{"id":48,"date":"2020-05-13T21:25:37","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T21:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanjac.mycareerfocus.org\/summer-2020-volume-1-issue-39\/student-services-provide-virtual-access-appointments-during-pandemic\/"},"modified":"2020-06-23T02:16:15","modified_gmt":"2020-06-23T02:16:15","slug":"student-services-provide-virtual-access-appointments-during-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanjac.mycareerfocus.org\/summer-2020-volume-1-issue-39\/student-services-provide-virtual-access-appointments-during-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Student services provide virtual access, appointments during pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Andrea Vasquez<\/span><\/p>\n

Transitioning San Jacinto College to altered operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic was no easy feat, but administrators, faculty, and staff pulled together to complete the spring 2020 semester successfully. One of the largest aspects to the transition was how to offer and maintain the College\u2019s student services departments that serve as vital resources to student success.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Since March 23, the following student services have facilitated virtual appointments: recruiting; admissions; orientation and campus tours; educational planning, counseling, and completion (EPCC); international student services; career services; tutoring services; financial aid; and veteran services. Other services such as accessibility services and the campus food pantries require additional information to arrange services.<\/span><\/p>\n

The College\u2019s campus food markets have also been one of the most requested student services during altered operations. Currently, students enrolled in any summer term and\/or registered for the fall 2020 semester can make an appointment\u00a0to visit their campus food market and must\u00a0complete the College\u2019s pre-screening questionnaire each day\u00a0prior to a food market visit. Upon entering the campus through the\u00a0designated entry point, students (and all previously approved visitors) are required to show campus police that they have a face covering and let the officer know they are visiting the food market where food will be distributed as a curbside pick-up. Since the campus food pantries are currently limited to the food and supplies they receive from the Houston Food Bank, some items may have a limit or be unavailable. Students and employees may now visit the food markets once per week.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cWe don\u2019t want students worrying about where their next meal comes from,\u201d said Brian Bui, San Jacinto College North Campus student engagement and activities coordinator. \u201cThankfully, due to our partnership with the Houston Food Bank, we are still able to provide students with access to nutritious food so they can focus on their studies and achieving their goals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Another online resource students are using is tutoring via the campus student success centers. Previously housed in the campus libraries, the centers also had to transition their tutoring services remotely.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation with COVID-19 encouraged us to think outside the box and develop creative alternatives to better assist our students,\u201d said Diana Shokralla, San Jacinto College South Campus student success center director. \u201cWorking with my campus counterparts Erika Hernandez and Dawn Shedd to ensure consistency across campuses, we successfully transitioned 100 percent of our tutoring services to online sessions within two weeks, which included developing and managing an online system and online conferences to train our tutors on facilitating online tutoring sessions. Despite initial technology glitches, students have expressed their happiness with being able to continue to meet with and receive help from our tutors.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Student tutor Zach Mayfield adds that despite offering the service online, it\u2019s really no different: \u201cThat part of the job still feels exactly the same to me, which is great, because interacting with and helping students one on one is always my favorite part of the job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Students have also been able to register for the summer and fall 2020 semesters thanks to the College\u2019s educational planning, counseling, and completion (EPCC) department. Like the other student services areas, the EPCC teams have transitioned to providing online advising appointments. One of these appointments was very surprising for educational planner Brittney Fowler.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have had so many students do their EPCC Zoom calls at work, on their lunch break, in the parking lot, or wherever they can step away for a few minutes,\u201d said Fowler. \u201cI have also Zoomed with moms and their kids at home taking time out to get their academics in order. My most memorable Zoom appointment was a student in a hospital bed with a mask on. I was immediately concerned, especially when she told me her water broke earlier that morning and was patiently waiting for her baby to arrive. I felt like she had more important things to worry about at that moment, but she simply responded saying that she wanted to get everything taken care of for her classes while she had time available. I was thoroughly impressed. From there we discussed her new normal, what her schedule will be once the baby arrives, and planned her classes accordingly. Many students have been so grateful for the Zoom appointments and hope we can continue them going forward, especially those who don\u2019t have transportation, online students, and those who work full time during our business hours and take night classes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Since nearly all courses and student services transitioned to online access, the College\u2019s technical support team began to see two needs arise\u2014computers and internet access. According to the student technology surveys completed at the start of altered operations, seven percent of San Jacinto College students did not have personal computers and three percent had no internet access. To alleviate these issues, the technical support team provided more than 110 check-out laptops and 12 webcams to students and found alternative delivery solutions for students who were immunocompromised. The tech support team also provided Wi-Fi access in the Interactive Learning Centers\u2019 (ILCs) parking lots. The Wi-Fi is available only to students and employees, and those who need access must fill out the College\u2019s pre-screening questionnaire each day they plan to be on campus and must remain in their vehicle while accessing the Wi-Fi. The technical support team has also ordered 250 additional student laptops and is working on more solutions for laptop retrieval for students who have completed their programs.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are researching solutions to deliver and retrieve checkout laptops so that students do not have to come to campus,\u201d said Carolina Aguilar, interim IT project coordinator. \u201cWe are also researching alternative software delivery solutions for students who do have computers at home and need access to software they normally use on campus. These services will aid in student success once the College returns to normal operations but also prepares us for future situations that require off-campus learning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Although this uphill battle wasn\u2019t how students, faculty, or staff imagined finishing the spring 2020 semester, in true San Jacinto College fashion, each employee has demonstrated its values of integrity, inclusivity, collaboration, innovation, accountability, sense of community, and excellence to ensure students continued and completed successfully.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Photos courtesy of San Jacinto College.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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By Andrea Vasquez Transitioning San Jacinto College to altered operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic was no easy feat, but administrators, faculty, and staff pulled together to complete the spring 2020 semester successfully. One of the largest aspects to the transition was how to offer and maintain the College\u2019s student services departments that serve as… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[],"article_type":[],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-services","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nStudent services provide virtual access, appointments during pandemic - Summer 2020, Volume 1 \u2013 Issue 39<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sanjac.mycareerfocus.org\/summer-2020-volume-1-issue-39\/student-services-provide-virtual-access-appointments-during-pandemic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Student services provide virtual access, appointments during pandemic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Andrea Vasquez Transitioning San Jacinto College to altered operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic was no easy feat, but administrators, faculty, and staff pulled together to complete the spring 2020 semester successfully. 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