contact north | contact nord - the portal - help us help your students
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THE PORTAL – HELP US HELP YOUR STUDENTScollege, university & literacy programs & courses right where you live!
About Contact North
We are your recruitment and support team in small, rural and remote areas
1986 Non-profit organization 112 staffed online learning centres in small, rural
and remote areas, Aboriginal and Francophone communities
Support services to colleges, universities and literacy and basic skills providers
There are 112 online learning centres across Ontario supporting small, rural and remote areas and Aboriginal and Francophone communities.
Where we are
What we do locally
At each online learning centre, students and prospective students can: Meet with a Coordinator Obtain information on available
programs and courses; Get assistance with the registration
process; Get technical support throughout the
course; Obtain support and encouragement
from staff and peers as they pursue their course.
The Contact North | Contact Nord Portal
The Contact North | Contact Nord Portal
Key features: 1,097 program options 19,579 online course options Includes OL courses and non-OL college online courses Keyword search and search refinement since 2008 Context: Getting Started, Find a Career, Student
Services, Success Stories Direct links to institutions on search results pages One-stop shop for online learning in Ontario
Portal Analytics
Current Contact North Analytics: Unique Visitors – Apr/10 to Mar/11: 43,754 Unique Visitors – Apr/11 to Mar/12: 102,268 133.73% Growth The Search Tool is the page (www.studyonline.ca) that is
most frequently accessed by visitors 92% of visitors accessing the Student Portal website
use the search tool
Benefits for your College and OL
Increased reach in other/rural parts of the province (and to a lesser extent in other jurisdictions)
Link-outs to your eLearning/Distance education or program pages from interested individuals (registration referrals/leads)
Projected growth in unique visitors in the coming year due to promotional efforts including 750,000 course guides distributed in 112 communities
More timely information to more prospective students can lead to increased registrations
Current Status
Data Transfer: 2 automated XML feeds (Algonquin, Lambton) 8 semester based Excel (csv) uploads (Cambrian,
Collège Boréal, Conestoga, La Cité collégiale, Loyalist, Mohawk, Niagara, Sault)
14 colleges: manual data entry is still used (not effective nor efficient)
Automated Data Transfer Benefits
Benefits to colleges: Increased accuracy of course and program data Timely access to information by Portal visitors Link-out reports coming this fall There is work involved to get started, then once
automated there is less work than there is now for everyone involved, and better value for prospective students
Our Proposal
To each college: Join the Data Transfer Initiative Fall 2011 Student Usability study: students need timely
and accurate information on Ontario publicly-assisted online study options to make an informed decision
Begin by uploading Excel files containing course and program data each semester (starting in June)
Begin planning for an XML data feed for maximum timeliness and accuracy (live in 2012)
Let’s meet: [email protected]
thank you