Month: September 2012

Collaboration as a Means to Developing Professional Competence

Dan

Last night I attended an event for the Colleges of Memphis initiative. I think it’s awesome. I love the idea that our 14 colleges in the area, each somewhat distinctive from the other, are partnering to educate some 66,000 college students. Collaboration in this context means centralizing data, marketing, and sharing ideas. It also means looking out for the betterment of the whole versus only the interests of the individual institution.Collaboration takes time but in the end, people are better off.

I’ve also found that collaboration is a great way to increase professional competence.

For example, I didn’t come up through health services, but because I collaborate with  our Student Health Center, I learn about how students use their services and the issues they face. I collaborate with academic affairs colleagues on research and assessment initiatives, particularly around our focus on retention. Sometimes collaboration stems from a meeting with a colleague and sometimes I stumble across the opportunity because I am on a university committee.

I’d like for us in student affairs to increase efforts to collaborate. At the beginning it takes time and possibly can be a bit of a drain on human and fiscal resources, but as these collaborations persist, they can actually improve our use of resources. Those are the benefits for the institution, but for me as an individual, I feel like collaboration makes me a better professional.

Collaboration may look different based on your function and your tenure in this field. How can you better incorporate collaboration into your work so that you develop increased professional competence and confidence?

Image below borrowed from http://collegesofmemphis.org/

Assessment, Evaluation and Research: Incorporating Practices Into Our Work

Dan

As with past blogs, I am incorporating the ACPA/NASPA Core Competencies. This week, I address Assessment, Evaluation and Research. Each is distinct from the other. For the purpose of this short blog, I will focus on assessment.

Ultimately we have to find ways to have an assessment framework to do our jobs rather than conduct assessment on top of our jobs. What does it mean to be an assessment oriented student affairs educator? Let’s look at some of the characteristics of professionals at different stages of competence and answer the question.

At the beginner level, one must be able to “facilitate appropriate data collection for system/department-wide assessment and evaluation efforts using up-to-date technology and methods”. An assessment oriented educator views any interaction as an opportunity to collect data. Meeting with student organization presidents over time, why not ask each of them the same question, such as “What are you dealing with in your organization?”. Good notes and analysis of these notes can reveal themes. Themes inform decisions. Using data to inform decision making is one part of good assessment.

Intermediates should be able to “prioritize program and learning outcomes with organization goals and values”. An assessment oriented educator knows the goals she/he wants to accomplish and aligns goals with that of the division and institution. Conversations with students help us collect information to know to what extent those outcomes are accomplished.  At the simplest level, taking the time to reflect on these conversations and document our observations makes existing practices assessment practices. Such practices reveal answers to our questions about what students are learning.

Those in the advanced level focus on such things as using assessment data to make strategic decisions. If you’re having the conversations and you are documenting your observations, at some point you can see if the human and fiscal resources you’re applying are paying off. Making decisions based on this data will help you to be more strategic in the services, programs and resources you provide. Assessment is a precursor to good planning.

It’s likely you’re already doing the following in your work: Having conversations, which leads to making decisions. Really, the missing piece is assessment of those conversations and the use of the assessment results to inform decisions.

How do you incorporate assessment already? What do you need to do to become more competent and confident in assessment, evaluation and research?

Student Learning and Development: Don’t Vector Me!

Dan

I have a friend who shared this picture with me recently:

I’ve been known to apply theories in my work. Some folks say they have no use for theory, but I think that’s because they view the application as much more obvious or blatant than I do. I would never tell a student she’s hanging out in a vector. What I would do is examine how her behavior and see how a theoretical framework can inform my efforts to help her.

In other blogs I’ve offered thoughts on other ACPA/NASPA Core Competencies such as advising and helping and equity, diversity and inclusion. This posting focuses on the core competency of student learning and development. Consider how one might advance through the three stages of competence using the following examples:

At the basic level, one should be able to “identify the limitations in applying existing theories and models to varying student demographics”. For example, Chickering’s (and Reisser’s later accompaniment) was primarily on White students (not intentional). There’s limitations when you avoid race and ethnicity, and other issues of pluralism, when considering identity. How could you connect theories to inform the diverse identities of our students?

At the intermediate level, one should be able to “utilize theory to practice models to inform individual or unit practice”. Ironically, we presume this level of competence should occur by the time one departs our grad prep programs. Few, if any entering student affairs professionals have actualized to the intermediate level of competence in anything! Why should we expect them to in the area of theory application?

Finally, at the advanced level, one should be able to “analyze and critique prevailing theory” – Chickering ain’t perfect but it’s a framework. No theory is perfect and for us to apply unconditionally is inappropriate. However, as we critique let’s consider what is still applicable.

Applying theory isn’t so much about informing students where they are; applying theory should be about us understanding natural human development to inform where we want to help them to go. How do you apply theory successfully in your work and how can you be more intentional to make it meaningful and contribute to the success of students?