Taking Long Night Online Part 3: Collaboration and Programming

A Long Night vision is nothing without a team willing to carry it out. Thus, collaboration with those with similar departmental missions is essential. This month we discuss choosing and communicating with potential collaborators. How should we decide who to work with and how to get things done?

Southwestern University | Dr. Jennifer Marciniak

SU’s LNAP began with a collaboration between the library, the writing center, and Center for Academic Success. In 2020, we invited Mosaic, a program that promotes cross-department collaboration to increase engagement opportunities and access to campus resources, to join us.  

Planning For Online Programming

When SU announced in mid-March that we were moving online, the LNAP collaborators had to make some tough decisions. Honestly, as director of the writing center, I was fine with canceling the event. We had so many other more pressing challenges. However, our newest collaborator Lisa Dela Cruz, director of Mosaic, pushed us to take LNAP online. “I knew we would need to work through the logistics of using an online platform,” Lisa said. “But the purpose of the event felt more important than ever.”

When the collaborators met to discuss the feasibility of moving the event online, we realized two things. First, that Lisa was right. And, second, the event’s mission shifted from accountability to retention. “The vision of the original face-to-face Long Night was very much about accountability in writing and studying” said Renee Burrell, Academic Success coordinator. “However, with an online format, and keeping social distancing in mind, this vision needed to change and instead focus more on providing students with encouragement.” 

Of course, the collaborators had (a lot of) concerns. Attendance, last-minute marketing, and student buy-in weighed heavily. “I thought (a virtual LNAP) was an interesting concept,” said Theresa Zelasko, SU’s Outreach & Information Literacy librarian. “I knew students would think so, too, but I did worry a little about whether or not they would actually attend.” 

In the end, SU’s virtual LNAP was considered a success. More than 40 students attended, which for a small liberal arts college (SLAC) with a population of 1400 is considered an excellent turnout. Lisa’s main takeaway was that students “tuned in” to the event just to be in solidarity with their peers. “With all of our students finishing the semester virtually, this program provided a powerful opportunity for our students to come together and feel a sense of community and togetherness,” said Lisa. Theresa agreed. “It was a kind of relief to see everyone's faces, even if it was via Zoom.” 

Official SU Long Night stickers were mailed to all raffle winners. Previously, they were given away to all participants at the F2F LNAP events.

Collaboration and Programming: Pro Tips from the SU Collaborators

Choose Your Friends Wisely  “Collaborate with anyone and any groups on your campus that support student academic success,” said Theresa. “A new thing we did was inviting faculty that students really admire to be available for particular segments of the event schedule to provide answers to any questions students may have regarding a particular subject like Economics or Mathematics.” 

Balance Fun and Academics  “Balance serious academic advice with ample time for brain breaks, games, and casual peer interactions,” said Renee. “Our students really valued opportunities to connect in unstructured break out rooms. Utilize peer mentors (academic coaches) or other student leaders -- like our Mosaic Ambassadors -- to identify games that college students would most enjoy.”

Simplicity is Best  “Make prizes exciting and choose prizes that are easy to deliver (via mail or email),” said Renee. “Also, consider offering some physical activity, (e.g. head, shoulders, knees, and toes, song and movement), in the main conference meeting once students return from break out rooms to help break up all the time discussing and taking in information.”

Nevada State College |  Alena Principato, Dr. Rachel Herzl-Betz, Hannah Guenthoer 

This post was co-written by Alena Principato (Marydean Martin Library Outreach & Engagement Librarian), Rachel Herzl-Betz (Writing Center Assistant Director), and Hannah Guenthoer (Writing Specialists and Events Team lead).

Finding Collaborators

In the early months of 2020, the Writing Center was gearing up for the most collaborative LNAP yet. On March 3rd, the Events team met with campus organizations interested in being involved with our Spring event. As a planning team, we had never been so proactive.

After the shift to virtual instruction, the Writing Center created a survey to gauge interest from the event’s five most recent co-organizers. Even with the changes in technology, staffing, and student engagement, the Marydean Martin Library was ready to collaborate. 

Two of eight survey questions sent to potential LNAP collaborators

Planning for Online Programming 

Once our community of organizers had been established, the Writing Center student leaders met to create a rough event proposal, so the Library would have ideas on which to build. As a group, we decided to offer 1-on-1 consultations in multiple formats, the Youtube Livestream space, and resources, all embedded in the digital brochure. 

For the Library, participation made sense on several fronts. LNAP was a great opportunity to promote virtual consultation and chat services and reinforce to students that they had access to a high level of research support even in the virtual environment. Most of all, the Library wanted to connect with students and communicate that the team was still there to help.

Alena Principato, the Outreach & Engagement Librarian, had implemented an LNAP program at another university, and she brought that expertise to NSC’s event. It was particularly visible in marketing strategy, where the library increased the event’s visibility via flyers, digital signage, and staff promotion, as well as website advertisement. For the virtual event, the library’s promotional graphic included staff photos with the idea that students would be more likely to ask for help if they saw the organizers as friendly and approachable.

The “Library Help” image from the LNAP online brochure.  

Looking back on the Collaboration

In retrospect, several elements of collaboration were essential to the event’s success. Our shared efforts made the programming we chose (such as the Youtube Livestream) more effective and allowed us to focus on the most important elements of the event. We also successfully advertised each other’s services, so it was clear how both organizations were valued as event partners.

For future LNAP events, we would like to take more time to educate the campus community. Shifting to a virtual event (of course due to circumstances out of our control) posed challenges. In the future we would have more time to spread the word and communicate why students should engage with the virtual event. It may have been difficult for new students to know what to expect, especially if they had not participated in an in-person LNAP before.

Conclusion

Cross-campus collaboration represents one of the largest gaps between the remote LNAP events at our two schools. At Southwestern, Spring 2020 offered a chance for new organizations to join the process, whereas, at Nevada State, it became an opportunity to clarify a single collaboration. In both cases, we learned to allow our remote LNAPs to become their own events, rather than simply recreating previous semesters online. 

Questions to consider: Which campus collaborators make the most sense for your remote events? How do you hope to work with them to reshape programming for your campus? The sooner you start reaching out, the more time you have to prepare your vision and shape your programming.

Author Bios

Dr. Jennifer Marciniak is the Director of the Debby Ellis Writing Center at Southwestern University. She earned her PhD in Rhetoric and Composition from the University of Louisville and began her writing center career at Berea College. She is from South Texas, and her research interests focus on oil and gas worker literacy practices. She was a first generation college student, and has personal and professional interests in working-class studies.

Dr. Rachel Herzl-Betz is the Writing Center Assistant Director and  English Instructor at Nevada State College. She earned her PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and began her writing center career at Carleton College. She’s originally from northern Wisconsin, and her research focuses on the intersections between disability, writing center studies, and educational access. 

Alena Principato is the Outreach & Engagement Librarian at Nevada State College. She earned her MSLS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she received the Carolina Academic Library Associate scholarship. She enjoys finding creative ways to collaborate with stakeholders across campus and increase awareness about what the library offers.

Hannah Guenthoer is a first gen, undergrad tutor studying Criminal Justice with a minor in counseling at Nevada State College. She has been working at the Writing Center since 2018 and has been on the Events team ever since. Hannah’s research focuses on identity, queer bodies within writing center spaces, and training regarding microagressions based on one’s identity.