My Rasmussen College

Webster College: A Recent Visit to the Ocala Campus

On July 26th & 27th, I was able to spend some time visiting the Ocala Campus of Webster College.  It was an inspirational visit as I was able to meet our students and faculty face-to-face.

My goal was to get as much insight as possible on the student experience from anyone willing to speak with me. In addition, I brought with me a video camera to capture our conversations for use on future campaigns I’m working on.

In the two days, I was able to conduct 3 focus groups, tape 7 interviews and actually sit in on an e-commerce class.  Given this, I want to take a moment and thank the following brave individuals for allowing me to interview them on camera:

• Miguel A. Ramos Jr.
• Kristy Croom
• Larry Spangler
• Paul Dahlgren
• Bebe Frisbie
• Juanita Bozeman
• Mathew Manley

These were priceless conversations and I hope to post them soon on blip.tv.

Also, I also have another “tour” scheduled for the Minnesota Campuses at the end of this month.  Here’s my itinerary:

Monday, August 20th   -   St. Cloud Campus
Tuesday, August 21st   -   Mankato Campus
Wednesday, August 22nd   -   Eagan Campus (morning) & Lake Elmo Campus (afternoon)
Thursday, August 23rd   -   Brooklyn Park Campus (morning) & Eden Prairie Campus (afternoon)
Friday, August 24th   -   Executive Offices (morning)

I’m also planning on spending a day at the Pasco Campus of Webster College before the end of September – more details to follow.

If you’re interested in meeting with me (student or faculty) or even sitting down to tell your story on camera, let me know or simply hunt me down on those dates.

Let me know

Your Student Portal

Another project that we’re working on is the redesign of the existing Student Portal.  This project will not "reinvent the wheel" but enhance the existing site structure.

In addition, today’s Student Portal uses a system that has some limitations that prohibit us from doing some really cool things for you.

The goal here is eventually build a Student Portal that not only meets your needs as a Rasmussen College Student but also offers you a break from the daily grind of homework or your job.

To do this, we’ll need your help to succeed. 

Don’t worry, we aren’t asking for your input all at once.  This will be a phased approach taking some time to implement.  We'll revisit this project in the coming months to present updates and to give you the opportunity for more feedback in case you forgot something. 

Since we’re still in the planning stages, we want you to start thinking about how you currently use the Student Portal.  After you’ve given it some thought, try to answer some of these questions:

• Is the Student Portal easy to navigate?
• Which sections do you use the most?
• Which sections do you use the least?
• What would you improve upon or expand?
• What would you tear down and destroy?
• What do you wish the it had?
• Do you even know how to use it?

We encourage you to give us feedback on the above questions either by writing your comments below.

What’s all this stuff at the bottom of the posts?

At the end of each post there is additional information that can be confusing if you’re new to blogging.  To help you out, here is a brief description of each:

Subscribe to this feed – Just like the “big orange button” that identifies syndicated content, you can subscribe to our blog here. We just made it easier by including it in every post.

Add to del.icio.us – Pronounced “delicious”, this is a social book marking web service where you can discover, share and store web pages with your friends. If you have a del.icio.us account, you can easily add a post you like here.

Digg This! – Just like del.icio.us, Digg.com is a social book marking web service.  However with Digg, you can rate your book mark. If you have a Digg account, you can easily add a post and rate it here.

Share on Facebook – If you have a Facebook account and want to share a specific post, you can do so with this link.

Stumble It! - Just like del.icio.us and Digg.com, StumbleUpon is a social book marking web service. If you have an account, you can easily add a post you like here.

Rate me on Authorati – Just like Digg.com, Authorati gives you the opportunity to rate the post. In addition, you can rate the author.

Let me know what you think.

What the heck is a blog?

Are you scratching your head right now and asking "...what the heck is a blog?..."

Wikipedia defines a blog as:

“…a website where entries are written in chronological order and displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), or audio (podcasting), and are part of a wider network of social media.

In May 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 71 million blogs...”

Wow, that's a lot of blogs!

Why did we choose a blog to communicate what we’re doing in the Marketing Department at Rasmussen College, Inc.? 

It’s simple:

• With this format, you can share your ideas about new features and programs.
• This is the perfect platform to tell you about upcoming projects that will enhance your student life.
• It’s a great opportunity to have ongoing conversations with you to determine what we're doing right and what we could improve on.

Let us know what you think.

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