2011 OFYP Annual Report - Orientation and First-Year Programs ...

myU Web PortalEntering the eighth year of communicating directly with incomingfirst-year students, the myU Web Portal continued to effectively reachfreshmen with over 5,000 unique log-ins at peak times, as well as newtransfer students with close to 1,500 unique log-ins at the beginningof fall semester (reference graph on page 11). OFYP worked withall freshman and transfer admitting colleges to provide consistentmessaging about orientation and placement testing. Even thoughevery college has different procedures, we were able to deliver aunified message to all students about preparing to start at the U of M.Through eCommunication and direct mail, colleges and departmentsworked together to keep information current and relevant, and weremore consistent in encouraging students to check myU regularly.With each incoming class we can see the evolution of electroniccommunication, as well as ever-changing access and expectationsthat students have regarding technology. Today’s student will utilizemobile devices more often than desktop computers, will have globalsocial networking connections, and will send and receive messageswith less than 140 characters. Messages that cannot be “Liked”or commented on will be treated with suspicion. This creates aninteresting challenge for the future myU, but various groups areworking together to build a new portal experience, and we lookforward to this change.OFYP has been able to successfully promote University resourcesand services through myU thanks to the collaborative support of theOffice of the Vice Provost for Distributed Education and InstructionalTechnology (VP-DEIT).10