Office of International Education and Development (OIED) Communication Audit By Megan Emerson, Kenzie McKeon, and Brittany Benton

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This audit researches and examines the connectivity between the Office of International Education and Development and Appalachian State University students and faculty. Within OIED are five programmatic departments: Appalachian Overseas Education Programs (AOEP), International Outreach (IO), International Research and Development (IRD), International Student Exchange and Study Abroad (ISESA) and International Students and Scholar Services (ISSS). This audit examines each department of OIED and the communication tools used to communicate its mission and expand student/faculty participation. This report outlines the current communication tactics implemented by the Office of International Education Development and why they are/are not working, as well as recommendations for how to improve the communication between the programmatic departments of the Office of International Education and Development and the students/faculty. The introduction discusses the mission of the Office of International Education and Development, and the specific activities and communication tactics used to accomplish it. To reinforce its mission, the Office of International Education and Development is dedicated to sponsoring International Coffee Hour at least twice per month, taking part in sponsoring the annual Diversity Celebration, and updating the News section of their website regularly. To ensure connectivity between students/faculty and the Office of International Education and Development, easy navigation to the links of all programmatic departments is provided on the website. In addition, four out of the five departments have a Facebook page to ensure student/ faculty interaction. The data found for this audit were gathered primarily from the Office of International Education and Developments website (international.appstate.edu). Within this website includes specific links unique to each of the five programmatic departments; to feasibly find information within each department, more links are provided to show other specific information about the department after navigating to the departments link. The use of a general brochure about the Office of International Education and Development and social media platforms gave insight to the office as well. The report will show a strengthening in communicating to the target audience (mostly students and faculty) by utilizing what is most useful to this audience-social media. For example, the study abroad programs, ISESA and AOEP, show an obvious growth in the communication outreach to Appalachian State students and faculty. Both departments have Facebook and Twitter accounts to enhance the quality and speed of communication. Facebook and Twitter are becoming

increasingly popular sources of news and information for many people in this cyber-active/involved age, so this incorporation of social media is an excellent communication tool in expanding student and faculty participation in these departments. There are some disconnections between each department within the Office of International Education and Development with their different student outreach opportunities. However, each department, and the office, has their strengths that allow them to succeed as an individual programmatic department versus as an office. Overall, there is definite potential in engaging students to interact and participate with the Office of International Education and Development. There are good tactics that have been implemented with the social media in place, they simply need to be maintained and updated regularly in order to consistently engage students/faculty. The Office of International Education and Development mission of internationalization is definitely prevalent and active across campus with the sponsorship of International Coffee Hour and the Diversity Celebration.

II. INTRODUCTION Appalachian State Universitys Office of International Educatio n and Development is located in the Plemmons Student Union office suite 321. The OIED mission stated on its website is to develop awareness, knowledge, appreciation, and respect of cultural differences in both domestic and international contexts in its students, faculty, staff and the surrounding communities. The University is also dedicated to creating a campus environment that builds the theoretical and practical skills needed to interact effectively in a global society. The level of involvement and participation is active on campus; however, there is not enough interaction off-campus through the social media sites. With the main focus of the Office of International Education and Development being to expand student and faculty participation, along with better communication, there have been certain tactics implemented to further enhance the connectivity with students/faculty. What exactly has OIED done to further its connectivity and encourage participation? Above all forms of communication efforts, information is accessible and well-organized on the OIED website. Various activities sponsored by OIED demonstrate the commitment to reaching out to the targeted audience in order to promote and encourage globalization. 1 There are seven scholarship opportunities available to students to aid in the affordability of studying abroad. These scholarships are posted via OIEDs website with accessible, easy to understand information and instruction on how to apply to these scholarships. 2 OIED partly sponsors the annual Diversity Celebration.

3 ISSS (one programmatic department) sponsors INTAPP, which stays active on campus with various activities, such as The Coffee Buzz 5k. 4 OIED offers an easy-to-navigate website providing various links on how to apply to the study abroad programs, how to find loans or scholarships to afford studying abroad, and various events and activities.

III. METHODOLOGY/AUDIT DIARY The approach to the audit was very straightforward. Collected information throughout the analysis is as follows: Quality Enhancement Plan Website (http://qep.appstate.edu/): This website introduces a Quality Enhancement Plan, a requirement for the affirmation of accreditation process that Appalachian State is undergoing. The QEP addresses a well-defined topic related to improving student learning, which Appalachian State has chosen Global Learning: A World of Opportunities for Appalachian State. The five-year plan emphasizes strengthened international activities offered at both home and abroad and earlier in a students college career. International Education and Development Page (international.appstate.edu): This is the primary source of information for the five programmatic departments at Appalachian State University. Within the page are subheads to the departments and links within those subheads to information specific to the program department. All programs emphasize the dedication to the internationalization to students/faculty, though mostly focused on students. The OIED office also integrates news stories from The Appalachian, the student newspaper on campus, and Appalachian Today, the alumni magazine, that has international stories on the main page. Offices General Brochure: This brochure briefly outlines the different program departments -- Appalachian Overseas Education Programs (AOEP), International Student Exchange and Study Abroad (ISESA), International Outreach (IO), International Research and Development (IRD) and International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS). It provides various ways to contact this department via staff contacts and website. Exchange and Study Abroad (ISESA) Page: This webpage is the source of all information for ISESA. It includes the mission statement, which is closely related to the overall mission statement of OIED. The page includes links to sign up for info and advising sessions, research available programs, steps to take (basically a how to section), tuition and costs, school credit hour information, and contact information. ISESA has three different social media platforms that is specific to the program. ISESA integrates Facebook, Twitter, and a blog platform to reach students to inform them of future ISESA information dates.

Appalachian Overseas Education Programs (AOEP) Page: This page is the source of all information for AOEP. The webpage includes a summary of the benefits for students from studying abroad, the mission statement of AOEP (closely related to the mission statement of OIED), the programs offered, a How to apply section, the tuition and program costs, and resources for faculty and students. Contact information is also available on this page. AOEPs new social media platforms are available for students to connect to the department to find information on programs and connections to campaigns, such as the Where in the World is Yosef? campaign that had students and faculty submit photos of the groups with a Yosef doll while on the different spring break trips. International Outreach (IO): The International Outreach department contains four different programs involving service and outreach to new international students. The department reaches not only Appalachian students, but also local community schools to connect international students to Watauga County students with the use of AS-U-Go speakers. The International Outreach department allows international students to be connected to Appalachian State students through the iPals program. Another program that the International Outreach department works with is the International Coffee Hour that is held in Whitewater Cafe in Plemmons Student Union every first and third Wednesday from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. International Research and Development (IRD): According to the International Research and Development Department page, the department works to strengthen the internationalization of Appalachian State through contributions to education, research and development across the globe. IRD works with different international partners (i.e. international universities). IRD and OIED work with these partners to create ways for Appalachian professors to participate in an exchange to learn ways to infuse global issues into the courses that they teach and to integrate study abroad into the curriculum at Appalachian State. The department strives to engage Appalachian faculty into bridging the gap between the theory and practice of international development. International Students and Scholar Services (ISSS): The International Students and Scholar Services program within OIED interacts solely with Appalachians international students and scholars. This program is available to help international students with various plans, such as setting up their visa processing and immigration regulation compliance, health insurance, taxation, travel planning and housing. The program also connects international students to a host family or an individual through the International Friendship Program. This program allows international students to have a contact in the U.S. to help with the transition from their homeland to the U.S. and Appalachian State University. The International Students and Scholars Services program also conducts a five day International Student Orientation that is mandatory for all international students.

Office Staff/General Interactions: These meetings were focused on gathering specific information with the Appalachian Overseas Education Programs department to learn more about what they wanted students to know about the office. They were also to teach Appalachian Overseas Education Program director and assistant director about the Facebook and Twitter platforms so they could send information out to students more effectively.

IV. RESULTS Observations: Although the mission of OIED is very prevalent and closely tied to all five program departments, there is some inconsistency in the level of communication effort and outreach to students/faculty. The communication efforts are imbalanced among all five of the programmatic departments; while all program departments provide unique missions and opportunities, all are equally important in providing internationalization to students and faculty. Brochure: Although the brochure does outline OIED and the various programs within, it falls short of success in terms of design. Even if a brochure is created, will someone actually pick it up and read it? It must draw attention to students or faculty in order for the information to be exposed. The basic design of the brochure is bland and disorganized. In addition to quality, the accessibility of the brochure was limited; only located in their office. The brochure does inform about OIED, however, it would be more beneficial, in terms of a way to communicate, to create a more effective brochure. A better brochure will provide recognition towards this department and all it has to offer. Social Media: OIED Facebook and Twitter accounts have been activated to enhance the quality and speed of communication; however, these mediums are not engaging students/faculty to become active within the office. Social media is all the rage, but the content on the accounts are not initiating enough outreach between the departments and students/faculty. With such a powerful effect on students, the Facebook and Twitter accounts need to take advantage of the power and provide more information on what to do to get involved, or create an event introducing these new additions. Additionally, although four out of the five programmatic departments have a Facebook page to interact and communicate with the students/faculty, these pages lack frequent updates to keep everyone engaged. This inconsistent engagement may come across as a lack of interest in maintaining an outside relationship with the students/faculty, and they may not care to visit the Facebook pages as a source of information since they do not provide up-to-date information. These pages are not very useful if they do not provide a means of updated communication. OIED website: The OIED website has so much collective information just on the main page that it could possibly overwhelm the viewer at their first look. When

looking at the website, the body copy is centered to the middle of the page while videos and news release line the outside of the page. The three videos on the main page were recently made to highlight Appalachian States global learning initiatives, but they are not front and center to draw attention. The news releases that are focused on the main page are also not in order from new to latest, but are ordered in the opposite direction. A viewer is not going to spend time reading every piece of information presented on the main page, but they are going to look for key words to find a place to go to for more information.

ISESA Blog Connection: ISESA created a blog interface that is updated from participating student blogs. When you go to a specific blog it takes you to a profile of that student and what they have posted. Each profile has photos that chronicle that specific students time in the visited country as well as his/her excerpts from the blog post. The student blogs are from outside sources such as wordpress.com and blogspot.com. Office Staff/General Interactions: Overall, the interactions between the department and PR interns were beneficial. The meetings focused on ideas and concepts revolving social media outlets and how AOEP can reach out to more Appalachian State students and faculty. The final meetings focused on the application of the newly created Facebook and Twitter accounts for AOEP, developing Facebook updates and tweets. Throughout the meetings, there were various problems observed regarding the departments internal organization. For example, a scheduled meeting was delayed approximately forty-five minutes due to the lack of effective communication between the front desk and appropriate directors of AOEP. In addition to internal organization problems, the atmosphere within the department was hectic, due to the lack of available staff. V. LIMITATIONS The limitations of the analysis rely heavily on the time allowance to complete the full audit. The OIED website and information has many different outlets to find information at and it takes a lot of time to fully go through each piece to find possible problems and successes. A better audit would have each department conduct an audit separately to address issues compared that only allows an observer to address so many issues, or successes. Another limitation is who is conducting the audit; working with the AOEP department gives somewhat of a bias perspective to the department compared to that of the rest of the OIED departments when working on the communication audit. VI. RECOMMENDATIONS
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The primary goal for ISESA, AOEP, ISSS, and OIED, in general, is to update their means of communication with Appalachian State students and faculty, in order to engage more peoples interest toward international involvement. Public Relations interns created new mediums, Facebook and Twitter, but

social media is only one aspect of communication. In addition to updating the content on the social media platforms, the brochures, flyers, emails or events regarding this department must be updated to current social expectations.
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Since there were internal organizational issues within the office, a suggestion would be to hire interns for specific department needs. It would provide students with real-world experience, while enhancing the productivity of the department by alleviating extra work off of official staff members. Building a program where alumni can stay involved with OIED could help to encourage currently enrolled students to study abroad after seeing the many positive outcomes from the real-world experiences of alumni. The departments brochure does include important information, however the content is outdated. The design of the brochure has low readability, due to basic design issues. If the brochure is designed with better elements, the brochure can be an effective tool to expose OIED. The lack of publication designs, such as current photos, for OIED limits the connection between department and students/faculty. There is an official brochure for the department but it does not benefit the department. An immediate action is necessary to create new, age-appropriate and updated publications for the office to increase awareness of the department.