Month: September 2023

ADL Program, Advising, It's all about the learning, Online Learning, Professional Learning, Publication, Research, Tips

Always timely, EDUCAUSE

The Advisor That Cares

While written with IT Leaders in mind, innovative educators and support staff can benefit from these 10 Calls to Action for the Future of Technology in Higher Ed.

  • #1 – Collaboration
    • “Regular, reliable, and repeatable interactions with customers can also lead to greater customer satisfaction, productivity, and efficiency, along with a deeper appreciation of humans working together” (Gonick, 2023).
    • “A key question arises: how can their organizations be prepared to make necessary pivots to solve systemic challenges? Doing so starts with a theory of change—one with a vision and a strategy to engage people and to develop agile organizational capacity. The tools and technology will follow” (Gonick, 2023).
      • This point immediately makes me consider the ADL program’s Influencer and 4DX change strategies.
  • # 2 – Belonging
    • “Belonging is an outcome that’s hard to measure, but we know when people stay engaged, it’s because they feel they’re somewhere worthwhile—and that they’re someone worthwhile. Belonging is an ethical expression of solidarity and in opposition to the dominant experience of alienation” (Gonick, 2023).
      • This is a crucial component of my innovation and an excellent spot to highlight how creating a learning environment that supports the advising relationship could help students and employees gain this sense of belonging and significance.
  • #3 – Learning at Scale and AI
    • “The best of AI in the higher education setting lies in its potential to revolutionize how learners access and engage with educational resources, offering personalized experiences at scale” (Gonick, 2023).
    • “AI has the power to transform how colleges and universities provide services, support vulnerable populations, improve STEM education, and much more” (Gonick, 2023).
      • Incorporating AI into the innovation to advising would make for real-time student support anytime a student faces a situation, has a question, or expresses a challenge. This opportunity poses many future possibilities for the advising relationship.
  • #4 – Analytics of Support
    • “Data helps us understand how to provide better support to students and learners; being able to provide just the right interventions at just the right moments can be the difference between someone dropping out and feeling they have the resources needed to continue and thrive” (Gonick, 2023).
    • The future of advising could potentially include “… using real-time analytics and smart technology to identify patterns in students’ learning and providing personalized recommendations for support and intervention” (Gonick, 2023).
      • Isn’t proactive advising with on-time intrusive intervention a goal for forming a robust and trusted advising relationship? Shouldn’t helping students obtain the tools they need to be successful and to excel in their chose degree program a big piece part of our goals in higher education?
  • #5 – Identity Management
    • “… using digital resources to ensure a seamless learning journey—such as by using extended reality and adaptive technologies to enhance learning strategies. This approach has the potential to transform academia and equip students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in today’s rapidly evolving landscape (Gonick, 2023).
  • #6 – 10 coming soon (I fell down a rabbit hole of research again when I need to be writing.)
    • “Narrative-based learning is very different from the industrial models that have guided instruction at scale for nearly a century. We will need to get better at understanding how to construct compelling narratives that invite learners to chart their own learning journeys” (Gonick, 2023).

Reference

Gonick, L. (2023, August 29). 10 calls to action for the future of technology in higher ed. EDUCAUSE Review. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2023/8/10-calls-to-action-for-the-future-of-technology-in-higher-ed?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=er_content_alert_newsletter&utm_content=9-06-23&utm_term=_&m_i=uxOFDaW%2BUx81Tdgqy3EtRPi%2B9T04jmwuyU5EK1X_ilZ0JLfk3kCH9WgfIrKaaoiaQz2dWaXjVjUlZl0oy2FW3egvsGqMHieuup&M_BT=88967532832

ADL Program, Advising, Contributions, ePortfolios, Focus on the learning, Goals, Growth, Innovation Plan, Instructional Design, It's all about the learning, Learner's Mindset, Learning, Online Learning, Outcomes, Personal, Professional, Publication, Why

What to Write

The Advisor That Cares

Going through Dr. Harapnuik’s content and nearing the end of the ADL program makes many connections between the strategies and learning accomplished throughout this authentic learning environment.

I cannot help but reflect on my personal why (TEDx Talks, 2009). My passion is caring about other people. My goal is to make a difference and to try and make things better for those around me. Caring about others drives me to make a difference for frustrated students and advisors.

Advisors have an opportunity to embrace innovation in the ways that we approach our advising relationships. Think about ways to turn the repetitive parts of your job (the unrewarding information transfer topics and system onboarding done with students) into question-based searchable resources. What if posing questions and teaching students where and how to find information is far more valuable than trying to be the holder of all knowledge, policy, and departmental preferences.

My vision is that advisors and students will collaborate to create resources and communities that support and encourage one another as advisors step into mentorship roles and learners find peer support and guidance. Guiding learners to explore their goals and questioning what challenges or obstacles might hold them back allows learners and advisors to discuss and problem-solve unique concerns and considerations at individualized levels. Advisors serve as guides or coaches while students research advising resources, university websites, and support services relevant to their issues and concerns. Learners embrace ever-increasing efficacy over their learning experience through reflection blogs, cohort discussions, and peer meet-up opportunities (in person and virtual).

TEDx Talks. (2009, September 29). Start with why — how great leaders inspire action | Simon Sinek | TEDxPugetSound [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA

ADL Program, Publication

Schank you very much

The Advisor That Cares

Well darn. How in the world am I just now learning about Roger Schank! A link was thrown into the publication assignment, and I was off exploring another rabbit trail.

Cognitive processes

Roger Schank on Invisible Learning

Teaching Minds: How Cognitive Science Can Save Our Schools (slightly modified cognitive process labels/titles)

Alternative Learning Place

Innovation Playlist (2007)

All the connections are coming together.

A New Culture of Learning, ADL Program, Advising, Collective, ePortfolios, Focus on the learning, Goals, Innovation Plan, Instructional Design, It's all about the learning, Learner's Mindset, Learning, Learning Community, Online Learning, Outcomes, Professional, Publication, Reflecting

Perusing and sharing Publications

The Advisor That Cares

5317 Discussion 1 (2 of 2)

The ADL program has opened my eyes to exactly how much the landscape of learning has changed and how little the landscape of education has changed. Learners today are digitally connected, and education needs to evolve to include transformative learning opportunities in every environment.

Currently, advisors are tasked with almost every initiative faced by incoming students. This creates a prescriptive advising full of information transfer topics that often leave advisors feeling unfulfilled. Additionally, the environment does not encourage the transformative opportunity found through intentional advisor-advisee relationships. Through an innovation of advising, advisors will have a consistent message to share with their advisees, relieving them of their role’s repetitive and transactional aspects. Digital resources that allow departments to ensure the message and information shared with their students align with their policies and beliefs increase confidence in information accuracy. Collaboration with campus stakeholders ensures that other departments can introduce themselves and their services in a non-anxiety-inducing way.

Most importantly, a blended learning approach to advising can increase learners’ curiosity (Musallam, 2013) about their learning experience while simultaneously increasing advisors’ creativity (RSA, 2010) by creating content, refining the message, clarifying the intentions, and assessing the effectiveness of advising as a learning opportunity. The most challenging part of my innovation idea to resolve and convey is my belief that an effective learning environment allows more profound, more meaningful relationships like those described by developmental and intrusive advising. Adding to this is the concept of connectivity and collaboration. The benefits of forming a learning collective among students that supports the advising relationship and initiatives (Thomas & Brown, 2011, p. 52). How much more will a high school student listen to a college student than a university representative at orientation to campus? How can an innovation to advising support the feeling of belonging that students and staff feel at the institution?

Consider how the learning environment is changing and how you can share the changes you are making in your learning environment.

  1. Briefly share one or two possible topic areas that are of interest to you that you can write about. Remember that you do not need to be an expert in the field to have a voice. Please visit http://tilisathibodeaux.com/wordpress/?page_id=841 for ideas from past students.
    • I could write about the collaboration and connection aspect of advising and how a blended learning environment could extend and expand the advising relations well beyond the twice-annual mandatory advising requirement for registration/enrollment.
    • Another topic to write about is how a blended learning environment could relieve advisors of the sage on the stage soul resource for information. I want to help empower advisors to equip learners with the skills and motivation to seek and verify information for themselves.
  2. Identify and share 2-3 online publications of interest in your field. Publications can include online magazines, newsletters, state technology publications/articles. Hyperlink your selections so that others may easily access your selections.
  3. Which digital environments allow the opportunity to collaborate with others as you write and think through your ideas? What is currently well established? What needs improvement?
    • Discussion boards, chat apps, blogs, digital classrooms, and file-sharing tools are all digital tools that have allowed an endless variety of digital environments where thoughts, innovations, and hunches collide at just the right time and place to evolve into a perfect solution to a problem (RiverheadBooks, 2010).

Changing Educational Paradigms

I found this talk so interesting I went to see the full discussion, Changing Paradigms

3 Rules to Spark Learning

Where Good Ideas Come From

References

Musallam, R. (2013, April). 3 rules to spark learning [Video]. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/ramsey_musallam_3_rules_to_spark_learning

RiverheadBooks. (2010, September 17). WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM by Steven Johnson [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU

RSA. (2010, February 4). Sir Ken Robinson – Changing Paradigms [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCbdS4hSa0s

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change (1st ed.). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.