Back in the Before Times, I was planning to blog about some inspiring examples of faculty and staff who excelled at creating communities, where students had a sense of belonging and trust. Our G3 planning grant discussions reinforced that relationships are the “secret sauce” to student success, and I saw specific examples across Virginia Western. My focus was going to be on the PHYSICAL spaces where students just like hanging out together. Examples include our Military Student Center in Webber; the new cybersecurity labs in Business/Science; and the numerous events and trips hosted by our TRIO Pathways coaching team. Of course, all of this changed in March. Many (but certainly not all) of Virginia Western’s classes will be conducted remotely this fall. One of the persistent criticisms of online learning has been the absence of face-to-face interactions that help build a sense of community. In fact, only 12% of community college students reported they preferred online-only instruction in a recent national survey conducted by the Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE). Much more popular was in-class only instruction (42%) and hybrid classes (46%). In the same CCCSE survey that asked how they were managing the pandemic, one of the… Continue Reading How do you build relationships in an online world?Read More
Last week, I shared some of the Virginia Western ingenuity and teamwork that we’ve witnessed during the pandemic. I continue to welcome more of your emails! Pam Woody, an advisor in the School of Health Professions, shared the following: “I would like to recognize everyone on the Help Desk team — especially during the last two weeks where we were allowed to be on campus. They took time with each person checking their laptops to make sure all was installed correctly and ready to go from home. They all have extreme patience and the grace not to become frustrated as their work load increased greatly prior to March 20 and had to work with so many people in a short amount of time. They are a great team and all members work well together and are ready to pitch in where ever needed — great teamwork!” When I shared Pam’s message with Shivaji Samanta, Director of Information and Educational Technologies (IET), he added: “Glad to hear that the Help Desk is stepping up to the challenges of the new reality we are in now. I do have one comment to add to that. The Help Desk staff are in the… Continue Reading Thank you, Team IET!Read More
Last week, I shared how my family and I were coping with the pandemic … and I asked the college how the Campus Engagement workgroup might help. The engagement team’s purpose is to help enhance internal communication and knowledge sharing across Virginia Western. Becky Kraemer, VWCC’s Assistant Recruitment Coordinator (who also serves on the engagement team), quickly emailed me some examples of the positive — the joy! — happening in the midst of the crisis. Becky wanted to spotlight three coworkers (and all of them said it was OK to publish before this post went public). She wrote: Ray Wickersty (New Student Advisor): He made an awesome YouTube video demo-ing how to work Google voice so all the advisors and people in Chapman could get a hold of students during this time but protecting their real cell phone numbers. (Ray added that this allows anyone at the college to have a spare phone number to interact with students, thus protecting their personal phone numbers. He is setting up a Zoom meeting room at 9 a.m. weekly. If anyone would like to Zoom in and get some assistance or pose questions, he will be available. You can find Ray at: https://vccs.zoom.us/j/3723698837.)… Continue Reading Look at this ingenuity and teamwork!Read More
About Shelley
Shelley Lyons is glad to be back on campus as she is a Virginia Western alum, and has served as the Administrative Officer for Grants Administration at Virginia Western since early 2022. Prior to VWCC, her career focus was within the Human Services and Arts fields. She wrote her first grant in 1996 on a whim and has continued to plan and learn since that time. She most enjoys seeing a well-planned project come to fruition, where funder, project manager and beneficiaries can all feel success and see impact.
Recent Posts
- Why Try An LOI? May 10, 2024
- Grant Nerds Unite! March 12, 2024
- The Power of Collaboration November 17, 2023
- Time to Innovate October 4, 2023
- How to tackle grant season? August 14, 2023