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Spring 2010 Coursework
Organization and Administration
Building upon knowledge gained in our Introduction to Student Affairs course, Organization and Administration further enhanced our understanding of organizational and administrative structures within Student Affairs units. Through a semester-long assignment we gained an understanding of essential components to leading an office or department. We were each charged with serving as a Director of a pre-determined functional area at a fictional college in the mid-west. We not only gained a theoretical understanding of various responsibilities, we also learned about these responsibilities through experiential assignments such as creating mission and vision statements or developing employment position descriptions. This course challenged our decision-making and ethical understandings, facilitated our development of professionalism, and enhanced our administrative skills such as not only creating a budget but justifying the budget as well. Through various assignments, group activities, and reflections we were asked to role play the managing of others and plan for entire departments, being thoughtful and intentional about the decisions we made and the consequences of those decision. This course provided us with practical experience and connected our-in class learning with practice.
Student Development Theory
Overall I appreciate that there are so many theories that
focus not just on the development of our students as students (with an
academic focus) but development as a person, a young adult, and an
individual within various roles. Recognizing the holistic and
intersectional needs of our students is essential in our work and an
understanding of Student Development Theory provides us with the
educational framework to do so. In retrospect this has been one of the most beneficial course I have taken during my Graduate Coursework. Student Development Theory can serve as a resource, providing a framework for practitioners by which to guide the way they approach their work with their students. Most of my current work, in my assistantship as well as my internships, revolves around my students’ development as members and leaders of their respective organizations. This course provided me exposure to psychosocial, cognitive, college impact and learning theories and the assignments taught me how to actually implement the theory into practice. One assignment specifically was particularly salient to my learning; we were asked to conduct student interviews and then apply theoretical frameworks to their development. In my initial interview which can be found here, I interviewed one of my students and at the conclusion determined which areas of her identity seemed to be particularly salient to her development. In the follow up interview which can be found here, I developed an interview protocol by which to focus my questions. Those questions related specifically back to the areas I believed to be more prevalent than others.
Another assignment proved to be very beneficial to my learning, and that is the power point below. We were asked to chose a theoretical framework that was particularly salient to us and demonstrate for the class its application to a specific population of students. I am particularly interested in College-Access programs and my partner was interested in transitions so we decided to focus on the transition from high school senior to first-year in college.
Another assignment proved to be very beneficial to my learning, and that is the power point below. We were asked to chose a theoretical framework that was particularly salient to us and demonstrate for the class its application to a specific population of students. I am particularly interested in College-Access programs and my partner was interested in transitions so we decided to focus on the transition from high school senior to first-year in college.
Overall I appreciate that there are so many theories that focus not just on the development of our students as students (with an academic focus) but development as a person, a young adult, and an individual within various roles. Recognizing the holistic and intersectional needs of our students is essential in our work and an understanding of Student Development Theory provides us with the educational framework to do so.
Research and Assessment
Throughout my entire educational career thus far, I have yet to see any course that was divided and delivered in such a clear, concise, and overall manageable way. Our Research and Assessment course material was divided into sections that aligned with the steps of our semester-long project of developing a research proposal which made understanding the topics that much easier. For our course we were asked to pick a topic about which to gather information that would eventually culminate into a final research proposal which can be found here. I chose a topic that stemmed from my personal interests and experiences, low-income first generation high school students and their college choice process. As a result of this course I learned about the differences and similarities between Research and Assessment and the importance they both carry in the daily work of a Student Affairs professional, I learned about various approaches to conducting research, the pieces involved in a research proposal and how to develop them, and most importantly I learned how to be a knowledgeable practitioner able to defend her work by the support of research and assessment. I also found it very valuable that this course allowed for a great integration of my personal interests, other academic coursework such as Student Development Theory, and my professional interests; as a result of guidance during this project I found my internship with Upward Bound and I value this course and the professor very much for its ability to have that integration.
Academic Advising
This course served as an overview for understanding the role of Academic Advising as it relates to both Academic Affairs as well as Student Affairs. It covered historical contexts, current schools of thought related to philosophy and theoretical perspectives of advising, as well as discussed emerging challenges in the field. One of the assignments we had was to identify a potential challenge an academic advisor would face when when working with a specific population of students, as a group we chose advising Hispanic students. The paper covered various challenges and components to consider when working with Hispanic students; the final document can be found here. We were also asked to remain well read during the course on the field of Academic Advising. Another assignment we had was to review a professional journal. We were asked to read an article, reflect on it, and provide a document with a briefy synopsis and provide our thoughts, this document can be found here. Overall, this course proved to be a great source of personal reflection and growth as we compared approaches to advising in other universities and in particular our own undergraduate Alma Maters.
International Education and Demographic Change
This course examined education as affected by such contributing demographic factors as sibship, marital status, health, and more. Each of the demographic elements was examined from both the micro and macro levels and the constructs were based on global educational systems. Each week we were asked to reflect on the readings and provide a few questions for the faciliatation of dialogue. Throughout the semester we were asked to write a papers covering the prior few weeks' readings, my third paper can be found here. Overall, the course focused heavily on the importance of global understanding and global citizenship and took the perspective of understanding educational differences as they developed differently from country to country.