COLLEGE’S FIRST VIRTUAL OPEN EVENT SHORTLISTED FOR INDUSTRY AWARD

Caption; Virtual open event Yellow banner

An online college open event designed from scratch in just five weeks from the start of the coronavirus lockdown has been shortlisted as part of the national UK Digital Experience Awards.

The virtual open event, which was held on the North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (NWSLC) website on 6 May 2020, successfully delivered a personalised experience enabling attendees to select the campus and subject areas in which they were interested. Attendees were given the option of taking part in 360 tours, watching live presentations on Zoom and specific course videos, or asking questions of the tutors and careers advisers through chatbot tawk.to. They left the event with a digital personalised prospectus containing only core information and the subjects in which they had expressed an interest at the beginning of their journey.

NWSLC worked in partnership with digital agency, Unity, and design partners, Creative 62, to bring to life an engaging online experience designed to ensure that young people considering their post-16 options did not miss out at a time of significant uncertainty. The college was delighted to see a nine per cent increase in pre-registrations for the event compared with a similar physical event the previous year.

The UK Digital Experience Awards (DXA) recognise the finest accomplishments from the UK’s digital organisations highlighting the organisations, teams and individuals who are achieving great digital results.

Anita Ladva-Cheung, Marketing and Communications Manager for NWSLC said, “Young people are facing an uncertain time with cancelled GCSE exams and concerns about the impact of recession on their futures. North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (NWSLC) plays a key role in its community providing reassurance and support to those facing significant decisions at age 16.

“Unable to operate its usual campus open events, the college was keen to explore a new way to provide a service to the community at a time of unprecedented national crisis and at short notice. The entire event was unique to the college which had never hosted a virtual open event before. The platform was created on a bespoke basis specifically for the event and integrated seamlessly within the college website providing a holistic experience for visitors. The event was not only new for the college but was also ground-breaking in the sector as a whole.

“Unforeseen benefits included a boost for the digital skills of college staff across all departments and an increased appetite for the use of digital tools to engage with current students. The college hopes that this enthusiasm will extend beyond the coronavirus crisis and will help to enhance its ability to respond and take advantage of the increasing digitisation of the UK workforce.

 “We were delighted with the levels of engagement in the event and the impact it has made. It is great to be recognised in this way and we are honoured to have been shortlisted for this award.”

Building on the success of the first, NWSLC is running a second online open event on Thursday 9 July from 5pm-8pm. The college is keen to hear from those who are interested in starting a course or apprenticeship in September 2020 and has guaranteed that there will be a place for everyone who applies. For more information. Click here to register.

The finals of the UK Digital Experience Awards will be held online on Thursday, 16 July 2020.