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Technology Integration: Student's Wellbeing Through Advisory Programs Post Covid-19 Pandemic

Technology Integration: Student's Wellbeing Through Advisory Programs Post Covid-19 Pandemic

Covid-19 represents a comprehensive global health crisis (Cucinotta & Vanelli, 2020;
Djalante et al., 2020; Van Bavel et al., 2020), one of which is the world crisis of education

Dr. Emanuel T. Vincent, Principal Consultant at Pinkgrape Consulting (PGC)

Without question, the pandemic rattled primary and secondary education. Although in-person instruction is essential, the pandemic forced school closures, mandates by the local Ministry of Education (MoE), and interpretation in providing a coherent strategic response to meet the needs of stakeholders made traditional instruction impossible. The addition of synchronous and asynchronous learning complicated instructional design and infrastructure since many institutions needed more time to address their technological realities and the finances required to handle the demands and stressors accompanying the pandemic. Compounding the problem were testing requirements, work-from-home (WFH) requirements, online learning infrastructure weaknesses, teacher inexperience, information gaps, home environment complexity, & unequal learning outcomes. 

Although schools with advisory programs covered topics around wellness, the catastrophe left in the wake of Covid depleted resources and forced institutions in the hope of staying solvent to seek program continuity online without a cohesive strategy. As schools return to in-person learning, the realities remain. Schools must seize the technological momentum gained during the pandemic to innovate wellness practices in addressing primary and secondary students' academic and cognitive needs. Integrating wellbeing as a complement to the core curriculum through advisories will enable the student to process personal stressors accompanied by Covid and provide an opportunity for them to gain growth strategies through weekly advisories centered on essential everyday challenges.

Technology Integration and Differentiated, Strategy for Primary and Secondary Students

As primary and secondary institutions take stock of how to move forward, considerations need to include differentiated strategies in assessing and satisfying students' academic and social-emotional needs while building and maintaining an inclusive setting. Digital technology during the pandemic has spurred countless innovations (Zoom, Google Meet, WebEx, etc.) to ensure connectivity with the world outside our windows. The addition of synchronous and asynchronous learning has allowed students the flexibility of meandering the complexities of varying learning designs in meeting prescribed mandates during covid. School counselors must be adaptable in understanding factors associated with using technology to complement the core curriculum, ensure minimal breaks in service, and maximize support. The knowledge and skills of school counselors in continuing to engage social media as a medium for counseling services must apply (Willow et al., 2018). The success of cyber counseling is measured by client satisfaction (Zainudin & Yusop, 2018). Technological competence can be very important for distance counseling practitioners (Woo et al., 2020). With this increase in digital literacy & the varying student needs after the pandemic for the efficacy of in-person advisory, providing tele-counseling to students should be a staple.

Acquiring a comprehensive picture of pupil participation during the pandemic will set the baseline of inquiry accompanied by a thorough strategy devised around data examining past and present approaches. Classroom norms and expectations must be investigated in concert with the school's present reality and technology readiness strategy. Since students participated in online instruction during the pandemic, schools should have a graduate synchronous and asynchronous media (WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Media Zoom, Webex, Google Meetings, and Hangouts) and professional development strategy for integrating interactive technology (Nearpod, Pear Deck, and Flipgrid) and social media platforms. These accessories should complement the core curriculum while tackling mental health, misinformation, educational inequalities, and coping strategy problems (Pragholapati, 2020). The role of the counselor is essential in understanding the complexities of unraveling the rise of youth mental health challenges and student crises.

Technology Integration: Student's Wellbeing Through Advisory Programs Post Covid-19 
Pandemic

Dr. Emanuel T. Vincent, Principal Consultant at Pinkgrape Consulting (PGC)

Counseling Standards for Students

One way to increase student wellbeing is through optimized school/online advisories. These advisories must be facilitated by counselors and qualified teachers and administrators crafted around student standards (International School Counseling Association (ISCA) revised (May 2022), and evidence-based Social Emotional Learning (SEL) competencies developed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL)) and guided by school counseling programs in addressing student immediate and future needs. The advisory program allows students and teachers to build trust and open discourse around wellness by exploring essential topics centered on everyday challenges. Teachers as advocates must understand the core roles, responsibilities, and expectations in running a successful advisory class and teach the agreed-upon content (scope and sequence) and means of assessing (surveys, focus groups, etc.) its success or lack thereof. School advisories must be integrated into the whole-school counseling programs to further student and faculty mental health. The advisory program must provide individual, or group support based on need through teacher/parent referral.

Conclusion

Advisory program in school is not new. What is unique is our global experience with Covid, our challenges in providing counseling, resources, and support for students, and ensuring our community has learned and adapted to our new reality post-Covid in maximizing opportunities to move the educational experience forward. Program review & redesign must ensure that the following are covered:
• Reviewing current advisory protocols.
• Revising advisory programs to meet student's individual needs around counseling standards, 
scope, and sequence for students' posts Covid.
• Utilizing technology to complement advisory service to ensure minimal service disruption.
• Review and revise policy and procedures around confidentiality
• Building community trust in furthering relationships and practices,
• Walking with parents as partners in all aspects of program design, inception, monitoring, and 
assessing program effectiveness.

Technology Integration: Student's Wellbeing Through Advisory Programs Post Covid-19 
Pandemic

Dr. Emanuel T. Vincent, Principal Consultant at Pinkgrape Consulting (PGC)

REFERENCE

Applications of IoT technology in the education sector for smarter schooling. (2023, January 13). Insider Intelligence. 01.29th. 2023, https://www.insiderintelligence.com/insights/iot-technology-education/


Cucinotta, D., & Vanelli, M. (2020). WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic. Acta Bio- Medica: Atenei Parmensis, 91(1), 157–160.


International School Counseling Association. (n.d.). ISCA Student Standards. https://iscainfo.com/TheModel


Lan, C.- M. (2016). Predictors of willingness to use cyber counseling for college students with disabilities. Disability and Health Journal, 9(2), 346–352.


Majeed, A., & Ali, M. (2018). How Internet-of-Things (IoT) making the university campuses smart? QA higher education (QAHE) perspective. 2018 IEEE 8th Annual Computing and Communication Workshop and Conference (CCWC), 646–648.


Pragholapati, A. (2020). Covid-19 Impact on Students.

Willow, R. A., Tobin, D., Chong, W. Y., Jeffery, A., Strohmeyer, D., & Morine, N.(2018). A social 
media policy for clinical mental health counseling programs. The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision, 11(2), 9.


Woo, H., Dondanville, A., Jang, H., Na, G., & Jang, Y. (2020). A Content Analysis of the Counseling Literature on Technology Integration: American Counseling Association (ACA) Counseling Journals between 2000 and 2018. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 42(3), 319–333.


Zainudin, Z. N., & Yusop, Y. M. (2018). Client's Satisfaction in Face-to-Face Counseling and Cyber Counseling Approaches: A Comparison. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(3), 677–684