Learning Assistance Support in a Global Pandemic: Rethinking, Reimagining, and Restructuring for Student Success

Introduction

There is no doubt that working in higher education requires a degree of nimbleness and flexibility that is not necessarily found in other professions. Full-time staff at tutoring centers, Supplemental Instruction (SI) program coordinators, and peer tutors make up the larger category of learning assistance staff, both professionals and students. Learning-assistance professionals and student employees experience this uniquely diverse working environment every day, whether that be regarding the content tutored, the funding needs for each semester, or even innovations in reaching students through social media. However, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed those in the student support field to new levels of flexibility. The work of the learning-assistance professional cannot be understated. Social connectedness, faculty and staff approachability, and student support services are three factors found to contribute to the persistence of the college student (Roberts & Styron, 2010). Recognizing the importance of campus integration and availability of resources, such as tutoring, how do these aforementioned aspects of the college experience change when a global pandemic occurs? Educational professionals had to consider engagement in the online environment after the global pandemic pushed all services online. The author’s learning center, based out of a small liberal arts university in the South, pivoted and successfully navigated new methods of engagement. Regardless of the scenario out of which the move online occurred, educational professionals across the globe must ensure that “online programs are at least comparable to and even outperform campus-based programs and provide high-quality educational opportunities” (Kuh, 2009, p. 695). Performance-based funding and institutional goals do not dissipate with the existence of a pandemic; in fact, these two elements of reality may become critical following global crises and the economic and educational impacts thereafter.

By the end of March 2020, higher education across the nation looked entirely different, not only for students, but also for the faculty and staff at these institutions. Students returned to their homes, faculty had to experiment with remote-teaching platforms, and educational professionals in the learning-assistance field were forced to reimagine their services in an online environment. Tutoring, facilitating SI sessions, and providing peer study sessions are all fairly intimate services, not easily translated into an online environment. Outside of the four programs this center already managed, the added After Hours (AH) STEM Tutoring program funded through a university system grant required that professionals understand effective ways to deliver services to the students targeted in the grant. The AH program is a prime example of the ways in which this learning center aimed to bring tutoring directly to the students, through evening and weekend hours in residence halls and common campus locations. This grant-funded tutoring program focuses on increasing services to underrepresented populations on campus, such as minoritized groups and the LGBTQA+ community. When navigating COVID-19, the center had to not only revisit the AH locations due to safety measures, but also approach supporting these populations in additional ways because of their unique needs. Toven-Lindsey et al. (2015) explored how additional support programs increased the persistence of undergraduate STEM majors from underrepresented populations. The study examined how systems like collaborative learning workshops and academic seminars had a positive effect on the persistence of the participants. The AH program at the author’s institution followed similar programmatic structures, offering online academic-success workshops to the campus’s Bridge students (often from underrepresented groups) and providing targeted services to these same students. Toven-Lindsey et al. (2015) concluded that “a diversity of interventions that foster supportive peer networks, create a more welcoming academic culture, and allow students to begin to see themselves as scientists” was critical in closing the persistence gap for these students (p. 10). Moving the AH tutoring from the residence halls to larger, open spaces and online platforms allowed for continued services during the global crisis.