Tag: #5389

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What Is vs. What Could Be

The Advisor That Cares

As a student, it can be very overwhelming to begin a new chapter of life. You are an adult, which you have been looking forward to for as long as you can remember. But you are also stepping outside of your comfort zone. Really finding yourself. Discovering who you want to be without the primary inputs that previously surrounded you.

As advisors, we are honored to help guide students as they begin University life. My research has shown that the advising relationship is significant to students’ perseverance through what can be a challenging adjustment. Nevertheless, how many times has this significance escaped you? How often have you felt like a broken record? How exhausting can it be for you and the student as you frantically attempt to cover so many things? Just a few examples come to mind like the university’s policies and procedures; system access and onboarding; information about the program, department, and academic college; outlining course options, prerequisite sequences, and electives selections; confirming career goals for major alignment, not to mention informing students of the multiple support resources and offices across campus. How often do we find ourselves desperately trying to get to know our students on the walk to our office or in the brief moments before or after the information download I just described? When are we supposed to find that moment to connect with them so that we can help them make meaning of their learning, struggles, and opportunities to grow.

Through an Innovation to Advising, we can provide relationships that provide reassurance and guidance throughout each student’s academic journey.

Join me, and together we can make a difference.

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Find Yours

The Advisor That Cares

The most wonderful aspect of the ADL program is constant reflection. As I sit here trying to identify a professional learning opportunity, what aspect of my innovation ideas to begin with, how to introduce my ideas to my audience, and so much more, I have once again challenged myself to re-identify my audience and re-examine my why.

Living the learner’s mindset means that even though it would be easy to tell myself I have already done the work on both topics, this is an ever-evolving process of “higher-order thinking” and “meaning-making.” Precisely the objectives of this program, the objectives of learning, and the objectives when teaching.

The theme that always resonates throughout this process for me is authenticity. I am attempting to share my heart with the world. I strive to find, refine, and articulate my passion for helping others. As I check my notes on the research I’ve recently reviewed regarding professional development and the 5 Principles of Professional Learning (Guluamhussein, 2013), it is the ACT/ACTION part of the learning process that particularly resonates with me.

You see, learning wasn’t easy for me. Wait, let me rephrase that. Education wasn’t easy for me. I was lost and behind most of the time. I received low grades and had very low self-esteem due to tying my personal worth to other people’s approval. I spent my early adulthood being taken advantage of due to an overwhelming need to people-please. At one point, I had three adult friends living in a three-bedroom apartment with me while I was the only one working, paying bills, buying groceries, and cleaning.

If these same principles had been applied in my learning journey, I would have had more prolonged exposure to new concepts. Instead of exponentially falling behind, I would be bolstered by significant assistance. I was constantly missing the aspects of understanding needed to transfer the information from the lessons into learning. As a result, almost everything seemed irrelevant and out of reach.

Here is a fun example of exactly what I mean about active, ongoing, thought-provoking learning. See if you can make it all the way to the reflective/active learning part.

History & Context for Active Learning

Now as a catalyst for change, I want to do better for others. I want to make learning meaningful and relevant to them. As a leader, I want to support my team through changes. I want to model the ways that I hope they will, in turn, support their teammates and students.

Reference

Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the Teachers: Effective Professional Development in the Era of High Stakes Accountability. National School Board Association, Center for Public Education.

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Presenting Innovation

The Advisor That Cares

I have never really viewed myself as much of a storyteller. However, I recognize that I will have to tap into this creative aspect to win over the hearts and minds of my audience. My audience is a team of academic advisors. Advisors are often charged with being the messenger of every policy, the knower of every rule, and the guide for each program. Advisors assist students through nervous admission, personal turmoil, and academic challenges. My story began 10+ years ago as I embarked on my academic advising career. My experience as an undergraduate student and my previous career in the medical profession made me an advocate in my advising role. I taught students where to seek and confirm information. I taught them how to find their voice and to ask for clarification and support when needed. As they progressed through college, I encouraged them to verify everything for themselves and take no one word for a fact. I informed them of the university resources and support services while encouraging them to fight the tendency to struggle in silence. I followed my students long beyond their time with me and built relationships across campus in the years I served as an academic advisor. Life’s irony has me in a leadership role where I began this career. I feel like this advising center’s story is my story too. I want to capture the hearts of the team I now humbly lead. 

All of the previous leadership left the department mid-restructure. There are now layers of leadership opportunities, and the advising assignment structure is changing from individuals specializing in specific majors to groupings of similar majors. This change in our advising structure is a significant shift for students and academic departments. This shift requires a change in culture within and across the institution. I am determined to create a culture of teamwork and a united front of support personnel on the side of the students we serve. Needless to say, the opportunities are plentiful, and changes abound. I have been working these last 2-3 months to build trust and transparency, knowing that the staff will have to have faith as we plan and move forward together. 

The timing of this course and the presentation content is timely. I am looking to incorporate all of Nancy Duarte, Simon Sinek, and Presentation Zen‘s recommendations on effective presentation as I begin to spread our message of the change to undergraduate advising both to departments and students. 

The audience of my presentation will be this team of advisors. I want these advisors to know and recognize the importance of their role and the impact on young people’s lives they get to help shape. I must connect with them and promise to provide ongoing training and support throughout the changes we face. The professional learning we will undertake together allows us to co-create a bigger and brighter future for our learners. I must help them see the difference between the world as it currently exists (advising as it exists) and the world as it could be (communities/career clusters-teams of advisors). I must provide my idea as the solution to their struggles and frustrations. I must help them to see that instead of the weight of many students falling solely to them to manage, they can have a supportive team to lean on and attack issues together. Through the continual contrasting of what is currently and what could be, through stories, and with the solutions presented by my innovation, I can help win over my audience’s hearts. My role as the presenter is to help them see my innovation as the bright future they have hoped to find. 

My call to action must be the rallying cry that convinces them to jump on board and forge this new future with me.

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What works?

The Advisor That Cares

According to the content in this week’s module, current professional learning could be more effective but fails to meet educators where they are with targeted improvements. Repeatedly we read about professional development attempts that were too broad and generalized to allow teachers to apply them to their specific instructional challenges. While I could not begin to estimate where professional learning dollars are spent in my organization toward professional learning, I have seen some improvements concerning access. My institution now utilizes LinkedIn Learning as professional development software. Employees can access a variety of topics and develop at will those that interest them. There has also been an increase in spending over my last ten years with the institution toward professional learning communities found through professional organization memberships and conference attendance. How these workshop-style professional learning opportunities impact the day-to-day performance and learning indicators, remains. Based on the research presented throughout this module, I am willing to guess that there has been little impact or improvement. Like our learners, active-engaging-relevant content would drive industry improvement in learning and outcomes. 

According to Guluamhussein (2013), if the Five Principles were successfully implemented, we would experience “significant and ongoing” development and support throughout any implementation frustrations and challenges while actively engaging with “varied approaches” to make meaning of new practices learned in our professional learning opportunities. Instead of generic content, we would find immediate applications for new learning. While I am unsure about the entire organization’s readiness to change, I do believe my immediate unit is ready to try anything to improve ourselves and serve our learners. While realizing the concept of alternative approaches might be welcome, thanks to the content outlined throughout this module, I now know to expect the frustrating process of trying new things. At the same time, we make changes to the current status quo found in professional learning. While initially uncomfortable, through sharing the expectations and vision for a culture that values continuous learning and improvement, our organization has the opportunity to embrace professional learning that are results driven. 

The Mariage report helps us evaluate whether we are effectively utilizing our resources through current professional learning approaches to determine whether or not they are beneficial or valuable to our staff. Once we have done this, we can better decide how best to move forward to support professional learning. The Standards for Professional Learning provide a framework to build the professional learning we, our teams and our organizations deserve so that we can best serve our learners (both students and professionals). 

References

Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the Teachers Effective Professional Development in an Era of High Stakes Accountability. Center for Public Education. Retrieved from http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/system/files/2013-176_ProfessionalDevelopment.pdf

TEDx Talks. (2013, November 6). Empowering the teacher technophobe: Kristin Daniels at TEDxBurnsvilleED [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puiNcIFJTCUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puiNcIFJTCU&feature=youtu.be

TNTP. (2015, August 4). The mirage: Confronting the hard truth about our quest for teacher development. https://tntp.org/publications/view/evaluation-and-development/the-mirage-confronting-the-truth-about-our-quest-for-teacher-development