Research Outcomes

Beacon Project Implementation: In Fall ‘22, a cross-functional team (including Information Technology, University Relations and Public Programs, Enrollment Management, Student Affairs, Usability Lab, and more) was established to prototype ways to deliver information to students that they need, when they need it. Throughout 2023, the team is working to further test and bring some of the prioritized features to life:  building a more dynamic, filterable map of NYU locations, and sharing key administrative dates and events on students’ calendars. 

NYU Self Study: The design research and journey map are being included to help communicate the student experience at NYU, as part of NYU's comprehensive Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) self study for institutional accreditation.

New Ways of Working: In addition to devising ways to make NYU more navigable for students, this project also provided the opportunity to redefine our own internal working relationships.  The core project team worked together to develop and commit to some defining characteristics for shared problem-solving efforts that are essential for these cross-collaborative efforts.

Helping Student Navigate NYU: When registering for courses/viewing class schedules, only building codes used to be available to students in Albert– so students had to search for the codes to find the numbered building location, then paste the numbered address into google maps to find their class. After a thorough data review, updated full address details have been added to Albert, so students no longer need to go searching for building codes. The NYU Campus Map and Google Map markers have also been updated to ensure consistency across systems. 

Key Dates and Deadlines for New Students:  To help set students up for success before they arrive on campus, NYU is prototyping a new way for incoming students to keep track of their most important administrative tasks, dates and deadlines. An interactive checklist will be available through NYU Connect for newly admit students starting in the Spring '23 semester.  

Student-facing website redesign: As one student put it, “Navigating university resources can be a scavenger hunt.” Using design principles, a cross-functional team (Student Affairs, Enrollment Management, Digital Communications, Usability Lab) co-designed the main landing page for students, which receives 170,00+ page views per year. The team compiled site analytics, identified content owners, and designed simpler starting points to access services and resources. Students and stakeholders were engaged throughout, from the wireframe stage to usability testing the prototype.

NYU Welcome planning for first year students (Student Affairs): Grounded in the design principles of “subtract to simplify” and “separate the essential from the extra,” the Welcome team has worked with counterparts across the University to focus programming on helping students find connections and navigate the city and basic University resources. Programming focused on concerns and opportunities that might arise later in the semester has been moved to October and November in fall and March and April in spring. The team is also working with Wellness to co-design an updated Presidential Welcome and Reality Show with students that centers the top concerns they express and to ensure they feel that we “get them.” 

Sophomore Experience (Student Affairs): Students noted that after the activities in their first semester, they felt a reduction in support from the University to help them connect with one another and navigate resources. They remarked that it seemed like the University thinks they ought to know everything by their second year when in reality they feel they know very little. After a successful pilot in September 2022, we are co-designing a Year 2 @ NYU series that will support students in developing their own compass and help them answer “what now”?

Student Success case management model:  An insight from the journey mapping research was that one caring ally can make or break a first-year experience, but not every student has one. Students often felt like they were being handed off between specialized support. Leveraging these insights, Student Success redesigned their student outreach and support functions to act as a central contact who can focus on helping students in key moments of transition and systemically coordinate support across multiple campus resources. 

Post-yield student communications:  Students shared that with such high expectations of what NYU will be like, a student’s first setback can make them feel like a failure. University partners (EM Marketing and Communications, Student Affairs, and Student Success) have formed an action learning group to coordinate and align on prospective and new student communications.  The goal is to coordinate messaging to help set realistic expectations and ensure all students have a foundation of information and support when they first arrive.

IT annual project planning process: Students shared that systems built for scale can often make interactions feel transactional.  The Information Technology team is exploring shared systems to support ways for students to interact with the institution in ways that feel catered to them, despite the size and decentralized nature of NYU. 

Student affairs strategic plan: Insights from the student journey mapping research are well aligned with Student Affairs’ strategic plan, which was developed based on an extensive listening process with students and other stakeholders throughout AY ‘22. The plan defines values - holistic approach, empathy, inclusion, authenticity, and growth - that support the design principles. The plan also defines “navigation and access” as one of six strategic priorities and includes strategies and milestones that reinforce our collaboration with Enrollment Management on the Student Design Initiative. 

"Ideal Mentor" voice and tone guide: We communicate with students for many reasons, so our voice needs to be flexible, striking the right tone for each occasion. 

Building off of the journey mapping research and design principles, university partners (including University Relations and Public Programs, Enrollment Management, Finance, and others) came together to develop an "Ideal Mentor" personality, voice and tone guide for communicating with students.

Email toolkits: Students shared that messages should include not just the what, but also the “why” and the “so what”.  Working in collaboration with key NYU communicators, University Relations and Public Programs designed new Email Direct templates using the "ideal mentor" voice and tone guide, with personalized content and clear calls to action for what students can do next to address or resolve their issue.

Shared visual assets for communicating with students:  A shared suite of graphic assets was developed based on key needs as identified by students and department communicators, including NYU photography curated for use in student-facing email communications, and a library of pre-sized NYU icons.  The broad goal was to create a consistent visual identity and smoother experience for NYU students.

Academic Calendar:  Based on student feedback, the NYU Registrar's office published and shared a one-click link for students to add key academic calendar dates to their personal calendars. 

Student Design Fellows Program:  A recommendation from the student research was to incorporate more student voice into outreach and communications.  In Fall ‘22, Enrollment Management established a new cohort of undergraduate students who are using design thinking to develop solutions, communications, and content to support the student experience. 

Blueprinting bill payment communications and services: In an effort to reduce the mental labor of navigating NYU’s resources and services, the offices of Financial Aid, Bursar, StudentLink, Student Affairs, and EM Marketing and Communications worked together to help first year undergraduate students and families understand and pay their bill, and provide clear guidance on how to get support.