Step 1: Communicating Approval of the Field School to Staff.

Once a field school has been approved, the Humanities and Social Sciences Senior Administrative Officer will notify the following of the approval (including the start date, location and other unique aspects of the field school):

1. The Instructor and Department Head
2. Humanities and Social Sciences’ Communications Officer and the Study Abroad Coordinator,
3. Humanities and Social Sciences’ advising staff and academic program managers.
4. The Enrolment manager, finance and administration, who will monitor numbers of students (according to registration counts and Banner Finance) and inform the Dean’s Office of these numbers a minimum of six months in advance of the field school
5. Administrative support, finance and administration, who will provide financial and logistical information for the field school and maintain the official financial file on all field school programs, including Harlow.

Step 2: Administrative Duties of the Instructor

Upon approval, the Instructor of an approved field school will immediately:

1. Contact the Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences Office (administrative support) to obtain a fund number through which student deposits can be facilitated. Instructors should never handle payments for field schools. Students make payments through the Cashier's office. Students normally make a $300 non-refundable deposit, which is applied to the overall cost of the field school.
2. Connect with the Humanities and Social Sciences’ Communications Officer to discuss and coordinate printed material (posters, brochures)
3. Contact the Study Abroad Coordinator to discuss promotional plans
4. Take concrete steps to secure tangible commitments from students in the form of a financial deposit and course sign-up (see Step #3 below)
5. Direct students to deposit down-payments to the Cashier's Office

Step #3a: Instructor’s Promotion of the Field School and Generating Enrolments

As soon as a field school is confirmed, it is time for the Instructor to get the word out. Faculty members should begin posting information about the program 8 to 12 months in advance of the departure date to give students enough lead time to arrange financing, etc. At all times, students need to be aware that a field school or Harlow semester is subject to cancellation in the event of insufficient enrolments.

Promotional activities include:

1. Get in touch with the Study Abroad Coordinator, who meets with students to discuss future go aboard opportunities. Liaise with the Study Abroad coordinator about participating in one or both of the Study Abroad Fairs, which are held every fall and winter semester. The Communications Coordinator will plan to have promotional items available for distribution at this event if all materials are provided by the beginning of August, in order to allow time for design and production.
2. Get in touch with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Communications Advisor. Upon approval from the Dean, the Communications Advisor will promote the field school via the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences social media channels. Usually 50 posters and 100 to 400 brochures are printed in a single print run for each program, depending on the faculty member’s needs. High quality (300 dpi) photos from previous trips can be used in posters and brochures. Photos must be free of copyright infringement (i.e., taken by you or, if taken by someone else, with written approval) and any students pictured must give their written approval for use of their image. Approval of printed material must be approved by the Dean.
3. At the earliest opportunity, create a department webpage (under the section MORE) that is linked from your department's homepage. This is where most people will look for information. Nothing fancy is required -- what matters is that as much information as possible is available as soon as possible and that people know who to contact for further details. The webpage address should appear in promotional materials. Consider adding it to your email signature for extra exposure. If you require assistance in creating this page please contact the Faculty’s communications advisor.
4. Inform all of your departmental colleagues that a field school program is planned. Course instructors and student advisors play a big role in spreading the word. Providing them with information to show or distribute to students in class is a useful technique.
5. Make good use of email and social media to generate early awareness. This includes using Banner to send an email to students who recently completed a cognate course and/or who are enrolled for an upcoming semester; asking members of a student society to spread the word; and posting information on your department’s homepage and social media accounts. A custom Facebook page or equivalent is particularly helpful and is generally easier to maintain than an institutional website. Students look for photographs and details regarding the program, courses, cost, and location. If you have testimonials from previous students, this is a good time to use them. If you require assistance in creating a social media account please contact the Faculty’s Communications Advisor.
6. Post notices around the department about what courses will be offered.
7. Schedule information sessions to promote the program and publicize them through electronic communication. The Communications Advisor can promote these through the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences events page, social media, and Memorial’s website.
8. Perhaps the most effective mechanism is to ask course instructors for an opportunity to address students in the classroom and distribute sign-up sheets to collect contact information from students who are tentatively interested. One experienced faculty member relays that visiting a classroom “is the best and fastest way to market my programs. I’ll only visit 2nd-year and above courses in relevant fields, and I’ll privilege larger classes over smaller ones. It’s really easy to go through Banner to figure out what classes will be taught in a discipline in the upcoming semester, as well as who is teaching it, and where it is being taught. It’s easy to make a flow chart to keep track of all of the possible visits. I’ll then email the professor to arrange a visit and see if they prefer a 5, 10, or 15 minute presentation. In the classroom, I’ll give a short talk, which includes mentioning my first meeting, telling them how to get in touch, or taking their contact information, and giving them how to join our social media groups. I’ll pass around the brochure at this point, as well, and it would be great to tell them to keep it if they’re serious about the program, but to return it to the front if they’re not interested.”
9. Consider striking a committee of interested students. They will be an important sounding board throughout the process and will help get the word out to their peers.
10. In all publicity, consider promoting that students may jointly register in a non-credit hour International (INTL) course. This is a transcript designation that signifies completion of a program of university-level study requiring residency outside of Canada. It is useful for all students, particularly those pursuing an iBA, as well as those applying to graduate school, for applicable scholarships and career-related opportunities. The instructor should identify which of INTL 301L through INTL 3012L applies, where INTL 301L is “One-Week Study Outside Canada,” INTL 307L is “Seven-Week Study Outside Canada,” and so forth. The non-credit “course” exists purely for the transcript and is restricted to students who are concurrently enrolled in approved courses requiring residency outside of Canada. For the iBA, students may bundle two or more study experiences in order to meet the requirement of a minimum 12 weeks studying outside of Canada.

Step #3b: Study Abroad Coordinator’s Promotion of the Field School

The Study Abroad Coordinator’s responsibilities include holding pre-departure sessions for groups and individuals; organizing Fall and Winter Study Abroad fairs; preparing individual students for study abroad opportunities by providing a variety of resources; exit interviews, and offering guidance to put students’ study abroad experience into a career context. Specifically, the Study Abroad Coordinator should:

1. Employ social media and Facebook to raise awareness about the approved programs
2. Include the approved programs in the Study Abroad Fair
3. Attend information sessions and class visits with the Instructor, if time permits
4. Organize pre-departure safety/security briefings for students

Step #3c: Duties of the Communications Advisor in promoting the Field School:

The Humanities and Social Sciences Communications Advisor will liaise with the Instructor(s) to promote the Field School through the media and printed material. The Advisor will consider whether there is a possibility for an online story and, with approval by the Dean, will endeavour to produce brochures, templates, and screen slides to promote the program. The Head of Department, the applicable Associate Dean, and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Senior Administration Officer must be given an opportunity to review and approve the print materials. The final material must be approved by the Dean.

Step #3d: The Role of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Advising Staff and Academic Program Managers in promoting the field school:

These staff members will advise students of the availability of approved field schools including programs based at Harlow, as part of the promotion of Humanities and Social Sciences experiential learning opportunities.