Making of ACAS 4: Monthly e-newsletter

 

Most of the good practices implemented at Al Shifa College of Arts and Science (ACAS) were not isolated, scattered ones, but practices which add to the cohesive vision we were approximating. All arms of the institutional practices fit in to the various threads of the mission statements and aid the realisation of the same. The idea of a Newsletter is neither new or challenging when seen from afar, though the actual execution is a different ball game, the hardest part being bringing it out on time!

The Rationale

I have introduced newsletters in all the institutions I have involved with in a leadership role. ACAS was just another instance. But what was achieved in my latest leadership outing at ACAS was by far the best because it was beautifully streamlined at all stages and it was brought out regularly and on time. The basic reason for the establishment of a monthly e-newsletter of course is to communicate to the world outside what is happening at the College. Since documentation is key to not just the requirements related to accreditation, it has to be strengthened in many ways. The second cause obviously is to connect with those around and let them know that we are here! Here the newsletter functions partly to aid marketing but also to spread the details of what's happening at the College along the parent and the academic community too. The third cause was related to the professional development of the faculty members.

There are a number of skills and attitudes which a good newsletter can develop: writing, drafting, editing, proofreading, titling, layout, designing, use of photographs, compiling reports, use of skills of persuasion, technology skills, working to meet a deadline, connecting to contributors outside the institution and so on. There are for sure faculty members in all instiutions capable of delivering on all these fronts. The leaders role is to spot them, nurture them and at once stage provide them autonomy. The final reason is related to the student community. The newsletter of ACAS, like many other of our acts, is a learner-centric exercise and it provided opportunities for them to involve in report writing, gathering, compiling, providing pics and so on. The whole exercise provides the learners invaluable inputs on many areas and skills. 

The Implementation

The monthly e-newsletter of ACAS, ACASIANA, has received a lot of praise from all around for its quality, comprehensiveness and the regularity. But a quick glance at the 29 issues brought so far will show the way it has evolved over years. As it happened with most of the other initiatives by a very young college like ours, making my colleagues accept the thought and begin to belive in it is the first part. Especially when the idea is not a familiar one, when they haven't come across many institutions doing something of the kind, they may have apprehensions about it. The kob of the one who leads is to provide the confidence through words and deeds. 

The initial part of course is spotting the right person to lead and coordinate the Newsletter activites. It always helps if the person has language skills and capability to connect well with the faculty members. Tech skills and adaptability make the person supremely eligible, even though the tech part can be outsourced from another member. I started off with one coordinator. Ms. Sabina from English Department at the start of the college and she did a very good job. Later, as she moved out and the college started expanding with more students and programmes, we made it two coordinators: One for the tech and design part, and one for the language part. What followed was familiarising the coordinators with the task ahead through samples and models. I shared sample newsletters of other institutions and all were not from the Higher Education. Achievable as well as ambitious samples were part of it. This onboarding was done slowly and it did help that in the early years we were a small community with less students, programmes and, hence, less reports! When I leave the college, Ms. Renjitha and Mr. Midhulaj, Asst Professors of English, both hugely talented, are coordinating the e-newsletter, bringing it out meticulously on the 5th of each month. While Renjitha compiles the reports and is responsible for the language part, Midhulaj handles the layout and design part. 

The Challenges

Since the newsletter basically presents a detailed roundup of the events and activities conducted at the college, the primary need is to gather these reports from the various coordinators and departments. This was not very challenging as the institution has already built up a system in which reports, pics and details of the event will be mailed to the IQAC regularly. We just had to add the Media Wing to the loop. With effective follow-up, it is ensured that the reports and pics reach the sections concerned within a week basically (though the norm is to have it sent the ery next day). The reports, compiled with necessary edits, are sent to the Principal in two parts fortnightly. I go through the reports and after further edits, if needed, it goes to the designer. Since the portal on which the designer work is accessible to me too, I can keep an eye and effect further changes if need be as and when the designer starts working. An occasional difficulty was the case of reports which a faculty member may have missed to forward, though it was quite rare. Often this is spotted while the draft is sent for inhouse circulation on the 3rd or 4th of the month, before the final release. Another difficulty involved the quality of pics we have. Since the pics are mostly taken by the student coordinators, ample attention may not have been paid to the fact that this is going to feature in a newsletter. We addressed it by identifying students with good photography skills (and good mobiles too!) and mentoring them. 

Another challenge was during the second year of the introduction of the newsletter when we decided to increase the involvement of students in the making of the newsletter. Students were nominated (better word will be, 'handpicked'!) from all batches who can contribute reports of the events and expanded the Editorial Committee including them. Meetings were held to educate them on their roles and responsibilities. Upskilling sessions too were organised to train them in areas like report writing and title framing. 

The Takeaways 

The benefits of bringing out a monthly newsletter far outweigh the challenges. As was mentioned in the rationale part, the advantages of bringing out newsletters are quite many for both the the student and the faculty communities, not to mention the leadership of the other institutions. There are principals of colleges who personally communicated how some of our activities and ideas helped them frame their action plans. A varied skill set for the faculty and students still is the major advantage. The institutional profile too has grown tremendously in the process. For those who follow me in the leadership role, there is everything documented. The tech, language, design and networking skills it generated certainly must make it a huge learning experience for the faculty. The many students of other colleges whose writings were published ( at times faculty members too) were grateful for the opportunity. 

The Way Forward

Many in my professional network praise the newsletter of the college for the value it carries as a chronicle which will be handy for the accreditation purposes. I didn't exactly conceive it in that way even though the newsletters will help us in a huge way at the time of accreditation as it offers a quick glance at what happened at the College each month. Reports were generated as part of the documentation protocol established at the launch of the institution itself and not exclusively for the newsletter. In 2023 we started accepting out-of-campus writeups too for the newsletter. Quality entries from the student and teachers blogs also began to make its way to the newsletter. Another advance we made was to introduce special editions of the newsletter like the Women's Day special and Student Entrepreneurship special with topic- specific invited content. The key objective, as ACAS looks forward, is to still increase the content quality and readership. We have initiated discussions in this regard and I am sure that this will be followed up. When I look back, it has been a satisfying effort with 29 issues of ACASIANA, the monthly e-newsletter, published in 3 years and a half year, as I move out. 

Babu. P. K., Ph D.