In my last post, I briefly mentioned that online schools should also consider the ”less common” student services as part of their student experience repertoire. To expand on that just a bit, for example, I know of very few online institutions that offer career counseling and job placement services. Compare that to traditional brick and mortar schools and it is evident that there is a huge disparity.
In most online schools, the attempt to promote these services falls on deaf ears or takes a very low priority. Is it that key stakeholders of those schools are not interested in the student’s long-term well being, retention, and program enhancement? With the coming shift to performance indicators as key metrics for evaluating online schools, administrators of those schools need to wake up and begin piloting some of these programs. I recently have spoken with several schools that have implemented virtual career centers and are meeting with good success.
Do you know what your online school is doing?