Reflective+Journal-+Reynolds

Week 1 August 30 & September 1

The first day of class we did some icebreakers as an opportunity for everyone to meet one another and understand why we were all in this class. We have nine students enrolled in the course who are involved in a variety of campus activities from residence life to student success. The students all seem very passionate about the field and very interested in learning more and pursuing a career in the field. We went over the syllabus, class expectations, and assignments on the first day as well.

The second day of class we discussed MBTI and had students take the inventory prior to class. We discussed what the different dimensions mean (what they measure, what they don't measure, the dichotomies of types). We collected everyone's MBTI designation at the beginning of class and split students up into groups either with people of the same type or different types (T & F, J & P, etc) to illustrate some of the qualities attributed to certain dimensions. Most students were in the E, F, and J categories within our small class with some strong variation in the S and N dimension. The students were engaged in the activities and many commented on how their type description from their reading (Keirsey, 1984) sounded just like them and they really connected with their type. We got a little sidetracked when I passed out the article [|Academically Adrift]to demonstrate the extraversion and intraversion debate, which was not too surprising considering the high number of extraverts and small class size. The students were really passionate in regards to their own views about the article and their suggestions on how higher education could be better for students and more centered on learning. Every student got involved in the discussion and had strong opinions on whether they thought admissions requirements were too loose at Kent State, how many of them do not remember what they learned in many of their classes because they just remembered material for exams, and their views on standardized testing. There were a wide variety of opinions and many conflicting ones, but all students were respectful of one another and engaged in a spirited discussion about their experiences and ideas for the future.

Week 2 September 6 & September 8

On Tuesday we continued our lesson on the MBTI, but this time we focused more on correlations between different careers and majors with the TF and SN dimensions. In some articles I posted (Myers-Briggs (1995) there was a breakdown of percentages of people who pursue certain careers or college majors in relation to what their TF and SN preferences were. We discussed why the students thought certain people may be drawn to certain fields or types of work and also what could someone with the minority preference bring to that position that could be beneficial to that position or field.

On Thursday the plan was to discuss the history of higher education from the colonial period until present day, which was a little too ambitious on my part I think. We eplit students into two groups and had them discuss the different era's in their reading and come up with a list of values that was important to colleges and universities at the time, lsit of changes that were happening, how they thought student affairs professionals roles were changing, and a mission statement for a university during that era. It was too much content for one day and I think we mismanaged how much time we actually had, still getting used to the 1 hour and 15 minute class and how much we can do in that period. We were only really able to discuss up until World War II before we brought things around to discuss future implications of the field. Even though things did not work exactly as planned, based on the student's journal reflections for the week the students did make the connections we wanted them to make by discussing the future of student affairs based on what they learned about its history and showed an understanding of the development of higher education in the US over time.

Week 3 September 13 & September 15

On Tuesday I presented a Prezi presentation with information about the seven institutional types as defined by Joan Hirt in Where you Work Matters. In addition to the characteristics of institutions types by Hirt I included two commericals from an institution from each type. I had students watch the commercials and we had a discussion on what values, symbolism, missions, and aspects of the institution and campus were emphasized by each school. When we talked about liberal arts schools we watched videos these videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkeljSpcIeM&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMjlrn_BcJw. Students made connections with the emphasis on history, tradition, and historic buildings that were not as apparent as in the other institutional type videos. With the community college videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPsgZjU1fFg&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3vKgiCk4LA&feature=related students made connections with an emphasis on diversity across ethnic, age, sex dimensions, and the different purposes of community colleges like education to transfer to a 4-year school, degree to make a career change, 2-year degree for career, taking classes just to further education or intellectual curiosity. Students discussed what schools they most wanted to work for and least. Students seemed most interested in working at a large research school for a lot of the reasons they say attracted them to attend a research school in the first place.

On Thursday we continued our presentation and discussion on institutional types. Then the students read http://chronicle.com/article/Rethinking-a-Center-That/11911 about a student center at a university that students did not like. We had students get into two groups to discuss the physical environment of the Kent Student Center and had them develop their ideal Student Center (what objects would be present, what services, etc.) Students mentioned the Kent Student Center played a big role in them coming to the university and that the KSC reminded them of a scene in a college movie and felt like what college should feel like.

Week 4 September 20 & September 22

Over the weekend I got a lot of e-mails from a student about the first assignment, a comparison paper of institutional types, that is due on September 22. Prior to this weekend I have also gotten e-mails asking for clarity on the paper from this student as well as questions in class about the formatting of the paper, what questions to ask, and how to incorporate scholarly journals into the paper. I realized that I may have been a little too ambiguous with the requirements and expectations for this assignment, I really wanted students to take this in the direction that they are most interested in, but I quickly realized that approach will not accommodate all learning styles. I sent out e-mails with some sample questions students could ask their interviewees, guidelines on the expectations of APA style, and how to incorporate scholarly journals into this interview paper. I think I have realized from now that it is better too provide too much information than too little on an assignment.

On Tuesday we discussed Academic Advising in preparation for our first guest speaker on Thursday, Charity Snyder, University Advising Director at Kent State. We had a discussion on what students though the goals of the profession were and what skills may need to be developed to be an academic advisor. After our discussion we compared those to the goals of the profession outlined by NACADA. This discussion was not as robust as in previous classes, maybe because we only had six students in attendance that day, maybe because none of the students had an interest in a career in Academic Advising, but I think I could have done more to make this more interesting for students and maybe more practical. The one thing students seemed to really like about class was when I had them break up into groups and come up to some solutions to academic advising scenarios with them playing the role of the advisors. I used scenarios that actually happened to me this summer as an advisor for Destination Kent State and then explained what I did in that situation at the end of their discussion. I wish that maybe I had started the class with the scenarios than saving this activity for the very end of class.

On Thursday the students had their first paper due for the class, which was a comparison paper between Kent State University (research institution) and another institutional type as defined by the seven categories the class read about in Hirt's //Where You Work Matters.// I have not had the opportunity to give each paper a close read, but when we added this assignment to the syllabus I think we had a certain level of assumptions and expectations for the assignment that we may not have projected clear enough. Some of the problems I have encountered so far have included how a paper is submitted. I have had one student who copy and pasted her paper and submitted through vista rather than attaching it as a word doc, so the the paper is formatted as one paragraph and it obviously not in compliance with APA style. I had another student who submitted their paper as a file that I could not open. I thought the language in the syllabus was clear, but I did not specify send as an attachment or as a word doc. Are there certain things that should just be implied because these students are juniors and seniors or should I spell out exactly what I want if there is an expectation on my part for a paper to be submitted or to look a certain way. Is it fair for me to have these expectations if I do not directly communicate them to students? As of right now I am not exactly sure how I feel.

Charity Snyder, director