The Move to Mobile
CURRENTS Article It’s clear that students, not to mention higher education’s other audiences, are in the mobile space. So now what? This article explores how colleges and universities are forging ahead with mobile strategies and learning from one another.

Upending a Negative
CURRENTS Article Brock University in Canada got creative with a student recruitment video that confronts head-on a longstanding saying about the institution and realized benefits in terms of goodwill and increased applications.

Virtually Yours
CURRENTS Article A new survey reveals what works and what doesn't when creating a virtual tour. Find out the do's and don'ts in this new way of marketing to potential students.

Advance Work: Stealthy Students
CURRENTS Article A recent survey shows that high school students are checking out colleges at ever-younger ages.

Advance Work: Virtual Security Blanket
CURRENTS Article Eckerd College launched an online community to help incoming students get to know each other--and the college--before they arrive on campus. Eckerd was looking for an inexpensive way to reach out to admitted students and reduce the number who send in a deposit but don’t end up attending the institution.

Advance Work: The Future's in the Palm of Their Hands
CURRENTS Article To show that it understands how today's students like to get their news and information, Fitchburg State College is using podcast technology to send its acceptance letters. But mom and dad can still expect to receive the old-fashioned paper version in the mail.

The Real World
CURRENTS Article Blogs began as something quite different than what they are now, and although they’ve lost some of their grassroots quality as more mainstream outlets embrace them, they are becoming a vital communications tool. They enable organizations of all kinds--including education institutions--to reach out to constituents in a simple and direct way. And as institutions continue to fine tune their marketing efforts, blogs can become an important and effective communications tool, particularly for student recruitment. This article explores important issues for campus communications professionals to consider, including the pros and cons of blogging, authenticity, and control.

AdvanceWork: Baltimore Ravings
CURRENTS Article BaltimoreCollegetown.org, a CASE 2004 Circle of Excellence award winner, helps Baltimore-area college students acclimate to their new surroundings. The site features an events calendar and dining, shopping, and entertainment recommendations. Some of the 15 participating campuses also use it as a recruiting tool.

AdvanceWork: Seeing Is Believing
CURRENTS Article Today’s college-bound students are more inclined to read unsolicited e-mails from colleges and universities if those messages are personalized, according to Stamats’ recent “2004 TeensTalk Study.” Among the findings: One-third of college-bound students read all unsolicited e-mails from colleges and universities; another third read the “from” and “subject” lines to see if they are interested in reading further. Less than 3 percent delete the e-mails outright.

AdvanceWork: The One They'll Want
CURRENTS Article Tech-savvy prospective students appreciate cutting-edge tools that allow them to experience a campus in new ways, but they quickly become bored by tools that are obsolete. James Madison University sidestepped these problems by combining the strengths of a CD-ROM and the Internet into a single tool: the JMUOneDisc.