Rapid transition to remote learning

In response to the rapid transition to remote learning in the spring 2020 term, a collaborative outreach effort was developed and launched in the second week of April to connect with our students via telephone. With a volunteer base comprised of faculty, staff and students from various divisions, a diverse cross section of our campus community mobilized to support the objectives of this initiative:

• To connect with historically at-risk student populations and students who had not yet engaged with University systems (myCourses, Zoom, etc.) after the transition to remote learning

• To ensure students had the necessary access to technology and Wi-Fi to complete their academic programs

• To represent a message of care and that our campus community was still here and has many services available to support our students

• To be a direct referral source to the appropriate offices that can assist the student with specific questions/concerns

• To provide accurate and fact-driven information based on resources provided in the training documents

In addition to the “wellness check” outreach, the project management team was able to optimize the already engaged volunteer base to contact an additional population of students, those who had not yet registered for the fall 2020 term prior to the conclusion of the pre-registration period. With the dedicated efforts of the project management team and the 48 volunteers, these initiatives noted over 1,000 points of contact (phone calls, voicemail messages and emails) and over 400 phone conversations with students. A representative from both the Division of Student Affairs and the Division of Academic Affairs will co-present on these efforts at the SUNY Faculty Development Conference this fall.