Category: Professional

ADL Program, Growth Mindset, Personal, Professional, Reflecting

Helping, not judging

The Advisor That Cares

The idea of feedforward is very appealing as it focuses on the future and what is still within the realm of change. Feedback on the other hand focuses on the past, which cannot be changed.

In the ADL Program we are encouraged to build trusted relationships with our classmates in order to improve our projects. Through these collaborations we are able to receive support and feedforward in order to revise and improve our coursework. We are all learning to give effective feedforward as well as accepting feedforward.

According to Marshall Goldsmith (2014) here are the rules to feedforward:

  • Rule 1 – No feedback about the past
  • Rule 2 – You can’t judge or critique ideas

I’m trying to think of ways to provide feedforward within my advising relationships. Due to the asynchronous online environment of most of our interactions, it is sometimes difficult to build a trusted relationship so that my advisees will be in a position to accept feedforward from me. That is honestly a big goal of this Portfolio. I hope that directing my advisees here will allow them to get a greater sense of who I am and that I am looking out for their best interests. I do not provide much in the way of feedback but instead outline options forward in varying circumstances.

I am definitely trying to find ways to incorporate growth mindset language and information into both my interactions and this Portfolio. Since my current role is limited within an enrollment until it can be difficult to find ways to get on board with a mindset shift.

I’m always looking for ways to “[point] to opportunities and [provide] pathways for improvement and growth” as recommended by Dr. Harapnuik (2020).

Want to learn more? Check out TRY FEEDFORWARD INSTEAD OF FEEDBACK

References

Harapnuik, D. (2020, April 30). Feedforward Vs. Feedback. Harapnuik.org. Retrieved June 26, 2022, from https://www.harapnuik.org/?p=8273

Marshall Goldsmith. (2014, August 26). Feedforward: Coaching For Behavioral Change [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlVZiZob37I

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.

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/

ADL Program, Growth, Innovation Plan, Personal, Professional, Reflecting

Communicating Vision

The Advisor That Cares

I think as a personality trait, I have always had a touch of an innovative spirit. I have often described myself as a bit of an efficiency expert. I always try to tweak systems and processes to be better, clearer, simpler, and more effective in every role I have held. I hope to become an innovative “educator” through my role as an academic advisor. I can confirm that my influence currently does not include meaningful or authentic learning opportunities. Often general information is sent out to students. However, the messaging is the same old, templated messages with very little valuable information.

My innovation proposal seeks to make the information more meaningful for students than generic copy/paste notifications. I also aim to provide a resource that will allow students ownership over locating the information they will need along their academic journey. The programs I advise for have specific paths to program completion, course offerings, and more. However, I believe students often go along with the flow and do not stop to ask essential questions until a substantial investment of time, money, and energy has been spent (or worse, wasted) if they are not on the path they intended. 

Regarding under communication, I agree that because we live in the planning, preparing, researching, meeting, and are party to endless discussions of our innovation/implementation plans, we can make faulty assumptions about how much communication has been shared with our constituents.

The above video makes a good point when it pointed out that we need to remember that sometimes the people we hope to influence are a few steps down the hierarchy. We have to remember that they may not be aware of all the information that has been shared in the prior planning stages. The video made an excellent point that we should all try to keep in mind when communicating about our innovation plan and implementation strategy. We must remember that we are competing with the day-to-day business in their workday. We must constantly send out updates and find other ways to communicate excitement and a sense of urgency about our plan. 

ADL Program, Innovation Plan, Professional, Reflecting

Nowist?

The Advisor That Cares

We can learn from these examples of innovation that sometimes, as Plato was paraphrased as saying, “necessity is the mother of all invention” or, in our case, innovation.

I was struck by Joi Lto’s statement that “education is what people do to you and Learning is what you do to yourself” (Perry, 2015, 10:12). That is a way of thinking of learning that never occurred to me. What a great perspective for myself and my student population. I do not think I have been practicing this in my learning or the environments I influence. I need to incorporate this quote into my signature and daily life for a while, inspiring myself and my students. 

I enjoyed Lto’s now-ist call to action. Nevertheless, somewhat ironically, I seem to have a case of analysis paralysis regarding the Literature review. His challenge to stop plotting and planning every move and instead act is quite the timely message for me to stop trying to control everything before picking a direction. The only thing holding me back is myself. I know I must embrace failing forward. 

I am somewhat new to my current role, but during my interview process, I made it very clear that I was looking for a position that would allow me to use my skills, knowledge, and big picture perspective to suggest improvements. I have already implemented some strategies and am constantly looking for more ways to make our processes more effective. Thus far, I have had full support from my supervisor. 

My colleagues have been willing to adopt my suggestions. All seem open to incorporating technology if they feel it is valuable and will make their day-to-day operations more efficient. 

I will strive to provide a resource through my innovation plan to provide students with choice, ownership, and voice through an interactive resource that they can utilize at their own pace, as needed, throughout their program at each step of the educational process. 

References

Perry, Joshua. (2015, May 15). Joi Lto Want to innovate Become a ‘now ist’ [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRAMQJJu7uY&t=222s

ADL Program, Evolution, Learning, Professional, Reflecting

Progressive Education

The Advisor That Cares

I believe that people are resistant to change due to familiarity. I have friends in terribly toxic relationships, yet they remain in them because of their perceived comfort. I imagine the same is true when approaching our innovation situation. We will come across people who may be miserable with the current system yet vehemently hold on to it for fear of change. 

Listening to the 1940’s progressive education video, some of the things that struck me as they described traditional education were factors like grouping students into classrooms, repeatedly drilling lessons, and that students only “go to school because they have to” (Danieljbmitchell, 2007). As the video transitioned into descriptions of progressive education being presented in the 1940s, the idea of “learning by doing” struck me (Danieljbmitchell, 2007). I love that past the idea of progressive education included hands-on practice to make classroom skills relevant to real life. 

I have seen this exact desperate search for a passing grade in higher education through some of my previous coursework. It would seem that we have not seen more changes in education over the years because more focus seems to have been placed on standardizing the evaluation of learning (tests) instead of actual learning. Classmates would simply look up questions online or utilize groups to share answers. These students never even considered the cumulative nature of education. The basic concept that content builds upon itself and the whole point of education should be to seek knowledge instead of just chasing a test score, advancing to the next grade/level, or obtaining the next credential.

While we have seen technology advance, we have learned through our readings that many have just been additions to the classroom without successful implementation strategies and no thought to innovation. Therefore, these devices often provide no real change to learning. I often think we convince ourselves that our to-do lists are too long to implement new processes, techniques, or strategies for learning. Change is hard but often so very worth it.

Yes. There is a culture of “this is the way we have always done things” rampant in education, higher education, and business. Seth Godin said it best when he said, “people who like the place don’t want to hear you’re changing everything… (Godwin, 2014). In a previous role, I was charged with chairing a committee to evaluate the processes of our first and second-year advising center. I created an A-Z list of everything we attempted to cover with our incoming college students. Through a committee of collegues, under the direction of my executive director, we attempted to go item by item to see what processes could be outsourced, streamlined, eliminated, or improved. I would like you to picture the Finding Nemo Seagulls saying, “Mine, mine, mine.” The committee was not very effective at innovating the intake procedures for college students. My executive director was appalled and amazed that, on the one hand, people were screaming that they could not do everything that was expected of them, yet they were unwilling to relinquish any of their tasks. Change is hard. Marc Rosenberg explained it by saying, “Schools aren’t bad; they’re just having a very difficult time evolving. After all, they’ve worked so well for so long. And if it ain’t broke…” (Rosenberg, 2014). 

For me, education is a helping profession at heart. There should be room for innovation if everyone tries to find the best solution to the learning variations in their classrooms, among their students, or with their clients. Organizations must find their why. Simon Sinek’s explanation of the brain and the “golden circle” was fascinating to me (TED, 2010, 6:04). The inspiration begins when you “start with why” (TED, 2010). I want to help inspire change through innovation in my organization. 

References

Danieljbmitchell. (2007, August 01). Progressive Education in the 1940s [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opXKmwg8VQM

Godin, Seth. (2014, September 16). People who like this stuff….https://seths.blog/2014/09/people-who-like-this-stuff/

Rosenberg, Marc. (2014, September 09). Marc My Words: Back to School – Technology Is Changing Learning, but Is It Changing Schooling? https://learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/1499/marc-my-words-back-to-schooltechnology-is-changing-learning-but-is-it-changing-schooling

TED. (2010, May 4). How great leaders inspire action | Simon Sinek [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4&t=122s