Overview
Thursday, November 20th, 2008What is this project and what is its purpose?
The Messiah College Academic Profiles (MCAPs) project is a collaborative effort among Messiah College faculty, and the offices of the Provost, Enrollment Management, and Marketing and Public Relations to collect a compelling uniform body of accurate data across all academic majors, and use that information to dialogue with prospective students, as well as to construct marketing messages for both print and web. The goal of this collaboration is to improve the quality and breadth of information provided to external audiences, as well as to highlight each major’s distinctives in a consistent manner.
The information contained in Messiah’s MCAP tool serves as an essential information “resource” for internal audiences who are responsible for promoting the College’s academic programs. However, it is not meant to replace any other form of printed materials used by the College (i.e., major’s brochures, admissions materials, etc.).
What tool are we using to collect this body of data and how will it be used?
The layout of the tool used to collect the information for the MCAPs project may look familiar. It is similar to the popular Wiki tool used by website developers around the world. Messiah College has adapted the Wiki concept—providing online collaboration on a multiple-participant project within a secure, hosted environment—by inviting key personnel to contribute to the developmental phase of each MCAP.
However, unlike traditional Wikis where users can edit content at any time, Messiah’s interactive timeframe is limited, extending only until the MCAP is officially published, and then reopening for collaborative editing for scheduled annual updates.
What is my role in this project?
The process for the MCAP project is detailed below. In general, however, your role—as the chair and/or dean of the major—is to collaborate with the Office of Marketing and Public Relations department’s promotional writer to develop the standard body of information for your major(s). Initially, you will be invited to complete a questionnaire identifying specific attributes and features of your major. Later, you will be invited to review the content written by the promotional writer. Please note that your responses to the questionnaire need only be in bullet form.
Later, the promotional writer will invite you to review the drafted profile, and will also schedule a face-to-face conversation to further define the distinctives of your major. Beyond that, we ask that you help us update the MCAP once each year during the annual update phase. You may also notify the promotional writer about any other important additional updates at any time throughout the year.
What process will this project follow?
Phase I – Data Collection
Date Action
| TBD | Dean/chair of academic major receives link to MCAP questionnaire via e-mail. Signs in using Messiah College logon password and selects major or department. |
| TBD | Dean/chair electronically submits completed questionnaire (in bullet form) to the Office of Marketing and Public Relations by deadline date. |
| TBD | The Office of Marketing and Public Relations department’s promotional writer combines questionnaire responses with published Messiah College institutional information sources (online course catalog, fact sheets, institutional research, etc.). |
| TBD | Promotional writer notifies chair/dean via e-mail that MCAP post is ready for review. |
| TBD | Chair/dean signs-onto MCAP, revises where necessary, and hits “Submit with approval” button. |
| TBD | Promotional writer sends internal notification to dean/chair that MCAP is published and ready for use. |
Phase II – Dig Deeper
1. Promotional writer requests a 30-minute personal interview with dean/chair to glean additional information that may not have been covered in the questionnaire or in the promotional writer’s secondary research(expands upon the topics identified in the questionnaire).
Meetings will be initiated according to a list created by the Office of Marketing and Public Relations and admissions office personnel, primarily prioritized upon the admissions office’s need to update content on specific major brochures. Click here to determine where your major is listed within the timeline.
Majors Listed Between Meetings Held During
1-10 November 2008
11-20 December 2008
21-30 January 2008
31-40 February 2009
41-50 March 2009
51-60 April 2009
2. Promotional writer updates MCAPs accordingly and confers with dean/chair for fact-checking prior to publication.
3. Promotional writer sends notification to dean/chair that additional content is available.
4. The process for gathering, revising, and renewing of this additional, in-depth content will reoccur on an annual basis.