To say it’s been in a challenging time for online students is to understate the impact of academic isolation.
Academia is a place to build upon social relationships and explore unfurling dreams. As students grow, they encounter different types of stressors on their social and emotional health. Student support online can make all the difference for someone who is feeling overwhelmed in their experience.
Supporting students in this era means delivering unconditional positive regard and socio-emotional learning.
In order to offer students the opportunity to thrive, a student software platform was created by the SSA. This software combines the effective practices of consistent support with empathy, direction, and fulfillment. This safety net can mean the difference between a semester of progress or a lapse in curricular necessity.
It’s hard to know where to begin when we sit down and comb through the damage distance learning has done on your student’s previous years of success. But, it is crucial to remember that they are not alone.
With student engagement at an all-time low, this student mentoring platform has created a nest. Read on to learn more about helping your students develop trust and confidence within themselves and their support systems.
Support Online Students
The Student Success Agency (SSA) strives to highlight students’ autonomy and inspire them to follow their passions while building resilience. With SSA, each student has a personal agent who can support their access to reach their goals through socio-emotional learning activities.
Whether it’s academic accountability, interpersonal relationships, or community work and service, a student having a designated person they can go to when they need support is a tremendous win.
When you picture student success, what do you see? Ideally, it is a network of environmental stability that encourages students’ needs and goals. This support system helps create actionable steps. Through digital infrastructure, communicating with students becomes that much easier.
The core of SSA revolves around fostering the space for students to identify their strengths. In this space, they build a working relationship in which the student feels comfortable reaching out for an extra layer of guidance. Just learning how to ask for help is the biggest part of the hurdle.
When your students are taught how to reach out for support, they begin to flourish. Many adolescents can feel shame and guilt around asking for help. Especially if the family dynamics at home don’t foster a space for learning.
SSA is equipped to assist schools that have high populations of low-income families and students who have areas for growth in their life at home. SSA can assist your students with finding scholarships and the application process. All from the same student counseling platform.
The Network
Advisers, counselors, and other support systems at schools are overwhelmed.
There is an obvious imbalance in student to instructor support ratio.
SSA steps in to implement one on one case management by providing students the space to feel seen, heard, and received. This cycle creates a solid system. It encourages students to seek the guidance necessary to maintain and exceed their grade level threshold.
COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the public school system. Between teacher shortages and inaccessible learning, many students fell behind on their studies. Students across the US experienced deterioration of their safety net and support systems when schools closed their doors during the pandemic.
The process of adjusting to online learning has been an unimaginable hurdle for many students.
Many teens report increased feelings of isolation and trouble maintaining what they have learned on their own. SSA comes to its aid to partner with entire school districts and individual schools to offer support to its students. Students have access to a plethora of SSA resources online.
This includes tutoring, homework support, standardized testing, and preparation for student matriculation. It offers coping strategies to adjust to an at-home learning environment. Many students have mental health supports in place, and SSA has created a counseling service to make students’ needs more accessible.
A licensed clinical social worker is on staff to oversee all concerns and areas of necessity. Students can feel held in their most vulnerable moments by a team of dedicated professionals who can step in to offer other areas of support. And an on-staff attorney can help support students in finding resources for navigating healthy relationships at home.
Safety & Case Management
The SSA tech department plays an enormous role in maintaining digital safety on a student success platform. SSA agents have worked hard to build rapport with their students in one on one environments. This makes them one of the best-suited people to assist students who are experiencing a mental health crisis.
Agents go through special training and are provided with a mental health guide that acts as a resource in moments of vulnerability. Agents also have a safety hotline available to them that is on-demand and available to students should they need in-the-moment support.
The beautiful thing about humans is that we are unique in our ability to draw from our experiences and form our purpose and hopes. Each student presents a novel set of strengths, behaviors, and needs. Because of that, each singular student’s case plan is fine-tuned specifically for them.
COVID-19 has presented an unprecedented level of limits. SSA has stepped in to soften the negative impacts of the ongoing pandemic. The long-term intention is not just to keep students’ heads above water but to support them to thrive. Academically, socially and to engage in safe, meaningful relationships in their lives.
A little bit of mindfulness can go a long way, especially for students who are transitioning from middle school to high school. When we lead by example and facilitate time and space to be mindful, it becomes a part of our daily routine. For many students, it is something to rely on, and SSA plays a significant role in maintaining that sacred space.
Monday through Friday, the CEO of SSA hosts a zoom call for students. A place to practice mindfulness, engage in study hall or connect with other peers and agents. They have that time available to them to use how they see fit.
Enrichment
One of the most important pieces of adolescence is finding purpose in joy in your academic world.
Whether it’s an environmental club, a community role, or a leadership position at school, students thrive with enrichment development. In the functioning world, they’re better equipped to handle difficult scenarios. The ones that arise after they’ve flown the coop.
With SSA, your students will gain exposure to their own communities. They have the opportunity to begin networking with other schools, programs, and students. This level of exposure can offer so much perspective about what it’s like to live in a melting pot world.
Drawing from the experiences of peers and their community, collective progress can be the most important teacher of all. With shadowing opportunities and internships, there’s no limit to the pathway your student can walk. The long-term goal is to foster your students establishing self-sufficient, accountable, and community-centered ethos.
Your students aren’t the only ones who benefit from these enrichment opportunities. You have a school full of teachers and assistants that need support, too. Your staff has access to this network of agents, supporting their ability to collaborate.
And to share experiences to give your students a more one-on-one approach. With staff support, your team can increase their efficiency and production.
The dream of every teacher is to have those simple but powerful support systems. And when it comes to feedback, consistent student check-ins and advising and give teachers a birdseye view. Especially the parts they may miss as they serve overflowing classrooms.
Promoting the evolution of your student’s view and place of the world is an investment that returns over and over again. These invaluable layers guide our young leaders into their shining moments and ensure that they are not alone when they arrive.
Aiding Student Support Online
It is crucial to combine assistance like student support online through socio-emotional learning activities and engagement. SSA makes way for an upswing of valuable progress with space to flourish. There is no student who won’t benefit from a few extra hands.
While it has been a tough couple of years for students, SSA continues to stand by its core mission. To seek the best ways to support those who are in a vulnerable place in the academic world.
If you’re ready to learn more about how SSA can serve your students, connect with us and let us guide you through this important work.
