Strayer University educates 60,000+ students through 89 campus locations and online courses. With so many campus locations, Strayer faced challenges unifying their orientation process for new students. Siteworx was hired to create on online orientation for students which would provide students with a consistent orientation, regardless of campus or whether they were completely virtual students. Strayer also needed to be certain that students participated in orientation and were cognizant of important financial and policy information.
Prior to Siteworx’ involvement, in-person orientations were held on-site at each Strayer location for 2 hours. Campuses were implementing their own solutions, and students found it difficult to retain mandatory information by the end of orientation, particularly financial requirements such as tuition deadlines and course drop dates. In addition, Strayer found that students were unaware of many of the positive offerings and resources offered to them as new students.
Siteworx created a highly interactive orientation utilizing Flash visuals. From creating story board wire frames showing the main screens of the site and the user’s movement through the site, to drafting the orientation script and hiring actors, to filming footage, Siteworx guided every stage of creation. Strayer’s departments submitted information for inclusion in the orientation, which scriptwriters used in formulating the project script. Following a main introduction and presentation by Strayer’s president, four actors explain different components of the site, with a narrator introducing every section. An on-campus element is included in the orientation, with an actor seamlessly traveling to an advisor’s office and other campus locations. At the end of the orientation, students are issued a certificate of completion. Siteworx built the entire interface for the orientation site, which was housed in a Drupal content management system for ease of client updates.
Standout components of the project included a checklist allowing students to view which topics they had covered and remaining orientation subjects, as well as the ability to pause the orientation and return to it, a valuable feature for Strayer’s busy, working student population. Students can access the orientation, an indispensible resource, throughout their time at Strayer.