Higher Ed TV

In higher education, we don’t like to talk about money, especially about how much students have to pay to get an education.

Until recently some institutions didn’t even want to display a clear price tag on their offerings (to avoid sticker shock?), and made prospective students and their parents chase the information about costs on their website after a real treasure web hunt.

Things are changing though - because of the economic situation, but not only - as more and more university websites now feature cost and financial aid calculators demanded by students and their parents.

While most non-profit institutions don’t like money talks (unless it’s to get or report big donors’ gifts ;-), it’s a talk more and more of their target audiences want to have.

Well, Dartmouth College has chosen to have this talk in 2 minutes and 21 seconds with a video about its “wacky” business model (via Karlyn who works there).

And, let me tell you this is brilliant and very well done, so drop everything else and just watch this video to find out how to justify the cost of an Ivy League education in those tough financial times.

Like it? Hate it? Tell us what you think by posting a comment!

It looks like the wait is finally over: YouTube just launched yesterday its new channel dedicated to videos produced by higher ed institutions and finally came up with a clear way to apply to get the education partner status.

And, you can thank YouTube employees if you know any, because this baby is the results of their work as explained in this paragraph in yesterday’s release notes published on YouTube’s blog:

Do You EDU? Educational Hub Launches: Using YouTube as a vehicle to democratize learning is one of the coolest, unintended outcomes of its existence. YouTube EDU is a volunteer project sparked by a group of employees who wanted to find a better way to collect and highlight all the great educational content being uploaded to YouTube by colleges and universities.

I’ve been writing about this topic for sometimes, providing some tips for your YouTube videos or suggesting last summer among others the non-profit status workaround, so I was really excited when I found out about YouTube EDU, its new portal aggregating content from colleges and universities (via @nancypricer on Twitter).

Beyond showcasing the most viewed videos produced by higher ed institutions as well as the most subscribed channels, YouTube EDU also offers to its visitors what seems to be a comprehensive directory of its college and university partners along with a dedicated search engine.

So. how do you get your YouTube channel on YouTube EDU if you’re not there yet?

Very easily.
Follow these steps and tips

• Just fill out this online form requesting your YouTube username and some basic contact information.
  
• Make sure you just do a single application per institution (YouTube advises offices, departments and other entities to seek guidance from Public Affairs or Academic Technology)
• Use your institutional email account in the application
• Be patient as the new partners will be included on a periodic basis as specified in the introduction of the form.
• For now, YouTube will only consider applications from “qualifying two- and four-year degree granting public and private colleges and universities.”

I’d love to figure out how long the average wait is going to be.

So, please post a comment including the date of your application submission and come back to tell us when you’re finally added.

I have no clue when this new feature was implemented by YouTube, but it’s now possible to embed a YouTube channel on any web page, but just grabbing a piece of code (as you would with any YouTube videos or playlists).

Here’s a quick visual demo of the 2 steps using Duke University’s YouTube channel as an example:

Step #1: Locate and grab the “embed this channel” code

Step #2: Paste the code on your web page (or blog post) and here’s the result:

Don’t know if you got a chance to read “Getting Consumers to Spend $150,000 With a Viral Effort,” this article published Monday in Advertising Age, but I’m pretty sure we would all love to have our institution featured in such a positive way in any media outlet (minus the price tag in the headline, maybe, in these difficult economic times):

I’m not in the market yet. But the other day, my 12-year-old, Morry, showed me this funny video clip he’d seen on one of the free online games he plays. (Yes, we’re cheap and we’re raising cheap kids.) It showed a really rotten rapper singing the praises of his college, Roanoke, and getting rejected at mascot tryouts. Morry clicked on another clip, this one of a redneck also trying out. Rejected. A streaker? Rejected. A goth girl? Rejected. Every possible stereotype had a 30-second audition in front of a weary, bemused panel of judges à la “American Idol,” and they all failed delightfully.

“Roanoke College,” mused Morry. “I’m thinking of going there. Or M.I.T.”

As this was our first college conversation, I had to find out more about this campy campaign.

A quick look at Roanoke College’s channel on Youtube shows that these videos did have some real traction with their target audiences — including the rapper video the Advertising Age journalist’s son loved so much with close to 70,000 views at the time of this writing (although this success might be explained by the ads the college bought on an online gaming website as reported in the article).

Roanoke College used a very interesting tactics that you might want to steal for your next viral video campaign. They posted some of these videos as replies to other popular high traffic YouTube videos, piggybacking on their success.

If you’d like to view all the videos, I’ve compiled a nice playlist of the 11 videos for your convenience.

The whole campaign is supported by a dedicated website to engage even further high school seniors: Classic College.

What do you think? Have your institution launched something similar?

I’m currently working on my next column for University Business to be published in February 2009. This article will present 10 very practical tips to do more (or as well) with less (budget, people, time, etc), which explains why my main focus lately has been on the economic downturn and its consequences for higher education.

Even though economic crises can usually translate into positive outcomes (increased enrollment with many laid-off workers going back to college to upgrade their skill set), I have serious doubts about it in this specific case.

Didn’t the whole thing started with a financing meltdown?

The New York Times seems to agree with me today (not personally, but still) on this point in an article about a recently released report, article published today on its website: “College May Become Unaffordable for Most in U.S.”

The rising cost of college — even before the recession — threatens to put higher education out of reach for most Americans, according to the annual report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

Over all, the report found, published college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, adjusted for inflation, while median family income rose 147 percent. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade, and students from lower-income families, on average, get smaller grants from the colleges they attend than students from more affluent families.

Anyway, I’m sure you’ve all started to feel the pinch that is going to spread to our profession and industry. But, I’m wondering if you’ve already been asked to work on a similar type of the crisis communication website I stumbled upon this morning: Wesleyan’s “Securing The Future” website.

In the last update dated November 25, 2008 of this website launched in October, Wesleyan President Michael Roth even went on camera - in a short online video - to share an update about the current situation of the college budget and finances.

The website includes updates by the president, frequently asked questions and links to several posts Roth wrote about the topic on his blog, Roth on Wesleyan.

Have your top executives started to use the Web to communicate on this tough topic as well?
Do you think this is a good idea? Tell us by posting a comment.

I wrote about UF previous campaigns and videos in the past.

So, when Joe Hice, AVP for Public Relations and Marketing at the University of Florida, emailed me about their new Gator Nation ad campaign earlier this week, it didn’t take me long to check it out.

The TV spot (that I can’t show you yet unfortunately - but I will update the post as soon as it’s possible) will debut this Friday at Gator Growl and during halftime of the Florida vs. Georgia game on Nov. 1.

What I found really interesting in this new campaign is the fact that it has a user-generated component relaying the main theme of the TV sport “Remember when you became a Gator.”

On its companion website, InsidetheGatorNation.com, all the Gators (UF students and alums) are invited to share their own Gator story on camera by uploading and tagging it on YouTube.

When I check yesterday, several dozens of videos were already available and had been uploaded by a few YouTube users, so I asked Joe more about it.

We did a “soft launch” of the Remember When concept about two weeks ago. Working with our student PR agency — Alpha Productions — we’ve been out collecting Remember When stories from a variety of people. I think we have more than 80 videos posted and just as many written stories.

Here’s a my selection of some of those stories available on YouTube:

Tonight at the Gator Growl event, UF will also be introducing its mobile Remember When video booth as Joe explained in his email:

The mobile booth is a 30-foot box van with Plexiglas sides and back panels. We’ve created a bright orange and blue billboard-type ad for each side and the back and we invite people to come in and tell us their Remember When stories. The video studio is actually set up right inside the van. Pretty cool stuff. When we’re not using the van for video, it will be cruising the area with our billboards.

Go Gators!

If you’ve read my last UB column — “It’s the Community, Stupid!” — you know my take on how to develop thriving online communities and how important it is to empower what I called “super users,” your most engaged community members.

Here’s a real-life example of what this type of members can do for your brand.

Nick DeNardis, Assistant Director of Web Communications at Wayne University, has been a dedicated member of eduStyle, the higher ed web gallery managed by Stewart Foss, where he rated a lot of websites.

A couple of weeks ago, Nick decided to share his passion for eduStyle and the whole rating experience on camera by reviewing 3 websites he picked from the gallery.

In this video, eduStyle is featured front and center. After I watched Nick’s first video, I asked Stewart if he had suggested the idea to his community member. Stewart didn’t, which shows how passionate community members/users can push your brand further.

Beyond this point about communities, you should check out Nick’s videos (3 episodes as of today) now available on his brand new website, EDU Checkup. They provide a quick review of websites from different institutions.

Kind of 5-minute web audits. Interesting.

No, it’s not another episode of the famous kid show Blue’s Clues, but it could be.

Butler Blue 2 is the official and furry mascot of Butler University (as all you sports fans probably know)

According to Blue’s blog (yeah, I know, dog blogs aren’t that common, but this puppy even got a greater-than-life statue on campus and his own YouTube channel), the mascot costumes used during games have been missing (or should I say stolen?)

With the help of his personal videographer/videoeditor, Brad Ward, this smart bulldog has decided to use the power of social media to find the costumes with this 5-minute video (already viewed 203 times as I’m writing this post).

I found the video a bit too long, but it could be because I’m not a bulldog-person.

However, I really like the whole idea behind this video. It’s funny, engaging and based on a true story.

There could be a whole series behind this whodunnit story. Since Blue will be replacing his missing sidekicks at the games until the costumes are back one way or another, some folks might wonder who’s benefiting from this crime.

Any idea, Blue?

UPDATE: Phlash, UWGB’s own Mascot has decided to help Blue as shown in this video:

The inauguration of John Maeda the 16th president of Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) will take place this Friday.

Why do I think he is the kind of presidents we have all been dreaming of?

• First, just look at his inauguration online guest book, created for the campus community to add their thoughts, best wishes, or dreams for RISD. These entries will be projected on the façade of RISD’s Chace Center Friday night.
• Maeda also blogs, like a real blogger - which is a nice departure from most president blogs, no offense intended to the former - on a group blog called Our (and Your) RISD.
  

  Our (and Your) RISD

• RISD’s new president has also a fresh take on the traditional president video message. You can find it at the top of his president web page.

  

Want to read more about Maeda? Check out “Design for Learning: RISD Gets a New Type of President,” a recent article about him published by the Wall Street Journal (via the Kept-Up Academic Librarian)

So, how technology-friendly is your university/college president?
Are there other Maeda-like presidents out there?

Please share with us all by posting a comment.

Up until today, the best way to get a branded university YouTube channel was still a mystery for many (including yours truly).

Since a few months several institutions (Duke University, UC Berkeley, Vanderbilt, among others) have rolled out branded YouTube channel without the ads displayed on the regular YouTube accounts.

However, there were no clear guidelines made publicly available to the higher ed community (at least none that I had heard of despite my strong interest in the topic)

So, when the questions was asked… and answered by James VanDyke from SMU Integrated Marketing earlier this week on the uweb-d listserv, I was really excited (yes, I know it doesn’t take much lately ;-):

Applying and being accepted to YouTube’s non-profit program gives you the additional branding options.

Here is the address to apply:
http://youtube.com/nonprofits

Here is SMU’s YouTube Channel:
http://youtube.com/SMUVideo

After reading his reply to the list, I sent a note to James to ask a few more questions about the whole process.

1) How long did it take to get a a reply from YouTube?
It took 3-5 days for a reply. I’m guessing that a real person reviews each application. People who are interested should create a normal account first and then apply for the non-profit.

2) What did it take to get your channel running?

Getting the channel running was much like getting a normal YouTube Channel running with a few more options. We created a banner image and customized the layout of the page somewhat. You can upload image map code for you banner like USC has done for their page.

3) Did you sign a contract? Did you have to go through a special process?

We didn’t sign any special contracts. You just have to agree to the basic Terms and Conditions.

So, what are the requirements to apply to the YouTube Non-Profit program?

Organizations applying for the Nonprofit program must meet the following criteria.

* Must be a U.S.-based nonprofit with IRS 501(c)(3) tax status
* May not be religious or political in nature
* May not be focused primarily on lobbying for political or policy change
* Commercial organizations, credit-counseling services, donation middleman services, fee-based organizations, and nonprofit portals are not eligible for the program

If your institution fits this profile, you should definitely submit an application to get rid off the ads. It might not be the higher ed program per se, but it’s the next best thing.

And, if any of you is aware of the process to join the “real” higher ed program of YouTube, please share the secret with us by posting a comment.