Problem: The University of Maryland's Economics Department's (ECON) process to declare the economics major was high-touch, involving in-person workshops, in-person meetings, paper files, and several paper forms. Additionally, the change of major process was multi-layered, progressing through two separate offices (the department-level advising office and the college-level advising office). The COVID-19 pandemic led all university advising offices to transition from completely in-person to completely remote. As the lead academic advisor for the change of major process, I was tasked with re-designing this service to fit our new remote format. The new remote change of major process had to:

• minimize barriers to students wishing to declare the economics major,

• align with the college-level advising office's policies and procedures for change of majors,

• could not add to advising staff's workload. As one of the largest majors in the college, supporting 1,200+ students, we could expect to receive over 100 students interested in changing their major to economics each semester. 
   

​Solution: I transitioned towards a self-service model by transforming our in-person workshop into an online course. The online course included recorded PowerPoint presentations, which could be easily updated as policies changed, and quizzes to confirm students' understanding of relevant policies and procedures before granting access to complete the required (and now electronic) forms. I collaborated with the college-level advising office to establish a clear workflow between our two virtual offices.

 

Advisors still needed to review students' records for eligibility before granting access to the course. Advisors also still needed to review each student's electronic forms before forwarding to the college-level advising office for final processing. However, advisors no longer needed to host workshops and no longer had to meet with students one-on-one (unless there were significant issues with the student's forms). To further streamline the process and maintain consistent communications, I created template emails that covered common scenarios such as:

• access to the change of major course has been granted, along with

  • any common ECON course exceptions or course duplication issues

  • a reminder of extra required steps for special populations (student-athletes, probation students, etc)

• appointment needed due to significant issues with the student's forms

• paperwork has been submitted to the college

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I also created template notes for the university's online student management system in order to maintain clear, consistent tracking of the student's progress through our change of major process (including any special exceptions) and could be viewed by any advisor at the university.

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​Outcome: Compared to our previous high-touch process, the new process has even less barriers to students wishing to declare the major. Once a student receives access to the course, they can complete it at any time and they are no longer limited to our workshop schedule. Students can complete the course and forms at their own pace. The process used to be more sprawling, requiring both an ECON and a college-level workshop - making it difficult to complete in one day. Now, the course guides students through both the ECON and college-level steps, enabling them to complete their part of the process within one hour. Additionally, students no longer need to meet with an advisor to complete the change of major process unless they want to or have significant issues with their forms.

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The new change of major process saved advisor time and reduced barriers for students so much that it was maintained even after operations returned to in-person. Our online course and new workflow was adapted by other large majors in the college. We also used it as a model for the creation of a virtual new student orientation workshop that was adopted by all majors in the college.