June 16, 2021

Lessons Learned from COVID-19

Advising Leaders

By Kelly Sanford

In December 2020, we caught up with a group of campus leaders representing libraries, student affairs, and campus architects to reflect on the Fall 2020 term, and share what they’ve learned and what they plan to do differently moving forward.

University administrators have been in a constant sprint to adapt to the pressures of the pandemic, economic fall out, and social justice. Having completed the Fall 2020 semester and with the vaccine on the horizon, many were beginning to reach a moment where their planning for the future can transition from week-to-week to something more long-term.

This post begins with an overview of what library, student affairs, and campus architect leaders all agreed went well, what they would have changed, and what they all agreed is needed in order to move forward. Then in Parts II, III, and IV we share specific lessons learned from each specific conversation with library, student affairs, and campus architect leaders.

We are sharing what we learned in the spirit of helping others navigate challenges and move ahead.

Part I: What Are Colleges And Universities Most Concerned About?

Across the board, library, student affairs, and campus architect leaders agreed on the following:

What Went Well

• Roving health monitors were well-received and effective in nudging students and other members of the campus to comply with masking and distancing requirements.
• Testing strategies, de-densification of indoor environments, and use of outdoor spaces resulted in minimal transmission of the virus on campus in formal settings.
• Campus units worked together across silos to leverage each other’s resources and skills as they solved myriad problems and continued serving students and faculty remotely and on campus.
• Universities continue to report that their staff has adapted well to a remote work environment; particularly those teams who instituted frequent town hall meetings where information is consistently shared and questions can be answered.

What They Would Change

• Commitment to decisions: Leaders are looking forward to emerging from the chaos and staving off burnout after a year of continual adaptation and pivoting.
• Layers of messaging: With so many units adapting and sending individual emails to students, faculty, and staff, there was too much noise to get important signals through.
• Empty campus: For many universities, campus became a ghost town and a solemn reminder that things weren’t normal.
• Difficulty forming new relationships: There has been a reliance on existing networks and connections. This habit creates blind spots and makes it difficult to integrate new hires.
• More transparent and inclusive decision-making: Many university leaders created small decision-making bodies over the Spring and Summer to lead fall planning and rapidly adapt to changing conditions without consulting the broader community of students, faculty and stuff. While small committees were nimble and in many ways effective, this approach also created tension between university students, faculty and leaders.

What’s Needed Moving Forward

• An invitation back to campus: While greater flexibility is a perk of remote teaching and learning, most students are eager to get back on campus. Even when campuses were completely closed and students were enrolled fully in online courses, many chose to live in off-campus housing nearby. Despite the many layers of restrictions on campus gatherings, students showed up to be together.
• Coordinated communication practices: Institutions are looking to create more coordinated lines of communication to centralize messaging to students and stakeholders. This includes creating new resources like a map of all study spaces across campus.
• Reflection and planning: Building off what they’ve learned from the fall, colleges and universities are looking forward to reflecting on what they have experienced and engaging in more long term planning (once staff have had a moment to exhale from the constant cycle of planning and pivoting over the past year).
• New assessment models: Many colleges and universities opted to have all students return home and sit for exams remotely. This posed challenges for monitoring academic integrity without invading privacy or overloading students with high intensity take home exams and projects. Instructors are exploring new possibilities for assessing student mastery of the material beyond the boundaries of a traditional in-person exam.

Part II: What’s on the Mind of Library Leaders?

“It is a huge opportunity for all of us — potentially putting the library deeper at the heart of research infrastructure and creative approaches to the future of teaching and learning. How do we help ourselves and institutions point to productive, viable, and thriving futures?”

What Went Well in Fall 2020

• A symbol of hope: Librarians felt strongly that keeping the physical library building open served as an important symbol to campus, even if services were predominantly virtual. Although fewer students showed up to the library than expected (to the relief of library staff who were worried about crowding and turning students away) the sense was that for those who showed up, the library was filling a critical need. Most libraries we spoke with had developed protocols with staff to balance their exposure equitably by minimally staffing the building and embracing an opt-in approach to in-person roles (rotating among staff and faculty positions).
• Engagement in virtual workshops: Virtual workshops hosted by Librarians saw an increase in attendance compared to pre-pandemic, in-person sessions and students are making use of video recordings outside of workshops. Libraries intend to continue to offer webinar versions of workshops post-pandemic given the expanded flexibility and access for students who increasingly seek just-in-time resources rather than just-in-case education.
• Librarians in class: Librarians are working more closely with faculty to source digitized collections and resources for their courses. As part of this work, Librarians are dropping in to virtual course sessions to introduce library services and resources, ultimately expanding awareness of the Library’s tools and offerings.
• Curbside pickup: Providing curbside pickup and mailing books and devices to students to maintain access to critical materials was a success.

What Would Library Leaders Change?

• De-stress capacity management concerns: When planning for the fall term, many librarians were concerned about overcrowding in the library, installing new systems to live track the number of occupants. While data collection was valuable, fears about turning students away from the building did not materialize and occupancy numbers generally stayed low.
• Identify new success metrics: Libraries recognize that over the long term they need to move away from considering Gate Count a primary metric for success and identify new metrics for assessing engagement and positive impact. Gate counts dropped significantly while the library continued to effectively deliver scholarly services.
• Return to long term planning: Librarians are eager to move beyond day-to-day problem solving and return to long-term thinking and planning about the future.

What’s Needed Moving Forward

• New digital-first expertise: Learning from technology prototypes throughout the summer and fall, libraries are hopeful to train and hire staff for new roles focused on digital offerings and diversified roles for the library.
• Return to collaborative scholarship: Most collaborative spaces became individual study areas for health safety this fall, but libraries want to find a better way to support in-person collaboration safely this spring; One leader lamented that “the library became too quiet again.”
• Library as relationship builder: Libraries are also seeking to take a more proactive approach to connecting students not only to study spaces and research materials, but to study groups and scholars.

Part III: What’s on the Mind of Student Affairs Leaders?

“Long lines for financial aid have evaporated — appointments are done virtually and it is more efficient but equally personable. With face-to-face, screen sharing, and seeing the same info, this is an improvement from what we did before.”

What Went Well in Fall 202

• More flexibility boosted morale: Expanded flexibility and grace for staff balancing work and home obligations improved morale and worked well.
• Adapting campus buildings for quarantine: Using campus conference hotel spaces to allow for student quarantine and isolation worked well for institutions that had these resources available.
• Minimal virus spread: De-densification of physical spaces and residence halls in particular was a significant effort but deemed effective to control virus spread.
• Effective virtual consultations: Student service providers (e.g., financial aid, academic advising) found that engaging in a video conversation with the benefit of screen sharing meant that staff could meet the increased demand for appointments.

What Would Student Affairs Leaders Change?

• Expand support to attain equity: While student affairs leaders have extended additional resources to improve equity and maintain student success, they continue to worry that the support they can provide is not enough to keep at-risk students on a path to success.
• Better navigate conflicting policies: Maintaining consistency in communication was a challenge, as local, statewide, and campus policies were not necessarily aligned and could change on a moment’s notice.
• Expand hot meal options: Many universities turned to box meals to maximize safety and minimize crowding, but the complaints about food quality and variety led campuses to plan for expanded hot meal options and access.

What’s Needed Moving Forward

• Provide outdoor access for students in quarantine/isolation: The student experience of being quarantined varied from institution to institution depending on available resources, but institutions agreed that providing quarantined students with some time in outdoor spaces was important.
• Establish consistent messaging and policies for grad students: With much of the Covid response focused on undergraduate students, graduate and professional students more often had to fend for themselves or navigate multiple policies between the broader university and their programs.
• Leverage data for decision-making: Universities gathered a wide variety of data throughout the fall from both passive (e.g., logins, badge swipes) and active (satisfaction surveys, feedback forms) sources. Now they need to use the data they have to inform short and long-term planning.

Part IV: What’s on the Mind of Campus Architects?

“How much remote work is going to be directive and how much will be employees’ choice? Is this a policy that you must work remotely for part of the week, or will it be a choice? What is the threshold at which you start dedicating space?”

What Went Well in Fall 2020

• A comprehensive inventory of space: Having reviewed all campus spaces for social distancing, campus architects and facilities planners developed a greater understanding of the space inventory and how spaces could flex for new use. In some cases, universities shifted to centralized scheduling models to maximize utilization and capacity, removing layers of scheduling complexity.
• Accelerating design and construction: Where funding was already secured, capital projects moved forward rapidly, these efforts were more efficient; planned renovations were possible without requiring additional swing space; and parking and logistics were easier.
• More prepared for the next crisis: Facilities and planning staff feel more prepared for emergencies moving forward; having learned how to shut down parts of campus and create neighborhoods.

What Would Campus Architects Change?

• Better understand demand: Many facilities managers focused their efforts on outfitting classrooms for physical distancing and improved HVAC, though in the end in many cases supply exceeded demand as faculty opted to teach online instead.
• Ditch the plexi: transparent barriers installed throughout the campus felt like wasted effort after learning more about how the virus spreads through air.
• Minimize leased spaces: Campus planners leasing office space looked for ways to save on costs by terminating leases with non-university property holders.

What’s Needed Moving Forward

• Healthy building design: Over long term, facilities planners are prioritize investments in better air quality, filtration, and operable windows for renovations and new construction
• Revisiting the academic workplace: Perceptions are changing around staff and faculty offices – opening up more dialogue about what space staff and faculty need (and potential space savings as some opt for flexible or fully remote work environments).
• Flexible learning environments: Architects and planners acknowledge that many lecture courses are effective and preferred in an online environment, inviting conversation about how lecture halls can be adapted to create a more interactive experience.

Moving Forward

Campus culture and behaviors was one of the largest factors in a university’s ability to weather and adapt to the pandemic’s many curve balls. Creating behavioral change and maintaining a strong sense of community was possible through strong leadership, transparent communication, and authentic listening and adaptation. Delivering on the campus experience required effort at all levels of the university, regardless of whether students were in-person, at home, or a mix. I want to personally applaud each and every person for weathering this crisis, extending grace and flexibility, engaging in self care, and leaning on each other to get through. I also want to acknowledge those that we have lost in this difficult period and honor the luminaries, the caregivers, the antagonizers, and people of all talents, creeds, and identities who are no longer with us.

We hope these reflections and resources help you move forward and we welcome your thoughts and comments. Good luck as you move ahead!