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OrgSync provides University of Toledo student life with a new platform

Savannah Joslin

Donovan Nichols, associate dean of student involvement and leadership

Colleen Anderson, Managing Editor

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The Office of Student Involvement and Leadership hopes to eliminate the need for stacks of paper forms and countless Facebook groups with the launch of the organizational program OrgSync.

Donovan Nichols, associate dean of student involvement and leadership, wrote in an email interview that the system forms an online community through the system.

“The platform helps users connect and engage with the populations they serve, improve information sharing, minimize paper usage, track co-curricular involvement and generate reports on all data collected for annual reports and accreditation,” Nichols wrote.

Melissa LaRosa, OrgSync regional manager, wrote in an email interview that OrgSync is being used at over 450 college campuses worldwide and that the system has a retention rate of 95 percent.

The high retention rate may be due to its versatility, as LaRosa said that OrgSync has a number of different customizable features depending on the needs of the purchaser.

Nichols wrote that the numerous functions of OrgSync is the reason UT decided to purchase the program. It allows students to create external websites for their organizations and easily pass along control of the organization’s website and information when leadership changes.

Anna Crisp, a student trustee and president of International Service Learning, compared the platform to a Facebook for student organizations.

“This could be your homepage, your little UT Facebook,” Crisp said. “I think it’s a great resource; I’m excited that we got it. You know, there’s been talk about it for a while so I’m really excited that we went ahead and did it.”

Nichols wrote that the program costs $17,000 a year, but may cost more or less depending on the amount of features UT uses and how many ‘umbrellas’ or organization pages are on the system.

The paper forms that are currently mandatory for student organizations will all be online in the future, which Nichols said could potentially save hundreds of dollars for the university.

According to LaRosa, “our campus partners moved over 28,000 forms to OrgSync, which saved more than 6.7 million sheets of paper and represents a cost savings of approximately $749,600.”

However, Nichols said the purchase is not meant to save money, but to benefit the students.

“It’s more we see it as enhanced features that we have to pay for, not necessarily saving money in other areas except for printing costs, really,” Nichols wrote. “This is more an additional feature that brings about things like the event calendaring that we didn’t have in the system before, that just streamlines processes and makes it easier for student organizations.”

LaRosa wrote that OrgSync is more than just a tool for organization; it also helps student involvement offices gather data about the level of involvement on campus.

“Campuses may leverage the data collected in OrgSync to assess the impact of student involvement and co-curricular programming on overall student success and retention,” LaRosa wrote.

The complete switch from physical paper forms will take place on Sept. 24, and all student organizations should have registered with OrgSync by then. Any organization that has not registered by Sept. 24 will be marked as inactive until they complete the process.

I think it’s really student-friendly, and obviously the focus here is for the students, so I think that’s what’s most important. We want to encourage involvement, and I think this is a great way to do it.”

— Anna Crisp, student trustee and president of International Service Learning

While the transition to using OrgSync is quickly approaching, the full process is far from completed. The next phase involves teaching student organizations how to best utilize OrgSync.

By orientation for 2016’s incoming class, Nichols wrote that OSIL plans to introduce an OrgSync that has all students regularly interacting and connecting with on-campus events and organizations.

Right now, the plan is still in a relatively preliminary phase.

“We want new users to have a great experience and find what they are looking for the first time they visit, which is why we are being strategic about how we roll out the marketing for OrgSync,” Nichols wrote.

OrgSync was purchased by the university last fall, with Student Government members participating in discussions about the program. The former SG student affairs chair – who worked on the project – declined to comment.

Nichols wrote that the launch took longer than anticipated because of external circumstances.

“As with all major projects with multiple moving parts, there are always unforeseen situations which can slow down an implementation,” Nichols wrote. “We have run into a few of those situations, but have successfully navigated the issues with the support of UT’s IT department and the OrgSync staff.”

Crisp said while she expects the transition to take time, it will ultimately be beneficial for students to join.

“I think it’s really student-friendly, and obviously the focus here is for the students, so I think that’s what’s most important,” Crisp said. “We want to encourage involvement, and I think this is a great way to do it.

 

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