Online student communities - Fostering a positive culture
With lots of new students joining growing online communities associated with their university of choice, it’s important to consider how we as community managers can support a more positive culture that creates the right type of experience for all members. With clear guidelines or rules around the do’s and don’ts of community participation, we can ensure members understand how to engage. Done correctly we can create a strong community culture that encourages the right type of behaviour, and collectively discourages and highlights innappropriate behaviour.
Setting the tone right from the start is key and we help all our partners to adopt a version of the below to get off to the right start. keeping the community guidelines short and easy to understand helps, also important they sit front and centre at the onboarding stage.
Welcome to your CampusConnect community!
CampusConnect is a community space exclusively for university applicants like you to meet, chat, network and make valuable connections and friendships before you begin your studies.
CampusConnect is your first step toward study and career success!
Our community values
To get the most from your CampusConnect community, there are 3 simple guidelines we would like you to follow:
1. Be inclusive
You are joining a rich and very diverse community of students, representing a broad variety of cultures, languages, and experiences coming together to collectively work toward a shared purpose and goal.
In this community we are all responsible for not only following, but for actively promoting equality, diversity and respect for one another. Make sure no-one is made to feel unheard or left out of the conversation.
What you can do
Welcome all new members
Reach out to people outside of your regional or subject chat groups
Regularly check in with other community members
2. Be active
CampusConnect is a buzzing, engaged community of applicants, but it’s also a safe, structured space that you can trust, somewhere for you to meet your future friends, so don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone and participate.
Introduce yourself, say hello, ask questions or just tell people what you’re up to. The more contributions there are, the more the space improves for everyone.
Remember, you get out what you put in, so if you can do something to help solve a problem for a single fellow applicant, it will benefit the whole community.
What you can do
Introduce yourself and tell the community what you hope to get by joining.
Share regular updates related to your preparation for studying.
Help solve problems often by sharing your experience.
3. Be responsible
CampusConnect is designed to create a space where applicants can come together for support and friendship, ensuring a positive experience through pre-enrolment. As the community is made up of students from different backgrounds, subjects and regions, we want everyone to get access to the right information and contacts/connections. For this to work, we’d like you to use the community groups in the right way.
Take ownership of the community, this is your space!
What you can do
Post questions & messages in the right groups that relate to the topic.
Contact your group ambassador or staff moderators to highlight behaviour that doesn’t benefit the community.
Encourage others to do the same.