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Unbury the Treasure: Practical Strategies for Student Support Within and Outside of the Classroom
Posted by anne.grey
Presented By: Lauren Hull, Full-Time Geography Instructor and Co-Chair of the Geography SAC.
Summary
This Anderson Conference session shares practical strategies for helping students find and use the support available to them without overwhelming them with information. Lauren Hull examines common barriers students face, including difficulty locating resources, balancing school with work and family responsibilities, navigating technology, understanding course expectations, and knowing when or how to ask for help.
The session begins with strategies instructors can use before a course starts. Hull recommends personalizing basic-needs statements, providing transparent course details, and using frequently asked questions to break important information into manageable sections. She also discusses placing student support resources near the beginning of the syllabus rather than burying them at the end, helping students encounter that information before a challenge arises.
Hull demonstrates ways to make early course activities more purposeful. A syllabus scavenger hunt can ask students to locate policies, accommodations, mental health resources, technology assistance, textbooks, deadlines, and other important information. These activities give students practice finding resources before they need them.
The presentation also focuses on maintaining connection throughout the term. Weekly check-in surveys can give students a lower-barrier way to communicate questions, challenges, and concerns. Mid-course evaluations allow instructors to respond to student feedback while the course is still happening. Hull also demonstrates D2L tools such as Intelligent Agents and Class Progress, which can help instructors identify missing work, monitor engagement, send reminders, and begin supportive conversations with students.
Supporting students also requires sustainable workflows for instructors. Hull recommends scheduling dedicated times to review student progress, using reusable communication templates, maintaining records of outreach, and automating appropriate reminders. These approaches can help faculty provide consistent support while recognizing their own workload, limits, and need for well-being.
The session closes by encouraging faculty and staff to notice the parts of their work that bring them joy. Student feedback, meaningful connections, professional learning communities, and reminders of past successes can help educators reconnect with the purpose of their work while continuing to develop responsive approaches to student support.
Slides: Unbury the Treasure Resources & Templates
Presentation outcomes
- Identify common barriers that can make it difficult for students to locate, understand, and use support resources.
- Use course details pages, personalized basic-needs statements, FAQs, and resource-forward syllabi to make support more visible.
- Develop meaningful course introduction activities that help students locate important policies and resources.
- Use surveys and check-ins to maintain communication and gather student feedback throughout the term.
- Explore D2L Intelligent Agents and Class Progress as tools for monitoring engagement and providing proactive student support.
- Use communication templates, scheduled progress reviews, and other workflows to make student outreach more sustainable.
- Approach student progress information as an opportunity for inquiry, connection, and support rather than simply as a monitoring tool.
- Reflect on faculty well-being, empathy fatigue, and practices that help educators reconnect with joy and purpose in their work.