Zoe Welsh arrived at Stetson University in January as a transfer student and, two months later, she’s back home in Chicago taking her courses online.

Amid the unprecedented changes of the worldwide coronavirus outbreak, Welsh said her transition to online classes has been pretty smooth. But she still talked by phone this week for a little help from Stetson’s Academic Success Center.

Welsh said she needed help choosing her classes for fall registration. She wanted to continue her tutoring in History. And she wanted to set up a minor in Marketing, along with her major in Computer Information Systems.

“They provided an over-the-phone meeting that lasted about a half hour that was very, very helpful,” said Welsh, also a goalkeeper on the Stetson Women’s Soccer team. “I feel more confident now on how to use my Degree Audit and how to look up what classes to take.”

All services from Academic Success are now available online for students, including Academic Advising, Tutoring and Student Peer Instruction, Success Coaching, Accessibility services and Athletics Academic Services.

The office has been receiving more questions than usual about advising, but that’s typical during registration time, said Jennifer Wayne ’20, a Marketing major and Academic Advising Student Affairs intern in the office.

“Other areas of Academic Success that are quite popular for students right now are the Tutoring and SPI (Student Peer Instruction) sessions, hosted online through Microsoft Teams,” she wrote in an email. “Since classes are still in session, many students are utilizing these services in order to do well.

“We would like to encourage more students to utilize the services in order to see them succeed in their online classes this semester,” she said.

Tutoring and Student Peer Instruction are available for a wide range of classes, including Accounting, Business Statistics, Economics, Math and Physics, and Computer Science, and from tutors in the Writing Center. 

Success Coaching offers strategies and tips with time management, reading and studying, as well as helpful handouts and online resources. “Strategies for Online Learning” gives 10 quick tips for time management, checking email and blocking out time to work on coursework.

Welsh, who is on lockdown with her family in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, said students who need academic support and services during the pandemic should take advantage of the ones offered online.

“For other students struggling with this change, the best advice I can give them is to know that everyone in our country right now is going through the same thing they are,” she said. “They are not alone.”

For more information or to schedule services, visit the Academic Success website, email [email protected] or call (386) 822-7345.

-Cory Lancaster