Technology Services Supports Students in Online Transition

Technology Services has worked diligently over the last several weeks to ensure Meredith students, faculty, and staff were equipped, prepared, and supported for our transition to fully online instruction.

A few of the ways that we have assisted our students is by:

1. Developing a Student Resource Guide (available via PDF and on a MyMeredith page) that provides students with all the tools, training, and resources available to successfully prepare for a fully online course load.
2. Providing laptops to students who do not have access t@meredith_techo a laptop at home. Technology Services and Media Services worked together to prep and administer loaner laptops so that students could continue their coursework online.
3. Negotiating with our software providers so that students could install software for their coursework at no additional cost to the student. Software included: the full Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, AutoCAD, Revit, Finale, SPSS, SAS, and more.
4. Providing technical and classroom support through scheduled one-on-one zoom calls and email (techsupport@meredith.edu).
5. Keeping our students informed through social media posts that include infographics and how-to tutorials developed by our STAT team (Student Technology and Training Team). If you wish to see these posts you can follow us on Instagram: @meredith_tech and Facebook: Meredith College Technology Services).
6. Upgrading our access points across campus to build stronger and better connections to our network across campus when students return.

Not only have we been supporting our students, but we have also been supporting faculty so that they could also transition to fully online instruction successfully. The IDAT team has been providing training to instructors for a myriad of instructional technologies, and the various features in Brightspace, such as discussion board, web conferencing, video assignments and publisher integrations. Doing so translates into an online space where students are engaged and learning continuity is assured.

The IDAT Team members have also been supporting Meredith students by developing resources and providing them with relevant information on tools such as Zoom web conferencing via posts on MyMeredith and announcements on the college’s Learning Management System, Brightspace.

Along with these additional resources, we also realize that students may continue to receive mail. Therefore, the Mail Room staff have been coming in to process mail for the campus and ensuring that students and employees remaining on campus continue to receive their mail.  For the students who are no longer on campus, the Mail Room staff is forwarding all mail and packages to the student’s home address.