June 2005
Group Processes II
It's hard to believe that one year has come and gone at such a rapid pace. As a new academic adviser, I have had many new experiences that run the gamut from completely wonderful and exciting to completely frustrating and upsetting. Nonetheless, they have all been learning experiences, and these monthly entries have provided an outlet in which I have been able to place my daily activities into context. My interest in journaling has grown throughout the process as the reflections allow me not only to document my experiences but also to communicate how those experiences have shaped me and how they will be used to inform my practice in similar future situations. It already makes me laugh, looking back at my first day and the anxiety I was feeling about beginning a new job in a new city. How quickly one becomes accustomed to a campus, its staff, its faculty, and its students when he works as a full-time professional there. Should the time come for me to move on to another position or another institution, I feel that I will be better prepared in part because of my written reflections.
So... onto the month of June.
Other than the many appointments that have now become a more comfortable and routine part of my days, there were two main topics worth mentioning this month. The first relates to technology and the exposure that we “cuspers” (I'm right on the verge of being a millennial as my birth year is 1979) have experienced throughout our K-12 and college educations. For us, the use of technology has become second nature as it infiltrates and affects so much of our lives. As a younger adviser, I have witnessed differing work styles among many of my colleagues and myself including the use of and reliance upon computers and the Internet. Whether it takes the form of communication through e-mail, using ERIC or other electronic databases for research, or constantly utilizing Microsoft Office products, I find that I often reach for some type of technology as a primary step in problem solving. This approach is different than the use of technology as a secondary or auxiliary step by older generations in problem solving.
I was able to use some of my technological ability this month as our unit had a meeting regarding our annual and quickly approaching Student Testing, Advising, and Registration (STAR) days. One item on the agenda was the PowerPoint presentation that our office provides to students and parents as an introduction to the general education requirements and the overall structure of a bachelor's degree at EWU. The audience is normally around 100-200 people, and, after the presentation is over, the students go to assigned advising locations for slightly more in-depth advising sessions. Course registration also occurs at this time.
It became clear at our staff meeting that our PowerPoint was lacking in graphical aids. The previous format was largely bulleted text, so it was our hope to incorporate a few pictures to present a graphical framework for the makings of a bachelor's degree. We also wanted a visual example of the average course load needed to graduate in four years.
Being fairly familiar with PowerPoint software, I volunteered to create animations for the goals mentioned above. What I found in my work on the graphics is that I really enjoy working on technology-based projects to enhance our delivery of services. It was nice to break out of the routine-appointment rut and work on something that allows for a bit more creativity. The process was also collaborative as I would create animations, bring the drafts to staff meetings for feedback, and then make adjustments as necessary. In the end, the office seemed pleased with the new additions to the PowerPoint. I was also able to present the new additions at a director's meeting and receive even more feedback.
I suppose the lesson I learned is to step up and volunteer for projects that allow the use of one's skill set. It seems obvious, but, in the case of technology I think my generation sometimes forgets the vast amount of knowledge we have accumulated throughout our lives. As a newer addition to the EWU advising staff, I would assume that technological ability was an expectation they had when hiring me. As previously mentioned, I think much of my enjoyment from working on the project stemmed from the creative aspect it provided. However, I also enjoyed the project because it allowed me to do something I am comfortable and familiar with and, at the risk of sounding pretentious, good at. Hopefully, this experience will open up other opportunities for me to integrate the use of technology with advising.
The other significant happening this month was the return of group advising. These sessions take place after the introductory STAR PowerPoint presentation when the students break off into groups to meet with their academic advisers. I made mention of these same sessions back in month number two of this journal, and the experience that coincided with these sessions was less than spectacular. I also had several group advising sessions in my fourth month that failed to meet my expectations. So I entered into the June 2005 group advising sessions with a varied game plan and still much skepticism.
This time, I presented with a colleague who shares my viewpoint that the goal of group advising is to augment individual appointments. Groups are a way to share large amounts of generic information to large numbers of students. They are a way to efficiently communicate common advising issues, degree requirements, and academic planning techniques. They are not a time to delve into an individual's plans to complete a double major in electrical engineering and elementary education. And they are not a time to explain the minutiae and exceptions inherent in some degree programs. With these issues in mind, my colleague and I came to the conclusion that what we present in a group session is just as important as what we don't present. Our goal was to give out just enough information for the students to digest. When we see the students for individual appointments in the fall, we will continue to add to that foundation while taking the student's individual academic goals into account. In conducting last year's groups, I found that, as students asked questions about their majors of interest, it would often confuse other students who were headed down a differing academic path. The goal this year was to present only information that applied to the entire group.
This goal does not mean that we squashed any student's questions regarding his or her personal academic goals. What we prevented was answering the said questions in front of the entire group. If a student asked a specific question that might confuse other students, we told the questioner to wait until we could talk individually. This individual conversation would happen while students were searching for classes. Presenting information and answering questions in such a way allowed us to stay on track. Once again, we gave our generic presentation and then answered individual questions/concerns as students looked for appropriate courses.
Compared to my past group sessions, this process was much more efficient and pleasant. By not letting students' individual situations steer the discussion, we were able to quickly cover the structure of our general education requirements. Once this discussion was done and students began looking for classes, my colleague and I were able to give individual attention where needed. It seemed students were pleased with the overall structure as well, as it allowed those students who understood the directions and process to finish registering for appropriate classes quite quickly. Once these students were gone from the room, my colleague and I were able to give even more individual attention to the remaining students.
One could argue that our entire group method this time around lacked intentional student development. I would agree that more intentional learning could have taken place; if it had, however, our overall objective of efficiently presenting general education and registration information would have suffered. Our window of time is only ninety minutes to accomplish our goal for all twelve to twenty students in the room. Therefore, my colleague and I had to strike a balance between the main purpose of the session and how much purposeful learning and development we could incorporate. We felt that students were in fact challenged to design their own schedule and learn the online registration system. Also, if a student had a question during the actual registration component of the group session, we encouraged him or her to ask a neighbor before asking an adviser. This suggestion promoted at least a small amount of peer collaboration, even though students were sitting at individual computers. And, all the while, my colleague and I were standing by to offer help and support when needed.
This month, I think the objective of group advising and its desired and resultant student learning outcomes provided me with a bit of a reality check. How much and what type(s) of student development can take place during a ninety-minute presentation? It seems that last year I was so focused on using peer interaction to encourage social development and teamwork that it took away from the overall objective of students becoming capable of using the catalog and registration system. I suppose something I need to continue considering in my group advising sessions is my overall goal for the presentation. Once that goal is established, I need to look at the necessary and unnecessary student development areas that could be incorporated. This year's group advising sessions took on a whole new dimension as our overarching goal was more streamlined and purposeful and as we used specific activities that directly aligned with our main objective.
This journal has, of course, only been a small sampling of the infinite number of experiences I have had throughout the course of one year. I have enjoyed immensely the variety, challenge, and fulfillment that come from working with college students and in higher education in general, and I am pleased with my chosen profession. Also, I have been fortunate to have such strong support from my director, colleagues, family, friends, and fiancée-turned-wife (yay!) during my time at EWU. I also appreciate Mike Leonard from The Mentor and his work on this project. Knowing that these entries will be published has kept the incentive in place for my continued journaling, and the benefits from the experience will be lasting as I am able to always look back on my first year of advising.