Struggles with time management and organization have impeded student success since the first colleges opened their doors. This year, UNC Greensboro tackled the age-old problem with a technological solution.
In an unprecedented move, UNCG’s New Student Transitions and First Year Experience (NST&FYE) staff approached Microsoft to explore the possibility of developing a digital planner for Spartan first-year students. Although customizing SharePoint pages is a common request from Microsoft’s business partners, this is the first digital planner developed specifically for first-year college students.
“UNCG is the first to use SharePoint in this way—as a tool for student planning and personal organization,” says Maggie Nichols, assistant director of New Student Transitions (NST). “While the web components themselves already existed, no other institution has structured and leveraged them quite like we have. The planner was built collaboratively with campus partners to create something uniquely student-centered.”
From Paper to Platform
For years, UNCG has provided first-year students with a printed planner to keep them organized with class deadlines, registration dates, and tips for helpful campus resources. Over time, the Your First Year team realized that the tool had its limitations. As a printed planner, information in it had to be finalized months in advance and couldn’t be updated. Furthermore, students would often set it aside and forget to use it.
“We needed the planner to be more accessible and dynamic,” says Kim Sousa Peoples, Ph.D., senior director of First Year Student Engagement and Experience. “We imagined a digital version which students could use wherever they are, with clickable links to resources and a calendar that can be updated so they wouldn’t miss payment dates or class withdrawal deadlines.”
Sousa Peoples approached Timothy Lynch with her vision. Lynch is an organizational change management architect with Planet Technologies, a Microsoft partner.
“Because UNCG has been steadily building on Microsoft 365, we looked at how we could use the tools we already had to create something new,” says Lynch. “SharePoint allowed for centralized content, Outlook calendars stored events, and Planner, Loop, and mobile apps allowed for integrations.”
Lynch explains that the result is a digital planner that lives inside the Microsoft 365 environment students already use for email, classes, and collaboration. It works across desktop and mobile: “Whether students are in class, their residence halls, or on the go, information is right at their fingertips.”
Go Digital or Go Home
The first-year digital planner is clearly a great example of how UNCG departments like New Student Transitions go the extra mile for student success, but switching to digital also contributes to the University’s commitment to sustainability and decreases printing expenses.
These benefits are worthy of the work the teams invested in developing and testing the new digital planner.
“Microsoft was a great partner for this project,” says Nichols. “We were able to take advantage of software packages that the University had already invested in and create a tool for students that doesn’t exist anywhere else.”
“As one of the first universities to take this kind of integrative approach, UNCG is using Microsoft 365 not just for productivity, but as a student-success platform,” said Lynch. “The digital planner meets students where they are and gives them a flexible tool to organize their time, stay connected, and make the most of their first year.”
Story by Becky Deakins, University Communications.
Photography by Sean Norona, University Communications.
