Beyond the Screen: Support Staff Help Online Students Thrive

Data analysts are interested in numbers, not people, right? Their analytical brains get into spreadsheets, calculations and tables, not listening, chatting and sharing, right?

Wrong.

Noel Sharif and Brandy Mendoza analyze data to support online degree programs offered by the University of Arkansas. They use Excel, Power BI, SQL and other technology, drawing from datasets to answer questions:

• How many students have graduated from online degree programs?
• Where do students come from? How many transfer credits do they bring with them?
• Does participation in online orientation or a prep course increase student success?
• How many students in a particular degree program have taken a particular course?

The analysts provide data from questions such as this to help departments make programming decisions, such as whether a course should be scheduled in the upcoming semester.

 

More Than Just Data

“All of this is done in a way such that student identity is protected,” Sharif said. “Our jobs are to give numbers with context but without spin, without emotion, without agenda. Administrators need to be able to make data-driven decisions from non-biased information.”

Sharif and Mendoza, while using their analytical minds to support online education, crave contact with people, too. They both take on additional, paid duties as facilitators of online orientation for students new to online degree programs.

“Since I am also responsible for analyzing the outcomes of the orientation and providing reports, I wanted to experience firsthand what students go through in the orientation class,” said Mendoza, who has previous experience as an online instructor at another institution. “This hands-on experience helps me be more mindful and intentional when working with the data, ensuring I better understand the student perspective and can improve the process where needed.”

Sharif said working at orientation strengthens her connection with students.

“During orientation, we get to talk to our students and hear about their dreams, their children, their pets, their lives ... things that matter, things that don't easily translate into 1s and 0s,” Sharif said. “Brandy and I don't ever forget that behind our numbers there are real people. In our orientation sessions, we get a chance to meet those folks and be reminded of the flesh and blood reasons that we do our jobs.

“I don't generally interact with students in my position, so it is really refreshing to meet real people, not just see them as numbers and outcomes,” Sharif continued. “We care. We really, really care about student success; we cheer when students succeed and look for opportunities to hold out a helping hand.”

 

Team Effort in Student Support

Global Campus staff are divided into teams. The Innovation and Online Student Experience team, led by Patty Milner, assistant vice provost, came up with the idea for an orientation delivered online for online students. It started in 2021 with LPN to BSN undergraduates only and has expanded to all undergraduate online programs with a version for graduate students in the works.

Instead of coming to campus to tour a residence hall, checking out the food in a dining hall and meeting with representatives of campus interest groups like traditional freshmen do, students studying online – who may never come to campus – need information about resources at their fingertips. They have to find helpful information quickly from online sources to be successful. The average age of an online student is 31 for an undergraduate and 35 for a graduate student.

In January, Global Campus staff members held six of 16 facilitator positions for online orientation. In addition to Sharif and Mendoza, the other four Global Campus staff members work more directly with students in their regular job than the two data analysts. Facilitators differ from instructors in that they don’t teach in a content area; their job is to help students move through the material aimed at getting students acquainted with the learning environment and resources at the U of A.

Facilitators describe two primary purposes of online orientation – the practical, understanding what resources are available and how to find them, and the human, there are people available to help you and support you on your educational journey.

 

Building Confidence, One Student at a Time

Global Campus staff enjoy working with online students because of their independence and the variety of backgrounds they bring. Staff helped students deal with feeling overwhelmed by developing a schedule that works with their personal life as well as overcoming challenges with the Blackboard Ultra learning management system.

Radiance Murphy Orrin talks with prospective students every day as an online student liaison. As a graduate of the U of A and former online student at another institution, Orrin sees orientation as an opportunity to share insights with the incoming students.

Orrin’s advice for new students:

• You are the priority in your own education, so take up space.
• Reach out to instructors.
• Message your peers.
• Ask questions in class.
• Join a peer group or tutoring session.

Students who contact a facilitator during orientation are off to a great start, Orrin said.

“One of the biggest challenges of distance education is this separation of instructors and students between screens,” they said. “You may see your instructor through video lectures or check-ins, but you aren’t in their office, having a back-and-forth conversation. … I don’t care if you’re reporting a broken link, asking for an extension, or just checking in, making connections is huge!”

 

Getting Acquainted

Students are also able to connect with their peers in discussion boards and get to know other U of A students, said Kati Williams, online student coaching coordinator.

“Most of the time we try to group students by college and degree plan so a lot of the students who are in their respective orientation course are going to be in other classes with those same students,” she said.

“We serve a special population of students that without online courses may not be able to obtain a degree, especially from the University of Arkansas,” Williams continued. “Our students are unique, and it is always a pleasure knowing that we may be changing the trajectory of someone’s life.”

 

Recruitment to Graduation

Jeff Brazil also works regularly with prospective students. He joined Global Campus last year as online student recruitment manager and finds it beneficial to be involved in as many roles as he can within the process of online learning.

“This gives me the opportunity to further understand the students’ experience, which I can then explain in conversations with prospective online students,” Brazil said. “Facilitating the orientation course has allowed me to see the full circle of my efforts in recruiting. When a student has inquired about online courses, approached a booth, had conversations with a recruiter about the possibilities at the U of A, then it is a proud moment to see that student enrolled in the orientation course and beginning their journey in online education.”

Will Hobbs works with Brazil as a recruiter for online programs, and he’s also new to Global Campus.

“This was my first session as an orientation facilitator,” Hobbs said. “As a recruiter, I rarely get to interact with students once they get accepted, so I really wanted to share in their excitement. I think that the most important thing about orientation is that it allows students to figure out their schedules before they get started in the full classes that count towards their degree. It’s one thing to talk about the flexibility of online classes, but to actually work the classes into an already busy schedule is much more difficult than people typically think.” 

 

Getting Ready to Go

All of the facilitators encouraged new online students to get a head start on the semester by participating in orientation.

“It will put you a step ahead,” Williams said. “When the semester begins, you will already know how to log into Blackboard and understand the functionality of the software. Orientation was developed with the student in mind. Students are experiencing what it will be like when they start actual classes the Monday after orientation ends. They can see an actual syllabus and learn how to analyze it. They are able to create a calendar and think about how they will plan out their time to be able to fit all their obligations into a week; now that they are also going to be a student they need to consider when they will study. They are able to take quizzes like they will in their classes. Orientation will propel the student ahead in their pursuit of a degree, especially in the first semester!”