欧博体育官网蒙阿尔托分校最大限度地利用资源,保持校园社区的联系

Campus shot with blue overlay
Credit: Penn State

MONT ALTO, Pa. ——COVID-19大流行的深远影响可能没有预料到, 但欧博体育官网蒙阿尔托分校的校园社区意识和对学生成功的关注, coupled with being resourced as a world-class university, positioned it well to adapt, innovate and stay connected over the spring 2020 semester.

From virtual festivals to Zoom awards ceremonies, 欧博体育官网蒙奥图分校的教职员工正在回顾他们是如何受到挑战的, lessons learned, and how those lessons will serve students in the future. 

Students first
For 14 years, 欧博官网app下载分校的学术节展示了学生在学年期间的作品, including artwork, research projects, oral presentations and informational exhibits. 为了应对COVID-19,欧博体育官网于3月中旬转向远程学习, 很明显,今年的15周年庆典将不会以传统的形式举行. 电影节委员会知道这个活动太重要了,不能取消, so the members rolled up their sleeves, assessed their resources and innovated.

The Academic Festival used a combination of Zoom, 在线视频和ScholarSphere(欧博体育官网学术工作的数字资源库)创建了一个在原始节日日期发生的事件. Some adaptations worked so well; they might be part of next year’s festival.

“We weren’t sure how students would respond. Would they still want to participate in a virtual event?职业顾问帕特里夏·戈切诺尔(Patricia Gochenauer)说,“学生的适应力很强。. They still participated. Attendance didn’t decrease.’’

 Gochenauer还表示,今年电影节的在线形式意味着学生们可以在他们的LinkedIn个人资料和研究生院申请中分享他们项目的链接. 虚拟环境也让家人、朋友和当地社区成员更容易参加.  

在学术节期间,欧博体育官网蒙阿尔托图书馆提供的在线资源对学生的成功发挥了重要作用, and throughout the past semester. Many library resources remain available online, including e-books, scholarly articles and research databases. Librarians are available to assist students with accessing them.

认识到学生的成功和幸福包括保持活跃, 欧博体育官网蒙奥图体育系每周都会发布锻炼挑战视频. The exercises are designed to be user-friendly, body-weight exercises for which no equipment is needed. Students have been sharing their own clips, 和教师们一直在创作和分享有趣的TikTok视频汇编.

Michael Doncheski, Ph.D, chief academic officer,  学生和教师对远程学习的适应程度是否很满意, praising the agility of the campus and the University.

东切斯基指出了当地校园租借笔记本电脑和热点的速度, 大学有能力提供教学设计师,这是在一个更大的大学基础设施内拥有一个当地社区的好处.

他对虚拟的2020年毕业典礼和Alpha Sigma Lambda荣誉协会入学典礼的联系感到特别振奋, which recognizes adult learners. 

Faculty and staff support
在这学期中,学生并不是唯一获得与新冠病毒相关支持的受益者. 一些举措带来了欧博官网app下载和联系,帮助教职员工应对挑战.

Kira Hamman, director of the honors program, and Robin Yaure, 人类发展、家庭研究和心理学项目的项目协调员, immediately recognized the need for such support. 他们发起了教职工欢乐时光和广受欢迎的社交距离午餐时间. 每周的午餐时间提供了有关技术和远程教学的问题的答案, as well as general moral support.  Doug Prowant, director of information technology, was present at each lunch hour to troubleshoot, 并邀请施赖尔卓越教学研究所来探索在线学习的细微差别.

为了庆祝学期结束,我们举办了一个Who ' s Zoomin ' Who颁奖典礼, which replaced an end-of-year luncheon and campus celebration. 在线仪式提供了对校园贡献和就业里程碑的传统表彰,也表彰了面对远程交付挑战的教职员工.

Hamman and Kelly Sprinkle, kinesiology lecturer, 将每周休息——一项针对教职员工的每周运动项目——转变为虚拟的每周健康挑战. 他们通过一个名为MapMyRun的应用程序跟踪了每个参与者的几个数据点, which staff and faculty downloaded to their phones.

“我的秘密目标是达到每周健身指南的要求, and many did,” Sprinkle said. 她承认,建立和维护这个项目需要时间和精力. 人们的反应让她深受鼓舞,她强烈地感觉到“运动是我们生活的一部分,也是突然变得久坐不动的生活方式中急需的一部分。.”

强大的校园社区和世界一流大学的资源使欧博体育官网蒙阿尔托分校在不确定时期继续优先考虑学生的成功. 

“We Are” stories

The “We Are” spirit is perhaps more important than ever before, 各地的欧博体育官网的学生以一种全新的、令人惊叹的方式走到了一起. During these challenging times, 我们的社区正在继续通过合作实现欧博体育官网对卓越的承诺, thoughtfulness and kindness. As President Eric Barron has written on Digging Deeper, this truly is a “We Are” moment.