promotion, information and education campaign with a number of documents and resources produced for student use.
During the first phase of implementation of the eBox, each student received an individualised letter explaining what the eBox was, when the trial period would begin and conclude and how this would affect them. An information web site was also developed which included FAQs, user instructions for use and links to further information and contact details if required. Face to face information and training sessions about the eBox were held on all campuses, and live chat sessions were also scheduled for distance education students to discuss the introduction of the eBox. Messages were posted on all forums alerting students to the impending changeover from postal to online communications and as the date of final changeover drew closer, a reminder letter and information pamphlet was sent to all students.
The conclusion of the transition semester in November 2001 saw the full scale implementation of the eBox project in semester 1 of 2002 along with the associated awareness and education campaigns.
A number of activities and resources were developed under the theme "Get on with I.T." in order to familiarise students with the eBox.
In addition to staff information sessions regarding the eBox, student activities included but were not limited to the following:
All students:
On campus students:
Distance students:
Examples of these resources can be viewed at http://www.csu.edu.au/division/studserv/e2
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Left: Lifesize eBoxes handed out flyers during Orientation Week. Students were invited to check their eBox for the chance to win $500 worth of textbooks
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In addition to providing essential information regarding the release of the online communications system, the eBox promotional campaign provided the University with a model of information dissemination to students for future applications releases.
The transition period was complicated somewhat by the varying nature of student cohorts at CSU. As a flexible provider that deals with students on and off campus, and in semester and trimester systems there needed to be slightly different versions of each piece of promotional and information material sent to students. The complexity of the information was however reduced once the transition period finished and all new students were introduced to the eBox upon enrolment, never having known any other system within the University.
It is interesting to note that in a recent online poll of students asking how they found out about the eBox, over half of the respondents (58%) reported that they had discovered it themselves in the student portal. This supported the original decision to position to the eBox within the highly visible student portal, making its take up as streamlined and intuitive as possible.
The introduction of innovative technologies requires the use of innovative methods of student support. In addition to the many support activities conducted during the initial awareness and education campaigns on the launch of the eBox, students also have the opportunity for a more formalised introduction to the eBox application along with other C.S.U. online services should they require it.
In 1999 C.S.U. piloted an enabling subject titled Skills for Learning Online. The subject was developed in response to an increasing body of literature and evidence pointing to the need for students to be effectively trained and supported in online environments prior to them commencing online study. The subject, which was the recipient of an ASCILITE award for the Exemplary Use of Electronic Technologies in Tertiary Education is delivered completely online and provides students with a facilitated orientation to the online services, facilities and learning environment at C.S.U. (Smith 1999). With the introduction of the eBox, the subject was revised to reflect this important addition to the services available, providing students with a hands-on facilitated introduction to the use and importance of the eBox.
For additional support or technical enquiries relating to the eBox students have access to an IT Services Desk in person or via phone, fax or online. A free call number within Australia is provided.
As with any project there were several stakeholders interested in and affected by the development and implementation of the eBox. In an effort to keep all stakeholders and members of the university community informed of the project and its progress, a web site was established with complete records of all meetings, minutes, project briefs and supporting documentation.
While the student population was perhaps the most obvious client group affected by the introduction of online delivery of official communications, this development also represented enormous change and substantial workload for Student Administration and the Finance Division. As the main originator of eBox messages, these divisions were represented on both the project team and the Steering Committee. In addition to the input these staff had into the project, they were also charged with communicating the impending changes to their divisions. The importance of the successful engagement of these two groups cannot be underestimated particularly since the design of system generated messages went to the heart of the work processes and work flow of these groups and their enterprise business applications.
Further, the success or failure of the project impacted directly on the performance of both Divisions. In the case of Student Administration this meant the timely handling of all enrolment procedures, and for Finance the management of cash flow and auditing procedures as just two examples of critical performance measures.
Because of the multi campus nature of the University, all staff work mainly through web interfaces into their business applications and are therefore computer literate. However the new system presented a significant new application which required face to face training and support. Initially, demand for the system outstretched support and the number of people inputting to the system had to be minimised. The reversioning project for the system includes as a high priority, the identification of a larger number of staff for support and training and the development of contextual help.
In order to promulgate the use of eBox to students, academic staff were asked to present an OHP of the eBox during the first two weeks of lectures. Although staff had been informed about eBox developments through the normal communication channels of the University, a number of staff reported that this was the first that they had heard about it. Subsequent demonstrations of the system to all staff were poorly attended. Thus, although the impact on academic staff was correctly judged to be "low", the perfunctory communication to all staff could, in hindsight, be considered inadequate.
As mentioned previously, the application was developed using formal project management methodology. The Sponsor and Steering Committee members were all members of the senior executive and so had the opportunity for intimate "buy-in" of the project. Regular demonstrations and briefings were conducted to engage Heads of Schools, Heads of Departments and middle managers across the University.
The introduction of the eBox also represented a significant increase in workload for staff of Student Services in developing the information and awareness resources and running the face to face presentations for students.
Staff of this Division were kept informed of developments by a colleague who worked on the awareness campaign. It was crucial that Student Services staff were fully aware of these developments and the implications for students, as they operate the Student Services Help Desk - a one stop point of contact for all enrolled students.
The University recognises that evaluation is a critical component of the eBox project and as such has a firm commitment to the ongoing evaluation of not only the final outcome of the eBox project, but also to the evaluation of the processes involved in its development.
Formative evaluation has already informed the ongoing planning and refinement process of the eBox, and further evaluations will continue to provide information that will ensure the eBox project remains relevant, appropriate and dynamic.
Because of the complexity of the eBox project, evaluation is not something that is easily managed in any one study or survey. As such several discrete evaluations have been carried out on various components of the project. These evaluations have been both formative and summative in nature and will continue to be implemented to continually inform the ongoing planning and development cycle.
There are several components of the eBox project that require evaluation:
Many parts of the above evaluations have been completed, some are currently underway and others are planned for implementation further on in 2003.
The process of the eBox development was investigated and outlined in the final report of a Working Party whose brief was partly to evaluate the initial project development, gather lessons learned and also provide recommendations for Version 2. Lessons learned and subsequent suggestions included:
A number of suggested technical enhancements were also provided by the Working Party for implementation in version 2.0.
In addition to product testing during the development phase, extensive useability testing has been carried out since the final implementation of the eBox. In December 2002 the University contracted external consultants to carry out useability testing on the eBox. The contracted organisation carried out testing on the application and provided a detailed report on useability requirements and recommendations for modifications/enhancements in version 2.0 of the eBox.
The effectiveness or the take up rate of the eBox can be measured by statistics provided by the management function of the application. During 2002:
While the statistics are a valuable tool in analysing the take up rate of the eBox, some deeper evaluation of the reasons behind student use or non use is required. Of particular interest is the group of students who have not used their eBox but have not deregistered from the system. It is hoped that this part of the evaluation will be carried out during the year.
The semester long "doubling up" period, which enabled official communication to be sent by both post and eBox proved a useful risk minimisation strategy. In addition to acting as the transition phase for internal mode students, this time provided 'breathing space' to bed down the application. . Originally, a similar transition phase was to also be applied to distance education students over the following semester, however the acceptance rate by internal students was so fast that the second transition phase was abandoned and a direct cut over was undertaken.
User satisfaction surveys will be carried out during 2003 as will further evaluations on how effective promotional materials were in alerting students to the eBox and its function.
Small scale surveys and evaluations related to awareness and education provided in relation to the introduction of the eBox have been conducted in relation to the Skills for Learning Online program and also the mass lectures presented to new internal students.
Of the 278 responses to an evaluation survey of the Skills for Learning Online subject 86% reported an increase in their skill level as a result of completing the subject. Among several other questions students were asked to rate the value of completing the subject. Results are shown below:
An online survey was also conducted of new on campus students (i.e. Albury, Bathurst and Wagga Wagga) commencing in 2003. The survey asked them to provide feedback on the sessions presented and answer simple questions regarding the eBox and the student portal.
Of the 1725 responses, 68% found the sessions were very informative, 18% believed there was too much information provided, 8% thought there was not enough information provided and 6% could not remember any of the session!
It was interesting to note that despite the variation in opinions relating to the sessions 99% of students correctly questions relating the eBox covered in the session.
'The perfect love affair is one which is conducted entirely by post.' George Bernard Shaw
While a love affair conducted 'entirely by online delivery' may not have the same literary ring to it, it would seem that had George Bernard Shaw been present today to witness the flourishing online environment he may well have altered his words somewhat.
The eBox and the online delivery system developed by Charles Sturt University continues to develop and be used by students in order to enhance their online experience and increase the efficiency by which they communicate with the University.
As stated earlier, the project has been reviewed by a Cross Institutional Working Party with recommendations and a proposed timeline for future developments having been put forward. The project has also been extended to allow academic staff to post subject related administrative messages crucial to students (e.g. change of subject co-ordinator or clarification of an assessment item). Further evaluations will continue during the year in order to continually refine and develop the project in order to deliver the highest possible standard of service to students.
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