Shodor Communication Audit

Ali Stephens, Allie Leake and Elizabeth Comtois

April 27, 2016

Table of Contents
Executive Summary p. 1
Introduction p. 1
Methodology p. 2
Audit Diary p. 2
Results of the Audit Process p. 2 - 4
Conclusions and Recommendations p. 4, 5
Appendix p. 6
Executive Summary
Below is an examination of Shodors internal and external communication processes.
Shodor provides successful programs for audiences of different ages and educational levels;
however, Shodor has weak communication and engagement with these audiences, particularly
through its social media. Recommendations for Shodor include more frequent, higher-quality
social media activity, more-frequent online newsletters and strengthened relationships with
related organizations, such as the NC STEM Center, to expand Shodors reach and presence.
Introduction
Shodor is an educational institution in Durham, N.C., founded in 1994. Shodors purpose
is to improve math and science education for educators and students by introducing participants
to modeling and simulation technologies, specifically interactive computing. The organization is
trailblazing the path in online education. Its free online education program, Interactivate, has
been extremely successful, winning a number of awards. Shodor also offers the Mentor Center
@ Shodor, community outreach and collaboration programs and programs for educators.

Methodology
In order to review Shodors communication presence, strategy and effectiveness, our
team observed Shodors website and social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and
LinkedIn. After our research, we interviewed Associate Director Levi Diala. We also consulted
Google Trends for terms related to Shodor, such as Shodor and Interactivate.
Viewing and evaluating the social media accounts gave our team an idea of how the
organization has used social media in the past, while the interview with Diala gave the team an
idea of where the organization wants to take its internal and external communication in the
future. By consulting Google Trends, the team was able to grasp an idea of where the website is
being searched most and the trends of the searches.
Audit Diary
Our team researched in detail Shodors website, presence in the news, Facebook and
Twitter accounts, Google Trends and past 990 forms. We conducted the research on our own
time in locations on and around campus during the period of Jan. 13 - 27. Our team met with and
interviewed Levi Diala at the Shodor site on Thurs., Jan. 28.
Results of the Audit Process
The organizations goals have not changed over time, but the methods through which it
achieves its goals have changed. Shodor began with three computational science tools to show
educators and students real-time manipulation of data representations and the end results. As the
Internet and networking techniques advanced, Shodor responded with more effective tools and
saw continued growth of educators and students. Today, its tools have grown substantially. They

are used nationally and internationally. Shodor plans to expand and improve upon its tools and
expand its audience.
The balance of organizational power seems structured in a hierarchy, but the key figures,
including Executive Director Robert Panoff, are also mentors for the students. Shodors position
in the community is widespread due to the large reach of its online education program,
Interactivate. Interactive can be accessed all over the country, but it appears to be most widely
searched in California. Shodor also reaches out to its local communities by giving children
opportunities to be exposed to computational science. Shodor occasionally attends local schools
and teaches students skills, like coding.
Shodor offers many programs that seem to be largely successful. It distributes its
programs to all different ages and educational levels through in-person workshops, online
activities and in-person work for apprentices and interns. Overall, the organization is
accomplishing its goals. It has helped establish STEM programs in schools all over the state.
Shodor has various publics that have different communication needs. Its audiences are
elementary school, middle school and high school students, college students, educators and
parents.
Shodors website is easy to navigate and provides plenty of information about the
organization, but the Shodor News tab and InterACTIONS Newsletter are very outdated, with
the most recent activity from 2013. The website provides no photos or personal information
about the staff, but there are complete lists of the interns and apprentices, including those for
2016.

Shodors Facebook is more current than its website, but the content, frequency and
viewer response of posts are not consistent. Its page provides a short description, a company
overview, its mission statement and contact information. As of today, the page received over 300
likes and four five-star reviews, and 240 people claimed to visit its location. Shodor posted
much more frequently from January to March in 2015 than in the rest of the year combined, with
only two posts the entire fall semester. The frequent posts were mostly unrelated to the
organization, such as playful articles and #MondayMath and #STEMsillies shares. These posts
received little to no response from viewers. More recent posts included promotion of
organization events, a birthday shout-out to Mr. Panoff and photos of camps and the apprentices
project presentations. These posts received a greater response from viewers.
Shodors Twitter activity is much less frequent than that of its Facebook, with little
interaction from its followers. Its homepage provides a short overview and its website link. Its
frequent posts from January to March of 2015 promoted its workshops and tweeted unrelated,
playful articles. Before our work as public relations volunteers, its last tweet was June 2015.
Shodor received very little response from its followers; however, as of today Shodor has 243
followers and is following 162. Lastly, Google Trends showed that the term Shodor has been
searched less and less frequently since 2005.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Shodor offers many successful programs for all ages and educational levels, but it needs
to improve its communication with these audiences, particularly through social media. Shodors
strengths are that it offers a significant amount of online curriculum, and its programs have a
large online presence. Its program Interactivate receives 2 to 10 million page views, and Shodor
is the top result on Google search if one searches keywords such as arithmetic quiz.
4

Additionally, Shodor offers professional development services for educators and has an
apprenticeship program after which many students attend the North Carolina School of Science
and Math.
Shodors weaknesses are that it does not have a strong social media presence and does
not effectively engage its various audiences. Its posts contain very technical terms that the
average social media audience might not understand. In addition to its limited social media use,
Shodors newsletter frequency has decreased over time and now is only produced once a year
through email.
In order to address Shodors communication weaknesses, our team recommends that the
organization immediately work to improve its Facebook and Twitter accounts to produce more
frequent, higher-quality social media activity. From our work this semester, we recommend a
frequency of two Facebook posts and two tweets each week. The content of successful posts that
will increase audience reach and engagement include images and quotes of students and staff,
links to STEM-related articles and announcements of upcoming workshops.
A long-term recommendation is to produce two to four online newsletters annually. In
addition, we recommend that Shodor strengthen its relationships with STEM-related
organizations to expand its reach and presence. The NC STEM Center is a web portal for all
things related to STEM education in North Carolina to which Shodor can submit news about its
work so it can be published in the e-newsletter.
A recommendation to implement when time and money allow is to strengthen Shodors
presence on other online tools it uses, such as Google Plus and YouTube.
Appendix
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Our team collected analytics data on Facebook and Twitter to measure Shodors change
in social media presence over the semester. Monthly tweet impressions increased steadily from
830 in December 2015 to 1,340 in March 2016 and 2,200 in April 2016. Monthly profile visits
increased greatly from 68 in January 2016 to 186 in April 2016. In April 2016 alone, Shodor
gained six new followers.
Shodors Facebook received a steady increase in audience reach and page likes. Overall,
five of the 21 posts from January to April of 2016 received a reach of over 150, and six posts
received a reach of over 80. In addition, page likes increased. In January, the Facebook page had
a total of 295 likes, and it now has 309, gaining a total of 14 new likes between January and
April of 2016. Prior to January, the page had received five new page likes between October 2015
and January 2016, showing a significant increase between the two, four-month time
periods. Throughout the semester we used email, phone and in-person communication to perform
the audit.