Student Connection, Engagement, and Support During Online Learning By Molly Shea
A DSHA education is more than facts, concepts, coursework, and a rigorous college-prep curriculum. It is about young women finding a place that affirms they are created in the image and likeness of God. It is about being known by teachers, counselors, pastoral staff, administration, and the sisterhood that is only possible in an all-girls environment. It is about finding passion and purpose in the company of a supportive, Catholic community. Over the course of the spring semester of 2020, DSHA learned that while better together, this unique education — at its true core — is still possible when required to be physically apart because of a dedicated faculty and staff, unwilling to settle in order to meet students in their evolving needs.
PART I:
THE
STAT E
OF
THE
STUDENTS
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n Thursday afternoon, March 12, the entire TSC (all faculty and staff) gathered in the Robert and Marie Hansen Family Fine Arts Theatre to discuss what had quickly become a national news story. COVID-19 felt foreign to most the week prior, but was now very likely going to affect the day to day of how students, faculty, and staff would interact and move forward in the coming weeks.
FOCUS ON STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES “Here is what we know,” shared Academic Dean Dr. Heather Mansfield to the group. “If — and likely when — we move into online instruction in the coming days or weeks, we are going to focus on student learning outcomes. These will not change. How we accomplish this is going to change and that is okay.” Mansfield went on to share the vision that she and the academic administration had been discussing earlier in the week while monitoring the fluidity of circumstances: these pre-determined goals for each department, each class, would require a shift in terms of how they would be accomplished, but students should complete the semester with the same general knowledge and understanding of concepts as previously planned.
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“These outcomes will drive all of our choices around content and materials,” she shared. “We may not be able to cover everything that would have been covered. Decisions will be made by prioritizing intentional, focused-learning experiences versus work for the sake of keeping students occupied.” But this would only happen if all decisions were filtered through the established theme set for the balance of the semester: Student Connection, Engagement, and Support. The following day, Friday, March 13, was the last day of classes on campus for students across Wisconsin; after four days
