How to support students beyond the classroom, in all facets of university life. Here you'll find resources to direct student services, foster well-being, support a rich extracurricular offering and build inclusive campus communities and student societies.&nbsp;

University student life

Successfully teaching online is just one part of the battle to serve students remotely. Here David Woolley talks about what more universities can do to give students a fulfilling experience when they cannot attend in person

How to offer students a rewarding university experience online

As debate continues over online&nbsp;versus on-campus&nbsp;teaching,&nbsp;many&nbsp;in higher education&nbsp;argue&nbsp;the “distance-learning revolution” hasn’t taken hold because online learning just isn’t as good.&nbsp;&nbsp;This&nbsp;attitude&nbsp;highlights why&nbsp;many&nbsp;colleges were disoriented when they had to quickly evacuate&nbsp;in 2020. It underscores a serious problem: many&nbsp;academics&nbsp;perceive digital education as encroaching on the traditional collegiate experience.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But those of us actively engaged in online education would argue this is not a revolution seeking to uproot traditional models. Instead, we are seeking to expand how&nbsp;institutions attract, teach&nbsp;and cultivate students accustomed to digital communication and collaboration.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For institutions to assume that a return to campus bypasses the need to strengthen technological capacities to better serve their&nbsp;communities&nbsp;is short-sighted.&nbsp;Continuing to portray online communication and collaboration as a less effective&nbsp;alternative to on-ground engagement only serves to&nbsp;delay and&nbsp;disrupt the evolving use of digital technologies that enhance higher education for students.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It’s not just about the classroom&nbsp;&nbsp;As higher education&nbsp;moved&nbsp;off campus due to Covid-19, many institutions focused their energies on modifying instructional delivery. While this response addressed the immediate teaching and learning needs, it did not extend to the non-academic resources that contribute to student success.&nbsp;&nbsp;As institutions&nbsp;plan&nbsp;for 2021 and beyond, digital and online&nbsp;services for&nbsp;student support must be taken into consideration. Students expect and need access to the offices of tutoring, advising, registrar, bursar, library, diversity&nbsp;and community, access and disability. These units play an essential role.&nbsp;&nbsp;They increase opportunities for&nbsp;students&nbsp;to succeed in&nbsp;academic pursuits and they provide programming to strengthen their connections to the campus community.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To suggest&nbsp;offering services online is less effective&nbsp;makes&nbsp;those services less accessible to all students&nbsp;and&nbsp;goes against the mission that guides these services.&nbsp;&nbsp;Institutions that are considering how to support students&nbsp;remotely,&nbsp;especially those that are doing so because of&nbsp;the pandemic, may not be aware of how essential it is to adapt these services online.&nbsp;&nbsp;However, research demonstrates that comprehensive online experience contributes to a positive impact on student success and satisfaction. Consider the following:&nbsp;Strengthening student retention and circumventing attrition&nbsp;Students must have access to typical support services in order to feel connected to an institution, research shows. These resources have been identified as both academic and non-academic services including registration, tutoring,&nbsp;and policies and procedures. Without access to these services, students may not register for classes or withdraw from the institution. These decisions ultimately impact the perception and value of the&nbsp;college and its ability to retain and&nbsp;graduate students.&nbsp;Increasing access&nbsp;Institutions are hesitant to make necessary changes to existing services and resources before the online educational offering has proved&nbsp;successful. This creates a vicious cycle that precludes students from receiving the support they would need to improve their experience&nbsp;and thus build a positive reputation for the institution’s online offerings.&nbsp;Supporting community&nbsp;Learners, especially those in online programmes, require services and resources, including regular feedback and interactions with faculty and instructors, to be available in digital format. They also desire additional ways to connect with the institution and&nbsp;other members of their programme or course to prevent feelings of isolation.&nbsp;These&nbsp;options must be offered in a way that is compatible with their online student status.&nbsp;While&nbsp;many&nbsp;institutions are grappling with how to best use technology to enhance their student&nbsp;services, implementing change doesn’t have to be complex or costly.&nbsp;Here are a few practical suggestions that student affairs professionals can consider&nbsp;when embracing the&nbsp;digital:&nbsp;Want to strengthen retention and prevent attrition?&nbsp;&nbsp;Consider offering more opportunities for students to connect synchronously. If you are already hosting virtual orientations and advising meetings at the start of the term, how about offering more occasions&nbsp;for students to check in throughout the semester? You could schedule&nbsp;a series of sessions to offer expert advice and guidance on issues that help to retain students, such as time management, study habits, peer feedback&nbsp;and administrative Q&amp;As.&nbsp;Looking to increase access for students whether they are online or in the classroom?&nbsp;&nbsp;Invite a colleague from the academic support team to be a part of your course, giving them access to your collaborative&nbsp;spaces. You could ask someone from academic support to compose a weekly post on effective writing skills in the course forum. You could embed a librarian into the course environment to assist students on appropriate research practices. Or maybe&nbsp;integrate a virtual guest-speaker series with a representative from the multicultural centre?&nbsp;Want to&nbsp;support community building and student development online?&nbsp;Start by supporting&nbsp;the formation of academic and social groups that specifically target online students. Then encourage existing&nbsp;on-campus clubs to adopt a&nbsp;hybrid model, hosting every other meeting online.&nbsp;Expand hybrid options for important student milestones, such as welcome events and graduation ceremonies.&nbsp;Develop online opportunities for students to engage with one another&nbsp;beyond the classroom, such as virtual mentoring and networking programs.&nbsp;&nbsp;These suggestions demonstrate a few&nbsp;possibilities&nbsp;open to&nbsp;student affairs professionals&nbsp;to make&nbsp;their&nbsp;services more accessible to all students, online or&nbsp;in-person.&nbsp;While these are not&nbsp;all&nbsp;easy-to-implement solutions,&nbsp;the pandemic has presented&nbsp;a&nbsp;chance to grow&nbsp;student services online. If institutional leaders&nbsp;ignore&nbsp;this opportunity to evolve&nbsp;academic and non-academic support&nbsp;services&nbsp;via digital channels,&nbsp;they may find themselves discouraging and disenfranchising the very students they worked so hard to attract and serve.&nbsp;&nbsp;Steven Goss is&nbsp;dean of the&nbsp;School of Continuing and Professional Studies at&nbsp;Manhattan College.&nbsp;Amy Greenstein is&nbsp;vice-president of&nbsp;enrolment&nbsp;management and&nbsp;student&nbsp;affairs at&nbsp;Metropolitan College of New York.If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter.

Digital technologies are more than a short-term emergency tool; they provide an opportunity to enhance student support services long after a return to campus, explain Steven Goss and Amy Greenstein 

 

Evolution not revolution: strengthening student services online   

With many remote students feeling anxious, personal tutors are often the first port of call. Michael Draper talks through things to consider in order to maintain a supportive and helpful relationship with tutees from a distance 

Points to consider when personal tutoring remotely 

Providing the pastoral care students need can be difficult when teaching remotely. Here, Chris Headleand offers tips on looking out for students’ general well-being when limited to online communication 

Pastoral care for students in the digital classroom 

The Covid-19 crisis has led to worsening mental health and increased stress among students. Kathleen Chim talks about how the Open University of Hong Kong has tried to build students’ mental resilience through socio-emotional learning 

Socio-emotional learning online: boosting student resilience and well-being

Student affairs leaders from four US universities share insight on how they enhanced the student experience after Covid-19 forced virtually all their campus activities to move online 

THE Student success forum: taking student life online

How to support students beyond the classroom. Here you'll find resources to direct student services, foster well-being and build inclusive campus communities

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University student life

How to offer students a rewarding university experience online

Evolution not revolution: strengthening student services online

Points to consider when personal tutoring remotely

Pastoral care for students in the digital classroom

Socio-emotional learning online: boosting student resilience and well-being

THE Student success forum: taking student life online

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