NACADA National Conference Presentation: ACCEPTED!

Just wanted to update readers and let them know that I will be presenting my Social Bookmarking Presentation against at the NACADA 2009 National Conference in San Antonio, TX. If your professional development budget allows, make sure that you try to attend.

Feedback from the proposal evaluators was positive. Read on:

• I can imagine that this concept will get used by many advisors, once they figure out how it works.

• I liked the idea of presenting the idea and how to implement the idea. I liked that the presenter will talk about the positives and negatives and time requirements of implementing the social bookmarking account

• Social bookmarking is an interesting twist on serving all advisees, particularly undecided students. I would imagine this presentation would focus mostly on "how to," but the literature introduction will also be helpful. The proposal was very thorough.

• Interesting topic! Hopefully the information would be relevant and pertain to the available majors or graduate programs available at the institution.

• I think that this is an excellent topic to introduce to the advising profession. Many other educators utilize social bookmarking, etc for their professions, and it would be a great learning tool for students & advisors to use to support developmental advising.

• Creative concept and would help those advisors who are wanting to use and/or learn to communicate with today's students. Hands-on info.

I will be tweaking the presentation a bit to reflect the comments from those in Saratoga Springs, NY. Thanks again to all who provided feedback! It is so awesome to see advisors embracing technology!

Do you have room for some delicious feedback?

Before I start reflecting on my presentation I wanted to post the general feedback...meditate on it and then comment. I think that the general sense is that more people want to get involved with technology and just need a forum to get more information. Stay tuned for more ruminations to come.

Comments on my presentation:

Enthusiastic...very informative
Keep going and present more sessions at future conferences
Facebook, website, wiki presentations...showing how you link delicious to other sites lost me a little because i am not internet savvy in that sense. Great job!
A publication would be easier to understand
Very lively!
Very engaging and informative. I plan to go back and set up an account.
Present at an indepth seminar, regional or national conference
Copy of presentation (@ least an outline) would have been helpful in order to follow along and see what's coming next
Spontaniety and freedom from powerpoint. Jillian was motivational.
Work on voice; deeper for increased maturity and credibility
Real time demo of how to set up and use these sites was helpful.
Don't jump around so much-topic to topic-Hard to follow, especially when terms are unfamiliar
Thank you very interesting.
Please present at another regional conference.
Pertinent technical information-Great to learn from; present at NACADA National Conference
Good information, tools...More presentations!
In-depth institute or seminar
Jillian is a star. She will go far in whatever she does.
Present at NACADA National Conference
Energetic. Good presentation. Relevant.
Interesting and lively.
Keep having fun with this.
New technology was presented. Yah!
Good enthusiasm, but lower your voice and slow down a bit. Great job!
Great job. I clearly need to learn much more about this!
I now realize that there is a lot of technology to be used.
Slow down, talk more slowly.
Try to limit mention of all the technology. Bring handout with definitions of language; technology.
Introduction of resources to play with later.
New tool, great enthusiasm.
Take questions when asked, rather than saying you'll go over later because listeners don't know when/if you finally answered the question.
She did a very good job, high energy and communicated effectively.

Embracing Change: Social Bookmarking (NACADA Region 1)

Welcome to those of you who attended my session today at the NACADA Region 1 Conference!

Here are some of the resources we discussed in today's session:

NACADA Social Bookmarking Links (Extra resources, information etc.)

University at Buffalo Delicious Account

Web 2.0 Directory

Delicioussaratoga(2)

View more presentations from jillianreading.

Please feel free to comment on this post as well as others that are on the blog. I am looking forward to collaborating with all of you!

It was great to share this information.

Video is taking longer than anticipated to upload...internet @ the hotel is not that great. As soon as I get a decent (read: faster...) internet connection that will be up.

This is the best version I can get out tonight but rest assured a higher quality version of the presentation is coming soon

PALS Mentoring Program @ Union College

In a session on Peer Mentoring at Union College in the Albany area. Interesting concept...it's called Peer Assistants for Learning (PALS). 

I am loving how they call dismissals/suspensions...wait for it....Deans Vacations! Great euphanism. 

Presentation by a University at Buffalo Alum Kimmo Rosenthal (PhD Mathamatics)

Vlog: Saratoga Springs NY Region 1 Conference Day 1

Vlog: NACADA Region 1 Conference Saratoga Springs, NY

NACADA Region 1 Conference Homepage

11 Ways to Save a Bad Time at a Conference

We've all been there...the conference from heck. Nothing is relevant to you, the presentations are poor, and the food is horrendous. What should you do? Here are 11 ways to make your experience more productive.

1. Relax and recharge

There is nothing better for your psyche (and productivity) than just getting away from it all for a few days. Sometimes a change of scenary is all we need to come up with that next big idea. So sit on your balcony, play in the sand, and just recharge your batteries. You'll be back in your office before you know it!

2.  Check out the institutions in the area

Whenever I get the chance to travel to a conference, I always check to see what schools are in the area. It's interesting to see the different types of architecture and campus settings that they all have. This practice allows you to see what you value most in a campus and what things you could live without. You never know where your career will take you!

3. Start twittering!

Twitter allows users to groups of users to converse on a single topic (such as a conference) in real-time. Think instant messaging for large groups where everyone gets the message and then has a chance to respond. Recently, the NACADA technology seminar utilized this technology and many of us are still twittering away about conference related items. If you can find a few other people who are twitter users (there are more than you think!) you would have tons of fun and gain a lot of valuable insights you might have missed otherwise. 

4. Volunteer to help out

Perhaps you could staff the hospitality table or even offer to coordinate a solo-travelers dinner list. There is always a need for volunteers at conferences. By taking this opportunity, you not only increase the liklihood that  you will have a better experience but also get the chance to give back to the organization. We are responsible for the effectiveness and content of our professional organizations...hence all members need to pitch in and help in whatever ways they can. 

5. Create or update your portfolio

If you don't have a professional portfolio, now is the time to create one. If you do, take some time to really update it. Unforunately most of us get so caught up in the daily to do's we forget to mark our progress. In order to assess how well we are functioning as advisors, we need to know what we have done well and how we can improve upon it. 

6. Attend a session that you normally wouldn't 

Usually when we attend a conference its because we want to learn about "something"; this could be technology, the latest advising software program, or the latest on student development theory. This desire leads us to attend certain sessions and not others. If the sessions that you've been to haven't met your expectations, TRY SOMETHING NEW. You never know what you'll learn at a session on advising athletes even though your faculty advisor. We can all benefit from going outside our comfort zone periodically and now is as good a time as any. 

7. Network

Use old-fashion business cards or go high tech with Facebook or LinkedIn. You never know when the contacts that you make will come in handy. 

8. Read some publications/professional journals

 

As professionals we know that staying up to date on current material in our field is a requirement. We don't always have the time during our work week to do this (if we ever do). Catch up on your professional reading during this time away. Make sure to take some notes so that when you get back to the office you can utilize this new information. You might even get ambitious and actually start writing up that piece on your fantastic new retention program! Some good places to start are The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Mentor, and InsideHigherEd. 

9. Revise a session that wasn't what you expected

I can't count the number of sessions that I have attended that left me wanting more...more interaction, more examples, just...more. The next time this happens to you, instead of lamenting about how much time you wasted try to think of a better way to present the topic. What modifications could be made to really make it sing? You might just have come up with an excellent presentation for a future conference...

10. Polish your resume

Maybe even hand out a few...Just make sure that everything is as up to date and error free as possible. Resumes are often forgotten about once we've obtained a permanent position, but in reality it should be a constantly evolving project. Frequently updating the document will help to remind you of your accomplishments and actually make you more productive. It will also be ready anytime someone requests it. Take it a step further by putting it online and linking it with your porfolio of work. 

11. Play with a technology you've never used before

There are so many emerging technologies out there today that it's hard to keep up with them all. Try testing out one of them during this time away and then consider if there are any ways you could use this technology in your daily work with students. Almost every technology can in some way be utilized to further our everday academic missions but it takes a bit of creativity. A few you might consider are StumbleUpon, 12seconds, Ning, Mind Meister, and Cramberry. 

Other suggestions?

To Tech or Not to Tech: That is the Advising Question

At a recent NACADA seminar I attended a pre-conference survey was sent out to participants and asked the following questions. I thought that they were pretty thought-provoking and wanted to share my answers here.

I would love to hear others answers to them as well.

Are there some aspects of advising/student services which cannot be facilitated by technology?

I think that there are. Even though I am a huge proponent of technology in advising (i.e., web camera advising, skypeing with students, use of Facebook) I still think that students want a real person that they can spill their guts to at certain points. There is something about establishing relationships with students that simply can't be done online...there is no substitute for a friendly smile or a personal "keep going" note to encourage someone.

It's my position that advisors use technology to make their jobs easier and to assist our students in learning 21st century skills. When the world is going completely online, they have to be able to navigate it. The use of social networking and other online applications helps us to do that because students are already living in those spaces.

Are there aspects of advising/student services which are diminished (or lost) by facilitation with technology?

I do think that as we move more towards having resources available online exclusively (e.g., undergraduate catalogs, course notes) there are some things to be concerned with. There are issues of responsibility that come into play. Students must understand that checking email and responding to them is required, not optional. They also must understand that even though they aren't receiveing printed course descriptions and policy information theat they are still responsible for that material. Again, I will go back to the sentiment that its our responsibility to teach students how to fish for this information rather than spoon feeding it to them without acknowleding how we know it or where we found it.

Are there aspects of our work that are enhanced by using technology in advising/student services?

Yes yes yes!!!! The enhancements are endless. Take for example this blog... it would be difficult for me to interact with as many of you as I do without technology. We have formed professional development groups to share knowledge that previously would have required travel and money that our institutions just do not have right now.

In terms of students, we now have the ability (whether we like it or not) to help students at any time of the day or night...to point them to internet resources and video clips about majors/careers...we can put them in touch with people across the nation who are interested in doing what they wish to do with their lives... the possibilities are truly endless.

The ultimate goal should not be to abandon the "old" ways of advising but to supplement or streamline the process with the "new" ways.

Are there students we are not assisting well by using technology in advising/student services? This is an area of concern for me right now. I wonder how the migration of so much information to online resource centers is affecting students with disabilities. Some applications are better than their predecessors because they have accessibility options built right into them, but others are not that far advanced yet. We are seeing an upswing in the number of accessible options on websites (think about those bot protectors where you have to enter characters to ensure that you are a real person...many of those are now coming with audible options). We tend not to think of this group however when discussing technology and "all it can do for us" but we definitely should. I would love to hear more from anyone who is using web 2.0 applications with students with disabilities.

Twitter for Professional Development

Every one of us knows that since the economy is tight so are our travel budgets for professional development. Twitter (and blogs of course!) provides us with great networking and resource sharing opportunities without ever leaving the comfort of our offices (although I would love to go back to Clearwater, FL). 

One of the first steps to get started with Twitter for professional development is to find knowledgable people in the field (in our case advisors) who will provide, via their "tweets", valuable information about how we can make our own programs better, what works and what doesn't, and perhaps even offer some valuable cameraderie. 

Some of the people I've been following on Twitter include:

ReaFacetoFace :  Academic advisor; Calgary. 

Bismark State College: Advising Office; North Dakota

The Chronicle: Get Chronicle news snippets via Twitter

super_trouper: Advising Administrator; Penn State

Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter. Whenever I post a new link to the blog, a tweet is also sent out so that you can be notified in real-time. It's also a fantastic way to dialogue with me about something you've seen on the blog. 

You can see a great example of a Twitter group via our NACADA Tech Seminar website;this log of "tweets" now serves as a conference record and allows users to continue adding to the conversation when they return to their institutions. Another good way to use Twitter is described in an article posted in The Chronicle of Higher Education; whenever you get a good tip or find something useful just send it to twitter. It helps you remember it later on and also shares the tip with the community that's following you. 

According to recent literature, Twitter can also help those of us who are a little shy but still have something to contribute to the conversation. It is much easier to send out a twitter message than it is to raise our hand in the middle of a crowded room to voice an opinion. On the flip side, Twitter is not a private application but rather spews out whatever we tweet to everyone who is "following" us. There is the potential for information to leak into the wrong hands if the application is not used correctly. 

NACADA Tech Seminar: Day 2 & 3

First of all, apologies for not getting this up sooner. I was blogging from the conference, but life got in the way and took precedence. Thank you for all the prayers and support as Buffalo deals with this tragedy. 

Second, the NACADA Technology Seminar was a success! For those of you who haven't had a chance to check it out the NACADATech Website has a plethora of information that was generated during the conference. The twitter feed (#nacadatech09) is still building and probably will be for some time.  The most important links are located within the wiki's that were created: Karen's, Laura's and George's.  Even though I am not a huge Wetpaint fan  (prefer PbWiki), there is much information to be gained by collaborating and sharing information here. I would encourage everyoone to post as much information as they can here. 

Third, I met some great people while down in Clearwater, FL including @callmekurt from Carnegie Mellon and @gingerotc from Ozark Technical College. They, among others, provided such great conversation and ideas that I didn't want to leave. Hopefully there will be more collaboration among us and you will see us teaming up at a conference near you soon! 

My biggest learning experience at the conference came from working hands on with others who hadn't used many Web2.0 applications prior to their attendance at the conference. It is easy for me to encourage others to use these applications, but I can't say that I've ever experienced trying to build them from the ground up.. As a native (circa 2004) Facebook user, I have always had a profile and adapted with changes that took place at the site whereas new users are innundated with ways to populate their profile from the very beginning. There are also complex privacy settings and "Pages" to round out the gammett of ways to use Facebook with students. My motto was "Let's take the scary out of Facebook" because so many people think that there are no privacy controls and that its a space that students do not want us in! In reality, I think the exact opposite is true and we will see this becoming more aparent as usage increases amongst advising centers and institutions themselves. 

Educators and institutions need to look at these tools are an opportunity for branding. If you do not establish your online presence someone else will and that can be dangerous. 

A few projects have emerged due to the conference and the questions people posted. One of these includes the creation of some type of "Facebook Glossary" so that the disctincton between "Friend" and "Fan" or "Page" and "Profile" can be more explicit and easy to understand. This would be useful not only for advisors but for others who are new to Facebook. Additionally, my "Good" and "Bad" profile examples will be rolling out soon. This idea emerged because we know that our students are on Facebook and since we are going to be intereacting with them in this space, perhaps we should educate them about appropriate use of the medium. In no way are we dictating what they should put up there, but we are teaching them a 21st century skill that they will need as they progress through life. 

Finally, I got so many ideas about future conference presentations and even a possible doctoral dissertation topic (Web 2.0 for students with disabilities). I would love to take the "Take the scary out of Facebook" presentation to the National Conference or even just to a regional since the topic is so important. 

Cheers to everyone that I met during the conference and please keep in touch via this blog, twitter, Facebook, or even (gasp!) email! I am looking forward to networking with all of you now and in the future. 

Hiatus & NACADA Activities

First of all, apologies for the hiatus in posting. I was completing my comprehensive exams to get my master's degree so much of my time was occupied reading Pasacarella and Terenzini (1991, 2005). Hope everyone is still with me!

Secondly, I wanted to post a little reminder about some upcoming NACADA events that really have me excited!

Advising 2.0: Utilizing Technology Effectively for Campus-wide Advising

Being held February 12-13, 2009 in Clearwater, FL. the Technology Seminar is promising to be an exciting and informative event. I will be attending (Thanks to a NACADA Region 1 scholarship) and blogging at the event. It is my hope that readers will jump on board with comments and thoughts so that I can ask any questions you may have.

Some of the topics to be covered include: Social Networking Sites (i.e., Facebook, Ning), Wikis, Using Web Based Surveys, Blogs and Microblogs, Confidentiality, Web 2.0 and advising, Photosharing, and Making Connections Between Tools.

Faculty members include George Steele, Eric Stoller, Karen Thurmond, and Laura Pasquini.

You still have time to register! Come join us in Clearwater, FL. for some web "surfing" and sun.

NACADA Regional Conferences

Regional conferences are a fantastic way to network with your colleagues, but also stay close to your home-base. I would encourage everyone to check out their nearest Regional meeting and attend if at all possible.

I will be attending and presenting with one of my colleagues at the Region 1 Conference being held in Saratoga Springs, NY on March 11-13, 2009. My presentation is going to be on the use of social bookmarking as a tool for major and career exploration.

Many of the other Regions are still looking for proposals. I would encourage everyone to submit an abstract of something that your working on and get involved head-first with the organization. There is nothing more rewarding than sharing your work with others!

Anyone have any good presentation tips for me? I am all ears.

NACADA Annual Conference

NACADA is going deep into the heart of Texas for their next annual conference. I am looking forward to this one since I have never had the chance to go to Texas. I have submitted by Social Bookmarking proposal to the conference as well, but haven't heard anything yet about it being accepted or not.

The last Annual conference that I went to, Chicago, was amazing! There were so many great sessions and opportunities to network. All of my notes from those sessions are on the blog if anyone would like to look them over. That's actually how this blog got started--as a repository for notes and other professional development activities.

Finally, look for an upcoming post on the new 2009 Horizon Report. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the document, it presents the technologies to watch for the upcoming year in
education.

NACADA Winter Seminar 2009 Here I Come!

NACADA Winter Seminar 2009 Here I Come!

First of all, I want to send a big thank you to NACADA for offering me a $500 scholarship to come down to Clearwater, Fl in February and talk about technology in advising. I would encourage others who haven't yet applied for any type of scholarship from NACADA to do so. You must be a member to apply and fill out a fairly simple application. 

TheTechnology Seminar  looks to be extremely informative with presenters Laura Pasquini, Eric Stoller, George Steele, and Karen Thurmond  serving as faculty members. The seminar schedule looks really intriguing and I am most  looking forward to participating in the social network and blog/microblog concurrent sessions. It is my hope that I will be able to spread the word about this blog as well as my application of delicious at the seminar. The application that I am most unfamiliar with, Twitter, will hopefully be discussed at length and I will come back with a better understanding of its applications. 

I would also encourage those who can't attend the conference but are interested in technology within advising to visit the Technology Seminar blog and participate with us. I will of course be blogging from the seminar and keeping everyone up-to-date on what's happening. 

Is there anything that I should be sure to ask about? Questions you want answered? Fire away and I will be sure to do my best to raise them. 

New Mandatory Advisement Process

After attending the NACADA conference in Chicago a few days ago, I came up with a new method to carry out my mandatory advising appointments. This is the pattern that I have been following for the last few days and it feels so much more rewarding than what I was trying to do before.

Meeting #1:
* Create index card with pertinent information
(Scholar? Person #, Major Interests, Things they've shared about themselves,
The Good News)
* Review fall 2008 schedule
(Need to resign anything?, Checkstops to resolve?)
* Tentative courses for spring 2009
(Review DARS, Reevaluate major thoughts, course schedule wizard, at least 3
tentative schedules- emailed to me)
* Check scholarship status if University Scholars student
* Statement of where they are as a student without quantitative words
* Schedule second appointment before they leave
(Give students a time frame for getting things done; feedback on this has been
positive and reinforced how essential it is)

Meeting #2:
* Review course selections
* Discuss registration process
* Show how to utilize delicious/ READY @ UB
* Read/Email feedback on statement that they wrote
* Discuss different learning styles (VARK Assessment)

I haven't had any second meetings yet, but I am sure that they will be informative to students. I like having them leave their appointment with a task, fish for their own knowledge, and then come back so that we can synthesize it together.

Using my students name often during an appointment has also put life back into my advising appointments. I really think that they are buying into what I have to say more so than previously. I also think that they view me as more of a professional when I outline goals and tasks for them to complete.

Finally, I have been following the index card method that was mentioned by Susan Kolls from Northeastern. Having a card with student information on it is so helpful to both me and the student. First, I get a chance to recollect on that student and their appointment while I am creating the card and in turn I can reference the card next time they come. I am hoping that showing them how interested I am in them as people will help us to establish a better relationship over the long term.

NACADA Session Notes

NACADA 2008 NATIONAL CONFERENCE NOTES OCTOBER 2008

B. Joseph White (President of University of Illinois) Plenary Session

* Stretch, Support, & Connect
* "Pit Stop" on the fast-track analogy- Races are won in the pit. You need a good team of people to change your tires, fill up your gas tank. Advising relationship is similar because we are the professionals who change tires and fill up gas tanks.

* Develop a personal relationship
E.g., Mannie Jackson- CEO of Fortune 500 company without a business major
"Find something and someone you can be passionate about. Enjoy the journey."

* Suicide Prevention
Required 4 mandatory sessions or else expelled
Student under contract with the university to be in good health when enrolled
(Interesting concept and would like to look @ more research on it)

* Advising for Resilience
Tell students how you have overcome obstacles/discouragement
Space between the stimulus and the response is the time for the choice

Session #1: Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me: Delivering News Students Don't Want to Hear

Resist the temptation to empathize with a student.
Own the bad news; don't blame (Staff members are working towards the institutional mission)
Give students news before the meeting via email so that meeting can be positive.
Send same email to everyone (and mention that in the email). (Don’t want students to fill singled-out.)
Accept responsibility for mistakes
FERPA Reverse Institution (More research on this; interesting)
Index cards on every student so you can refer to it for a positive message when needed. (Stealing this!!)
If you refer a student to someone else on your campus, do 2 things: 1.) Let that person know that the student is coming and 2) tell the student what they need to do when they get there
Teachable Moments- NOT always your job but students are your job and everything that comes with that
Keep in mind skill level and challenge level (not the same)
Alternate paths. "Why Philosophy is great as critical thinker, debater, rise to the top of resume pile because you are different and interesting”
When a student returns to your office after giving them bad news to try to find a way around the system: "What has changed since the last time we spoke?"
"This answer is not going to change."
If student wants to go above your head that's fine, but let the person know who they are going to see that you have "told this student that the answer is not going to change."
If you don't have a counseling background, don't try to be a counselor.
Collaborate with colleagues to organize a communication pattern if an issue with a student arises (via instant messenger etc)
Make sure that follow-ups are doable. Give students concrete assignments for their bad news... (e.g. Go to career services, meet a faculty mentor, run a degree audit). Thinking about it is nebulous to students; they absolutely must do!!!
End the meeting on a good note. *Have candy on your desk... take note @ beginning of the session to wrap up on a good note.
Understand that the dissonance in advising comes from the experience that the student receives & the expectation that they originally had
When confronted with parents who want to press the issue: "Can I speak to your child like you wish you could speak to them?" Ask the student why their grades are so low... what were they thinking. Etc.
(Analogy of medical students learning to give bad news to patients)

Session #2: When Dreams & Realities Collide: Helping Under prepared and Low-Achieving Students Face Academic Challenges

Sarah Keeley- Millennial article
Millennial have high expectations, are looking for definite plans, speed is more important than the end goals, sense of superiority, job ticket

No Child Left Behind has impacted higher education (walk away program)
Parental Involvement- Part of the decision making structure; they want accountability and assurance
Money provides pressure to get through quickly
**High SES parents more likely to intervene in advising relationship
Miller & Murry- Advising academically under prepared students
Student Success Model- Motivation, Purpose, and Commitment

Chickering's Vectors of Development
Path to Success
* Collaboration
* New techniques in choosing classes (sit in on a lecture during the previous semester)
* Review history. Define needs
Commitment to time
Create balance
Engaging the University experience

"Sense of Belonging"
Engagement, - Face book have friend in facee book send message to you about the experience

4 options for change- Student Success Model
* Change reaction
* Change reality
* Remain on same path
* Change path

On motivation: You have motivation if you came in today.
Ask the difficult questions

Make student accountable to you!
Write statement or description of himself or herself as a student (no quantitative qualitative data). Who you want to be as a student a year from now? We don’t want to be critical of our own behavior.
Teach them to turn off the world. List of places where cell phones won’t interrupt study on campus.
Record what you are doing and what works and what doesn’t.


Presentation tip: Gifts to correspond to presentation. Use business cards for the drawing.

Session # 3: 50 Ways to be a Better Advisor

1. Turn off your computer an hour a day
2. Go to class with a student.
3. Model collegial behavior for your students.
4. Do your part to destroy gender stereotypes
5. Use metaphors to convey your point
6. Avoid using clichés
7. Take a 20-minute vacation
8. Find reasons to appreciate your coworkers
9. Don’t worry! Worry is a misuse of the imagination
10. Tell a student about a job or class you had that you were very bad at.
11. Start your day writing a thank you note to someone
12. Eliminate tasks that contribute the least to your unit’s goals
13. Cope with, don’t ignore, competing priorities
14. Focus on essential activities
15. Work smarter, not harder
16. Make time for life outside of work
17. Beware of a false sense of activity
18. Keep situations in proper perspective
19. Assemble all available facts before making decisions
20. Weigh alternative decisions before taking action
21. Designate time to answer emails instead of having it up all day
22. If people don’t realize it’s not done, DON’T DO IT!
23. Tell students what they need to hear, not what they want to hear
24. The best training comes from your students
25. Use complaints to provide valuable feedback
26. Use voice and body o effectively provide support
27. Assume that no one can//will keep a secret
28. Pay more attention to people than issues
29. Never say, “I’m just an advisor” or “it’s not my job.”
30. Make it a rule not to start out a meeting or a conversation with an apology
31. Make sure to always give credit where it’s due, including yourself.
32. Teach students to fish
33. Personal enrichment is a necessary part of your career
34. Be loyal to your career, your interests, and yourself
35. Handle competitive situations with confidence and tact (I appreciate your feedback. Thank you!)
36. Welcome professional challenges
37. Never appear stressed in front of a student. Take a deep breath and ask yourself, “In the course of human events, how important is this?”
38. Your convenience and happiness are not part of the mission statement
39. Credibility is more important than you think, and easier to lose than you think
40. Never apologize for an idea that didn’t work, but always admit a mistake
41. Flexible people never get bent out of shape
42. Acknowledge your mortality.
43. Never confuse a memo with reality.
44. Don’t tell people their ideas are bad, unless you have a better one
45. Every appointment is a big thing for a student, whether it is for you, or not
46. Never go to more than 2 meetings a day or you will never get anything done
47. Laugh when it’s funny
48. Develop a high tolerance for ambiguity- you’ll be more satisfied.
49. Good ideas get lost like good pens- write them down
50. “Maybe” or “It depends” will work for every question
51. There are 2 ways to exert one’s strength: Pushing down or pulling up
52. YOU CAN’T CHANGE STUPID!
53. Smile while on the phone or while writing an email.
54. Use a student’s name more than once during an appointment
55. Photo of each student for his or her file.
56. Sometimes the dog really does eat the homework…
57. “Success isn’t permanent and failure isn’t fatal.”
58. EMBRACE THE CHAOS
59. Follow the grain in your own wood
60. Life is choices; always choose to do what your will remember 10 years from now.
61. Change is good
62. It’s never too late to be who you might have been
63. Only the mediocre are always at their best
64. When dream turn to dust: Vacuum.

Session #4: Advising 2.0: Engaging Students with Collaborative Tools Online

ACE- Academic, Career, Explorer
Utilized the OReilly definition of 2.0
Made Ace a student in their system so that he could have a Face Book account etc.
Peer 2 Peer advice rather than advisor to student
UTSC- Approximately 10000-12000 students
Used volunteer and work-study students in order to get everything done (marketing, tech, answering etc) 3 students appox. 12 hours per week of work
Flickr photos didn’t have much traffic- changed the argument because they said that in order for a click to register the student must actually click on the larger image or else there is no tracking done
Made all of their videos in house using garage band and Imovie
Use of Delicious: Stated that students were not using (keep in mind they are in Canada) using less with students and more with staff, not utilizing in the same way that I am proposing
Google analytics for monitoring of site traffic
Wiki- stands for “What I Know Is” Hawaiian for “fact”
Utilized Student Voice Technology (Developed @ UB)

Session #5: Changing and Evolving Workplaces: Implications for Advising Students

Learning Agility
Planned happenstance
Other ways 2 win

Strengths Quest
What do you contribute to an organization?

College learning for the 21st century (Bibliography on PowerPoint looked interesting)

Session #6: What Should Harry Do? Student Development Theory in the World of Hogwarts

Theories, like statistics, can be misleading.
An investment in student’s own education assists with retention
Are we over programming first year students?
“Body of work which supports what I am doing.” USE THEORY TO FUND THINGS

Session #7: Teaching Students to Fish: Infusing Critical Thinking Strategies to Help Students Advise Themselves

Fast food advising- Why it’s bad for everyone!
Prescriptive Vs Collaborative Advisement
Prescriptive- I speak you listen, Advisor above student, Student passive
Collaborative- Discussion, Reciprocal Relationship, Student active

Personal Responsibility
Give Student a degree planner and have them create a plan for @ least one year (maybe beyond)

Before mandatory advisement: Send an advising grid and link to the General Education requirements & catalog. Have them come to the appointment with @ least 1 tentative plan. If they don’t have this, they will need to reschedule.

Session #8: Advising Theory & The Big Moral Picture

Advising does not equal teaching!
Tainted origin argument
Difference in Ends Argument
“Values are caught, not taught.”

A person engaging in academic advising has a moral obligation to perform their profession well.

Harms We Could Do:
FERPA
Conflict of Interest
Impartiality
Life changing decisions
Unwanted/Unnecessary major changes
Harassment
Stealing
Technology
Good member of the academic community
Degree postponing omission

PERFORMING THE JOB WELL
“Providing advice so that the student moves forward in a possible future that it is
“better” than the possible future without contact with the advisor.”

Academic advising equals engaging with students in a relationship to influence their academic progression. (Neutral statement- No Moral Claim)

Differentiate between fact and opinion when working with students

Session # 9: Constructional Student Mentoring

Used with probation and suspension students
Student mentoring grant- Grants for other programs?

Pathological Vs Constructional Approaches
Pathological: Decrease the problem behavior, students need a helping hand, eliminate undesirables, find difficult to cope

Constructional: Increase the alternative behaviors, students are capable of helping themselves, produce the desirables, individuals want to grow

CONSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH
Where are you now?
Where do you want to go?
What steps get you there?
What will keep you going?

Directed Choice: Is Tuesday or Friday better for you? When looking at a transcript, always stat out with the strengths of the record.




Funny quote: I am very much like a ferret... I get easily distracted... hahahaha

NACADA Conference

Returned on Friday from the NACADA Region 2 conference with some interesting learning experiences under my belt. If nothing else, I learned that my university is way ahead of the curve. We are doing everything right and have far exceeded many others.

One of the most interesting things that came out of the conference was the notion of advisor speak. Sometimes our students don't understand the language we use when we communicate with them. Words like "matriculating" confuse them because they aren't used to this advisor speak. I thought that this was a novel concept and will make a conscious effort in the future to only utilize language which my students will definitely understand. I also thought it was interesting that the presenter emailed her students copies of everything which she said to them. First, this creates a great deal of extra work but secondly it might also be perceived as a liability. I think I will do some more research on this and ask some colleagues before making a final judgment on it but it seems like this is the type of feedback students are craving.

Another topic we discussed was the "push" and "pull" model of academic advisement. The "push" is the past where we used to lecture students about what they needed to do and gave them few options. Today we are "pulling" and attempting to glean from our students what they believe their best course of action is. I rather like the pull model since it doesn't bog students down with information that doesn't pertain to them, but on the other hand it doesn't hurt anyone to have some extra knowledge in a subject that they don't particularly care for. More food for thought...

I got to take part in the meet a mentor program at the conference. I thought that this might have been the most beneficial part of the entire conference and would like to see future conferences include more interaction between mentors and mentees. It really gave me a chance to see where I could go. We also discussed some commonalities that we had and how local politics are playing a role in our everyday jobs. Interesting.

Finally, every summer at orientation we do the Holland Party game (which I don't particularly care for), but one of the ideas from the conference was to make it a real party with food and light music so that students don't feel so scrutinized by whoever is overseeing the party.

Overall, I thought the conference went really well but attending the National Conference will probably be more beneficial. I am looking forward to October!