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Theoretical Scenario Response – Advising During COVID-19

Mariah Emark

Higher Education and Student Affairs: Northern Illinois University

HESA 562: Helping Skills for Student Affairs Professionals

Katy Jaekel, Ph.D.

November 9th, 2022

Theoretical Scenario Response – Advising During COVID-19

Introduction

In higher education programs, it is important to not only learn about and discuss what it is

like to work in the field and what kind of practitioners we want to become, but it is also

important to analyze scenarios and either role play through them or to give a theoretical

response. These role plays or responses help us develop proper etiquette in dealing with specific

situations that we may not have encountered yet, but likely will at some point in our career. Not

only does this help us respond and perform better in our careers, but it also helps us identify who

we want to be as practitioners.

This paper will serve as one of these developmental responses to a scenario. The scenario

I have chosen is centered around advising during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically within

those first few weeks of March 2020. I am contacted by a student who is concerned about the

university’s switch to online learning because they had previously taken an online course and

failed. They want to talk about the situation, and even offered to meet with me in person in my

office on-campus even though they know the university has made it clear that students should

not be coming to campus. The course they had failed previously was a general education course,

and this semester they are taking two major-related courses and two general education courses.

My Method

I would begin addressing this situation by responding to the student’s email in which I

would thank them for reaching out to me and would let them know that I am more than happy to

meet so I can help them come up with a game plan for managing their online courses. I would

also gently remind them that as the university is not allowing students to come to campus, our

meeting will have to be conducted virtually, and I would provide the link to my online meeting
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scheduler with instructions on how to use it. I would close the email off with encouraging

phrases such as “we will figure this out together” and “I am looking forward to meeting with

you” so the student is left with feelings of support and validation from me.

I would have two main goals for our meeting – first, I would want the student to be able

to express their concerns and worries freely and I would approach with empathy. Meaning, I

want to be sure that this student feels understood and supported. My second goal is to prioritize

their education. They are coming to this university for their learning, and they have set up this

meeting with me because they are concerned about their learning in an online setting, therefore I

want to ensure that we collectively come up with a game-plan for handling their online courses.

Maybe this means active learning by turning on their camera and participating in class discussion

by unmuting. Maybe this means showing up, listening, and taking notes instead of being actively

involved. Either of these outcomes are possibilities depending on the needs of the student and the

ways they learn best.

I would also encourage them to meet with me as frequently as they feel they need to in

order to gain support and track progress. Of course, as an advisor I will continue to keep my

students in the loop on new university policies surrounding the pandemic, but it is important to

keep a transparent form of communication open. In the early pandemic we saw policies change

overnight and large-scale decisions having to be made on the fly in order to do what was best for

the university as a whole, so being open about the uncertainty is important to show that I am

dedicated to this student’s success.

Additionally, if the opportunity were to arise, I would recommend to this student to stay

as involved socially as possible. This could mean setting up virtual hang-outs or game nights

with their friends, or joining organizations that were able to move their operations online. Being
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involved or having a sense of belonging is crucial to the success of students during their

academic journeys, and this is even more crucial in an online setting. I recognize that I cannot be

the sole source of this student’s support on campus, so ensuring that they have a network of

social relationships will allow for them to feel support from many people that will foster their

sense of belonging.

Throughout our meeting and our following meetings, I will be using several tools to

guide me. Though this is not an exclusive list, these are the main micro-counseling skills and

theories that I would use to guide my practice: listening, developing goals and action-plans,

Hettler’s Model of Wellness, and Astin’s Theory of Student Involvement.

Micro-Counseling Skills

Listening

Listening as a micro-counseling skill is defined by Reynolds as “…slowing down and

making an intentional decision to focus on the student rather than the long to-do list at the office”

(2009). In this scenario, instead of a to-do list, I would choose to focus on the student instead of

issues that have arisen due to the pandemic, or the pandemic itself.

Listening is the first and most important step in practicing empathy, and because I always

want to lead my helping with empathy, it is vital that I always begin by listening. In this

scenario, this will provide this student with the space to express their concerns freely while

knowing that I fully support them and that I am here to do what I can to help. Establishing this

support is even more important in the context of the pandemic as I want to ensure that this

student does not feel isolated in the online world and instead feels empowered to contact me

when they need assistance.

Developing Goals and Action-Plans

Developing goals and action-plans is defined by Reynolds as “aid[ing] [the student] in

identifying and specifying goals that can alleviate [their] dilemma” (2009). Making sure the

student feels as though they have a plan of action for their online courses is essential in this

situation. This is their primary concern for contacting me and I want to protect their educational

journey at all costs.

While I can make the previously mentioned suggestions to this student on how to

approach their classes, ultimately it must be up to them to come up with a plan that feels right for

their needs. I can assess the situation and make my recommendations, but the student knows

themselves and their needs best, and this is why it is important for them to come up with their

action-plan. They need to fully believe in it in order to remain dedicated to it during such

unprecedented times.

Student Development Theories

Hettler’s Model of Wellness

According to Long, “Hettler defined wellness as a state of complete physical, mental, and

social well-being” (2012, p. 50). Hettler’s model highlights six main areas of a student’s life:

physical, intellectual, social and emotional, spiritual, environmental, and occupational (Long,

2012). Each of these areas need to be in balance in order for a student to “…fully experience

learning and development that is positive, healthy, and complex” (Long, 2012, p. 50).

In this scenario, I would initially be the most concerned with working on the intellectual

and environmental components of this theory. The intellectual component deals with the

student’s commitment to active learning. This is where helping the student to come up with an

action plan would be beneficial. The environmental component deals with the student’s physical

environment as well as their sense of belonging. This is why I would offer to meet with the
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student as much as they need, while also recommending to them to strengthen their network of

friends and connections in the virtual space.

Astin’s Theory of Student Involvement

According to Long, “Astin proposed that students are more academically and socially

proficient the more they are involved in the academic and social aspects of college life” (2012, p.

51). Essentially, the more time and effort students put into their college experiences, the more

they will get out of it because they are wholistically investing themselves – both physically and

emotionally (Long, 2016).

This is, again, where developing an action-plan and strengthening the student’s network

on campus comes into play. This will help the student remain invested in their education even

through the hardships they will face during the pandemic years. This is vital to the quality of

their learning as well as their overall quality of a college experience.

Scholarly Research

There is scholarly research which also supports my response to the student and my plan

for supporting them, not only in my approach with micro-counseling skills and student

development theories, but also as a professional who is being forced to pivot my interactions and

adapt quickly. During this time “students [needed] more support than ever as they face[d] new

stressors around their mental [and] social health” (Bouchey, B., Gratz, E., & Kurland, S., 2021,

p. 31) which highlighted the importance of “…staff who are adept at change management and

those that keep up with the evolving nature of education” (Bouchey, B., Gratz, E., & Kurland, S.,

2021, p. 38)

During this time, it was important to remain calm, go back to the basics of your helping

skills and trust your university to make the right call. As pointed out buy Lui, et al, “crises, like
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the COVID-19 pandemic, are high impact events that often strip an organization to its core

values” (2022, p 353) so going back to the basics will always be the most important. This is

where leading with empathy and remaining transparent with my students will be the most

important. I want to ensure that I am staying true to myself and the university in the work that I

do, while also keeping up good relationships with my students. My “…highest ethical

responsibility [would be to] protect the health and safety of [the] community” (Lui, et al., 2022,

p. 362) while also maintaining my dedication to their education.

Considerations

I believe that it is important to note that while I have been able to come up with what I

believe to be an appropriate response to this student based on theory and research, I do feel as

though I have a slight advantage having had lived through the pandemic. Additionally, I was

working at my alma mater’s International Student and Scholar Services during this specific time

of the pandemic, so I witnessed first-hand the university’s response to the pandemic. I was also

often an important communicator of these changes as I staffed our front desk and any time a

student would come in with questions, I would be the one to relay information to them. So, not

only was my response based in theory and in research, but there is a component of my own

experience in my response as well.

Conclusion

I want to be the kind of student affairs professional who will lead my work with empathy

and do what I can to assist my students and their development. In times of crisis, such as the

COVID-19 pandemic, I would continue to do so while also strictly following my university’s

guide on handling the situation while trusting my fundamental beliefs as a practioner. In this

particular scenario, I would respond to the student with empathy and provide any resources I can
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while remaining transparent about the unfortunate situation we are finding ourselves to be in. My

goal when working with the student is two-fold, make sure they feel supported, safe, and cared

for and prioritize their education. As long as I am able to accomplish that, then I would feel

satisfied with my response.

References

Bouchey, B., Gratz, E., & Kurland, S. (2021). Remote Student Support during COVID-19:

Perspectives of Chief Online Officers in Higher Education. Online Learning, 25(1), 28–

40.

Liu, B. F., Shi, D., Lim, J. R., Islam, K., Edwards, A. L., & Seeger, M. (2022). When Crises Hit

Home: How U.S. Higher Education Leaders Navigate Values During Uncertain

Times. Journal of Business Ethics, 179(2), 353–368. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-

04820-5

Long, D. (2012). Theories and models of student development. In L. J. Hinchliffe & M. A. Wong

(Eds.), Environments for student growth and development: Librarians and student affairs

in collaboration (pp. 41-55). Chicago: Association of College & Research Libraries.

Reynolds, A. L. (2009). Helping college students: Developing essential support skills for student

affairs practice. Jossey-Bass.