Student Success: Socially Distanced Student Support
Sharon Balke, Director, Career Education at Strategic Education, Inc
Amy Buechler-Steubing, Manager, Center for Academic Success & Excellence at Capella University
Key Takeaways:
Variety is Important: Capella and SEI have found that offering a variety of different options for learning and engagement works best in the remote environment. It helps personalize the support and allows students to find the help they need when they need it.
Learning Communities: From career interest groups to established mentoring programs, peer-to-peer connections are vital to ensuring distance learners are successful. It’s often more valuable to work on a project with a near peer rather than receive “official” guidance from a professor. Again, a variety of connection options is important to best facilitate those interactions.
Collaboration is Key: As students move from one stage of their journey to the next, it should feel seamless and smooth. Partnering with colleagues to ensure alignment is vital to ensuring that transition. “We don't run into each other in the hallway or in the elevator anymore. So being really intentional about identifying who are the people to connect with, who are the people to build relationships with, and not being afraid to reach out and schedule those virtual coffee chats.”
“Being able to offer videos and synchronous support options can really help personalize support and help students feel more connected, which is even more important now with all that is going on in the world.”
Students want to feel like their university knows who they are and can meet their individual needs. Online institutions have been doing this at scale for years. It’s time we take a page from their playbook.
Learn more about how PeopleGrove ensures student progress and brings together siloed support systems below.
