Category: Growth Mindset

ADL Program, Advising, ePortfolios, Evolution, Goals, Growth, Growth Mindset, Growth Mindset Plan, Innovation Plan, Learner's Mindset, Learning, Learning Manifesto, Personal, Professional, Reflecting, Why

Head vs. Heart

The Advisor That Cares
An illustration of a gray brain (2 lobes) on the left of a balanced beam (level line over a circle) with a red heart at opposite end (right side).

While reading and watching the content for this, my fifth course in the ADL program, I found myself feeling a bit conflicted and frustrated. The research process that helped me identify my learning philosophy had me pulling away from my behavioral psychology undergraduate roots. Yet here I am, immediately thrust me back into concepts of behavioral change?

Wait a minute.

Stamp like image read in red "Don't Panic"

The Influencer book provides a framework for behavioral changes. As behavioral and social scientists, the authors share research findings, stories, and strategies that support change efforts. I am re-watching the Behavioral Science guys’ reminder that information overload and appeals to the head are not ways to inspire changes in behavior. Instead, we must appeal to the heart through “influential questions” (Crucial Learning, 2015).

But I thought I identified that I most align with humanistic and constructivist learning theories. Now I am returning to behaviorism? Behavioral change?

Fortunately, Dr. Dwayne Harapnuik’s post the head won’t go where the heart hasn’t been allowed me to explore connections of behavioral change through a cognitive lens which helped alleviate some panic. In this post, Dr. Harapnuik relays that “the science community is beginning to recognize the importance of the affective domain” (Harapnuik, 2015). To clarify, “the affective domain includes factors such as student motivation, attitudes, perceptions and values” (The Affective Domain in the Classroom, n.d.).

In this first assignment, I must balance and allocate the heart and the mind for change initiatives/strategies. Specifically, my innovation plan. The first task is identifying and articulating our Why, How, and What statements.

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

Simon Sinek defines why with the following questions:

  • What is your purpose?
  • What is your cause?
  • What is your belief?
  • Why does your organization exist? [Which I extend to include – why does your innovation exist?]

Using the neuroscience of the human brain, Simon Sinek illustrates the importance of starting with why through a golden circle, in which he explains that our feeling and emotional, limbic brain is “the part of the brain that controls behavior” (TEDx Talks, 2009). Sinek points out that by sharing our purpose and beliefs, we will attract others with those commonalities. He illustrates his point with a beautiful example from Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s (MLK) I have a dream speech. He points out that MLK “didn’t go around telling people what needed to change… he told people what he believed” (TEDx Talks, 2009).

Now to connect with what I believe? How do I get people to feel the way I feel? What is my why? While this seems big and overwhelming, I find encouragement in Simon Sinek’s call to action that “those who start with why… have the ability to inspire those around them…” (TEDx Talks, 2009).

Contemplating Tom Asacker’s questions on behavior change, I agree that “it is our personal narratives that move us to change the world and to improve our lives and the lives of others (TEDx Talks, 2014). I believe my own experience with learning gives me the purpose and passion for empowering my learners.

I want to help revolutionize advising. Dr. John Kotter argues that to enact change, one must “win over the hearts and minds of people” (Dr. John Kotter, 2011). Much like Sinek’s Golden Circle illustration, Kotter references two parts of the brain responsible for different functions (emotions/feeling vs. rational/thinking) and encourages change efforts must remember to focus on both aspects. Kotter (2012) urges that the “heart provides the energy to make something big, a big leap happen.” Kotter (2013) recommends that change agents work to create excitement and energy through transparency for the need and desire to strive for something better.

You see, I am all in.

“This is not an easy process but we owe it to our children and to the young men and women who are going to our universities and colleges with dreams of building a better world”

(Harapnuik, 2014).

References

Dr. John Kotter. (2011, March 23). John Kotter – the heart of change [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NKti9MyAAw

Dr. John Kotter. (2012, February 6). The biggest mistake I see: strategy first, urgency second. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx46Z2daVtQ

Dr. John Kotter. (2013, August 15). Leading change: establish a sense of urgency [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yfrj2Y9IlI

Harapnuik, D. (2014, September 16). People who like this stuff. . .like this stuff. It’s About Learning. Retrieved from https://www.harapnuik.org/?p=5198

Harapnuik, D. (2015, January 9). The head won’t go where the heart hasn’t been. It’s About Learning. Retrieved from https://www.harapnuik.org/?p=5461

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

TEDx Talks. (2014, June 30). Why TED Talks don’t change people’s behaviors: Tom Asacker at TEDxCambridge 2014 [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0jTZ-GP0N4

The affective domain in the classroom. (n.d.). Teach the Earth. Retrieved from https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/affective/index.html

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Contributions, 5313

The Advisor That Cares

Creating Significant Learning Environments (CSLE) Course

  • Fall 2022
  • Course Number: EDLD 5313
  • Course Title: Creating Significant Learning Environments
Square orange sign tilted so that one point of the square points upward, centered are the words "Detour Ahead"

Contributions to learning and learning community.

I am giving myself a score of 96 out of 100

Crediting Core Group Members: Kristin Winzer, Patrick Rodriguez

Crediting Collective Members: https://advising.blog/collaborations/

Key Contribution

I met all activity deadlines and requirements throughout the semester by their posted deadline. Each semester I work to review and revise my previous work. As I gain a greater understanding of the task (this learning approach), I can evaluate and determine if my past work is meeting those outcomes and objectives. This course has provided a greater understanding of the importance of the learning environment I am creating. Everything we do should focus on learning, and how we approach subjects can tap into a learner’s thirst for learning or squelch it. I want to help reignite that natural love of learning so that my learners can be both successful and lifelong learners. 

What worked

In addition to completing all course readings, videos, and supporting research, I embraced research this semester. I found that the best way to understand the different topics was to give myself as much context and related information as possible. In doing so, I watched/read the provided content, followed all the associated links, researched for related information, watched relevant media, and took many notes. This means of forming context allowed me to better synthesize my understanding of everything. I faced several projects that were entirely new for me. These new concepts and tasks made me work extra hard to teach myself as much as possible. This course was my first of really long study nights and limited sleep. If there is one thing that this program has taught me: I have the power to learn and improve when I feel weak or unfamiliar with something. For example, I believe my academic writing skills could use improvement. Therefore, in addition to my typical YouTube search to learn about “how to write an argumentative paper?,” “How to write a response,” and “What is an annotation?” I attended an online writing workshop to try and help with my ability to paraphrase and improve my overall writing skills.

I am trying to keep up with blogging and tracking some of my thought processes (thinking about my thinking). I am trying to embrace and trust the ADL program (COVA+CSLE). I recognize that reflection is a crucial aspect of learning. I have also hoped that I could further help facilitate learning how to learn by documenting the stages and steps in my learning process. Additionally, those proved very helpful in the compilation because those blogs helped me reflect upon the process and my facets of understanding to see myself in each piece of that learning opportunity. 

What could be better

I still struggle quite a bit with the best way to keep up with academic research. I have a variety of folders and drives just full of PDF documents. I have been saving my research related to different assignments or projects. Still, I think having a better system to organize my research would allow me to draw from multiple overlapping resources as relevant and needed. I tried a couple of online research systems. Still, they all seemed very time intensive, with multiple entries required for each resource. I am considering starting a gigantic, annotated bibliography since that was something we have done in a couple of classes thus far. I can see how the summary of why the source is relevant to me could be beneficial. 

I am also finding that I lack the confidence I think I need to synthesize information effectively into my own words. I struggle with not just creating a quote-fest and submitting it as an assignment because the source material is all so new to me. I feel that I’m still really finding it a challenge to process and paraphrase (with citations) instead of just direct quoting. 

I recognize this semester that I need to work harder to keep the forward progression in the modules. Instead of focusing on a given week’s readings/discussions/projects, the future modules don’t get addressed until the previous one is complete. I recognized that this provides additional context and increases the synthesis of information instead of trying to keep everything so compartmentalized between projects/modules. I can get too focused on the immediate that I can forget to consider/plan for the long term.

I’m unsure if I should actively seek comments on my blogs/EP. I know from our ePortfolio class that likes, reshares, and comments are what drives the audience. Should I ask my classmates to visit my blog and leave comments, or am I just hoping to connect with readers with common interests? I feel like this is an area where I could improve my understanding and ensure that my ePortfolio functions as a learning space, a personal narrative, and a place to help others in their learning journeys. 

Supporting Contributions

I think I will address my supporting contributions in reverse order since I am already reflecting on what could have been better. Plus, then I get to wrap everything up on a positive note. 

What could be better

I feel terrible admitting this, but I have committed to transparency in my learning journey. I genuinely believe I can learn from this first reflection what I could have done better. I completely dropped the ball on my learning community this semester. I spoke with my group last semester, and we were all set to collaborate again this session. We continued with our chat and google drive. Our last class was the Concepts of Educational Tech course, and I created shared documents for our group discussions. Still, no one interacted with them, as we had in our Applying Digital Tech /ePortfolio course. Last semester, there didn’t seem to be as much focus on the blog posts and group discussions as there was in the ePortfolio course. I thought I would try this session again, so I created a few module reminders/guides/checklists and started group discussion threads.

The first one or two discussions passed without interaction, and I assumed the group was meeting and collaborating in another fashion. Since everyone else was a K-12 teacher with similar innovation plans, they took two classes instead of one. In past semesters, they explained that they often met about the class I wasn’t in and covered questions/material for both courses. I am embarrassed to admit that I just assumed the worst and leaned into the ADL 2021-2023 group chat to share my assignments, seek collaboration/support, and feed-forward. During my breakdown crisis of self over the UbD template assignment, one of my previous groupmates said, “I know you haven’t been sharing your assignments as we have, but ours are there if you think more examples will help you.” I didn’t even realize they were uploading assignments to our shared drive. After a couple of weeks of no interaction in the early part of the semester, I stopped checking. I felt like such a jerk; I had no idea. My groupmate was utterly kind and supportive, which was so amazing in my moment of dismay. I am fortunate to be in this program with wonderful people who extend grace and understanding. I learned a valuable lesson on the importance of communication and transparency. I should have just asked, are we still collaborating? Is there another group chat somewhere? Am I missing something? 

What could be better? I recognize that I need to speak up instead of just retreating into my feelings and making assumptions. 

However, I did find a few different things that worked this semester. 

What worked

I continued leadership responsibilities within the online ADL 2021-2023 group chat, which helped me connect with the ADL cohort. I wanted to stay connected with my cohort as I have seen previous cohorts remain connected and supportive throughout every program stage. Additionally, selfishly my learning cohort will change every two semesters or so. So I needed to find a way to foster new relationships, develop opportunities to mentor and for mentorship, and maintain connections with the incredible network I am making. I also wanted to provide that level of community connection for others who might be returning to the program. I recognize that in groups, there can be any number of personalities, schedules, and other dynamics of the human dimension. It is important to me that there is a place open to everyone so that no one goes without that collective component that seems so integral and valuable to the learning process. I appreciate that we have students from all levels in the chat, allowing students further along in the program to give guidance and context for questions that arise.

The group has become an incredible collective and support system for many of us. At almost any hour (day or night), we can reach out and get feed-forward, ideas, and input from one another. Additionally, we can provide the same for those progressing further behind us. It has been nice to see our cohort share professional challenges and opportunities. 

I enjoy the role of learning facilitator and resource. Throughout the semester, I would post reminders to the group chat about discussion posts, due dates, comment deadlines, and upcoming assignments. I would individually reach out to people who had not yet posted or commented by those deadlines for the first week or two. I enjoy being that helpful friend who understands how busy life can make us. I believe this allowed most of us to successfully keep up with the timely postings and active contributions for myself and the group. Seeing the group take ownership of that chat and step up to support and mentor one another has been gratifying. I think that ongoing collaboration helps in the bond our cohort shares. 

Through our class meetings and the group chats, I identified Kristin, another non-classroom educator. I reached out her via course mail a few times and expressed a sincere interest in working together. We bonded and built a learning community over our connection and struggles of translating what we teach and our learning environments from application in K-12 education settings. Kristin said that she was collaborating with Patrick and that it would be great for us to all see how we could support one another. I was in a group chat with Patrick, started by Jasmin, so I was excited to share my assignments and struggles with each of them. I finally tried to do a better job of not just providing support but also asking for support. I recognized this as something that could be better in my last contributions to learning reflection, so I pushed myself to share more vulnerability in this area. The payoff was so rewarding. I watched my learning community members grow and expand their portfolios and confidence with each passing conversation and assignment. 

I feel a special place in my heart for this course and this learning experience. I felt the connection in this course, maybe because of the vulnerability and openness we shared, or perhaps it was just all the communication and collaboration. I also tried to stay tuned to the student/faculty discussion thread and keep conversations active in class meetings, chats, and course mail. I am excited to continue learning, applying, and revising my work and understanding as we progress through the program. 

I guess the advice I want to leave here for myself and others is to Embrace the process, accept the change, and in the wise words of our fearless facilitator, “Say yes!” (Grogan, 2022).

ADL Program, Advising, Evolution, Goals, Growth, Growth Mindset, Growth Mindset Plan, Innovation Plan, Learner's Mindset, Learning, Personal, Professional, Reflecting

Growth Mindset Revisited

The Advisor That Cares

I’m not going to lie; I felt a little frustrated as I read the two meta-analyses on the growth mindset. I thought, “well then, why in the world did we read the growth mindset book and do so much work focused on the growth mindset?!?” Then I realized that I most likely would not have made it to this fourth course in the ADL Program without that opportunity to embrace my growth mindset.

As I move along in the program and contemplate how the growth mindset fits within my innovation and my daily interaction with students, I know that I have to help my learners understand the growth mindset and really work to overcome their fixed mindset voices, but creating significant learning environments has taught me that without carrying that mindset and those actions forward into a holistic learning environment the growth mindset won’t have the opportunity it needs to ignite the learners’ mindset. Everything I hope to do with my innovation to advising seeks to empower the learner to take ownership of this, their authentic learning opportunity. I want to model, foster, and cultivate their big-picture understanding of how they learn. I want them to seek and find the connections those opportunities and understandings provide in all aspects of life.

I cannot fully articulate the dichotomy that is in this program. It is one of the most challenging and frustrating processes for every assignment. There is so much to process, and you must seek as much context as you require to understand all the lessons available. The growth mindset revisited could not have come at a better time. As I wrestled through the 3 Column Table and UbD Template portions of Creating Significant Learning Environments, I appreciated every encouraging message of yet. I was grateful that I knew cognitively, based on research, that intelligence is something earned through hard work. As I reflect on my learning experience, I cannot help but keep asking:

“How do we make advising authentic?”

The choice, ownership, and voice this authentic innovation project provides me continues to inspire me to provide my learners with the same opportunity. I want to utilize the advising experience as potentially the first place a student could experience such an understanding of the learning process. From personal experience, I know the shift that takes place affects every other aspect of your life. You start seeing relationships, communication, and interactions all as potential opportunities to be a catalyst for change and improvements.

Advising is one of the first places students experience the university. Embracing the learners’ mindset will allow us all to aspire toward endless innovation goals as an institution.

Sisk, V. F., Burgoyne, A. P., Sun, J., Butler, J. L., & Macnamara, B. N. (2018). To what extent and under which circumstances are growth mind-sets important to academic achievement? Two meta-analyses. Psychological Science, 29(4), 549–571. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617739704

ADL Program, Evolution, Goals, Growth, Growth Mindset, Learner's Mindset, Learning

Adopting a Growth Mindset

The Advisor That Cares

“Learner’s Mindset – a state of being where people act on their intrinsic capacity to learn and respond to their inquisitive nature that leads to viewing all interactions with the world as learning opportunities. This state enables one to interact with and influence the learning environment as a perpetual learner who has the capacity to use change and challenges as opportunities for growth” (Harapnuik, 2021).

How to reignite the learners’ mindset is a question with which I am constantly struggling—translating lesson plans and content from educational standards to create a learning environment where there are no standards to meet is liberating and limiting. I know, I know, classroom educators are screaming that the process of igniting and reigniting the learners’ mindset is a challenge due to the standards I wish were structuring the work I am hoping to do through my innovation. After completing the first three ADL program courses, I thought that my innovation would be chalked full of growth mindset messaging and modeling. However, the more information I absorbed this week, the more I recognized that I did not want to spend all my investments on cultivating a growth mindset in my learners. The meta-analyses, research, and other criticisms seem to illustrate that growth mindset lessons, messaging, and words alone do not lead to lasting change. Dr. Harapnuik pushes the message in the Learners’ Mindset discussions that without changes to the learning environment, it is difficult for authentic, meaningful change to occur in both ourselves and our learners (CSLE2COVA, 2019). We have to really want to learn. We have to help our learners really want to learn. The authentic tasks that reignite the learners’ mindset are where I honestly struggle with how to create an environment that helps my learners “turn life’s challenges into an opportunity for growth and development” (Harapnuik, 2021). 

I would like to believe that daily, through my learning journey, I am embracing and reigniting my learner’s mindset, which will help me instill those values and beliefs in my learners. This whole process is exactly what lead me to the ADL program.

References 

CSLE2COVA. (2019, April 5). LMD EP20 Growing A Growth Mindset. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR7uCZGPZ5k

Harapnuik, D. (2021, February 9). Learner’s Mindset Explained. Harapnuik.org. https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=8616

ADL Program, Collective, Evolution, Goals, Growth, Growth Mindset, Growth Mindset Plan, Learner's Mindset, Learning, Learning Community, Learning Manifesto, Personal, Professional, Reflecting

Revisiting Reflections

The Advisor That Cares

This week, we are revisiting some of our previous Growth Mindset content and reflections. As I re-watch the Learners Mindset Discussions, Episode 20, I am almost overcome with confirmation of so many things going through my mind these days.

When I was struggling with the thought of enrolling in the ADL Program, I watched so many LMD and ADL content, just trying to get a sense of the program. Dr. Thibodeaux‘s vulnerability spoke directly to my fixed mindset, to my wall of fear, to my heart. This discussion topic was the subject that sealed the deal for me.

Now I review the discussion and have a whole new perspective on the conversation. I understand what the instructors mean when they say that the environment we can create for our learners is the key to transformation, transference, and triumph (I wanted to say success but couldn’t resist the 3T’s). I understand it because they provided that very environment to learn for me.

We now get to create the environment through our essential questions/understandings. It is overwhelming. It is exceptionally challenging. But aren’t we “smashing through the walls of fear?” Aren’t we “setting our course by the light of the stars?” Aren’t we here “to change the world?” That is big and overwhelming, but our instructors believe in us. We believe in each other. And just because I know I need to hear it and you might too, I believe in you!

CSLE2COVA. (2019, April 5). LMD EP20 Growing A Growth Mindset. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR7uCZGPZ5k

References

CSLE2COVA. (2019, April 5). LMD EP20 Growing A Growth Mindset. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR7uCZGPZ5k

ADL Program, Collective, Contributions, Evolution, Growth, Growth Mindset, Humor, Learner's Mindset, Learning, Learning Community, Personal, Reflecting, Tips

UbD Collaboration

The Advisor That Cares

In one of our final course meetings, a classmate expressed some serious reservations about their final major assignment. Another fantastic community member messaged me, heartbroken about how we could help a classmate through their struggle. I created a zoom call and rallied the troops so that we could be supportive sounding boards to provide as much feed-forward as possible. This meeting took place after an hour-long class call and lasted another 40-45 minutes. I believe we all left the session with a better understanding of the assignment.

I wanted to share our discussion because I think it illuminates the purpose of our learning community component. As we discuss our ideas with others, we obtain clarity on our plans. As we support others in finding clarity for their ideas, we fortify our own.

Course Info

  • Course Number: EDLD 5313
  • Course Title: Creating Significant Learning Environments
  • Instructor: Dr. Kelly Grogan
  • LU’s Applied Digital Learning Program
  • Fall 2022, first eight-week session
  • UbD Template – Assignment

Collaborator Info

ADL Program, Advising, Growth, Growth Mindset, Growth Mindset Plan, Learner's Mindset, Personal, Professional, Reflecting

EDUCAUSE, Excited?

The Advisor That Cares

Before beginning the ADL Program, I cannot say for certain I ever heard of EDUCAUSE, but here I am excited because I just received an email with the subject: “Now Available: 2022 Students and Technology Report”

“2022 Students and Technology Report: Rebalancing the Student Experience“

EDUCAUSE, 2022

How exciting is it that “rebalancing the student experience” is part of the title for this year’s report. Of particular interest to me is the section on student success. As I reflect upon my 3 Column Table and prepare for my UbD Template, I see several of the topics we have discussed throughout our program courses and research. It is justifying to see academic advisors and coaches listed as a success resource as reported by students. This provides support and validation to the opportunity posed through the course planning of these two activities. Students share several of the frustrations advisors feel when trying to help students navigate the terrain of higher ed and federal regulations with referral to overwhelmed resources across campus. There just have to be more innovative ways to connect students. The nonacademic circumstances outlined by the report are inline with my heart and my passions for helping students succeed. “Work/life balance” appeared on my 3 Column Table Assignment this past Saturday (10/01/2022) when I submitted my first attempt at outcomes planning with regard to advising. To see that very factor listed on the report issued today (10/03/2022) is just amazing.

We are catalysts for change.

We are changing lives.

I’m excited.

What did you read that made you want to push forward and fight the good fight?

Reference

2022 Students and Technology Report: Rebalancing the Student Experience. (2022, October 3). EDUCAUSE. https://library.educause.edu/resources/2022/10/2022-students-and-technology-report-rebalancing-the-student-experience?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=report_workforce&utm_content=10-03-22&utm_term=_&m_i=gOxoTDKsSnuYNHpF5gYO7fCAQ7f4aHQ4dZIY9A9VdW_T7Y2lbkDcdYEJl4D_fBvjOXq6OEpO6aQnIFFamAp6GfDDl77T9Ugggg&M_BT=88967532832

Growth Mindset, Humor, Learner's Mindset, Personal, Reflecting

Learners Mindset in Life

The Advisor That Cares

I felt it so necessary to share this recent Hot One‘s interview. The guest’s mindset, David Blaine, is an inspiring living example. I can’t say I’ve followed any of his work, though I’m sure I’ve seen bits and pieces here and there throughout his career. Nonetheless, he shares beautiful nuggets of wisdom. His thoughts on failure. Maybe it is because I’m going through Carol Dweck’s Mindsets again. Still, I felt it necessary to share this learner’s mindset example with anyone who might have read the book and the ADL goals but struggles with living the learner’s mindset. Does everyone feel like it’s one step forward, two steps back, at times? I just keep adding, yet!

Disclaimer: 

This is a blog about my learning journey and my role in education. I am torn about sharing a personal reflection because of the language used. I am battling over whether that is professionally appropriate considering the multi-use purpose of my ePortfolio. I hope that you, the reader, will accept my humble apology if you find the content inappropriate. I also hope you will take this disclaimer and go no further in viewing the content should you be sensitive to cursing.

Warning – NSFW (language)

First We Feast. (2022, September 29). David Blaine Does Magic While Eating Spicy Wings | Hot Ones. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E2EbGoXlPQ

A New Culture of Learning, ADL Program, Advising, Collective, Contributions, Evolution, Goals, Growth, Growth Mindset, Learner's Mindset, Learning, Learning Community, Personal, Professional, Reflecting

What am I?

The Advisor That Cares

In my last post, I explained that looking back on my undergraduate psychology and sociology degree program. I recognized that I connected most with those courses that involved me in the learning process and required my reflection and personal interpretation/experience with the materials. I feel like my own learning preference is for one of authentic ownership, as we experience in the ADL Program

Reflecting on my beliefs about my role in the learning of others makes me wonder which learning theory aligns with my professional beliefs as an advisor. Examining my years as an advisor, I can honestly say that I only know what I have been exposed to through my experience and professional organizations.

My professional experience

When I was hired into higher education, I worked at a centralized first two-year advising center that believed in intrusive advising. Our role was to identify those most at risk and provide support and guidance as they transitioned into college students. I jumped into this role by organizing tours for advisors to visit support services offered across campus. I wanted to know the individuals I could contact when a student needed support. I wanted a first-person understanding of the facility, delivery, and offerings to describe them to my students in ways that would alleviate any trepidation about being labeled, being afraid, and preventing them from being comfortable trying something new or uncomfortable. There were occasions when I would walk with my students to these service locations for a personalized handoff. We had frequent communication with our assigned advisees and much smaller cohort sizes. I frequently participated with the college department I represented at the advising center again to keep my students informed about student organizations and other opportunities to bond with their community of interest.

Despite this genuine passion for student success, I have never been able to connect with advising theories about student development. I participate in my professional organization by attending conferences, sessions, and webinars about topics that interest me or seem suitable to my situation or students. The theories and resources always appeared to me as if they were written for faculty advisors and people who have long depth conversations and relationships with students and their curriculum. I typically interact with a student three times a year, around registration time, if they don’t have questions, need support, or show signs of being at risk academically. My literature review caused a crisis of self. As I read research about advising, I could not help but wonder if I have been a good advisor without employing any formal theory over the years.

Through the active learning process that is the ADL, we are presented with resources, information, references, and perspectives. Still, we are left to seek and search for many more. Thus far, my three program instructors have all identified as constructivist. I can’t honestly say I had ever learned of these theories. I silently panicked that this is something taught in Pedagogy since many in my program cohort are teachers at various levels and institutions.

This is a challenging experience for many, including myself. We are left thinking, “Wait, aren’t you going to teach me?” (Lecture) and “How am I supposed to create that?” (Checklist). Nonetheless, I attempted to embrace the challenge of learning by doing within an unlimited boundary of an assignment or course.

We are encouraged to create our own learning communities, and now I better recognize them as collectives. This constructivist approach of making an environment where learners can learn leaves many still trying to fit into the regurgitation education model. How many discussion comments? How many blog posts? Do we have to prove that we held learning community meetings? As learners, we have been duped into believing that learning is about the assessment of the professor or the program. I get it. It is in the sense that we are all here with hopes of degree attainment, but, in the process, we miss out on the genuinely hands-on, authentic, make it yours experience we have here.

I recently searched for Simon Sinek and found he offers a 4 session course on finding your why. I thought, “hot diggity, I can get ahead of the curve!” by preparing for the class that utilizes his book Start with Why. Our experience here, in just that single component/regard, is valued at $4,900ish for four sessions. We get around eight sessions in our eight-week coursework. I want to absorb every morsel of knowledge, experience, and content our instructors want to throw at us. I want to learn about their learning experience, success tips, and tricks. I want to grow, learn, and experience what this program is presenting. Knowing and embracing that I can really make a difference. That is what this whole advising thing has always been about for me. That is what makes me a good advisor. I care, I want to make a difference, and if I don’t know the answer, I will do my best to find it or connect you with someone who can.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no life outside of work and school, but the journey is what you make it, right? I’m in. I am all in. I want to change the world, one learner at a time. I want to use my current position, the challenges, and the opportunities it holds and make it better for my students and my colleagues. I want to be a catalyst for change.

So which theory is going to help me accomplish that?

ADL Program, Contributions, ePortfolios, Growth Mindset, Growth Mindset Plan, Learner's Mindset, Learning, Learning Community, Learning Manifesto, Professional, Reflecting

Contributions, 5302

The Advisor That Cares

Concepts of Ed Tech Course

  • Summer 2022
  • Course Number: EDLD 5302
  • Course Title: Concepts of Educational Technology

Contributions to learning and learning community.

I am giving myself a score of 95 out of 100

Crediting Group Members: Bethany Eisele, Lera Longbottom, Nastarja Tyler, Rachael Lancon, and Stacey Powell

Key and Supporting Contributions

Reflecting on my third course in the ADL Program, I have to say that I am finally feeling more confident about the COVA approach to this program and learning in general. This is not to say that it is always comfortable working this way, but I can see how much in-depth knowledge is gained through this approach. I actively seek information and teach myself more than just the minimum required readings/videos in search of greater understanding. I am constantly working to see if there is more information that I can add to my knowledge base. I think about my thinking through reflections and revisit assignments on an ongoing basis to continue making connections. 

The part I feel I could do better is finding value and making deeper connections from the discussion posts. There is too much of a status quo learning (regurgitation) aspect to the post and comment expectation which always seems to lack the intended connection between students. Initially, the discussions provide a way to find people with common interests or goals. Still, once our communities are formed, they seem to lack substance since it can be several weeks before someone sees comments thereby lacking engagement in meaningful dialogs. While keeping up with the posts and comments, I feel something more valuable could be discovered or utilized to increase that aspect of the program. 

I actively contributed and took on a leadership role wherever possible within my core collaboration group. I continued the shared google drive from last semester, purchasing additional storage space, and creating weekly to-do lists, discussion prompts, and video/reading notes for continued shared collaboration. Utilizing a group chat and google docs/drive, our core learning community maintained a collaborative group that welcomed new members (Nastaja and Stacey) and continually provided feedforward on all assignments. While discussing questions about previous experience in the program, we revisit our previous projects and make continuous improvements on past coursework. 

As I embrace ownership of this Portfolio, I strive toward an ownership perspective to my innovation. As I experience the freedom of choice that promotes this portfolio ownership, I am inspired to provide my students with options along their academic paths. As I revise and review my content, I realize that I can further improve my message and model that through as many interactions as possible. I can apply the knowledge obtained this semester (growth mindset, learning manifesto, feedforward, learning networks) to strengthen my voice. This improves the communication, information, and resources I provide through my synchronous (phone/virtual) and asynchronous (email/portfolio) interactions, which helps to build trusted advisor-advisee relationships. From a technical skills perspective, it has also been rewarding to continue improving the aesthetic and function of the Portfolio with my intended audience in mind. I started updating past and current learning network opportunities to my Portfolio, which has allowed me to reflect upon the benefits of these collaborative/professional networks and makes me want to strive to do better in my contributions to these networks.   

I completed all of the course readings, videos, and additional resources. I often researched other content for topics that interested me in more detail, such as Universal Learning Design, the ISTE standards, and everything I could get my hands on about the Growth Mindset. This self-driven desire to learn and understand helped me meet the deadlines for all projects, assignments, and posts, further providing the opportunity for more collaboration, mentorship, and reflection. 

Learning Community Key and Supporting Contributions

In addition to meeting all of the support contributions and taking a leadership role in my core learning group, I have found a new role as a facilitator for our learning cohort. I have always considered myself helpful, but now I have found a way to gain even more insight and understanding by helping others. My learning community has expanded to every classmate that joined the ADL 2021-2023 GroupMe. I created this group and posted an open invitation to the student lounge after being inspired by a similar DLL group last semester made up of those more advanced in the program. I knew I wanted to help create a culture that encouraged and supported one another throughout the program. Since I am not pursuing the accelerated option, I hoped for a group of positive collaborators from all levels to facilitate mentorship and mentoring opportunities. I found a wonderful sense of purpose through this course and by taking accountability for myself and my learning community through this expanded collaboration. I have encouraged my classmates via this group, and I modeled feedforward behavior with all the group members, hoping they would do the same. I hosted multiple zoom sessions for this course, upgraded to zoom pro to host longer sessions, and began hosting other sessions for those in the Innovation Course. I helped connect students who had not yet identified their core learning community with others in the same situation. The most exciting time came when members began hosting sessions for one another, providing the type of encouragement I hoped to foster.