Helping Students

We know that helping students is not just a job requirement for Idaho State University faculty and staff, but it is also a passion. Watching students learn and grow and getting to be a part of their journey is an amazing opportunity. Unfortunately, there will be times when students run into barriers that will keep them from being successful academically and/or personally.  The following information may be of help when you are working with students who are struggling. 

Students With a Difficult Situation

The Dean of Students Office works with students through all sorts of challenging situations. Each year we work with students who have had a death in the family, experience significant injury or illness, go through traumatic assaults, and other unthinkable personal situations. In many of these cases we serve as a liaison between students and faculty to initiate conversation about how to keep the student on track academically. More often than not, students are committed to working hard to stay on top of their coursework, while also balancing the stressful situation they are working through. In some cases students will feel comfortable enough to reach out directly to their faculty to inform them of their situation. If you have a student in this situation and you are able to make arrangements and/or accommodations to help them maintain their academic plan, here are some things faculty have done in the past for your consideration:

• Extend due dates for assignments/exams/projects
• Drop the lowest score on exams/quizzes and recalculating averages so the student doesn't have to make up the work
• Alter class participation/attendance requirement for an agreed upon time period
• Allow remote attendance
• Send students class slides or other content via email or Moodle
• Offer an "I" or incomplete until the student can finish the required work (following incomplete grade process guidelines)
• Other options that make sense for your course

We understand each course is set up differently and some accommodations are more feasible than others, so we leave final discretion up to the faculty member. Our goal is to help our students remain enrolled in classes if that is what they want. Whatever path you choose, it is always advisable to put agreed upon accommodations in writing. Transparency in the type of accommodation you are making, dates or deadlines associated, and any other relevant details can help to ensure the student fully understands what the expectations are.

Making a Referral

There are multiple ways to get students resources they may need when they are struggling:

• If you have a student dealing with a difficult situation, we encourage you to also refer them to the Dean of Student Office, as we have staff who are equipped to work with students in identifying their barriers and helping them to connect to appropriate resources.
• You can submit a Report of Concern at any time and for any situation that may come up with any ISU community members.
• You may also want to share University Resources and/or Community Resources with students you are working with.