Top of Mind with Tambellini Group
Top of Mind with Tambellini Group
Pandemic Protocol: The Role of Institutional Technology Leaders and Teams
As higher education institutions continue to roll out vaccination and testing protocols that will be applied going forward, the role of technology (and campus tech leaders) is central to making these new requirements work. In this Top of Mind Podcast, Janet Scannell, Chief Technology Officer at Carleton College, shares her perspective from the CTO role on how she and her team have been involved (and continue to shape) pandemic protocol. She discusses how COVID and emergency planning have helped drive collaboration and alignment across functional areas at the college.
Welcome back to Tambellini's Top of Mind Podcast. I'm Katelyn Ilkani, the host for today's show, and we will be talking to Janet Scannell, the CTO at Carleton College, all about how COVID and emergency planning has helped drive collaboration and alignment across functional areas at the institution. Janet, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Katelyn. It's pleasure to be here. And let me just provide a little context about my institution. So as you mentioned, I'm with Carleton College, which is a liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. We have about 2100 students and we pride ourselves on being a residential liberal arts college, which of course has been a consideration as we've adapted to COVID.
Speaker 1:Janet, what has the past year look like for you at Carleton?
Speaker 2:Well, last spring, the pivot to online happened between our, our winter term and our spring term we're on the quarter system, which meant that we pivoted to a fully online spring term and that actually allowed faculty to prepare over that break between winter and spring term, to know what was to be expected for those courses. And then this year, our enrollment has been down about 6% from typical and we've had about 83% of our students on campus. So it's, it's been a fairly, um, the campus has felt fairly normal and we've offered courses in a variety of modes. There have been some classes that have been face-to-face. There have also been some classes that have been fully online. And then there have been classes that have been either mixed mode where some students were online and other students were in person or we've offered courses that were what we call hybrid courses, where some parts of the course are in person and some parts of the course happen online.
Speaker 1:And how did you get to this point where you were able to come back for this school year and have over 80% of your students on campus? What did your pandemic response or COVID requirements need to look like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think the college did a really nice job of creating, um, the sense of community that the liberal arts colleges are known for, so that students agreed to a covenant of behavior. And, um, you know, that, that gave us a lot of confidence that we could manage having so many students in person and the faculty were able to choose how they wanted to design their course. And what was the right methodology? What was the right mode for how they wanted to approach their instructional experience for the students? And, you know, I think that that sense of community is what, what really allowed this to be successful year for us,
Speaker 1:That idea of community is so important. I agree with you that when you can really build a community where people feel like they belong and that they are contributing to the good of the whole, it makes a huge difference. And I'm curious how that sense of community also extended to your team and the, the faculty and staff at Carleton. What did it look like is part of a decision-making process and in setting safety protocols and implementing different or new technologies,
Speaker 2:All of that was also very collaborative. And, you know, starting with knowing that we were going to be coming back in person, we needed to figure out how we were going to manage the classroom spaces. And that was very much a collaborative conversation with various departments across campus. And, and my IT staff were a part of figuring out both how we were going to space the classrooms and labs and have proper distancing, but also what kind of technology we were going to put in those classrooms, so that we could support the students who weren't going to be there in person. And we were able to source some, some cameras that worked really well. And, um, and the, and the faculty did it, did a great job of learning how to use those technologies and did a lot of recording of lectures and, and also provided a lot of interactive methodologies that they hadn't used before. Um, and it just really was a team effort across the board.
Speaker 1:Janet, before we started recording you, and I had talked about how you also learn to use existing technologies and new and novel ways. Can you share more about some of the ways you used OnBase, for instance?
Speaker 2:That is a great example of this collaborative experience. And as you said, leveraging the technology that we already had. So the public health folks, the folks that were going to be doing the contact tracing knew that they needed to be able to track which students, if there were students who tested positive or who had a close contact and needed to go into quarantine, they knew they were going to need to track that information and inform people that there were students kind of changing where they were living or changing their, their status in terms of the dining experience. And so, I was in a meeting with the public health person, and I suggested that we get together and talk about what was possible and brought in my OnBase expert. And as we were talking, um, that the public health folks had had no idea the information that we already had access to, that we could use the data that we had about which classes a student was registered in, who their advisor was, who their Dean was, and that we could automate the notification process through OnBase. So it it was a very straightforward process for the contact tracers to use this, this OnBase workflow. And then the notifications that were sent to all those who would be affected, including knowing how long the student was going to be unable to come to class or for the dining services people to know for how long were they going to need to deliver meals for this particular student. So that was a really, really great use of OnBase and a really great collaboration between the tech folks and the folks who were, you know, concerned about the well- being of these students. And then they didn't have to worry about some of the mechanics of some of these notifications.
Speaker 1:I agree with you, that's a great way to be able to leverage existing technology in a, in a new and novel way you hadn't had to do before. I'm curious if there are other examples that may have occurred like this as well. I know we talked about tracking chairs or tracking physical benefits, physical things people have on campus. So they might've wanted to take home and having to work with HR. Are there examples like that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. We, we did not have a campus where everyone had a laptop. So in, in last spring when faculty and staff needed to be working from home, we s ent out a communication to staff that it was okay if they took their desktop computer home. And it turned out that some of them wanted to take their office chair home t oo. And so, u h, the human resources office asked us, could we track that, you know, when they're filling out a form and telling us what they're taking home, could we add whether they're taking a chair home? And so now we have a way of tracking that. And these kinds of things are probably h appened anywhere, but when you're a small campus, you have close relationships with the people in all of these departments. So it was a pretty easy request from, from HR and not at all surprising to the staff and faculty to be asked both of these questions from a form that they got from the it department. So that worked well. There were also some other things we did with OnBase and a whole lot of processes that had been paper processes, for example, in the Registrar's Office and the Business Office. And we, we really quickly moved some of those paper processes online, which is also an example of where this had been on a list of things we wanted to do. And the pandemic provided an opportunity, and in a really short timeframe, a motivation to move and to make those changes, which was a lot of work. But now we're going to benefit from that moving forward as well.
Speaker 1:Janet, do you feel like the pandemic forced some level of collaboration that would not have happened otherwise?
Speaker 2:I think it did. We have good relationships with our campus partners, but, but I think sometimes it's, it's easy to work within the parameters that you have in front of you. And, you know, sometimes to not ask the question of, is there a better way, or could technology help with X or Y and, you know, those conversations happen over time, but it really accelerated during, during this period of the pandemic. And, and I, I think, um, the, it staff also provided a valuable sense of calm about this, especially last spring when things, so many things were changing, but we're used to dealing with problems. We're used to, you know, things break, incidents happen, new technology changes all the time. And, and so we're used to that degree of change and we, we know how to, how to handle that. Um, as I like to say, when I was teaching, I would say to my students, you'll know, you're a technologist when something breaks and your blood pressure doesn't go up. And, you know, we, technologists are kind of used to that. And I think that that provided a real sense of comfort for the people that we we're working with on campus. And then the, some of the creative solutions that we came up with I think were really appreciated. And th that sense of, of collaboration and teamwork was and is always strong and was just even amplified during this time.
Speaker 1:As we are looking ahead now to the fall, which I can't even believe we're talking about where is the year going, but, you know, it is time to be thinking about fall 2021. Are you and your team doing anything differently still to prepare for that quarter, that the beginning of that semester? Or, are you really just keeping things as is?
Speaker 2:That's a great question. I think we are really mindful that it's going to be a big transition to come back on campus. And so, you know, just personally, we're thinking about what that experience is going to be. And from a technology point of view, if people are back on campus some of the time, but they're at home some of the time, you know, what's that gonna mean in terms of technology and what people need in both of those locations. And then from the point of view of like, well, what's changed and what parts of that are worth keeping, you know, continuing into some kind of new normal. And I think that there are a lot of things in that category where we're talking about the classroom, there, there was benefit to be able to do easy lecture capture so that students could watch those, those lectures again, so that they could be captioned for students with certain learning issues or where English is not their native language. You know, there were a lot of benefits to some of those additional learning technologies. And so we're, we're thinking about how to make sure that that classrooms are equipped and you know, which things should we keep and which things are we going to, you know, to set aside. Um, and then another big one is thinking about what kind of technology students come with. We know that most Carleton students come to campus with a device, but not all of them. And during the last year, we made sure that they all had a device and we're working to continue that, um, because, you know, we recognize that it puts them at an academic disadvantage if they don't have the ability to take notes or, you know, if they have to always find an open lab, it puts them at a disadvantage. So anyway, there are a number of things like that that we're hoping to continue in the fall.
Speaker 1:Janet, when we started this discussion, you mentioned that COVID had impacted your enrollment. And I'm curious if you see that trend continuing into next year, or if you think things will go back up?
Speaker 2:We do think things will go back up. And as a matter of fact, our you know, the incoming class is, um, at the moment, a little, a little larger than our target, um, which is, which is good news. And there's usually, you know, some number of students who shift to other other schools over the summer. So we're, we're looking at a healthy incoming class. And, uh, and we feel really good about the students that are returning and the ability to open up a few of our off campus studies programs and, and, and, you know, get a little closer to normal. We may not be exactly back to normal in the fall, but, but the fact that we had 83% of our students on campus for the entire year of, of this, this academic year, we have retained that sense of community. And we think we're going to be in good shape for the fall.
Speaker 1:No, that's great. Do you feel like there are other challenges you've had to deal with over the past year and a half or so that you've faced and overcome that we haven't talked about?
Speaker 2:Well, it's, um, true for everyone that, you know, this has been a hard year, right. And I think that the, the workload has been, um, has, has been a challenge and we've, we've risen to that challenge, but I, I do worry a bit about, you know, fatigue and, um, you know, I don't want my staff to burn out, um, because of this. So we're working hard to try to get people time to take vacation. We're trying to be thoughtful about what kind of that re-entry processes is going to look like. Um, and, and the workload has, has been high partly because we as individuals, uh, department and, you know, the, the campus, we have high aspirations. And so, you know, just getting by and doing good enough, it hasn't really been good enough. And I think on the one hand, that's added to the fatigue. And on the other hand, I think it has led to a lot of pride. I think we feel really good about the work that we've done, um, as a department on behalf of the institution, but you know, that that's been the main challenge. The technology itself has had a few challenges, but by and large, the technology challenges have been quite workable. Um, and it's, it's really been, you know, for all of us, they be effective on us as, as, as people, um, getting through this challenging moment and, and all the other challenges going on right now in our country. And, you know, those, those issues are affecting our college as well.
Speaker 1:I think that's a great point, Janet, about some of the biggest challenges are people challenges and the, the extreme fatigue that people are experiencing right now from potentially dealing with sick family members to being overworked. And that, that just doesn't go away.
Speaker 2:Right. Right. And the work-life separation is much harder when you're at home. Um, and so how, how do we transition back to kind of normal expectations for ourselves? And at a time when, when on the one hand we want a lot of what, what has been kind of discovered, or, or, or created during this last year, we think there's a lot of value to the institution to continue those things. So balancing that and figuring out what's the most sustainable way forward that that is a path forward and not a path backward, you know, that's, that's part of the challenge and part of what we're thinking about right now,
Speaker 1:Are you giving people the option to continue to work from home? Or is that expectation is everyone comes back to the office?
Speaker 2:At the moment, the college is wanting us to be primarily back in-person in early August. And, you know, as a residential campus, we do want to have that residential experience, uh, faculty, staff, and students together as a really, really rich experience that said, we're going to be having more conversations over the summer about what degree of remote work for which positions, how much of it might be possible. Not too long before the pandemic started. Carleton had, had changed its policy to allow one day a week of remote work for positions where that was a thing to offer. And, so we hadn't had very long living with that. Um, but we're, you know, we're, we're hoping to go back to at least that one day a week and perhaps a little more, um, you know, but we all want to be together and, and that sense of community and collegiality, you know, I know I've missed it and I know others have missed it as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's a big change from what the norm has been in higher ed.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. You know, we're all here because to one degree or another, we are all teachers, you know, we, we want to be supporting that academic endeavor. And we, you know, we really, really enjoy supporting these, these young people as they're going through this critical time in their life and supporting the faculty and the staff who support the students in that process. So we all want, we all want that, that part of it to get back to normal, to get that full sense of community and all those relationships. And we can, we've maintained quite a bit of that. We've really worked hard at that. Um, but it's, it's not quite the same.
Speaker 1:I completely get it. That it is, I don't know, if it will ever be quite the same. With everything that's happened, there's been some interesting articles coming out recently about how really society has changed from this. And it could take quite a long time to go back to how things were, I think it'll be interesting to see. And also, you know, I'm curious to see how expectations of faculty and staff and students are changing over time. I think the more we go to a remote world and the easier it is to access services online, the more people's expectations are that they can do anything online. And, you know, it's going to be fascinating to watch over the next few years, how that changes the whole, the whole higher ed and educational landscape.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I've also done a lot of also done some thinking about how this has changed our approach to learning new technologies. And there, there are learning theories about how much you can learn based on what you already know. You know that you can only stretch so far when you're learning new things. And we got stretched really, really far because we had to, and then kind of over time, some of that knowledge became integrated and became part of our knowledge base and part of our experience. And I think we learned a lot about how we learn. Being a technology person, I hear a lot from family, friends and others,"I'm not a technology person," as a way of kind of distancing themselves from how challenging it is sometimes to learn technology or how frustrating it can be when it doesn't work the way that you expect it to all the time. And I, and I think that one thing that we've really learned through this is that technology knowledge, isn't a binary. It's not something that either you have, or don't, it's something that you're continually developing and it will continue to change. And there will continue to be challenges where technology might be part of the solution. And there will be continued to be ways that technology can further the things that we, that we want to be doing. Um, and I, and I think that, that, that's an exciting way to think about it. You know, that we've learned a lot. There's more to learn world is going to keep changing and we're going to continue to be partners, helping our institutions move forward.
Speaker 1:I think that's a really great attitude, Janet. And I'm wondering as we wrap up our conversation today, if there's any last thoughts or recommendations that you have for your peers who are listening and thinking about and moving into the fall semester and continuing to, to build community and collaborate across campus.
Speaker 2:Well, I probably don't have anything to say that they're not already thinking about, but just, you know, it probably goes without saying that you should never waste a good crisis. And not that any of us would have wanted this particular one. And it's very difficult in many, many ways, obviously, but there are also some ways in which we've tried some new things and we've discovered some things that are successful during the pandemic that might continue to be successful. And, um, so I would just encourage people to pick some of those things that perhaps it might be a natural instinct to move back to the way you were, whether it's signing bills online. And it would be easy to go back to just signing them on paper. Like let's push ourselves to, to try to continue some of those, some of those changes that, that add value and, um, and to continue the sense of partnership and, the sense of communication that leads to shared endeavors and new discoveries. So just keep talking, I guess, is the bottom line for me.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much, Janet. Thanks for coming on top of mind with me today and for sharing all your thoughts.
Speaker 2:My pleasure, Katelyn, thank you very much.
Speaker 1:That concludes this episode of Tambellini's Top of Mind Podcast. Check back with us every month for a new and interesting discussion with a higher education technology thought leader. And don't forget to check out. Tambellini's free and member-only resources at thetambellinigroup.com.