Today I returned from the last day of the NACADA Region 5 Annual Conference in Bloomington-Normal. I'm very glad I had the opportunity to go! I attended many sessions, including a great one about advisees' parents by our own Julian Parrott :)
A recurring theme of the conference seemed to be the "Millennial" generation and their expectations (which always became generalized and somewhat stereotypical in conversation, although I realize there is truth behind those notions). In one session, a heated discussion began about whether advisors should meet Millennials' expectations for short, tweet-like communication only. One audience member said that he began communicating with his students in 140 characters or less, always, because "they don't read any further than that." This prompted some responses about how this strategy may not be helping "them" develop as critically-thinking students and future members of the workforce. Someone said that it's ok to meet students at their expectations with things like short messages, but then we need to help "bring them up" to a higher level by setting higher expectations for them and demonstrating what they need to do to meet them.
Same goes for email advising. Some advisors have started advising primarily via email because "students don't like to come in, but they like email." The form of email advising from this segment was through electronic worksheets for course programs with highlights on courses that the student still needs. This raised a lot of questions about how advisors can engage in true developmental advising this way (can't really). The argument was that "students today" like black-and-white ideas so they use these worksheets, but others argued that advising, major/career/interest exploration, and even course selection are not usually black and white and it might be dangerous to try to make it so.
One of my favorite sessions was about a program that an instructor created for students on last-chance academic probation. It takes the form of an "intentionally difficult" 2-credit course with required study sessions each week. The presentation was very fascinating and was partially based on the idea that even students who struggle greatly will rise to the instructor's high expectations. In this case, the instructor is there to provide additional support as students struggle through the course and through the semester. I saw the course sort of like training wheels, where the instructor helps students work through their academic difficulties as they get a handle on how to deal with challenging college courses. When the course is over (training wheels removed), they know how much effort and what kinds of strategies are required to succeed in future courses as a result of this program.
Lots of great ideas floated around this conference, and I'm so glad I had the chance to attend! I'm looking forward to sharing more of what I learned with my other advising colleagues.
Also, it's registration time for our students again. We'll be holding Express Advising this week to accommodate everyone; you know the drill.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Settling In
Recently I was thinking about the Renn and Hodges (2007) article about student affairs professionals' first year on the job (EOL 583) and how their article might relate to my experience. I revisited the article, looking for information about the three phases of the first year in a higher ed/student affairs/academic affairs job: Orientation, Transition, and Settling In. Although I've only been in the full-time position since January, I have been with this office since May of last year and at this point I identify with the settling-in phase for the most part.
The chart on page 374 of the article illustrates the phases and their components really well. It shows how relationships, "fit," and "competencies" evolve (generally) through each of the phases. Under Settling In - Relationships, one point is that "Relationships with students solidify." This is definitely true for me. Of course, some students never come in, but I have built a great rapport with many others. I even got a thank you note last week after one of my students was accepted to his major!
Under Fit for Settling In, one point is "Environmental awareness improves, but not always happy with institutional culture." This is true for me as well. I'm making connections all over campus and learning about how different units interact. I'm also getting a better feel for how others perceive campus interactions (sometimes good, sometimes not-so-good). Right now I still don't know enough to really have my own judgments about the workings of most other departments, but I enjoy hearing about others' experiences working with different units (what works and what doesn't work in terms of communication, etc.).
Finally, under Settling In - Competencies, Renn and Hodges list "More aware of abilities and needs for training." This rings true for me too. In fact, the other "new guy" and I have been reflecting together on our training/beginning experiences as advisors in DGS and are going to present information about new advisors' experiences and resources at the campus advising conference in May.
I'm glad I went back to this article as I emerge from my first full year at DGS. I can personally relate to it more easily now than when I read it last Fall, because now I can use it as a reflection piece in addition to a research piece.
The chart on page 374 of the article illustrates the phases and their components really well. It shows how relationships, "fit," and "competencies" evolve (generally) through each of the phases. Under Settling In - Relationships, one point is that "Relationships with students solidify." This is definitely true for me. Of course, some students never come in, but I have built a great rapport with many others. I even got a thank you note last week after one of my students was accepted to his major!
Under Fit for Settling In, one point is "Environmental awareness improves, but not always happy with institutional culture." This is true for me as well. I'm making connections all over campus and learning about how different units interact. I'm also getting a better feel for how others perceive campus interactions (sometimes good, sometimes not-so-good). Right now I still don't know enough to really have my own judgments about the workings of most other departments, but I enjoy hearing about others' experiences working with different units (what works and what doesn't work in terms of communication, etc.).
Finally, under Settling In - Competencies, Renn and Hodges list "More aware of abilities and needs for training." This rings true for me too. In fact, the other "new guy" and I have been reflecting together on our training/beginning experiences as advisors in DGS and are going to present information about new advisors' experiences and resources at the campus advising conference in May.
I'm glad I went back to this article as I emerge from my first full year at DGS. I can personally relate to it more easily now than when I read it last Fall, because now I can use it as a reflection piece in addition to a research piece.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Continuing Education (for me)
After a nice spring break during which my main contact with students consisted mainly of a few leisurely emails, we are back in full swing. For me, each day has been booked with students and full of adventure. I'm continuing to learn a lot as I go.
I mentioned in a previous post that I enjoy the visits from other departments during our staff meetings. Now that I am in new territory (helping sophomores plan advanced courses and declare majors), let me add new emphasis on just how helpful those meetings have been for me. Last semester, as you know, I worked almost exclusively with first-year students so my baseline in course-planning has been primarily in intro and/or exploratory courses. All of a sudden I have found that I need to know MUCH more in order to help older students, and it gets complicated. For example, there are 2 different biology majors (integrative biology and molecular/cellular biology), and each of those bio majors get tweaked in different ways if the student wants to go to medical school. On top of that, the department has changed a couple of courses such as anatomy/physiology, and there are separate anat/phys courses for IB vs MCB. On top of THAT, different pre-health fields (pre-med, physician assistant, physical therapy, nursing) require different anatomy/phys courses which might vary from the ones required for the actual biology major. Sorry if that's confusing (it is)...I just learned all this in the past week, and that's just for two majors! :)
I honestly love this challenge, and it's making me feel more confident with each student I meet because I'm building my knowledge base every day.
This type of experience also continues to solidify my preference for general advising as opposed to departmental advising. I love that I have the chance to talk about something completely different every half hour.
One surprising thing from this semester so far: I'm surprised by how many students want to take summer courses, mostly at other colleges for transfer credit. Many of them want to do this to get their gen eds "out of the way," a phrase that makes me cringe...those classes are actually really valuable and can enrich the overall college experience! (Remember my article about the courses that everyone should take!). I was surprised because I didn't really know many students who took summer courses when I was in college, and those who did were usually athletes who were on campus anyway. I did just once, and again that was because I was already working on campus and didn't have to otherwise go out of my way to do it. There again though, these were not for transfer, they were on-campus courses. Just an observation. Summer online courses through UIUC also seem very popular.
So this was kind of a hodgepodge of a post, but within the theme of how my experience continues to evolve during this first year on the job. Never a dull moment, and I wouldn't have it any other way!
I mentioned in a previous post that I enjoy the visits from other departments during our staff meetings. Now that I am in new territory (helping sophomores plan advanced courses and declare majors), let me add new emphasis on just how helpful those meetings have been for me. Last semester, as you know, I worked almost exclusively with first-year students so my baseline in course-planning has been primarily in intro and/or exploratory courses. All of a sudden I have found that I need to know MUCH more in order to help older students, and it gets complicated. For example, there are 2 different biology majors (integrative biology and molecular/cellular biology), and each of those bio majors get tweaked in different ways if the student wants to go to medical school. On top of that, the department has changed a couple of courses such as anatomy/physiology, and there are separate anat/phys courses for IB vs MCB. On top of THAT, different pre-health fields (pre-med, physician assistant, physical therapy, nursing) require different anatomy/phys courses which might vary from the ones required for the actual biology major. Sorry if that's confusing (it is)...I just learned all this in the past week, and that's just for two majors! :)
I honestly love this challenge, and it's making me feel more confident with each student I meet because I'm building my knowledge base every day.
This type of experience also continues to solidify my preference for general advising as opposed to departmental advising. I love that I have the chance to talk about something completely different every half hour.
One surprising thing from this semester so far: I'm surprised by how many students want to take summer courses, mostly at other colleges for transfer credit. Many of them want to do this to get their gen eds "out of the way," a phrase that makes me cringe...those classes are actually really valuable and can enrich the overall college experience! (Remember my article about the courses that everyone should take!). I was surprised because I didn't really know many students who took summer courses when I was in college, and those who did were usually athletes who were on campus anyway. I did just once, and again that was because I was already working on campus and didn't have to otherwise go out of my way to do it. There again though, these were not for transfer, they were on-campus courses. Just an observation. Summer online courses through UIUC also seem very popular.
So this was kind of a hodgepodge of a post, but within the theme of how my experience continues to evolve during this first year on the job. Never a dull moment, and I wouldn't have it any other way!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)