Giving Thanks

Thank you for the invitation to participate in the Challenge – I’ve always enjoyed reading the posts of the instructors who have done this over the years!  The opportunity to reflect on what we do, share experiences, and see what others do is a true gift.  Many times we are so focused on our own jobs that we don’t get that opportunity to look up and see the amazing stuff being done by our colleagues.  That self-reflection time is also very important to me – it gives me new ideas or gets me thinking in new ways.  

I hope I’ve been able to add a little different perspective to the Challenge, coming from the advising standpoint and overhearing the conversations in my little corner of the Learning Center.  My favorite posts are when folks share other resources, or how they have used certain techniques or tools…I also enjoy seeing all the different disciplines represented.  Yes, it is also reaffirming to see the level of professionalism and commitment to the craft of education…an inspiration!

I’ll take the rest of this last post to tell you a little about our SSS Canvas site, because I just learned from one of my advising colleagues that she had no idea that we had ever had a Blackboard, much less a Canvas site…so I figured maybe others don’t know either.  The SSS TRIO program is a federal program that offers extra services to 300 YC students that meet eligibility requirements.  Our goals are retention, graduation and transfer, but more importantly: student success.  Nationally, we test drive new approaches, strategies and techniques to help students.  So, when we dove into Blackboard many years ago, that was a ‘new thing.’  We offered students a 24/7 place to find some answers to questions they had, resources they needed, or online workshops on a variety of topics from “how to write a scholarship letter” to “how to study for a test.”

With the Canvas training, we were advised to streamline and rethink our purpose and methods.  We did more streamlining and have used the Canvas experiment to test-drive where are students want us to place our time and effort.  Here’s a few things I’ve learned that might be relevant to others: Most students seem to like a reminder of deadlines and where to locate assignments/resources/etc.  Some students will forget no matter what you do, don’t take it personally.  Students do juggle a lot of classes and responsibilities, and sometimes they forget that we do also – I try to remember that when I get a snarky or demanding e-mail.  Overall, I like the cleaner look of the Canvas site – it may be fewer resources there on our site, but those that are there are easier to find for the students.

Lastly, here are a few odd tidbits I’ve learned: A lot of students overcome amazing odds just to be here, to try and improve their employment outlook or their understanding of their world (hopefully both happen!)  Some students are stuck in victim-mode; sometimes I can work with them on this, and sometimes I can’t.  It takes a lot of courage for students to ask a question, so even if they have asked the same question several times, I try really hard to answer it like it is the first time.  So, thank you Todd, for always trying to answer my questions like it’s the first time you’ve heard it and for encouraging such great exchanges!  :)

When 'Help' Isn't

The academic roller-coaster for students is fairly predictable, but it seems to take new students by surprise that there is a season for student panics or problems.  It might depend on work load, or on mood, overall perspective of life, or just what time of year it is – but I often hear waves of students’ troubles with their classes.  Sometimes this is a simple need for resources or referrals, or an idea for the occasional writer’s block, or an issue of time/life management.  I can speak to all of these.  I can also ‘help’ much more than this with specific academic/learning/life issues – but I’ve learned that sometimes it is better to just be silent, and listen.

Sometimes, talking too much is just that.  Too many ideas or solutions truncate the students’ abilities to figure it out for themselves, to bumble through the problem-solving process.  Often this takes way longer than my quick tip would take.  It occasionally takes several semesters, bad grades, and even loss of financial aid to figure out their answer.  It’s messy and sometimes heartbreaking, but I guess that makes advising students a lot like parenting in some ways.  

In my jobs within higher education, and especially outside of it, I’ve had perhaps too much experience in ‘helping’ – sometimes I get snookered, but for the most part, I can usually guess which folks need to learn the hard way, and which just need one little hint to get back on track or to hear ‘the pep talk.’  And then there are my ‘projects.’  Those are my students that are either frequent flyers (seeing me weekly or more often) or those that only arrive for a crisis-download, usually when it is too late to do anything constructive to salvage their grade/semester/financial aid.   

As I get older, I realize that the most critical part of education may not be what classes they take, what degree they earn, but what they learn about themselves.  And frighteningly, some just don’t want to learn that stuff.  They want the tidy check sheet of classes to take in the right order, and expect to emerge as an employable, self-aware individual who can get along with others.  Uh oh.  There is no class for that!   There is only the messiness of personal growth that happens along the way, and never conveniently on breaks between semesters.

That messiness ranges from an inability to self-manage time (I.E. working a full-time job and trying to do full-time classes) to family crises (I.E. catastrophic illness, divorce, death in the family) to the strange expectation that everything should be easy and go their way.  And though I can empathize with many of these situations, and give resources/suggestions/tips when appropriate, what the students will or will not learn, is their choice.  It’s somewhat of a bitter pill to realize that my rushing in to help too much can actually prevent some of the messy and necessary learning experiences that will help my students become their best.  And whether students are 18 or 80, college is a time to grow.  Yes, it is check sheets and courses and degrees, outrageous textbook prices, and financial aid rules, and knowing what major to choose – but I still believe in the higher purpose of higher education.  That’s to become the best you can be.  All of us who work in any level of any educational institution have a role to play in that transformation, even if it is to pause, stop giving too much help, and to witness the miracle of individual evolution.  On a good day, it’s like watching butterflies hatch and take flight.

Pitfalls and Benefits of Group Work

Every semester, I hear at least one complaint from a student about hating group work, having a lousy group, or disliking one of their team members.  I try hard not to say ‘suck it up, life isn’t fair,’ and concentrate on explaining the benefits of learning how to deal with a diverse work group now, when their paycheck isn't on the line.  Sooner or later, most of us will deal with having to accomplish a project with someone that either is difficult to work with or doesn’t do any work at all.  Hopefully it isn’t all of the time (in which case, organizational fit might be an issue.)  

Working with a diverse group can be a challenge, but can also be a project-saving grace.  I often mention my enthusiasm over personality tests and tools like True Colors, that emphasize the benefits of having people with alternative perspectives.  Sometimes students are so immersed in their own viewpoint that they forget there are other ways of approaching group projects.  Who wants a project that is organized but boring, or entertaining/colorful but doesn’t accomplish project expectations?  It really does take those of multiple perspectives to address different aspects of a large project.  If there is one person that appears to be the ‘boss,’ I may have a private discussion about servant leadership and the importance of soliciting input.  I sometimes give out handouts or links to help student groups, like this one: http://blog.cengage.com/tips-for-students-how-to-survive-your-group-projects/

 

In the case of the free rider (the student that does NO work on a team project), I discuss different options and suggest the group discuss the problem with their instructor.  One option is to divide the project into separate sections that are completed by one person, then merged together.  Another option is to ask the instructor to talk to the ‘free rider’ or to allow peer grading of individual contributions as an incentive to participate equally.  In some cases, I have heard from the student that is perceived as the ‘free rider’ – who may feel intimidated by other more-vocal students or ostracized from a group.  This is a tough conversation, because it reminds me of junior high and the in-crowd vs. the outsiders.  And yes, often the folks that are perceived as the poor group members are those that have spent a lifetime on the sidelines, with less developed social and verbal confidence, sometimes they are students from different ethnic/socioeconomic backgrounds, or those with learning issues.  Some students are just plain shy, and get left in the dust by the enthusiasm of the go-getters.  At times the issue isn’t ability to do the group work, but the over-commitment of time that some of our students experience: They are distance learners or without transportation to meet, or they are parents/employees/students all at the same time.  There are multiple sides to every story.  Sometimes, students are not all capable of doing group work, this is where having assignment options comes in handy.

But the good news for fans of group projects is that group work is not only relevant to the real work world, there is research that documents the improved learning outcomes that groups can accomplish.  Here’s a few article links on the benefits of group projects in course design:  

http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/instructionalstrategies/groupprojects/benefits.html

https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/cooperative-learning/

And for those who want to emphasize the career-importance of mastering team skills: http://www.careerealism.com/soft-skills-job-seekers/