College During COVID: What are the best practices for serving students while working remotely?

Today's College During COVID question is: What are the best practices for serving students while working remotely?

Make sure students can still reach you while working remotely. Checking emails may not be enough. As students are trying to get overrides or find out which classes they need to take, they are frequently reporting difficulty with reaching departments and individuals on campus who are now working remotely. This makes sense. Although we are all checking emails throughout the day, many of us may not have office phones forwarded or be checking departmental voicemail. Please take a few minutes to follow these best practices to ensure students have access to the resources and individuals they need to succeed this semester.

Best practices

Update your voicemail greeting

Please ensure that you have a message on your voicemail indicating the best way for students to reach you. Is there a best time, best method, when can they expect to hear back from you? Can they leave a message, will you be checking it? Information about changing your voicemail greeting.

Set up call forwarding

Please don’t forget to include departmental phones and voicemail. It is also possible to check messages through your google email or to forward your office phone to your cell or home phone. Information about call forwarding.

Take calls with Jabber

You can also download Jabber a free software through IT that allows your home computer or laptop to function as your office or department phone. During times that you are working, you can receive incoming calls the same as if you were in your office. Information about Jabber.

Update your department website

It is also a good idea to update department websites with information on how students can reach you during this time. If email is going to be the main source of communication then consider an autoreply that lets students know when they can expect an answer to their response if it will not be within a day. Please remember to always update your email with out of office replies when you will not be responding.

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College During COVID is a straightforward guide to UAA’s operations during the ongoing pandemic. Look for a new edition in every issue of Seawolf Daily and Seawolf Students.

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Access additional resources, FAQs and more at uaa.alaska.edu/covid19. For student-specific resources, visit the College During COVID Support & Resources website.

August Archive