Ensuring Seamless Learning during the Ongoing Pandemic

Laurie Donley, Director, Enrollment Management and Student Services, Kent State University

Like others in our industry, in March 2020 I sent my staff home. That week, I had two priorities,

1. make sure my staff had the support and tools to continue working and

2. make sure students knew we were still available to support them.

Our small, but mighty team is responsible for the main phone line for our campus and for all student service units, including admissions, financial aid, academic advising, veterans certifying, academic support services, student life, and student accessibility services.

To ensure the phones were answered, we updated websites with direct phone numbers for key department staff. We used a combination of call forwarding and Cisco Jabber phone functionality on our computers to make sure we could both answer and place calls without using our personal phones. We also used a combination of a hunt group and Cisco Jabber phone functionality to continue answering the main phone line.

We already had an advising appointment scheduling program that was created by programmers at Kent State University. But we needed something that was adaptable to all our services and could be easily and quickly developed by end users. Luckily, our Network Services Director asked me if I had heard of Microsoft Bookings. He had recently learned enough about the system to think it might help us.

"We quickly learned new ways to use existing technology and emerging technologies. And many of the adaptations we made will be staying with us beyond the current pandemic."

With a quick and very basic tutorial, and with a willingness to experiment, we were creating services, assigning staff, and making our schedules available for students to book virtual appointments that automatically created Teams invitations. There was no need for those requesting services to have a prior relationship with Kent State to use the Bookings system, and there was no need for the person requesting our services to download an app. This allowed us to use Bookings for prospective students as easily as we could for current students or colleagues. Participants join the appointment on their computer, on their smartphone, or through a landline. Since the virtual meeting function runs through Microsoft Teams, we had the full functionality of Teams. If the attendees join on a computer or a smartphone, we can use video chat, written chat, and screensharing to enhance the meeting.

Moving forward, we will continue to use Microsoft Bookings and Teams for services for both virtual and in-person appointments. We have learned that some individuals prefer the virtual options while others are eager to see us on campus again. We have also found that virtual services allowed us to expand services and to fill in service gaps more quickly. The virtual formats we have learned are allowing several of the regional campuses to share academic tutors. And currently, I am advising students at a campus that is over an hour away from my campus as we work to hire a permanent academic advisor for the program.

 

Microsoft

Financial