Earning an online degree is not as simple as taking classes until all requirements are met and then graduating. From application through graduation, online students must negotiate a variety of student service offices to meet their needs.
As students first apply to earn an online degree, they must interact with multiple offices, from admissions and financial aid to academic advising and the registrar office. Their first experience interacting with these offices can foreshadow the type of service experience students could expect throughout their studies.
However, as online students and programs continue to multiply, campuses are expanding the range and reach of available student support services. SUNY–Buffalo State, for example, is implementing a virtual concierge that will centrally network student support services through a single point of digital contact.
If students need f inancial aid assistance, a transcript, academic advisement, a writing tutor, help with the learning management system or an appointment at the counseling center, they will contact the virtual concierge for intake, ticketing, routing and appointment scheduling with the appropriate office. SUNY–Buffalo State also recently adopted a policy for professors who teach online or hybrid classes to offer virtual office hours.
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A virtual concierge and virtual office hours are still new concepts. Until such digital centralization of services becomes the norm, most online students must be prepared to hunt down and take advantage of support services on their own.
Here are four tips on how to best find and use support services.
1. Gather the access: Although a university is technically one organization, think of support services as many independent shops in one big shopping mall. Each has its own phone number, website, hours of operation, policies, practices and identity.
Just because a librarian is available via video chat at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday does not mean that the bursar’s office does the same. When seeking support services, online students must research, understand and plan for the best times and preferred contact methods.
2. Know the specifics: When working with someone to address a problem, be sure and get the individual’s name, alternate modes of contact such as phone, email, text, Skype, and the hours the person is usually available. Be sure and compensate for a time zone difference.
If the office uses a ticketing system, be sure to save the ticket number and reference it in future communications. Document your service need by sending an email from your university email account following your phone conversation.
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For example, “Dear Mr. Smith, Thank you and the help desk staff for talking with me today on ticket number BSC052873. I now understand that the campus learning management system was not working properly last Friday;I will work directly with my professor to resubmit my assignment.” Then save this email until the matter is resolved.
3. Leave a message: On many campuses the same support staff that help online students also work with residential students. Phone calls may go to voicemail during peak hours because long lines of students are seeking help, usually at the beginning and end of semesters.
Be sure to leave a voicemail with your name, clearly articulated question, phone number, email, and date and time you called. Most students believe leaving a voicemail won’t yield any action. Rather, not leaving a voicemail will definitely yield no action.
4. Be gracious and persistent: Online students must demonstrate grace and tenacity. Many of the support service offices and staff have been in place long before online students started attending the university.
Rather than demanding service immediately and threatening to call the president’s office and newspaper if the situation is not fixed by 5 p.m., try saying, “I’m an online student having some difficulty; I hope you can help me or connect me with someone who can.”
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The takeaway: Online students in need of help must learn to seek the most effective way to leverage the full benefit of the services available to them. This is an active process, requiring you to research available services and ways to best secure and use those services as well as to work with university staff. Their goal is to make the online learning experience as productive as possible.
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4 Tips for Using Support Services as an Online Student originally appeared on usnews.com
