Category: Advising

ADL Program, Advising, ePortfolios, Evolution, Growth, Growth Mindset, Learning Community, Personal, Professional, Reflecting

Reflecting

The Advisor That Cares

I came to the ADL Program hoping to understand better what my students experience in online graduate programs at LU. I assumed that I might pick up a few technology skills here and there, but my primary focus was on having a first-person experience so that I could better relate. I have been blown away by the relevance and value that just these first three classes have provided to my daily job duties as an advisor. The most valuable aspect of this program has been finding creative ways to meet my students’ needs 24/7 via my Portfolio. I have developed my Portfolio as questions arise or when different semester times come near (i.e., final grades, graduation, etc.). The ability to make my projects authentic and valuable has been an unexpected and highly appreciated aspect of the program. The shift from regurgitation to real-life projects was not one I expected when beginning this academic journey. The COVA model has been the educational experience I did not know I was missing, yet one I have longed for my whole life. The ownership that comes from this real-life need, the choice in how I will present my information and learning, and the incredible personal voice that is developing through the process of reflection are not things I expected to find while working on a graduate degree.

This program taught me more about collaboration and mentoring, in just these first three courses, than I ever expected (or honestly wanted) to learn. I am finding that by helping others, I can help myself. I am learning to stop being the stubborn silent student who only focuses on getting their work done to be a valuable member of a learning community and class cohort. I have thoroughly enjoyed this aspect of the program.

The most significant aspect of the COVA Model I hope to incorporate into my ePortfolio is the ownership and choice aspects that allow my advisees to have their authentic path to degree completion. I want to develop resources that give students a choice on their preferred delivery method and equip them with information to make informed decisions along their academic path.

I can see that creating a Portfolio sheerly to meet this program’s requirements would lead to a lack of persistence. Reading the studies on Portfolio persistence makes me strive to keep this an authentic part of my personal and professional life so that my Portfolio can continue to grow and evolve to serve those I serve. I am lucky that our program allows us to use real-world learning situations to create a Portfolio that will help us for years to come, should we embrace it.

I think the most valuable personal lesson that I am carrying with me is the one of a growth mindset. I can learn to do anything I put my mind to if I remember that I don’t need to be perfect or know everything. There are so many opportunities that become available once the message of yet is accepted.

I look forward to my continued evolution as a learner, and I’m excited to see how that will impact my advisees.

Harapnuik, D., Thibodeaux, T., & Cummings, C. (2018). Choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning. Creative Common License.

ADL Program, Advising, Learning Community, Professional, Reflecting

Networking

The Advisor That Cares

As I begin reflecting on the benefit of networking and what learning networks I would join, I had some difficulty. I realized I needed to do a little more research to determine what is considered a learning network so I started by performing an internet search. 

Stanford Social Innovation Review says “Learning networks are a form of collaboration that enables groups of stakeholders to cultivate connections across communities and organizations, and to strengthen a whole system simply by focusing on the potential for participants to share information and learn from one another” (Ehrlichman & Sawyer, 2018). 

As soon as I read this definition, I immediately realized that I am already actively participating in several learning networks through my professional organization. I am currently a member of the following learning networks: 

Technology in Advising Community

The purpose of NACADA’s Technology in Advising Community is to help academic advisors, faculty advisors, and advising administrators understand the impact of using technologies in advising, including:

  • Online communication & virtual advising
  • Degree audits & web registration
  • Student information systems & electronic advising notes  
  • Social and connected spaces for innovative staff/faculty resources
  • Understand the ideas and trends of how technology is being utilized in higher education

Our activities include:

  • annual review and sponsorship of national conference proposals
  • solicitation of national and regional conference presentations and workshops 
  • compiling web resources for advisors, arranged by topics
  • organizing Twitter chats throughout the year

This community seeks to serve as a central resource and clearinghouse for information about innovations and issues in academic advising technology. Through our webpage, listserv, and our social media platforms including our NACADA Technology in Advising Facebook Group, on Twitter (using the hashtag #AcAdv or #AdvTech), and at national and regional conferences, we actively seek to encourage NACADA members to engage in topical discussions and activities related to the uses of technology in advising. 

Advising community for wellbeing and advisor retention

The Well-Being & Advisor Retention Advising Community community exists to encourage advisors to address wellbeing and self-care with their students, while also encouraging the same for advisors. This community thus hopes to decrease burnout amongst advisors and increase retention in the field. This community views wellbeing as a holistic and human need for students and advisors alike, and views self-care as ensuring student and advisor needs are met. This community hopes to encourage discussion among advisors about integrating wellbeing and self-care into advising appointments with students, while also encouraging institutions to consider the needs of their advising staff, and advisors to consider their own self-care. This community will do this by conducting research of both advisors and students, and considering and creating innovative approaches for both students and advisors. 

Our Advising Community has identified the following areas of focus: 

  • Research –  Coordinate academic research and review existing works for the committee’s use
  • Innovative Practice: Students –  Focus on new/emerging practices in incorporating wellness/wellbeing into the advising relationship, contributing to student retention/success
  • Innovative Practice: Advisors –  Focus on new/emerging practices in incorporating wellness/wellbeing into an advisor’s work, contributing to staff retention/success  
  • Regional Liaisons – Connect with regional chairs and conference chairs to incorporate wellness/wellbeing into regional events/planning; reach out to region chairs to find out what the region needs are in the areas of wellness and retention and the ways our community can assist them.

Advising Community on Distance Advising for Online Education

This community is dedicated to providing advisors with resources and insight into best practices relating to distance advising in online education. Advisors within this community can network with professionals who are responsible for providing advising services to students whose primary method of instruction is online.

Establishing an essential relationship with a student can be difficult in the online world of advising and distance learning. The Advising Community on Distance Education Advising hopes to become the community where advisors in any discipline can come network and share best practices regarding advising students whose primary method of instruction is online.

Goals:

  • Recruit members for the community address book and utilize these individuals to assist with research, writing, and presentation proposals for NACADA conferences.
  • Create an interactive online advising guidebook and publish sections to the commission website.
  • Host at least three webinars for the 2016-2017 year relating to advising online students.
  • Create a Facebook page to increase commission awareness and inform advisors of best practices relating to distance advising for online education. 

Benefits: https://nacada.ksu.edu/Community/Advising-Communities/Get-Involved-Benefits.aspx

In addition to these communities available through NACADA, I also frequently participate with TEXAAN. Both of these professional organizations believe strongly in connecting advisors with others within the advising profession. Some are professional advisors, some are faculty advisors, and still others are administrators; but we all find ways to learn from one another. For example, both these organizations and individual learning networks try to hold monthly coffee and connect sessions where topics of different interests are covered. These learning networks have been extremely helpful, especially through the shutdowns of 2020. Our communities have held frequent webinars about how each of our institutions was addressing technology concerns, how we were helping our students navigate online learning, and pushed one another to remember self-care through such a challenging event. I have participated in several online discussions within my profession. 

The benefit of these learning networks cannot be expressed enough. These networks provide us with a safe space to share the challenges (and victories) we each face guiding students through their academic paths. We have collaborated on solutions and new perspectives by maintaining a safe space to bring our challenges to one another. 

Reference

Ehrlichman, D., & Sawyer, D. (2018, July 27). Learn before you leap: The catalytic power of a learning network (SSIR). Stanford Social Innovation Review: Informing and Inspiring Leaders of Social Change. Retrieved June 21, 2022, from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/learn_before_you_leap_the_catalytic_power_of_a_learning_network#:~:text=Learning%20networks%20are%20a%20form,and%20learn%20from%20one%20another.

ADL Program, Advising, ePortfolios, Growth Mindset, Innovation Plan, Professional, Reflecting

Technology and Advising

The Advisor That Cares

The wildly important goal related to technology integration I am focused on is encouraging my advisees to take ownership of their degree program, the path to attainment, and to set goals for themselves. Too many of my students begin programs with little to no understanding of the requirements they need to research and prepare (such as internships). The students’ lack of knowledge and information causes hostility and confusion as they reach those later points in their programs.

My goal is to integrate technology into my advising practices to guide them through the research and information-gathering processes needed to succeed. Universal Design for Learning allows all learners to utilize the what, how, and why of learning as they engage with active learning by incorporating technology into the classroom and learning opportunities. This shifts the one size fits all approach to learning, does not meet learners where they are and doesn’t consider diversity. Technology integration allows for different types of media to be used to engage students in the learning process. We must have a purpose to stay involved and engaged in our learning journey until we obtain mastery of our given goals.

When asked whether I thought I had a fixed or growth mindset last semester, I believed I was primarily a growth mindset individual. I am optimistic about most things. However, upon learning of the false growth mindset and further evaluation this semester, I can honestly say that many of my internal dialogs and personal expectations fall more in line with a fixed mindset. I can feel quite defensive when challenged professionally, and I know that comes from personal insecurity. I am very growth mindset oriented when assisting others but often hold myself to an unrealistic expectation of perfection. The more I learn about the growth mindset, the more I aspire to replace my perfectionist thinking with a perspective that allows for trial and error along with failing toward my goals. The messages about praising progress and avoiding a false growth mindset are also beneficial because I began focusing on effort as the key to a growth mindset. Now, I know that progress is the key to praise. Perfectionist thinking has held me back from achieving important goals throughout my life. I have been on and off weight loss plans for almost all my adult life. When I am super strict and losing weight, I can fool myself into believing I have a growth mindset, but one slip-up or terrible choice can immediately trigger me into a fixed mindset. I have entirely spiraled into a weekend of junk food binging over a minor setback. Don’t even get me started on October through December (Halloween candy leads right into the holidays), and fixed mindset thinking can derail all prior progress. To avoid a false growth mindset, I will focus on praising the process and progress over simply praising effort. The suggestion of tying praise to strategies, persistence, and performance will assist me in avoiding the development of a false growth mindset. 

There have been times that I have made decisions in life to avoid failure. Now I see that failure is just a part of learning and an opportunity for my brain to grow. I would say that avoiding situations was my go-to defense mechanism back in high school and college. I struggle severely with mathematics and will still find myself avoiding situations that test my abilities. I definitely could have used a growth mindset perspective as I fought through multiple levels of remedial math, desperately trying to grasp concepts that escaped me. Even pursuing a graduate degree was something that I avoided for fear of failure. I have to constantly give myself a pep talk about growth and perseverance regarding the program and the vague nature of assignments. I know the design of projects and assignments creates an environment for deeper learning through the process of researching and finding answers. Still, in the heat of the moment, my fixed mindset thinking can flare and try to convince me of all the old terrible things I would tell myself in my internal dialog growing up. It helps to learn that I can name that inner voice and “recruit it to collaborate on your challenging goals instead of letting it undermine you with doubts and fears.” 

With almost every new thing I’m learning, I tend to turn to YouTube and internet search engines to inform myself. I also seek out podcasts and books on different topics that interest me. I have watched the Learner’s Mindset Discussions on the growth mindset topic and sought additional YouTube resources such as TEDTalks. I will follow a rabbit hole by clicking links off of links to other resources. Additionally, I have begun actively seeking additional research related to advising via google scholar.

Reference

Dweck, C. (2016, January 11). Recognizing and overcoming false growth mindset. Edutopia. Retrieved June 7, 2022, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/recognizing-overcoming-false-growth-mindset-carol-dweck 

ADL Program, Advising, ePortfolios, Goals, Growth, Learning, Professional, Reflecting

Feedforward

The Advisor That Cares

This morning I am reviewing some of my classmates in the ADL program‘s ePortfolios in hopes of actually providing helpful feedforward. I found myself inspired as I viewed tristandixson.com‘s recent blog post on feedforward and how a shift in focus could significantly impact the review process in professional environments.

I work at a state institution which means we have very structured review requirements. We are asked to evaluate ourselves and set professional goals for the next academic year. I have always dreaded these exercises because I would much rather have a constructive review of what is working and what could be better, as I am a solution-oriented employee. I find little benefit in the culture of who’s to blame or who is right. I really appreciate the focus on solutions. Solutions feed my soul; otherwise, it isn’t productive. Just grumbling and complaining. 

Thinking about my self-assessments, I never see the point of reflecting on “accomplishments” but instead, strive for new goals and ways to grow and assist with the continued improvement of the system. Implementing the feedforward concept into the review process would assess the current system’s efficiency and effectiveness, student and employee satisfaction, accurate and transparent communication, and what each member can contribute toward proposed solutions.

ADL Program, Advising, Growth, Personal, Reflecting

Advising Mindset

The Advisor That Cares

This is a difficult time of the advising cycle and seasons for an advisor who cares. As the semester comes to a close, some students are looking forward to commencement. I volunteer at these ceremonies and love connecting with students and their friends/families.

This is the time when degree plan reviews take place, and some students have to be made aware of some university policies, degree plan requirements, and in the worst circumstance that a student is lacking a graduation requirement.

This is where I need to learn better how to equip my students with a growth mindset. I have spent the last 10 days individually reviewing degree audits, enrollment reports, personalized plans, email correspondence, course repeat limits, GPA requirements, and academic standing.

All while working to improve registration procedures, update college departments, alleviate concerns, answer student questions, participate in departmental committee work, and maintain daily tasks.

Oh yeah and there’s this ADL program that I am living. I listen to the Learners Mindset Discussion (LMD) daily in productivity cycles since week four of the current eight-week session. After learning about so many productivity experts and our very own biohacking mentor, I have been inspired to incorporate aspects of engagement management. I guess I’m still lacking on the 25 minutes of something enjoyable, but instead I’ve been blasting some music from my past that I find allows me to zone in and do more of the repetitive portions and getting up for 15-minutes sunshine blasting walks. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate these LMD and the passion our program creators show for our purpose here. It is truly overwhelming to think about who we can be at the end of this program. Personally improved. Professionally improved. Organizationally improved. All we have to do is connect with our why, be willing to fail forward, embrace a growth mindset, and believe in ourselves and our goals passionately enough that we are willing to smash through the wall of fear.

I’m doing my best to move into my personal life as a student with a growth mindset. I’m also looking at this challenging cycle professionally with a growth mindset. What can I learn? How can I improve my communication, the information I share, the amount of outreach? How can I help my students develop a growth mindset when faced with disappointments and challenges?

Do you have any ideas? Suggestions? Thoughts? I would love to hear them in the comments.

Advising, ePortfolios, Goals, Professional

Better late than never…

The Advisor That Cares

In December 2021, I attended a virtual professional development drive-in hosted by my professional organization, TEXAAN, titled Advising a life long profession: Proactively planning and investing in career growth and development. One of the sessions hosted during the webinar was titled Building your personalized advising portfolio by Sarah B. Sanche. Little did I realize, but less than a month later, I would finally take the leap of faith to embark upon my project-based learning graduate program and would be building my own ePortfolio.

I am finding her suggestions very valuable and inline with our goals here in the ADL program. She suggests the following (some paraphrased):

  • Find a notebook and pen of your choosing (or in our case create a wordpress blog)
  • Write down thoughts 3-4 times per week
  • Write about the day
  • After a month, go back and review previous writings
  • Continue with the routine for 6 months and evaluate the content of your writing
  • Connect with others
  • Stay dedicated to the reflection process…

In her presentation, Sarah Sanchez also sites a checklist from a NACADA article titled Advisor portfolio examples by Catherine Buyarski. In her article, Catherine Buyarski sites the following goals for an advising portfolio:

  1. To allow each advisor to document and accomplishments and contributions to students […] and the education profession;
  2. To define expectations for advisor performance and reinforce the priorities of [the institution and advising team];
  3. To encourage professional reflection and goal-setting; and
  4. To allow for assessment of advisor needs to provide input into [institutional] planning.

Buyarski, C. (2014). Advisor Portfolio Examples. NACADA | Clearinghouse of Academic   Advising. Retrieved from https://nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Articles/Advisor-Portfolio-Examples.aspx

Sanchez, S. B. (2021). Building your personalized advising portfolio.

Advising, Goals, Growth, Professional

Reading emails, a thing of the past?

The Advisor That Cares
On a background of a global map is a graphic of a laptop. There is a cell phone pictured to the right of the laptop. Both devices have black screens with lines to represent illegible text. Across the map are multiple yellow envelopes represent incoming email messages with an open envelope on top of the laptop screen.

Doesn’t anyone read emails anymore?

I am going to have to find a way to relay information to my students so that they actual take the time to read and absorb what they need to know. I am amazed by the number of students who enter graduate school without researching the requirements of their chosen program. I think that we all get so busy in our day to day lives that we take for granted the information that the recruiter gives to us when they are enticing us to begin a given program.

Since I can be quite long-winded in my emails, I would like to utilize my e-portfolio as a place to outline all of the requirements of which students need to be aware. Ideally, this information will be made more relevant or accessible through digital storytelling or other multimedia formats, since I’m really starting to feel that reading and attention to detail is becoming a thing of the past.

To help improve myself as a communicator, I decided to do a quick internet search for ways to get through to my students. Forbes writes in Why No One Reads Your Email And How To Fix That recommends that I make my email scannable by:

  1. Write two to three sentences that introduces the topic and what’s in it for the recipient to read the email.
  2. Chunk information into bulleted categories, ideally no more than three categories. You can always put sub bullets in each category.
  3. Close out the email with a sentence or two clearly requesting the action you want the participant to take next.

MacArthur, H. V. (2019, July 9). Why no one reads your emails and how to fix that. Forbes. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/hvmacarthur/2019/07/08/why-no-one-reads-your-emails-and-how-to-fix-that/