Leveraging our Strengths: The journey of building (and maintaining) online student services within traditional residential universities
Concurrent Session 9
Brief Abstract
As traditional research institutions grow their online programs, developing robust services for non-traditional online students can pose many challenges. Two large public research institutions share how they navigated matrixed institutional systems to build robust, in-house online student services that meet the unique needs of their students and institutions.
Presenters
Extended Abstract
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated dramatic shifts into remote learning, IPEDS data show that 4-Year public colleges and universities have experienced rapid enrollment growth of fully online students. Many institutions launch and grow online programs with goals of widening access to new student populations and retaining their existing students. However, as the number of online students and programs grow within traditionally residential institutions, challenges remain to offer robust and relevant student services that meet the needs of post-traditional online students within traditional institutions. Furthermore, maintaining access to services and programming first offered virtually during the pandemic has become challenging as some brick-and-mortar schools begin shifting their staff’s energy and resources toward students attending through in-person modalities.
Centralized online student success units are often charged with becoming the critical connecting point and advocates for online and distance education students. When online student success units work from within traditional institutions, they must cultivate partnerships with student service units and campus leadership who are primarily focused on meeting the needs of on-campus students. Online units take many roles in this process including leading change, gaining buy-in from key campus stakeholders, educating campus leaders about the unique needs of post-traditional students, and helping them re-envision their services in new ways. They help ensure that online students’ needs are meaningfully considered as institutions decide how and when to extend campus resources, build separate services for online and on-campus students, or outsource services. These decisions are critical to student retention outcomes – and ultimately the long-term success of online programs. Furthermore, when done well, advocacy for online, post-traditional student populations offers an opportunity to increase access, student engagement, and successful outcomes for ALL students, regardless of their modality.
Through the lens of two large, land-grant, public research institutions with diverse histories and regional locations, this session will explore how these institutions navigated matrixed institutional structures, politics, limitations, and opportunities to build effective student support systems that are tailored to meet the needs of their online and distance education students. Each institution will share how their online student success units have served as change agents “working from within” to foster modernization of the student experience (for ALL students) while reflecting the unique cultures and traditions of their respective institutions. Presenters will offer concrete implementation guidance, including strategies for managing and incentivizing institutional change and fostering cross-campus collaborations. Presenters will also share about experiences overcoming implementation challenges, when and how to change course, and the impacts of re-organization within their own units.
This interactive session will offer attendees implementation guidance from two institutional contexts. Presenters will use Slido interactive audience questions and virtual QA, in addition to sharing adaptable resources. Attendees will gain tangible techniques for spearheading and institutionalizing online student services including advising, coaching, and other retention initiatives tailored to the needs of online student populations.