Supporting New Students During the Pandemic
The year 2020 has been one of the hardest years for any person to consider starting as a new student in college.
In the contexts of a pandemic and layers of economic and social crises, there are so many people - of every age - looking to college as a path to a better future. But can college bridge the gap? Can college still be accessible?
And - in my work as a New Student Program Assistant at Portland Community College - how can I help improve access & outcomes for first-time college students, remotely?
That's the challenge we've sought to meet over the course of the year and this academic term.
In the contexts of a pandemic and layers of economic and social crises, there are so many people - of every age - looking to college as a path to a better future. But can college bridge the gap? Can college still be accessible?
And - in my work as a New Student Program Assistant at Portland Community College - how can I help improve access & outcomes for first-time college students, remotely?
That's the challenge we've sought to meet over the course of the year and this academic term.
NEW STUDENT PROGRAMS, NOW ONLINE:
Without a physical campus, new student programs have continued to develop. Between our Zoom meetings, individual problem-solving, and good old "trial and error," we've managed to create a valuable set of materials & strategies to help address the needs of new students.
Twice daily throughout the week, we host New Student Advising & Registration (NSAR) sessions online via Zoom. These sessions are about three hours-long, each divided up into three sections: 1) a 45-60 minute presentation about the college and useful information for a new student's first term, 2) separate Zoom room for individual first-term academic advising, and, 3) a comprehensive overview of the college website, student portal, and class registration assistance.
We leave several spaces open for questions - not only about our school, PCC, but also questions about what it's like being a college student in general. These opportunities are invaluable, I believe, because many students like myself are first-generation college students with very few or no people at all to talk about college with.
Thankfully, we have a skilled multi-campus team centered around the NSAR programming and this gives us the ability to take in a wide range of knowledge and experience across several different areas of PCC's student service resources. There are hosts, co-hosts, advisors, presenters and co-presenters, chat monitors, new student program (NSP) assistants and peer advisors in every session.
THE CONTEXT AND OUR APPROACH: NSARs & SUPPORT PERSON SESSIONS
For many students, the NSAR session they attend online is actually the very first Zoom meeting they've ever had, so we use it as an opportunity to teach them how to use Zoom and inform them that if they have scheduled Zoom sessions for classes in the upcoming term, the class will function very similarly to the NSAR session itself. We use polls, Q&As, breakout rooms, and a slideshow filled with useful links to share information with them, and after the session, every student receives a copy of the full presentation with all the links included. We email and call students to remind them of events, to prompt them to complete placement testing, and to help clear up any outstanding holds prior to the New Student Advising and Registration session.
One other project I've gotten to work on are Support Person sessions, which are centered around helping those who are supporting new students. We use this separate event to inform family, friends, and others about college resources and about college life, because often, students have people supporting them who aren't familiar with the college system as it is today. By bringing the "support person" into the conversation, we can encourage them to learn and grow with the student. This is another area of my work that I've been proud to help bring to light, and the sessions we've held so far have elicited such great warmth & gratitude from attendees.
NEXT STEPS & GOALS:
So far this year, we've helped hundreds and hundreds (upwards of a thousand or more) people get started as new students at PCC. To me, it's that many more people out in the world working toward their dreams, and working toward a better life. In whatever way I can, I want to support that.
I learned many things in my time as a first-generation college student - a lot of that "trial and error," for sure - and I know that in my continued work as a New Student Program Assistant and in the new student-related work that follows, I will continue to have opportunities to improve the quality of help I provide while also improving the utility and quality of our digital resources & services.
IN CONCLUSION:
Please, do feel free to visit the PCC webpage to check out our programs and materials!
You can learn more about NSARs and Support Sessions here: https://www.pcc.edu/first-term/new-student-advising/
To hear more about my story (from student to student employee) and how this year has changed my work (and how my work has changed), feel free to either download the full presentation below or view it in the image slideshow posted above.
Thanks for dropping by - take care!
Supporting Student - Presentation.pptx |