On Synergy, Synchronicity, Simplicity, and the Dangers of Pontificating

Providing online academic success resources to college students is not a new idea.  I've enjoyed learning how to attempt this with our SSS TRIO students.  By resources, I'm referring to the basics of college survival, like how to: Take Notes, Study, Manage Time, Check your Financial Aid Status, Choose a Major/Degree/Career, Find a Job, Choose a University, Apply for a Scholarship, Talk to Your Instructors...

Ideally, support services build on what students are learning in their classes and what they know/learn about themselves (The Synergy Goal).  Students come from all backgrounds, and there is no one best way/time to get them the right tool/information at the exact moment they need it (The Synchronicity) - teaching them to fish is a better model.  It is also a transferable skill, useful for their academic and work worlds.

We all want more than to survive, we want to succeed, preferably with no unnecessary stress.  So, the goal with our Canvas site (and prior BlackBoard) was to build a web of support that is available to students 24/7, that encourages:

• Resilience 
• Confidence
• Efficiency & effectiveness
• Tolerance, teamwork and leadership skills
• Ability to think critically and solve complex problems
• Excellent communication and digital literacy skills 

The confounding issue, and the exciting part, in a community college, is that we deal with so many different levels of computer ability and cultural preference for/aversion of the digital world.  How do we build connectivity from one human to another via the Internet, how to design a web of support where no student falls through, and how to display resources in all learning styles in a useful way?  Our grant program has had a BlackBoard site for many years, offering online resources to our students - the transition to Canvas offered us an opportunity to do a little re-thinking of its purpose and design.

Unlike semester-based classes, our SSS TRIO Canvas site is not date-driven, so students are added at many points throughout the academic year.  Our site will generally have over 300 participants, each added manually (Thank you, Todd!)  At this point, we don't require that students complete Canvas activities, nor do we grade them, but students have a chance to use certain web-based workshops as credit toward our annual scholarship competition - so there is an incentive ($) to participate.  We do give feedback and offer in-person, phone, Skype, e-mail advising/coaching on many of the supportive services our grant includes.  In some cases, we have built in deliberate redundance, by offering similar topics in several formats (online, paper, video, in-person, individual, group, etc.)  There is a constant balancing act between not adding more to students' plates, and providing enough contact & necessary information to those that want it.  And there is the need to be concise (a challenge!) without coming across as terse or directive.  There is a lot to ponder.  Fortunately, Canvas is easy to change, adapt, realign...always a work-in-progress, like Charlotte's Web (a shameless plug for one of my favorite books!)