Man, I’ve been a bad, bad girl.
I just disappeared off the radar and am so excited that this new beginning prompts me to return to the drive and purpose of this ePortfolio.
I am exhausted. I am overwhelmed. Yet, I am determined to make a difference in the lives of students and advisors.
Wishing you all an amazing Spring 2024 semester.
Crediting Core Group Members: Kelly Skillingberg, Shannon Bowles, and Rachel Hull.
I am giving myself a score of 99 out of 100
Wow, what a transformation from the first course in the program.
please reconsider and evaluate your work and grade with the same fairness as another student.”
March 11, 2022 paraphrased email from EDLD 5305 instructor
Here I am, emboldenly claiming 99 out of 100 for my contributions to my learning and the learning of my learning community. Who is this person I have become?
I know now what I didn’t know then. I know that my “assessment of/for/as learning” is mine to claim ownership over, too (Harapnuik, 2021). The ADL Program equipped me to take control of my learning journey, and I embraced it!
When I began the program, I didn’t understand how having a group would help me. I had always been a little better off on my own or a type A person who would prefer to do all the work to know it got completed.
This independence was also true of my professional life, now that I think about it. While I enjoyed collaborating with others at work, I would typically take the lead to ensure that none of us “got in trouble” for failing to meet expectations.
However, this program and the soul-searching reflection done throughout leave me knowing that I have given 100 percent effort toward my entire learning experience. I also have given 100 percent effort toward connecting with my learning cohort. I am not giving myself a perfect score because there is always room for improvement and more to learn.
The fantastic people in my collaboration group have shown me how much better my ideas and our experience can be if we work together.
My learning communities overlap so many periods and classes that I cannot limit my experience to a single learning community (though this one was top-notch because we have all evolved so much in our learning journey that we now “get it”) but instead try to approach each semester as my opportunity to support and guide my fellow learners in the learning journey.
I love connecting with new people, and weekly meetings are my jam! But I had to learn that they are not that for everyone. I had to adapt and learn to meet others when and where they were available. We have had so many chats and a few synchronous meetings. Still, the asynchronous ability to connect has significantly impacted my future innovation ideas.
Adding peer support is a transformative component of innovation in advising. I never imagined how learners could support one another in co-navigating a new experience. However, thanks to my experience with choice, ownership, and voice in this authentically significant learning environment (COVA + CSLE), I know firsthand that peer support and a shared experience can revolutionize a learning experience.
Key Contributions
Supporting Contributions
Reference
Harapnuik, D. (2021, August 16). Assessment OF/FOR/AS learning. It’s About Learning. https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=8900
Soft pitch, day two.
Once again, I’m letting parts of my heart slip and show with my colleagues, and no one is running away screaming in fear. It seems like everyone is really excited about some of my ideas.
I pitched having brief Monday morning (WIG meetings – though I didn’t call it that) to set our goals and intentions for the week. I suggested Friday afternoon review of the week’s collaborations where teams “check each others work” to help cross each other T’s and dot each other’s “i’s” so to speak.
I pitched the concept of new year, new us. Beginning with the day after the last day to register, we are going to come up with a departmental New Years Resolution (WIG – didn’t call it that) but it really is happening.
A wonderful addition of review plus board games, team-building at the rec, adult coloring pages, board games, or whatever sounds fun to the team. I am so excited for the new year.
Talk about positive reinforcement for being raw, authentic, and true to yourself!
I had to be brave enough to share my silly preview day theme idea. Thankfully, my department all got into it, and we put together a beautiful display of our collaborative effort. I think everyone in the office contributed something in some way, which is just such a beautiful thing to me!
“When we feel safe. When we feel that our leaders care more about us than a number. They care more about our lives and our confidence, and our joy and our skillset more than some short-term gain… we will respond in kind and we will offer our blood our sweat and our tears and we will make sacrifices of all kinds to see that our leader’s vision is advanced” (REDDOT X, 2018).
“Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress.
Working hard for something we love is called passion“
(REDDOT X, 2018)
References
REDDOT X. (2018, July 13). HOW TO BE a LEADER – motivational speech by Simon Sinek [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urrYhnaKvy4
No offense intended by using the term “nerd” because I am a self-proclaimed goofball, silly goose, and nerd. So, I want to share a little piece of that with you because it is an example of how this program has helped me live authentically and how I am beginning to share myself with my team.
If you are participating in the upcoming event, I ask that you stop reading here and don’t steal my awesomely nerdy idea. Agreed? Okay, let’s continue.
So, I may have mentioned in a previous blog that our institution is celebrating its centennial celebration (woot woot, centennial class!). Leaning into that 100-year achievement, this upcoming weekend, we will participate in a campus preview event. These are typically themed, and this fall’s theme is “A Century of Leaders.” Boy, oh boy, were we stumped.
We’d recently done a decade of leadership and struggled to think of something new. “Cheers to 100 years” and President Taylor for taking a picture with our booth at the Spring event. We showcased the 100 years of university presidents and had university annuals from the 1950s to the 70s for guests to view.
So, one morning, I was mulling over the theme. I kept repeating, “A century of leaders, A century of leaders, leaders, leaders, leaders, leaders, humm liters?!?!”
What if we created liter bottle people to represent a century of leaders liters. So, I pitched the idea to my immediate supervisor. Then, I pitched the idea in a staff meeting. Needless to say, I was met with many stares of “Are you kidding me?” but no one flat out said, “That’s stupid,” and no one offered a better suggestion, so away we went. In my head, I could hear them saying they were crafty and couldn’t possibly create 6people from 2-liter bottles. But I was prepared. I came armed with middle school assignments to create just such a thing. I asked them if they could think of anything else, and I came prepared with lists of distinguished alumni and a more contemporary top 25 most recognizable alumni. We began brainstorming who we could create and showcase as our entry into the prize-winning contest.
I feel so much like Dr. Harapnuik when he says he’s so sneaky in how he helps us learn, collaborate, and grow (COVA). My teams have worked together to create their “bottle buddies.” When I explained in the staff meeting that 5th graders were making these, I found that everyone stopped thinking they couldn’t. We just needed a little dose of Growth Mindset. I will see staff members wandering off with felt, hot glue guns, and any crafting supplies I and others brought to the office.
The culture is shifting. There is teamwork happening. It is so exciting!
I have selected Florene Miller Watson as my most recognizable alumni of LU to honor with a crafty creation since I visited the WASP Museum in Sweetwater, Texas.
My institution is celebrating its centennial year. Next weekend’s preview day/campus visit theme is A Century of Leaders. I went through a list of 25 Notable alumni of Lamar University and decided that I would like to research Florene Miller Watson. I felt I had a personal connection after touring the WASP Museum in 2018.
Here, I’ll share a few of my findings to compile some talking points about her.
Born in San Angelo, Texas**
Born on December 7, 1920**
BA at Lamar Tech University***
After the war, she attended Lamar State College of Technology (now LU), majoring in secretarial science.**
“Florene lived her life cheerfully giving to others and always believing the best in everyone she met” (***).
““Do not undervalue your abilities. You have abilities that you haven’t had a chance to use. Now, find something you want to use them on and get after it!” (Soundbytes of the WASP***)
Eagle Profile, Gathering of Eagles Foundation
Florene Miller Watson, Wikipedia
Florene Miller Watson, NASA Headquarters Oral History Project
Florene Miller Watson WAFS, Final Flight
WASP: Women in the WW2 US Army Air Force
Women of Courage, TV documentary
Florene Miller Watson. (2023, August 28). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florene_Miller_Watson
1990 classic, “Feels Good” by Tony! Toni! Tone! Reminds me how good it feels to hit submit on those final assignments! Only one class to go! Graduation, I’ve got my eye on you!
Assignment Deadlines
Publication Outline – Due Sunday, August 27th
Publication Rough Draft – Due Sunday, September 3rd 10th (Updated on 08/23/2023)
Media Post – Due Sunday, September 17th
Final Draft – Due Sunday, October 1st
Compilation Post – Due Sunday, October 1st
Contribution to Your Learning and the Learning Community – Due Sunday, October 1st
I am once again pulled to evaluate the purpose of my innovation. These final reflection stages of the ADL Program coursework really ask us to go back and evaluate our learning journey throughout the course. I can not help but reconnect with Sinek’s “why” for myself. My resounding answer is still to “care about people.” I have always battled the duality of my audience. Torn between addressing blended learning in advising as a benefit for students or to advisors. The answer has always been both! As I move into the final stages of my publication article, I recognize that this has the potential to continue a conversation with others in my profession about how technology can be employed to humanize the relationship between students, parents, advisors, and leadership.
I see overwhelmed student faces at incoming events and hear the exasperation in their family members’ frustrations over navigating the transition into higher education.
I hear and see how overworked advisors are as they attempt to serve many different requirements, demands, and recommendations and help their students do what is best for their college experience.
I believe that when we create significant learning environments about advising topics that help students connect with why and when they might need to know about a requirement, procedure, or general FAQ and How-Tos. By focusing on the learning outcomes using tools like Understanding by Design, we can equip them with learning skills they can apply to all areas of college and life.
As I made my second to last contributions to learning post, I realized that I am losing and will continue to lose much of my ADL learning network. My cohort is made up of K-12 educators and instructional technologists. I have met a few business professionals but only briefly interacted with individuals in the higher education arena. Recently, the program has afforded me the opportunity to connect other advisors entering the program. I hope that I will be able to provide support and encouragement to them as they work through the frustrations and challenges this authentic learning environment presents. I wish the timing worked out so we could have co-collaborated on much of the work since there is so much work to be done.
It seems to me that Dr. Harapnuik has carefully crafted this program to establish this handoff point. This publication opportunity is just what we need to open a dialogue with others in our fields, with our interests, or just to continue our conversation on personalized learning so that we can continue to refine, revise, and improve our innovative ideas.
So, what do I want to say to other advisors? What do I think I have to contribute to the literature of the advising profession? All I really have is my authentic personal experiences and a purpose to care about people. I want to use my publication article to create a conversation that helps to continue the mission of expanding advising relationships from mandatory synchronous advising sessions into ongoing learning relationships. I think that advisors are in a position to employ technology to support them in the purely information transfer and how-to topics they are required to cover with students into concise and specific resources that students can explore ad hoc. Then by posing questions of inquiry for discussion or reflection, advisors can create communities of learners that broaden peer support and collaboration opportunities. Advisors can help craft resources to develop and encourage students’ intrinsic motivation to seek information and make connections. For example, instead of transferring overwhelming amounts of information to students, advising can help students explore their questions, interests, and goals. I believe that the transformative work that advisors will have time to do, as a result, will enrich advisors’ and students’ experiences.
The Advisor That Cares 