ROUND OUNDUP www.theroundupnews.com
A FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLICATION
Productive during the pandemic Classes impacted Woodland Hills, California
Volume 132 - Issue 6
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Student workers are now expected to complete their tasks from home amid campus closure
Katya Castillo / Roundup Natalie Albizo kneels by Natalamb at the Pierce College Farm in Woodland Hills, Calif., on April 3, 2020. BY ANDREA PEÑA
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he definition of an essential worker varies across the country, but Pierce College is taking those roles seriously to keep student workers active and receiving a paycheck when millions are losing their jobs. Hourly wages haven't changed but student workers are now performing tasks remotely, and maximum hours are no more than 12 per week. Peer to Peer Mentor Lyndsey Morgan wrote in an email that she is no longer worried about unemployment. “Pierce College provided me with the ability to work when I can and offer assistance to students,” Morgan said. “I was worried that I would
become unemployed. It was rough for the first two weeks. I was really depressed and stir-crazy.” Student workers are still given the same requirements to continue working, some that include not dropping out of classes, remaining in good academic standing and taking at least 12 units per semester. Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Human Resources Director Mercedes Gutiérrez wrote via email to LACCD representatives that student workers will be paid for their already made schedule until June 30, 2020. Pierce College did not anticipate that a campus closure due to COVID-19 prevention may become an issue for the spring semester.
Help is online
Luis Morales, a student worker at Pierce College Dream Resource Center, wrote in an email that his job at Pierce is not enough to help his family during this pandemic. “I have had to seek extra help because, in my family household, we are quite a few so groceries are very necessary,” Morales said. CalWORKS student workers funded by the CalWORKS Workforce Investment Board are prohibited by law from working remotely. These students will automatically be paid at the fulltime equivalent value, through June 30, assuming the Safer at Home order continues in Los Angeles, according to the email sent by Gutiérrez on April 14.
Pierce College supervisors are assisting student workers by giving alternative assignments when online transition is impractical. Information Desk and the High School Outreach Office student worker Kaitlyn Matsumoto wrote in an email that her duties have not changed much since students are still able to contact her and she can still help them from home. Student worker jobs are considered essential due to the resources they provide for other students. The workers are also willing to work from home with normal pay. Fernando Becerra, a Peer to Peer Mentor student worker, wrote in an email his view on whether or not his job is considered essential. “My job is essential for the school because I provide students with information, updates and contact information with faculty who can help them further in specific categories,” Becerra said. Many student workers have felt that creating a schedule has allowed their mental health to be stable during the pandemic. Some feel that their job has allowed them to find a sense of distraction and has given them the ability to take breaks in between classes. Workers are using their own resources, ranging from laptops to hotspots, to work from home. However, any impracticalities workers experience with the transition will be provided with alternative assignments to insure jobs. Despite that, Pierce College is providing online help, online counseling and scholarships available for students. apena.roundupnews@gmail.com
CAS tutoring now available through Canvas BY CECILIA PARADA
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he Center for Academic Success (CAS) has provided a bridge between pass and fail for students who use it weekly, but some might not have had the time to get there for extra help. Both types of students can now get remote assistance from embedded tutors in Canvas shells. CAS Director Crystal Kiekel said in a Zoom interview that CAS provides about 50,000 to 70,000 hours of tutoring help each semester. “To suddenly take that support away from students would have been devastating,” Kiekel said. Students depend on tutors to be able to get through their classes and to understand the subject matter covered in their classes. The transition to tutoring online happened quickly and the demand for tutors to be embedded into Canvas shells by faculty was clear. “Before March 9, we had 136 requests to put tutors in Canvas shells,” Kiekel said. “We’re now up to 417.” Many have expressed to faculty the desire for tutoring to be online. Jamie Ray, instructor of English as a second language, said in a Zoom interview that the current circumstance is a silver lining to fulfill that need. “We were forced into creating this online infrastructure, which is something we feel our students have needed and wanted for a long time,” Ray said. While not all classes have embedded tutors in their Canvas shells, students with classes that lack an embedded tutor don’t have access to tutoring. On the CAS website, classes without an embedded tutor still have tutoring available. Independent Canvas shells have been set up for most subjects, such as sociology and political science, so that students can receive help even when their embedded tutor is unavailable. The independent subject shells also show the availability of tutors.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, CAS had exclusively relied on inperson tutoring that was dependent on the hours that the CAS building was open. “There are some tutors who can tutor outside of our normal hours of operation,” Kiekel said. “It's always been the case that a tutor could do extra hours after the Center for Academic Success closes.” Communication between tutors and faculty has been crucial in making the transition to online tutoring effective for students and professors. English professor Marra Kraemer said in a Zoom interview that she has resorted to sending English tutors weekly surveys. “They're going to tell me what they need, what's working, what's not working and what they would change,” Kraemer said. She noted that because the tutors are familiar with their independent Canvas shell, they know what works and what doesn’t. Kiekel expressed that the education system still struggles with either online or in-person learning because addressing one equity concern can neglect another. “It’s wonderful that we now have more access to people who work full-time jobs, for people who are homebound for any reason and for people to learn better in this modality,” Kiekel said. “But I think we also need to remember that there's a huge class gap and equity gap associated with technology right now. I know a lot of students who are just working on their phones because they don't have a computer.” Kiekel also said that faculty and staff have responded positively and reacted quickly to ensure that their students would be supported by embedded and independent tutors. “Our big push is trying to get students to know that our tutors are still here,” Kiekel said. “They have not abandoned them.” cparada.roundupnews@gmail.com
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by withdrawals
Student enrollment has dropped by about 4%
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BY EDUARDO GARCIA
nrollment dropped about 4% this year because students withdrew from at least one class, and data suggested it's because of COVID-19. This change is between March 12 through April 12 compared to last year when the drop in enrollment was at about 2%. Dean of Institutional Effectiveness Amari Williams provided charts to compare dropped classes and how many students withdrew with an "Excused Withdrawal" (EW) since the transition announcement. “What we're seeing is that for many of the populations that are more vulnerable, they're being impacted greater with the [COVID-19] crisis,” Williams said. Williams said the 2% was used as a baseline for the comparison and is normal. He said these are students who choose to take a "W" in their courses. Williams said the 4% comes from the average in the college that varies from each discipline. For instance, he said enrollment in technical theater decreased by 44%. However, the discipline is smaller compared to English. Because it’s smaller, that means there is less enrollment and fewer classes offered. To prepare to go to the summer and fall semesters, Williams and his team are looking at specific populations and the daily enrollment drops. They’re also trying to see if there is a trend in the drop in enrollment. This year, of those who withdrew between March and April, an average of 43% were female, and 57% were male, according to the graphs. For ethnicity, 61% were underrepresented, and 39% were represented. Of those same students, Williams said eligible Pell Grant students who withdrew were consistent to about 35% to 40%. Depending on the day, the number would sometimes reach up to 60%.
“This is not saying that 35% of our Pell-eligible students are dropping out,” Williams said. “That's not what this means. It means ‘of’ all the drops.” A different graph focused on non-eligible and eligible AB 540 students. Williams said there was a positive disproportion happening with the AB 540 students, whom the vast majority did not withdraw within the first two weeks of the announcement. Of those who did drop, about 3% of them were AB 540 students, compared to non-AB 540 students. Williams said that after spring break ended, the drops increased between March 27 through March 29. “There are some days going into the beginning of the resumption of spring, where AB 540 students represented about 10% ‘of’ all the withdrawals that happened,” Williams said. “Then you go into spring and maybe they're trying out, ‘How is this going for me? Am I adjusting to being in class online?’” Williams said the data shows evidence that perhaps the online shift due to the COVID-19 pandemic is having an impact on vulnerable populations. Williams advised students to speak to their counselor if they are thinking of withdrawing from at least one of their classes or are considering switching to a “Pass/ No Pass” grade basis. “If you are looking to transfer, speak with the college you’re transferring to. Run whatever you're considering, withdrawing or changing to a ‘Pass/No Pass,’ by both of those areas,” Williams said. “So your counselor in your transfer school, by them first before you make a decision because you have the time. You still have several more weeks to make that decision.” The last day to withdraw with an "EW" or petition a class to a "Pass/No Pass" is May 10. egarcia.roundupnews@gmail.com
For more information about homemade masks see Page 6.
Illustration by Angelica Lopez