Talking to Bridge Two Cultures

I’ve spent the last several days at #AERA2013 (the American Educational Research Association’s annual conference). This conference covers the continuum of educational topics, from early childhood to workplace learning. I have attended a number of interesting sessions that have provoked me to reflect and connect others’ research to my own.

Yesterday I was in a session titled, “What You Say and How You Say It: The Role of Language in Student Success,” and listened to Steven Aragon and his colleagues present a paper titled “You’re talking White!  Native American Students’ Use of Linguistic Capital to Bridge Two Cultures.” This qualitative study of nine Native American students at a large public research university in the American Southwest examined how students changed their language depending on the context. The female students in the study shared how they had to be careful about the language they used to talk about their university experience when they were with their family and home community.  They felt they had to carefully balance their Native identity with their desire to attend college and were mindful about not coming across as “better as” for having pursued postsecondary education.

Although the context of the study differed from the Ontario context in which I live and work, I heard some similar refrains in the findings and recommendations. One of the recommendations was for postsecondary campuses to build bridges with their local Aboriginal communities. Such work may include establishing relationships with Elders and others in the community to host events where nearby postsecondary faculty and staff can interact with community members in an effort to develop greater understanding about postsecondary education and dispel stereotypes. The latter is critical from both perspectives: dispelling stereotypes that Aboriginal communities may hold regarding postsecondary education and dispelling stereotypes that postsecondary educators may have about the value these communities have for postsecondary education.

The findings and implications from this study made me think about the important work being done on campuses in the Supporting Student Success research project. Immediately, I thought about the Aboriginal Student Links program Nipissing University (@NipissingU). The Aboriginal Student Links delivers outreach to local Aboriginal high school students within the Near North District Board of Education, the Nipissing Parry Sound Catholic District School Board and the First Nation Education Authority. The Aboriginal Student Links are current Aboriginal students enrolled at Nipissing University that provide mentorship and encouragement to Aboriginal high school students. The purpose of the mentorship relationship is to create a pipeline of Aboriginal students pursuing post-secondary education and to create a connection between Nipissing University and the Aboriginal community. Another example is the Elder as resource program at @MohawkCollege in which the Elder “offers spiritual and cultural support to Aboriginal students and the staff. The Elders are invited to provide leadership in events such as talking circles and other programs, as well as provide staff and faculty with an opportunity for more multi-cultural awareness and education.”

Clearly, there is much yet to do to increase postsecondary access and success for Aboriginal students in Ontario and for the students in the study presented at AERA. But it is important to not lose sight of the good work that is making a difference in the lives of students and their communities. I invite you to share what programs exist on your campus that brings the postsecondary community together with local Aboriginal communities. Please leave a comment and share so that we might learn from each other.

Student Affairs and Services in Global Perspective

Typically our blog focuses on research, findings, presentations and musing related to the ongoing Supporting Student Success research project. As we wrap up sharing preliminary findings with each of the participating institutions, we will begin our cross-site analysis and continue to plan for presentations at Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education in Victoria and CACUSS in Montreal in what promises to be a very busy and exciting summer.

However, this week we wanted to share something a little different. The International Association of Student Affairs and Services (IASAS) has started a research project to look at the practice of student affairs and services around the globe. Some of you may have already received this invitation and we are grateful to the nearly 100 people who have already responded. If you have not participated yet, we encourage you to do so. Either way we want your voices included as part of this project and hope you can share this message broadly with your colleagues, locally, nationally and beyond!

The formal invitation and survey link are below. Thank you again for reading and participating.

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In recent years, two books have provided an organizational perspective of student affairs and services practice from around the world. Whether you work in residence life, career or job placement services, academic learning support services, counseling or in another area that serves to support students, we would like to hear from you!

This research study seeks to understand the experiences of postsecondary/tertiary staff members. As a subscriber to a listserv for student affairs and services practitioners, we invite you to help develop this understanding by completing a brief 15 minute survey in which you will be asked about your job position, duties and background. We intend to use the results from this survey to share information about student affairs and services work in a global context and provide resources and a support network for those working in the field.

We invite you to share the survey link with other staff colleagues not part of the listserv. A copy of the results from this study will be available on the IASAS Web site. You will be notified through this listserv when the results are available.

To access the survey, please click here. If the survey does not open automatically, please copy and paste the following link to your Web browser’s address bar.

http://fluidsurveys.com/s/StuAffSrvcs_GlobalPerspective/

If you have any questions regarding the content of the survey or want to know how we intend to use the data, please do not “reply” to this email. Rather, direct all study questions to Dr. Tricia Seifert at tricia.seifert@utoronto.ca.

Please help contribute to our understanding of the experiences of student affairs and services staff by completing the survey.

Sincerely,

Tricia Seifert, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Brett Perozzi, Weber State University
Mary Ann Bodine Al-Sharif, Florida State College
Katie Wildman, Hamad bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation

Challenge and Support for postsecondary students: Navigating a tricky balance

A few weeks ago at ACPA, I sat in on a session that looked at using student development theory when working with faculty or administrators. The session asked participants to reflect on occasions when they supported a recommendation or program initiative to faculty/administration by referencing some element of student development theory. To be honest I couldn’t think of a good example during the session, but realized I have been living two good examples recently.

In both the fall and winter terms, I have taken statistics classes outside of my home department. The fall class (actually an undergraduate course) had likely 250 or 300 students in a very large lecture hall. These classes typically consisted of the prof at the front of the room, writing out proofs on an overhead, while the students copied everything we saw on the screen. I remember squinting to see if it was a Yi or a Y1 that was on the board, but also realizing in many cases I didn’t know the significance of either.

The second class (which actually ends on Monday) is only for graduate students and has about 18 students. The smaller class definitely makes me feel closer to the professor and the material. However, the material is considerably more challenging than the fall term course and each week I have been terrified that I’ll be called on to explain something that I am almost positive I would not be able to.

I realized on my way back from ACPA that both of these classes are examples of Nevitt Sandford’s theory of Challenge and Support. It is one of the oldest and easiest student development theories to understand. Essentially students develop and learn in environments where there is balance between challenge and support. Too much support and the student does not have the chance to learn and experiment on their own. Too much challenge and students may be frustrated, disengage and quit trying.

These classes have been a huge challenge for me; by far the most difficult courses I have taken as a graduate student. In addition to the readings, assignments, and lectures, I’ve realized I still need more support to be successful in the class. I’ve sought out other PowerPoint slide decks online on these topics. I approached faculty members from a variety of departments and other graduate students for additional help and I have had to get a lot of extra help from the faculty member. Despite all this I will likely barely pass this course. But I am leaving it with a feeling of satisfaction for finishing something quite difficult.

In our study, we heard from an institution who was investigating the way they communicated with new students and found that some were being invited to join more than six different Facebook groups. One graduate student, not part of our study, shared with me that they were invited to five different orientations. Both of these situations are examples of not just too much ‘support’ but also uncoordinated support. The situation I found in classes the last two terms were the opposite; too little support. Having a teaching assistant, providing extra readings, and possibly separating the lectures from the ‘hands-on’ computer-based tutorials may have been beneficial and could have led to fewer students dropping theses classes.

Students in our study recognized that challenging coursework and personal/professional situations are to be expected during their time in college and university programs. They were not afraid of these challenges, but stressed that an appropriate level of curricular and co-curricular supports are required for them to be successful. Knowing that one size does not fit all, the question remains how to organize institutional, departmental, course-based and individual supports in a coordinated fashion to optimally support students?

We welcome your ideas and examples of ways that your campus has coordinated support efforts in assisting students to navigate postsecondary education’s challenges. Please leave a comment so that we might learn from each other.

Re-tooling PSE for Student Success

By Tricia Seifert

I’ve been watching this conversation about re-tooling postsecondary education to meet Ontario’s job needs with keen interest. It seems that many see the role of postsecondary education as providing job training, particularly in Ontario’s college sector. But even beyond the express vocational education mandate of the colleges, one need not look far to find those who talk about university graduates who do not have the skills to find a job in today’s economy. It seems both of Ontario’s postsecondary education sectors are being called to task to educate graduates for today’s work force.  On its face, this seems to be a logical point of view. But when we dig a little deeper, we realize that today’s labour needs will not be the needs of tomorrow.  A good number of jobs that exist today did not exist ten years ago. How does postsecondary education meet the needs of a labour market that is ever-changing?

I suggest that colleges and universities must think of education as that which begins with content knowledge (whether that content knowledge is in auto mechanics or Canadian literature) but continues with educating students in the transferable skills of critical thinking and effective reasoning  as well as communication – writing and speaking—across modes (blogs, formal memos, tweets) and to multiple audiences. Couple these transferable skills with the transferable attitudes/dispositions of respectfully working with and learning from members of diverse communities, developing the capacity to learn how one learns and a willingness to see learning as a lifelong process to round-out an education. In this regard, postsecondary education is framed by the content knowledge (as the context for student learning) but focuses its efforts on developing transferable skills and attitudes that enable graduates to contribute meaningfully as citizens of their communities and re-invent themselves as the job market evolves.

Reflecting on the hundreds of definitions of student success we have heard from participants in the Supporting Student Success study, I suggest a postsecondary education that develops these transferable skills and attitudes is one that truly positions students to be successful both today and in years to come.

We love hearing from you. What do you think about this conversation to re-tool PSE? What is the role of PSE in educating students for the work force? How are we doing? What could we do better? Please leave a comment and be part of the conversation.

A Personal Reflection: Student Development and Student Affairs

By Kimberly Elias

Is understanding student development theory integral to the work of student affairs and services?

As a master’s student in Higher Education and a new professional working in student life, “student development” is a phrase thrown around frequently and defined as the core theory of the work we do in student affairs and services (SAS). While SAS professionals acknowledge the importance of student development theory as the foundation of the practice, I question how many of us working in SAS truly understand what student development theory is, and how we are using student development theory in the creation of the programs and services that are offered.

Student development offers critical and important theories that describe a student’s development—intellectual, emotional, and social—throughout their postsecondary experience. This holistic understanding of a student’s development acknowledges both the intellectual development within the classroom, with the experiences and knowledge gained outside of the classroom. It is these theories, rooted in empirical evidence, which demonstrates that SAS is a developing profession. I describe it as a developing profession, because while some individuals acknowledge the professionalism of the field, others perceive themselves as staff, and not as professionals. A profession acknowledges that there is a body of knowledge inherent in the work, and while student development theory is encapsulated in that body of knowledge for SAS, there are many individuals working in SAS that see their role as more transactional rather than transformational.

This brings me to the point of intentionality, and often the lack thereof. Whenever I ask someone working in SAS how they ended up there, most often the answer was, “I just fell into it. This opportunity came up, I took it, and I’ve been there ever since.” Through further discussion I often find that many of these individuals were heavily involved in student life, either in student government, residence, or clubs and organizations. So if many of these people were student leaders who have worked closely with SAS professionals, why the lack of intentionality? Reflecting on my own experience, I realize that the field of student affairs is developing, and I am on the cusp of that development. As a recent undergraduate student, I was encouraged by SAS professionals in the Office of Student Life to explore the Higher Education program at OISE. Looking for any program more interesting than my previous goal of law school, I decided to apply. Little did I know that a whole world would open up to me, and I would find the profession that I am passionate about. Yet, in university it was only in my last year through conversing with the Dean of Students and other student life professionals that I realized I could do this—this is an area I can work in.

In sum, my definition of student development theory extends well beyond the theories themselves. A theory is only as useful as it is acknowledged and applied. While the theories themselves have been characterized as the foundation of student affairs and services, it is the growing acknowledgment of SAS as a profession that has given meaning and importance to the theories themselves. This notion of intentionality is at the forefront of developing SAS as a profession, where individuals are recognizing the valuable theories and knowledge that foreground their work, and are advocating for a professional community. While our American counterparts have long surpassed us in this respect, Canadian institutions are beginning to develop academic programs to reflect the need of a stream related to student affairs. With this, professional associations such as the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services (CACUSS), are growing and striving to define their identity in the higher education sector. The challenge is to help those working in student affairs and services see that it is a profession rooted in a body of knowledge, and advocate the importance of understanding student development theories in order to provide meaningful programs and services to students.

I leave this thought with a few questions to my colleagues:

1)       Do you use student development theory in your work? If so, how?

2)       Do you consider your work in student affairs and services as being connected to a broader profession?

ACPA 2013 Overview

We have the ACPA blues – it was difficult to return to Toronto after a wonderful conference and a wonderful time (and weather) in Las Vegas. While at ACPA we had amazing opportunities to connect with student affairs practitioners and scholars from the U.S. and Canada, and attended an array of interesting and inspiring presentations. We were thrilled that so many of you joined us on the last day of the conference to hear our presentation: Are There Really Two Sides of the House? Faculty Perceptions of Student Affairs. This presentation was based on the findings from Phase II of the Supporting Student Success research study in which we asked faculty members from 9 universities and 5 colleges in Ontario about their perceptions of their organizational structure and the role that student affairs plays in supporting student success. While our study focuses on institutions in Ontario, it was fascinating to see how our findings resonate within U.S. and other Canadian contexts. During the presentation we shared for the first time visual representations of faculty perceptions of student affairs at their institutions. We were very excited to share these drawings using YouTube. The short video (created by Kim Elias) portrays how faculty with varying understanding and involvement with their student affairs colleagues perceive the role of student affairs. We hope our conversations about this topic continues through discussions on our various social media forums and we hope to hear your about own experiences.

There were a multitude of great presentations highlighting the most current trends in the field. With each day starting at 7:30AM and ending at 4:30 PM we crammed as many presentations into our days.  Here is a just a brief highlight of some of the sessions we attended:

Jeff’s Pick

Critical Discourse: The culture of faculty and student affairs practitioners

This year at the 2013 ACPA Inspiring Communities of Wellbeing conference there was a special category for sessions on Faculty-Student Affairs Interactions. One of the most interesting ones in that group was one in particular Critical Discourse: The culture of faculty and student affairs practitioners hosted by Susan Jones, Kristen Renn, Juan Guardia and John Hernandez. It was a very critical look at the values of both faculty and student affairs staff and more specifically some of the myths surrounding those values.  Two provided the student affairs perspective and two the faculty perspective. Both groups highlighted that the lack of cooperation and the sometimes competing perspectives partially originates from well-meaning, but often misinformed, stereotypes about the groups.

Just as not all student affairs staff is focused on in-the-moment programming planning, or working in large teams, not all faculty members were orientated towards the individual, highly autonomous and theoretical development. Accordingly, these values or approaches to work exist in both groups and vary greatly. The session highlighted the importance of meeting faculty, as we do with students, as individuals, where they are at and begin building a relationship from there.

Kim’s Pick

Promising Practice: The Students Have Left the Building: Viva Las E-Student Affairs

Students are increasingly flocking towards online courses to receive a postsecondary education, whether it is one course or an entire degree. Yet, the structure of these institutions are often focused on the face-to-face experience. While the use of technology has become embedded in our culture, how are postsecondary institutions adapting to the increasing numbers of online students, and are we neglecting to an entire population?

Texas Woman’s University has started to develop co-curricular activities online—a new concept that is still in its infancy stages. The presenters described their efforts at reaching their online student population, by creating an Online Epsilon Omega Epsilon Student Honor Society, and a Total Health Challenge. These activities focus on drawing participation and increasing a sense of connectedness and community. Through these activities, students participate in discussions, challenges, and activities. The presenters noted that the uptake has been positive, and they are pleased with the feedback.

In Canada, a number of colleges and universities are developing a Co-Curricular Record (CCR). The CCR allows students to search for opportunities beyond the classroom, links those experiences to competencies, and provides students with an official validated record of their involvement. However, one of the key pieces of success for the CCR is to acknowledge that there are barriers to engagement, and to use the CCR as a mechanism to help students find meaningful opportunities that suit their lifestyle. Thinking about this notion of online co-curricular activities, is there a space for these opportunities to be included on the CCR? What would online co-curricular activities look like, and would that address student barriers to engagement? I pose this question as a thought—one that I will sit with and pose to my colleagues.

Tricia’s Pick

Transforming Student Affairs in China: The Macau Student Affairs Institute

I’m interested in how student affairs and services work is practiced outside of North America. I was intrigued by the session presented by Susan Komives and colleagues titled, “Transforming Student Affairs in China: The Macau Student Affairs Institute.” The University of Macau is growing and is in the process of opening several residential colleges for their students. The idea of living learning environments is a new model for the university. To achieve the desired outcomes of the model, senior leaders recognized there was a need to provide professional development for the staff so that the design highlights student learning and development with a mind toward assessment. The ACPA session described the multi-day institute which sounded like a professional preparation master’s program on steroids with days dedicated to the field of student affairs’ history, philosophy, ethics and competencies; student development theory; and assessment and evaluation. It was fascinating to hear about the presenters’ experiences bringing Western concepts of the field to another context. This was a session that I wish would have had 90 minutes; there was just not enough time to fully appreciate the development of the institute, the presenters’ experiences sharing the curriculum, and the participants’ experiences.  I can only hope the presentation team collaborates with the participants and shares their reflections in a journal article. I have no doubt that many readers would enjoy learning from their experiences.

Diliana’s Pick

A Double Shot of Leadership: Lessons Learned from Starbucks

There is something to be learned from one of the largest and most successful companies in the world: Starbucks. While I had never thought about the company that delivers my daily cup of joe as a model to serve students, I must admit that I was impressed with how the presenters made these connections. There are five key tenets that Starbucks has utilized to grow their company and to maintain happy and loyal customers. These are:

1.  Make it your own: Be welcoming; be genuine; be considerate; be knowledgeable; and be involved
2. Everything Matters – Retail is Detail: Create an environment and make the experience a bigger stop
3. Encourage a Felt Sense –  Everyone Matters: Surprise and Delight Your Customers (your students)
4. Embrace Resistance: Profit From Praise and Value Criticism
5. Leave Your Mark: Invest in People and Encourage Volunteerism

If we think of each of these tenets and apply them in the work that we do with students we can create an environment for them that is supportive and welcoming – one where their voices matter and where they are included in the process as partners. For me, the second principle, “Everything Matters,” really resonated with my own work with students. You just never know what small or large action, conversation, comment, etc. will impact the students that you serve. If we keep this principle in mind we are in better shape to develop intentional mechanisms that support students.

We would love to hear about your favorite sessions at ACPA – please share these in the comments section.

Vegas Bound for ACPA #safaculty

Vegas Baby! Vegas! In just a few days we will be heading down to Las Vegas for the annual ACPA conference. ACPA, one of the largest student affairs and services associations worldwide, marks the beginning of a 3-month conference ‘sprint’ that includes a criss-crossing of Canada and the United States, culminates with CACUSS in June in Montreal.

Having presented last year at ACPA on findings from Phase I of the Supporting Student Success study, this year we are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to present a new session titled

Are There Really Two Sides of the House? Faculty Perceptions of Student Affairs

This session is based on Phase II of our research where for the first time we spoke with faculty about how their see their institutions supporting student success. A review of past ACPA, NASPA and CACUSS conference programs did not show many sessions that looked at interactions beyond those ‘faculty champions.’

It’s likely that all of us have some degree of interaction with faculty, and we hope this session helps to present a broader and different perspective of what is sometimes a complex relationship. Often SAS staff discussed how they felt marginalized, and not respected or acknowledged for the expertise they have. This session uses our conversations with faculty members, but also drawings (yes, for the most part they were willing participants in our drawing exercise) really illuminated the range of faculty knowledge and awareness of student supports at their institution. Our session will be highly interactive, feature the world-premiere of some of our video features, and is a chance for professionals to consider and critique their own perceptions of working with faculty at their institution.

Are There Really Two Sides of the House? Faculty Perceptions of Student Affairs

Thursday, March 7, 2013
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Bally’s Las Vegas, Las Vegas 2

It seems each year there is a sizeable group of #SAcdn that go to ACPA or NASPA, but I am not sure there is a commensurate number of us who are proposing and giving presentations at these conferences. As someone who has reviewed proposals for ACPA, NASPA and CACUSS, I have no doubt that proposals from Canadian colleges and universities would be great additions to either ACPA or NASPA. Even better would be collaboratively developed proposals, involving Canadian, American and SAS professionals from around the world. Perhaps this is a topic for discussion at ACPA, NASPA and CACUSS.

We would love to see as many readers of the Supporting Student Success blog, followers of our twitter account in attendance at our ACPA session, and hope you will encourage your colleagues to attend, or follow along at #safaculty