The University of North TexasLearning Object on eStudent Services

Lydia ButlerJuly 19, 2019 - HIED 66595

What are eStudent Services?

• eStudent Services are similar to those services offered on-campus at an institution, but are accessible and tailored toward the eLearning population of students (Shea and Armitage, 2002).

• Currently, eStudent Services vary from institution to institution. • Some eStudent Services might include:

• Virtual Bookstore• Virtual Library• Virtual Tutoring • Other virtual offices

• eLearners should be offered the same student affairs attention as their on-campus counterparts (Kretovics, 2003).

What eStudent Services does UNT offer their students?

• Through the UNT eCampus, there are several links under the Student Services tab. These resources are:

• Future Students• Current Students• Office of Disability Accomodations• UNT Libraries• UNT Bookstore• Is Distance Education Right for Me?• Distance Learning Guide to Contacting UNT Offices and Serv

ices• Complaint Process for UNT Students Enrolled in Distance Ed

ucation and Off-Campus Courses

• State Authorization for Online Courses

What eStudent Services does UNT offer their students?

• Future Students• This tab links students interested in the eCampus and distance

learning to several different resources on the UNT homepage that will help in their decision making process.

• The links included on this page are: Thinking about UNT, Financial Aid, Tuition & Fees, and Registration

• Current Students• This tab links students already enrolled in distance learning

courses to resources on the UNT website for easy reference. • These resources are very similar to the future student resources:

Registrar’s Office, Financial Aid, Tuition & Fees, and Registration

What eStudent Services does UNT offer their students?

• Office of Disability Accomodations• This link takes students to the same page that on-campus

students access if they need to make accommodations as well.

• UNT Libraries• This link takes students to the main library homepage that is

accessible by all students.

• UNT Bookstore• This link takes students to the bookstore homepage that is

accessible by all students.

What eStudent Services does UNT offer their students?

• Is Distance Education Right for Me?• This link gives students several different pieces of advice that

they can use when considering if distance learning is the best way for them to earn their education.

• Distance Learning Guide to Contacting UNT Offices & Services• This is a great tool that students can use to figure out which office

is best to contact based on their question or information they are looking to find. It gives students an overview of what each office on campus offers students.

What eStudent Services does UNT offer their students?

• Complaint Process for UNT Students Enrolled in off-campus Courses• This gives students an avenue to address any issues and/or

concerns that they might have about their courses.

• State Authorization for Online Courses• This takes students to a PDF form that gives students more

online student resources, as well as a list of states where UNT cannot offer courses to students.

• This also lists several adult learner resources

• When looking at the resources provided for eLearners, there didn’t seem to be anything specifically regarding online student affairs services.

• The eLearning student resources seems to be more of a catch-all for students and creates a one stop shop for students needing to access resources from the UNT website.

• Though these links are very valuable, there is definitely room for improvement in creating a virtual student affairs office that directly caters to this population of students.

What else does UNT offer their students?

• Off-Campus Student Services page: http://studentaffairs.unt.edu/off-campus-student-services

• Information included on the off-campus student services page was geared toward off-campus, non-traditional students, but mainly had links pertaining to resources on campus or around the Denton area. • It gives them reasons to come to campus and things they could

be involved in while they’re here, but these are not online accessible.

• This is not necessarily useful for students who will never set foot on campus.

• Though the information is valuable, if the student cannot access it from their computer at a distance, how helpful is it actually?

Conclusion• Overall, these services were relatively easy to access through

Google. • These links are accessible through untecampus.com, which I

tried to find through a search on the UNT homepage, with no luck.

• Students must know that they are only wanting to access information about the UNT eCampus, and go directly to the eCampus website to access these tools.

• Once on the www.untecampus.com homepage, the resources are very easy to access from the menu bar on the left hand side of the screen.

Conclusion• The resources seemed to encompass a vast array of information that

was for the most part comprehensive. • It offered resources for future students as well as current

students. • However, as previously mentioned, these resources were not specific

to an online student affairs office, but rather just a gathering of resources available on the UNT website in one easy to access place.

• Overall, I think this website would be useful to students enrolled in

Distance Learning courses at the University of North Texas, but I also think that the Division of Student Affairs could go a step beyond just linking resources to a page, and offer specific student support services in an online setting for this demographic of students.

References• Kretovics, Mark. (2003). The role of student affairs in distance

education: Cyber-services or virtual communities. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 4(3). Retrieved from: http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall63/kretovics63.html

• Shea, P., Armitage, S. (2002) WCET LAAP project beyond the administrative core: creating web-based student

services for online learners. WCET. Retrieved from: http://www.wcet.wiche.edu/wcet/docs/beyond/overview.pdf

The University of North Texas

Learning Object on eStudent Services

Lydia Butler

July 19, 2019 - HIED 66595