What happens when a global crisis suddenly hits the world and everything shuts down? Well, if you are part of the COBE advising team, you put your heads together, innovate and come up with ways to continue to serve the COBE students at the highest level.
In March, most campus personnel were asked to work from home. Immediately, our advising team came up with innovative ways to link students to electronic sign-ins so that they could either do email advising or set up Zoom/Google hangout advising. The response from the COBE advising team was quick, decisive and flexible; and daily challenges were remedy in the best interest of our students.
Not only did we face challenges of advising for enrollment for the summer and fall, we also taught organizational and study skills and counseled students who were unsure and even afraid. We fielded numerous questions about pass/fail grade options, handling online classes and using Zoom. we also worked closely with students with regards to mental health and COVID resources on campus. Each advisor on the team went above and beyond any expectation by wearing many hats during this quick transition.
From March 16 to December 7, COBE Advising Services has completed 3735 appointments for continuing students, 649 orientation appointments for students starting at Boise State in the fall 2020 and removed 3769 advising holds. During this same time, the team also processed more than 700 COBE admission applications, updated curriculum sheets and met with many prospective students.
From virtual classroom visits to informative videos, the COBE advising team reached our students and helped them get advising. Plus, phone calls were made to students who didn’t check in online.
So, what happens when a global crisis suddenly hits the world and everything shuts down? The best advising team around put their heads together, innovated, created and accomplished a massive task that kept our students moving forward.