How To Reframe Your Virtual Engagement to Beat Zoom Fatigue
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We recently sat down with admins from six of our campuses and discussed virtual engagement in 2022. Among the attendees were administrators from Yale School of Management, Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Verto Education, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University- Daytona, and Atlantic Cape Community College.
The biggest challenge was the same across the board: Zoom Fatigue. People reported that students are tired of virtual events and eager to get back to in-person programming. Through our conversation, we determined that we need to reframe our mindsets on virtual engagement.
Rather than either virtual or in-person engagement, we need to consider a both/and approach. Weโve always known that preferred communication styles vary from person to person. Further, through the pandemic, weโve had the experience of thinking creatively about virtual engagement.
We need to continue to use virtual engagement as a tool to keep people with varying schedules, locations, and degrees of comfort involved as much as possible. We also need to start thinking about it as a way to enhance the in person experiences our students have on campus.
As you work toward this culture shift on your campus, consider these 4 top CampusGroups tools for virtual engagement.
1. The Feed
The Community Feed, as well as the Channels on each Groupโs Page, are great ways to encourage virtual communication throughout the year. Weโve seen and discussed several unique Community Feed channel ideas with our campuses.
Our recommendation is to replace current GroupMe or Slack channels with Channels on your Feed. Talk with your student leaders about the current virtual discussions on campus and put everything they need in one place.
Here are a few creative ideas for engaging channel topics:
๐น TikTok Challenge- a place for students and administrators to show off their personalities and talents in TikTok video challenges.
๐คญ Memes- a place to post entertaining memes about life at your university.
๐ Free Food- a channel where campus community members can post about free or leftover food on campus. This will help to prevent waste and provide food to those who are in need.
As you develop your Feed channels, you might also consider some of the following best practices for feed use:
๐ฅ Campuses that have students answering each otherโs questions have found that the peer-to-peer interactions are most valuable. Find a few student leaders who can advocate for the platform and set the example!
๐๐ฝ One campus also recommended highlighting specific users or Groups in your Feed posts so that people can get to know one another and feel appreciated.
๐ Encourage users to set their notification settings appropriately so they see all Community Feed posts as well as the posts on their most important Group Pages.
2. Gamification- Badges and Points
Using Badges and Points to gamify the system is another popular way to encourage virtual engagement. You can incentivize participation in some of your most impactful opportunities by assigning Badges or Points to them.
Many of our campuses will have โstoresโ at the end of the semester or year where students can trade in their Points for swag or other prizes! Badges can be connected to LinkedIn so students can show off their on-campus involvement and co-curricular learning experience.
3. Surveys and Forms
Surveys and Forms can be used as a way to encourage all of your users, even those less willing to verbally speak up, to share their thoughts with you. We have some campuses that have created Affirmation Forms, where students can submit a form of appreciation for another member of the campus community.
Their words can then be shared in a public or private forum. You can also create polls to enhance in-person events by asking all participants to answer a question and share results in real time.
4. Event Hubs
Event Hubs are another great way to strengthen engagement at your large scale in-person events. They provide opportunities for participants to interact on a dedicated Event Feed, review resources like websites, FAQ lists, and agendas. Event Hubs can also have Surveys, Checklists, and other engagement opportunities or resources built in.
Over the next few months, we hope all of our campuses can continue to increase in-person engagement. As you do, we encourage you to use virtual opportunities to enhance your community both at in-person events and outside of them! We canโt wait to see what other exciting ideas come out of our campuses this year.
ABOUT BRIDGET:
I have a Masters Degree in Higher Education Administration and worked on campuses in Student Affairs for seven years. Now, as a Campus Success Associate at CampusGroups, I am excited to assist and inspire other Student Affairs professionals as they meet their goals. I am passionate about helping students to effectively engage in their university communities!
Are you a campus leader guiding students on a pathway to success? Reach out to learn more about using CampusGroups to support your student engagement goals. Weโd love to hear from you!
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