Maeve Catherine

Defining issues and creating solutions can result in the longevity of a company. As students of the Quinnipiac University, my classmate Rebecca Branton and I met to talk about our experiences becoming and being a part of Quinnipiac community. For context, Rebecca is a freelance graphic designer in Knoxville, Tennessee and a graduate student in Quinnipiac’s online Interactive Communications & Media (ICM) graduate program. Despite being faced with the chaos of Covid-19, she graduated from Maryland College in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in design and after a year off she was excited to return to school for a master’s degree. When I asked Rebecca what aspect of QU’s ICM program intrigued her to apply she explained the ability to build her own learning path within the offered courses. In efforts to dig deeper into her decision to become a Quinnipiac student I asked “What made you comfortable applying to QU’s online program?”, which helped me identify a few issues about becoming and being a remote student.

Define

Rebecca was comfortable applying to Quinnipiac’s online program because in comparison to her undergrad online learning where professors were learning to teach online, Quinnipiac professors are experienced and evidently prepared for change.

The Problem: Applying to a online program is a challenge for prospective students because of the stigmas around remote learning.

How Might We: ensure applicants are aware that remote learning can be a personal and structured experience?

Ideate

In researching the ways other universities market their online programs through YouTube channels with videos focused on addressing myths about online learning and meeting staff members. Quinnipiac University can improve their own graduate Youtube channel with similar content.

Additionally Quinnipiac University has increased the amount of student based social media content with reels, which could be more inclusive toward remote learners.

With this research I created three concept sketches, as shown below.

1. Content Ideas : Having remote students create horizontal and vertical videos that connect students together. Specific ideas include day in the lives, course related Q&As,
2. Initial Concerns Form: When perspective students are looking at the Quinnipiac programs page there is a “Request Info” button which sends program advisors the students contact information. I suggest that when the program advisor reaches out they also send a form with initial concerns and questions they have.
3. Connecting w Others: This idea is an additional aspect of idea two. The information advisors get from the forms can be used to connect perspective students with current students of similar backgrounds and lifestyles. These meetings can be done over zoom for those who do not live close to one another or can be in person.

When I presented my solutions to Rebecca, she explained that “I like the idea of boosting QU’s Instagram with remote learning coverage. Right now, I see a lot of students having fun on campus, and it’s a bit isolating! I like this idea most because it seems like the least “out-of-way” for students to access. Day in the life videos, virtual student interviews, and capstone students giving advice to first-semester students would’ve been awesome to see when I was looking at schools.”

Decide

After receiving this feedback I decided to focus on making ICM applicants and current students feel they are still part of the QU community even if they are not on campus.

Prototype

To see more, I have included the link to my full Design Thinking project here: