Running head: AREAS OF GROWTH LEARNING OUTCOME NARRATIVE
Areas of Growth Learning Outcome Narrative
Tiff Hayes SDA Portfolio Spring 2015 Seattle University
AREAS OF GROWTH LEARNING OUTOME NARRATIVE
Considering my experiences and development during the SDA program, I see most of the significant change has been in understanding context and improving my scholarship. My growth in these areas can be seen through my experiences and development in navigating politics, incorporating best practices, and understanding law, policy, finance, and governance. Navigating Politics: LO 1 & 10 | Artifacts B2, C1, C2 & C3 Understanding and knowing how to navigate politics in higher education is one of the areas I needed development in when I started the SDA program. Although I worked professionally in the field for some time prior to my time at SU, I was very focused on the practice piece of my role, and not on how to work within the system I was in. I believe much of my growth in this area is attributed to L.O. #1: Understanding the foundations and emerging nature of the Student Affairs profession and higher education, and more specifically through understanding the history of student affairs, understanding emerging trends in student affairs, and spotting issues as they arise. SDAD 577: Foundations of the Student Affairs profession, a required course in the program, and one I took in my first quarter, was crucial to my beginning to understand the history of student affairs. We spent time in class learning about how the field of student affairs has developed and changed over the years. Knowing this history helps me understand the context that I work in today and has shown me how much the field has changed which gives me hope that it will continue to change, bend, and adapt as our students do. My professional mission statement (Article B2) demonstrates why this is important, I know the system I have chosen to engage in benefits some while marginalizing others I will work to provide access to those whose voices are not heard and empower them along the way (Hayes, 2015).
AREAS OF GROWTH LEARNING OUTOME NARRATIVE
Understanding emerging trends is also essential in navigating politics, understanding context, and understanding the foundations of Student Affairs. Emerging trends can give clues as to which groups of students need the most support, and many times, can offer guidance in how to make policy and procedure changes to be sure changes happen as smoothly as possible. In completing my best practices course (SDAD 5750) independently, I visited a campus in Brooklyn, New York that serves almost all low-income and first-generation students. Because of their population, Kingsborough Community College thrives by adapting and changing services and support for students depending on emerging trends and assessing what their students need. In the Scholarly Reflection (Artifact C2) I wrote after visiting the KCC campus, I discussed this at length. The majority of Kingsboroughs students identify as first-generation students of color, so the college places a great deal of importance on frontloading services and giving students more information and support than they might need so that they can see how many resources are available to them (Hayes, 2014). Because Kingsborough understands emerging trends of the field and of their students, they have been successful at retaining many at-risk students. Spotting issues as they arise is also extremely important in navigating politics and understanding the foundations and emerging nature of student affairs. In EDAD 570: Leadership in Education, we learned about the concept of tuning, which is the ideas that people are, powerfully influenced by [their] surroundings and history (Heifetz et al., 2009, p. 195), which I discuss in the leadership philosophy I wrote in the same course (Artifact C3). Tuning is the key to spotting issues as they arise, because it requires that we have established relationships with our teams and students and can sense when emotions or people are a bit off. I have learned how vital it is for a healthy team to have good tuning skills because they enable them to spot issues as they arise and deal with them before they grow into larger problems.
AREAS OF GROWTH LEARNING OUTOME NARRATIVE
The other piece of navigating politics that Id like to discuss is L.O. #10: Establishing and enhancing professional identity. My understanding of this learning outcome has grown during the SDA program in many ways through sharing my professional pathway, growing my network, and understanding my impact on others and the student affairs profession. During the SDA program I have come to learn the importance of stories and how important they are in building relationships, establishing who we are, and understanding our own identities. The autoethnography I wrote (Artifact C1) in SDAD 578: Student Development Theory, Research, and Practice showcases the process I went through in examining my story and some of my identities and connecting them to the work I have done, am currently doing, and will do. The experiences and identities I discuss have shaped mewriting my autoethnography and sharing my professional pathway have helped to establish and enhance my professional identity. Another aspect of understanding context through navigating politics and establishing and enhancing my professional identity is how much I have grown my network during the SDA program. Because I spent 5 years in the field prior to the program, I was already connected to professionals in the area prior to the program, but I have been very intentional during these two years to expand my network and meet folks in different functional areas. Serving as the SUSDA Internship and Networking chair this year is one way that Ive done this successfully. In coordinating the Internship and Networking Fair I was able to connect with SDA alums and community partners working in the area. The fairs success is an example of how my professional identity has developed during my time in the SDA program. A big part of navigating politics and establishing and enhancing professional identity is understanding my impact on others and on the student affairs profession. My development in this area took place all throughout the program, but was highly concentrated in my experience as
AREAS OF GROWTH LEARNING OUTOME NARRATIVE
an Academic Advisor in the College of Arts and Sciences, which has been my graduate assistantship during the program. My impact on my students is direct and immediately visible. The conversations I have with them are focused on their needs and enhancing their growth and development. It has been wonderful to see the kind of impact I can have on my students, even though I only see most of them once per quarter for 30 minutes. Understanding the context in which I am working and they are living and learning in has been crucial in these conversations, and has helped me strengthen my professional identity as a student advocate. Mannings (2013) thoughts have stuck with me from SDAD 576: Leadership and Governance in Post-Secondary Education that organizations are not isolated entities but institutions situated in a context that includes history, past players, and traditions (p. 93), and this has helped me navigate the many systems that I operate in. Incorporating Best Practices: LO 7 | Artifacts G, I & J L.O. #7: Utilizing assessment, evaluation, technology, and research to improve practice has been a huge area of growth for me during the SDA program. Higher education is moving more and more towards data-driven budgets so it is essential for student affairs professionals to constantly improve their practice based on assessment, evaluation, technology, and research. I knew this coming into the program, but I have learned how to efficiently move through the process and make positive changes from many experiences Ive had in the past two years. Incorporating best practices can be done through understanding the use of assessment in program development, incorporating technology effectively in education, and improving policy and procedure based on research. Understanding the use of assessment has played a significant role in my growth, beginning with the comprehensive assessment and evaluation project (Artifact J) I created
AREAS OF GROWTH LEARNING OUTOME NARRATIVE
during my internship at Wagner College. I used the knowledge I gained from the Assessment Certification Program at SU last spring to create an assessment with two components, an outcomes-based piece and a satisfaction piece. I then worked with the dean to revitalize the mission and goals of new student orientation, and used these to guide the assessment questions. After their participation in orientation, students would be emailed a survey that would measure their comprehension and understanding of the mission, goals, and learning outcomes for New Student Orientation, and also their satisfaction with different aspects of orientation. I mirrored this process with Peer Leaders and the training they went through, measuring if they felt training prepared them to lead their learning communities well, and if they also had fun and bonded as a group. Incorporating technology effectively in education is another piece of improvement based on best practices. Through a mentor of mine, I recently became involved in the Student Services Focused Assessment Collaborative Team (F.A.C.T) Probation Committee at Highline College. The group is using technology to do intentional outreach to students on probation, sending weekly emails with resources listed and encouraging messages in hopes their reflection and increased awareness of campus resources will improve their academic success. I have shared branding and marketing information with the committee, shown examples of presentations and materials I have updated to use consistent messaging, and assisted the group using the knowledge I have of SUs academic probation process. This experience has shown me that there are more ways to use technology effectively in education than social media alone. My experience with this committee has also exposed me to the process of improving policy and procedure based on researchall of the committees work this year is based on large amounts of research they have done in previous years.
AREAS OF GROWTH LEARNING OUTOME NARRATIVE
Though I have grown a great deal in learning how to incorporate best practices effectively during the SDA program, I still have room to develop! My 5 Year Professional Development Plan (Artifact I) shows my plan to continue learning about technology, conducting research, and incorporating best practices in the future. L.O. #9: Understanding law, policy, finance, and governance is my last area of development during the program. This includes understanding how these concepts impact different student populations, advocating for more equitable laws and policies, and understanding the history of these concepts on a federal, state, and institutional level. I have definitely grown in these areas during the program, as evidenced in the comparison of my NASPA/ACPA competency analysis from the beginning of the program and now (Artifacts H1 & H2). I have also gained knowledge and skill in these areas from SDAD 580: Higher Education Law and SDAD 576: Leadership and Governance in Post-Secondary Education. Both of these courses examined law, policy, finance, and governance in depth, but because they play such a vital role in the student affairs landscape, I have detailed my plan to continue this work in my 5Year Professional Development Plan (Artifact I). Arguably the most experience Ive gained in these areas during the program has been through my assistantship. A large portion of my role as an Academic Advisor is knowing, interpreting, and effectively communicating academic policies and procedures to students. I have also learned how essential it is for me to understand the context in which I work in order to interpret institutional policies and procedures accurately. I have grown and developed my knowledge and skills in navigating politics, incorporating best practices, and understanding law, policy, finance and governance as I have outlined here in an effort to understand context and improve my scholarship during the SDA program. This work is by no means finished. It will continue for many years to come.
AREAS OF GROWTH LEARNING OUTOME NARRATIVE
References Hayes, T. (2015). Professional mission statement. Unpublished manuscript, Seattle University. Hayes, T. (2014). Scholarly reflection. Unpublished manuscript, Seattle University. Heifetz, R., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press. Manning, K. (2013). Organizational theory in higher education. New York, NY: Routledge.