Shifting our Learning Centers:
Supporting and Engaging our Students Online
In these unprecedented times of COVID-19, the face of higher education is rapidly changing. Our learning centers must adapt to find ways to help our students (the privileged and underprivileged) engage effectively with technology. The realities of how we support students and the services we offer them must adapt to the current shifts to online learning in their content courses. We must expand upon existing online services and/or develop new ones. We must also support/train our staff members to manage the new ways in which our learning centers must operate.
Learning centers professionals are going to have to think of ways to deliver services 100% online. We need to think about our staff (students and professionals) and how we train them as well as the ways in which we engage our students who might be struggling with the demands of shifting to new modes of learning.
As part of my efforts to help higher educational professionals make this shift, I developed this site that includes collections of curated links to resources related to shifting to online and two separate webinars given for the National College Learning Center Association (NCLCA) and the SUNY Remote Teaching Clinic. The PowerPoints for these are available if you click on the titles below:
Part 1 - Identifying Immediate Needs
How we can triage and respond in real time to a rapidly evolving change to our operations?
Part 2 - Planning for the Long-term
How do we reflect, assess, resource for sustainability, and plan for future change?
Please Note: This page is continually being updated as part of the presentations and interactions with the higher education learning center community. If you are interested in contributing or connect, please send me an email - dr.lisadw@gmail.com or lisa.dadamo-weinstein@esc.edu.
You can also fill out this form and view your own and others' submissions by clicking this link.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
News Sources & Articles
In this section, click on any of the links to get the news organization or resource. I will update and keep this open until the list gets too unwieldy.
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National College Learning Center Association
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Issues in the Current Migration to Synchronous Online & Solutions
Zoom Article - How to avoid having your online session, class, meeting, etc. Zoombombed.
Zoom is addressing these issues by taking the steps outlined in this article in their help center - this includes the upgrade of all meetings to have waiting rooms enabled and passwords required - all goes into effect on April 5th.
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Article - How to Help Students Keep Learning Through Disruption - March 25, 2020
A special edition offered free on "Moving Online Now: How to keep teaching during coronovirus". - March 24, 2020
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Inside Higher Ed - A digital media company for higher education offering free content on a wide range of issues in higher education including a dedicated section on digital learning.
Tips on Supporting Students online - Inside HigherEd
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Educause - is a nonprofit association focused on a community of higher educational professionals involved in technology and advancing higher education through the use of IT. Annually, they post their Horizon Report on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Click here for the 2020 edition.
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EvoLLLution - an online newspaper about higher education focusing on innovations in post-secondary education. Their mission - "To unite the lifelong learning community to provoke ideas, re-imagine education, inspire collaboration and create action to lead the transformative change in higher education."
Selected articles specific to COVID-19 responses
Syracuse University - Supporting Staff and Students in Response to COVID-19 (3/30/2020)
Champlain College - COVID-19 Communication and Collaboration: Keeping Everyone in Tune During Times of Crisis (3/27/2020)
Boston College - Going Online Quickly? Nine Tips to Help You Adapt (3/24/2020)
Listservs & Professional Repositories
LRNASST - is an online email subscription list and searchable archive for learning center professionals.
OLC - Online Learning Consortium offers a variety of social media platforms for the Elearning community available at this link where you can choose the platform(s) you are most interested in accessing.
WCENTER - The link is for the Writing Center listserv archive. You can search the archive and/or subscribe by clicking on the About link on the page.
Learning Support Centers in Higher Education (LSCHE) - Co-founded by my professional mentor Frank Christ and Rick Sheets, LSCHE is another site that collects resources and tools for higher education learning support professionals.
Selection of Resources & Guidelines for Transitioning to Online
In this section, I link to resources that include open access information, but some of the resources might only be accessible to people at the individual institution.
Selection of Planning for FERPA, Students with Disabilities, Online Tutoring Agreements, & Other Policy Changes
Under construction.
Shifting to Online Learning and Tutoring Resources
Last updated: 8/30/2021For Students & Tutors
Guidelines for Online Learning & Netiquette Guides
University of Cincinnati Online - Using Proper Netiquette
Swinburne University of Technology - A General Guide to Netiquette
Mount Saint Mary College - MSMCOnlineLearning Prezi video for students.
Netiquette for Online Learners - created for middle schoolers, but a good straightforward presentation
Time Management & Organization for Online Learning
University of Cincinnati Online -- How to Balance Online Classes While Working Full-Time
For Tutors - Tips for Training & Standards of Practice
Online Tutoring Practice Documentation
Association for Colleges for Tutoring & Learning Assistance - Online Tutoring Standards
The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges - Effective Practices for Online Tutoring
Jennifer Brown's EvoLLLution articles from 2012 - Synchronous Online Tutoring: Tips & Tools to Start Your Own Program
Synchronous Learning Platforms
Last updated: 3/26/2020
In this section, I will only link to resources that offer robust free accounts (or inexpensive paid accounts) for online synchronous learning with video, chat, and whiteboard/screen-sharing options. These resources might or might not be supported at your institution.
For a listing of help documentation for how to use the different platforms listed below, please click on the title if it is underlined and has no additional text. Other resources are listed with a brief explanatory note and link to the platform.
Other Synchronous Resources
GoBoard is free online tool combining "video conferencing with an interactive canvas, designed to help students collaborate one-on-one, on virtually any topic. Simply create a GoBoard, share the link, and begin sharing knowledge, face-to-face. There is never anything to download!"
Open Educational Resources
Last updated: 9/26/2021
Khan Academy - "You can learn anything. Expert-created content and resources for every course and level. Always free."
MERLOT- a free curated online tools for learning. There is a specific section of MERLOT for academic support services.
How to Study.org - a free resource site created and maintained by Lucy MacDonald. "Study skills are listed both by the process of studying and by topic. Each topic has a list of handouts, prioritized by importance and interest. "
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Additional OER Repositories
https://open.bccampus.ca/browse-our-collection/find-open-textbooks/ https://cse.google.com/cse/home?cx=000793406067725335231:fm2ncznoswy
Apps
Last updated: 3/26/2020
There are many apps across different platforms that can be of use for learning centers. Below are links to articles or other sites that give specific information about different learning apps.
Under construction
MOOCs & Open Online Courses
Khan Academy also offered free open online courses covering a wide ranges of subjects including mathematics, science, computing, arts, social sciences, history, and even test preparation.
Modern States - offers resources as well free online courses related to the CLEP exams and other areas. These can be useful study guides.
Resources for Universal Design & Students with Disabilities
Google Chrome extensions for students with disabilities.
Flashcards & Exam Prep Materials
Course Hero - offers free textbook solutions and explanations
CLEP Exams - the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) has 34 exams covering introductory college level course materials in the areas of Composition & Literature, World Lanagues, History & Social Sciences, Science & Mathematics, and Business. . Students do not need to take a CLEP exam to access the free study materials
Other Resources
SUNY Tools of Engagement Project (TOEP) - a resource site from the State University of New York. You can learn about different tools and you can also take a course.
SUNY Center for Professional Development - Remote Teaching Clinic training playlist recordings are available as well as links to resources and presentation materials.
Learning Center Tech Wiki is a site I co-created with Tacy Holiday and Craig Lamb back in 2014. While some links are outdated, and we have not updated in several years, the structure of the site can help learning center professionals think about what different tech tools are; how they might use them for staff training/learning center management; and how they might be used for supporting students.
Click on this link to see two of my presentations on strategic planning and best practices for learning center management.