The chief question in college students’ lives in this individualistic technological era has undoubtedly been Facebook’s ever-popular “What’s on your mind?” But the growing network OrgSync proposes the motivating question, “What are you working on?” in an attempt to motivate students who are members of extracurricular organizations. In 2007, OrgSync was co-founded in Austin, TX by Eric Fortenberry and Cayce Stone. Along with other students and alumni from the University of Texas, their mission was to create an online resource that could be utilized by student leaders and administrators in order to eliminate some of the communication barriers and irritations that the founders themselves experienced as involved students of the campus community.
Fortenberry and Cayce soon recruited three friends to launch the OrgSync team, and they formed partnerships with five colleges and universities. OrgSync’s number of partnerships rapidly expanded from five to over 150 educational institutional affiliations in just three years. The company’s offices are now located in Dallas, TX, and their employee community has grown vastly with additional teams such as marketing, sales, and client services.
The format of OrgSync is very similar to that of Facebook’s. Once a student has signed in to the website, the home page prompts the visitor with the question “What are you working on?” and includes an activity feed, updates, upcoming events, and several tabs with which to easily navigate the site. By clicking on the “My Orgs” tab, users will currently find a list of 149 registered WCU organizations, and students can click a “Join Now” button to request to join the group and receive its updates.
Users can personally add new student organization profiles themselves. Website tools include a calendar, to-do list, an e-portfolio and an involvement log. Students can use ePortfolio to upload information about his or her biography, academics, extracurricular involvement, employment, recommendations and other documents.
The involvement log allows students to submit descriptions of meetings or events that they attended, input the number of hours they spend with each organization, upload a “proof of participation” document, and select and reflect on what professional and interpersonal skills which they worked on during the event.
The network also offers a job search engine, powered by the Indeed job search program. Continuing the reflection of Facebook features, OrgSync allows users to create profiles including photos and interests.
The website allows students to send/receive messages, create events and invite other users, tag photos, and receive notification alerts.
West Chester University of Pennsylvania has recently joined the OrgSync network in order to provide a new source of communication for its 200+ student organizations. The university is paying over $2,500 for its subscription to the network. WCU is one of eight Pennsylvania institutions and the first PASSHE school to partner with OrgSync.
Carol Fritz is a second year student majoring in Communication Studies and German. She can be reached at CF716022@wcupa.edu