Remote Instruction, Student Services, Tech Support + Communication

Good morning colleagues, 

I’d like to congratulate you all on your hard work and achievement over the last few days. It’s been remarkable to see you all come together to tackle such a huge challenge. Here are a few things you should know as we move to 100% remote instruction and support services today:

WORKING FROM HOME

The district has prepared a guide to working from home which includes technical support and answers to some frequently asked questions. I strongly encourage you to read it.  

HOURLY EMPLOYEES

If hourly employees are able to work from home, by all means, they should. If they were scheduled to work on campus but now cannot, they should still enter those hours so that they can be paid. Managers, please use your discretion.

REMOTE INSTRUCTION HELP

Our distance education task force has also put together a fantastic collection of remote instruction resources, including live tech support, twelve hours a day. I could never adequately thank Michael Kilivris, Maritez Apigo, Anthony Gordon, Mónica Landeros and every single person who has volunteered to provide support, but do know I will try. This is an incredible response, and we are lucky to have you all. 

STUDENT SERVICES

Nearly all student services will be operational while we go remote. An exception is the food pantry, which will be directing students to other providers who distribute food from the same source. 

Our other student services will be answering their phone lines remotely, except for admissions and records, which lacks capacity at this time. The Welcome Center will be taking general line calls, doing triage and directing students to the appropriate parties. So, please direct students in need to 510.215.4110. They will be aided by a team from HSI-STEM. I would like to thank them all, in advance, for meeting this challenge. 

UPDATE YOUR INFORMATION

Our staff directory is critical at this time. Please make sure your contact information is up-to-date by signing in to InSite and selecting Settings, then Update Phone Directory.

STUDENTS WITHOUT INTERNET ACCESS

We are doing everything we can to help students stay in school (including some initiatives we hope to announce shortly). Those who lack Internet access can for now be directed to Comcast’s Internet Essentials program, which has made Wi-Fi free for 60 days to low-income people during this crisis, and the California Connects Mobile Internet program, which offers high-speed internet for $19.99 / month. 

The CCC Foundation’s wrap-around fund has been used, in the past, for students to get internet access. A reminder of that process:

These are small grants of up to $500 to assist students who are encountering an unforeseen financial emergency or life event.
 
Students must be enrolled in a minimum of 6 units and have a completed financial aid application (FAFSA or Dream Act) with Contra Costa College for the semester in which the application is submitted.
 
We need your referral. If you know of a student in need, please send an email to Mia Henderson-Bonilla at mhendersonbonilla@contracosta.edu and include the following:
 
a.            Student Name
b.            Student ID number
c.             A brief description/statement confirming knowledge of who the student is, and the financial need.
 
Once this happens, Mia will invite the student via e-mail to apply for these funds w/in 24 hours.
 
Students will then fill out a very short application describing need.
 
Goal is if the student qualifies (85% of your referrals do), we will get them this support within 7 business days.

STUDENT TECHNICAL SUPPORT

We have also found some preliminary sources of help with Canvas and Zoom. Katie Krolikowski has also created a very useful video showing students how to access Canvas. A slightly edited version will be shared with students today, as well. Thank you to Katie and Kelly Ramos for helping put this all together.

WITHDRAWALS

We are also attempting to mitigate the academic and financial consequences if students have to withdraw. Please have any student considering withdrawal contact Catherine Frost at cfrost@contracosta.edu before they do. 

COMMUNICATION TO STUDENTS

If you are an instructor, you should have already contacted your students about how to access their class. If you need guidance on this, please contact Jason Berner, Dean of Liberal Arts, and/or the distance education task force.

Both the district and our marketing department are also regularly texting students to keep them informed.

We hope to replace the current website landing page with one focused on helping students access classes and student services during the stay-home order and its aftermath. It will be updated regularly. Much of our direct communication with students will then be derived from that content.

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION

We are going to be updating employees daily, and constantly reaching out to students. If you have any corrections, or there is something you feel we have missed, please contact Larry Womack in marketing. He’s at lwomack@contracosta.edu.

THANK YOU

You have all blown me away with your caring, resilience and ingenuity in facing these challenges. You’re an incredible team to work with.

Let’s keep working together and we will get through this together!

-dab