Appendix 3: Institutional Response Plan Template

How to Use This Template

This template is designed to be completed before your first student takes SOSSI. Its purpose is to ensure that every construct in the inventory has a planned response, and that responsibility for that response is assigned to a specific person or office before deployment begins.

As you work through this template, hold one guiding question in mind throughout: For a student who needs support with a particular construct / difficulty, where would I direct them?

Work through each section in order. The template has three parts: resource planning, the response plan tables, and post-implementation assessment.

Part 1: Resource Planning

Before you fill in the response tables, take stock of what your campus already has, and what may still need to be built or found.

What resources do you have for each construct?

For each of the five modules and the constructs within them, identify which offices or services are equipped to support students who flag a need in that area. Consider:

• What campus offices will be involved in supporting students based on their responses?
• Does your campus already send similar resources through other communications? If so, consider how to complement rather than duplicate what students are already receiving.
• Will you share direct contact information for a specific office or person, or direct students to a ticketing or request system? Keep workload capacity in mind — if every construct points to the same advisor’s inbox, that advisor will be overwhelmed.
• Ensure that all resources directed to students are ADA/Title II compliant and written from a student perspective.

Do you need to create additional resources?

If gaps exist between what students need and what your campus currently offers, plan for them now:

• Who will create any missing resources: your office, another unit, or a collaborative effort?
• If another office creates them, who controls updates when content changes?
• Do you need videos, screencasts, or workshops to reach students at scale?
• Check SUNY system resources and community of practice materials before building anything new; a resource that works at another campus may be adaptable for yours. (See Appendix 5: Support and Resources.)

Where will resources be located?

• Are resources hosted in an online orientation, a Brightspace site, or a campus website?
• Who has access to update content when it changes?
• Will students have access to those locations at the time they receive the response? If resources are behind a login, confirm that students will have their credentials and access by the time the automated email arrives.

A final step before you fill in the tables: Once you have assembled your resources, prioritize them. Develop a full picture of your campus response to student needs — then decide what gets delivered automatically, what gets personal outreach, and what gets monitored over time. Not everything can or should happen at once.

• Response type: Will this trigger an automated email, campus outreach, or both?
• Responsibility: Which person or office owns this response?
• Resources: What are you sending or offering to the student?
• Location: Where do those resources live, and will students have access at the time they receive them?
• Timeline: When will the response go out? Is that timing appropriate given where the student is in their journey?
• Other: Any additional notes, flags, or conditions that affect how this construct is handled at your institution.

Two notes before you begin:

• First, avoid defaulting to the same referral across every construct. If every row points students to the same office or the same email address, that office will be overwhelmed and students won’t receive targeted support. Match the resource to the need.
• Second, keep access in mind. Resources hosted behind a login such as Brightspace, a student portal, a campus intranet, etc., are only useful if the student can reach them at the time the response is sent. Confirm access before you finalize any resource link.