Open and Access with Brooke Thursday, 4 February, 2021 | 11:02 am Chapters (1)Meeting Info CHAPTER 1 00:29:35 0 highlights 1views HIGHLIGHTSTRANSCRIPTION 00:09 What do they mean to you with regards to the college and the work that you do 00:15 doesn't matter. So I want us to be in terms of if I think of us 00:25 as a low barrier, accessible education, it means that anybody can come here and become a student and take what they want to take toward their goal. And that's 00:35 really broad. But that's what's accessible means to me. So, you know, just as a broad place to start, I have you know, I know we need to 00:44 be in the 21st century in certain ways in terms of forcing students to send in transcripts through the electronic process and forcing students to apply online. But that very first 00:55 initial step is sometimes not even accessible. So the more technology based we get, the more concerns I have 01:04 about barriers and access, because to me it should be just like universal learning. It has a certain set of assumptions and we should be universally 01:14 accessible to to the people we serve. So I think in terms of the people we serve, that can be shifting right now. But in my mind, that is our geographic 01:25 and I see region and that, you know, is starting to shift and is starting to come into question. But to me, it would be accessible as somewhere that anybody 01:35 from within our region can get to us, maybe physically, maybe electronically, but that they can eventually get to us and meet their goals 01:44 . I would agree with what you have to say. I'm sort of stuck on the upgrading because we were talking 01:52 . Yes, 01:55 Have the online transition has become more of a barrier for many other 02:01 vulnerable students. 02:05 like payment wise accessing equity payments 02:15 . I don't really have much more to add to what you're saying about that. Thanks. I turn the captioning on because I think that's going to help me with the transcript. 02:25 Also, I'm noticing you cut out a little there, Brooke, so I may have some holes to fill in. I'm just going to I'm going to share my very busy screen 02:35 and see if it's going to hide my question. Really tangible example there, Atteridgeville, you're pulling that up is things like assuming everybody has a credit card. Hmm. 02:45 That's one that John and I beat her head against a brick wall constantly to apply. You not only have to have access to a computer, you have to have a credit card 02:54 , massive barriers and turn offs right there. 03:00 Yeah, that's good to know. That is one of my follow up questions to since, you know, and just offhand while I'm doing this, things that I didn't think about 03:10 one hundred years ago when I was a student, I was in Campbell River in the reg office because that's where I went to register for courses. And I heard someone having a conversation with a parent and saying they're only 03:20 doing this when come back. So I don't know how to I can't get to Comox because I was an adult. I drove my car and I didn't even think about transportation. When we think about being on campus, 03:29 So here's my my Google talk of questions and these are the drafts. So when I say open and accessible, so thanks for that. 03:39 And my follow up questions, I guess depending depending on what your answers were, I think you've already started on those. So that's great. And I'm wondering, when you see a barrier 03:49 like this, like, for example, first of all, they know the computer, they've got a cracked iPhone or something and they have to register online. They don't have a credit card. What happens 03:58 is, is this kind of accessibility bought part of your work or is it something that when something happens, you address it or is it just does it just not 04:08 talked about 04:11 ? But if a student has a barrier with email, what 04:21 will you cut? Anything that you see where students having difficulty like? For me, when I had difficulty registering, I just call up and say, what the hell, what do I do? And 04:31 I know that not everybody can do that and not everybody will pick up the phone if they run into something else. I'm just saying, if if that's a common thing that you're running into, hey, this is a problem 04:41 . Students can't register because they don't the credit card. What happens in your world? Does somebody raise a flag? Does that does that student get some attention? Like, do you 04:50 or is it just kind of. Oh, well, too bad we lost that one. Or I think the short answer is nothing automatic. OK, it depends on the person who got 05:00 is working with and 05:06 , um, people may bend over backwards to get that person in the door and some may and maybe it's not due to what they are 05:15 intending. It's just sometimes things fall off your desk and and it and it gets but that's through the cracks. So you intend to help and then it 05:26 maybe doesn't doesn't get follow through. There's no formal process. So we often get students who say 05:35 have a family member or they themselves have been students before, like yourself, you know, you know, to say connect your daughter directly with an adviser. OK, so that's the ideal 05:45 because you know that the support is there. But that's an assumption. That's a big assumption. And that's, you know, a barrier for something like a first generation student who doesn't have 05:55 that kind of support and who doesn't have that kind of context. So I think that's really important. You know, we have some registration clerks who are really amazing and they will message Janša 06:05 or myself. And, you know, I pulled Jannah into the room with you and I, Terrie, on purpose, not just because she does the same job in Albany, is similar, but different. But 06:15 I think her and I style are fairly similar in terms of overall coaching. And, you know, we really will reach out. We'll call the student, we'll 06:24 walk them through everything. We'll figure out an alternate process and take the flack from student records 06:30 . My high-five etug pen being reflected onto a lined piece of paper – listening, reflecting, writing are the dominant themes for now.

Not lots to report for this week. I had a few more interviews.  There was no work for me to do on the Craft Services course so I spent my non-interview time downloading transcripts, reading through Widening our Doorways and looking through policies. The transcripts are not that easy to read so I may have to re-watch a couple of interview sections. I know I don’t remember everything I’ll want to capture. It was a good experience talking to people from all over the college and I could see a few common themes emerge between different areas.

I went back to the Blackboard Sampler course and set up a couple of folders for the Assessment and Grade Center content. I had kind of let that go for a while since it wasn’t high on my list of things to do. I’ll dig though the existing content I had to fill out those sections and I need to resize some images.

I learned that the issues that I had with registration have led to some changes coming to the web site.  I know it wasn’t just me but people certainly heard about it.  There are some other changes coming too and I’m looking forward to seeing them. Getting to things through the web site was an issue that kept coming up when talking about barriers to access.

I may have a chance to get in on some Equity, Diversity and Inclusion training for SCETUG next week. That will tie in nicely with what I’m doing.

That’s about it. Next week will be mostly reading and writing and possibly some follow up questions.