A Word... from the co-chairs Welcome to the first SLPKC newsletter of the summer! We hope you have all had a successful academic year and that the summer brings a time of reflection, planning, and creating. As commencement ceremonies turn to orientation sessions, we want to remind everyone about the critical role of assessment in our work. Our work in leadership programs must be in constant state of improvement as we create new and innovative ways to work with our students. Creating and sustaining a culture of assessment is the gateway to innovation, and we hope this newsletter highlights the importance of assessment. In this issue of the newsletter you will find great article that offers a glimpse into the world of assessment from some leaders in the area. Additionally, Adam Cebulski will help equip you with some tools of assessment that can be used through electronic platforms. And Annie Carlson-Welch discusses a practical application of assessment to leadership programs through the use of rubrics in Fraternity and Sorority Life.
We hope you stay engaged with the SLPKC over the summer. Please follow us at @NASPASLPKC or on Facebook, and stay tuned for exciting professional development opportunities this year!
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I am excited to start my role as SLPKC co-chair! Currently, I serve as the Director of Residence Life at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. I earned my Bachelor of Arts in English from Davidson College, a Master of Education in Higher Education and Student Affairs from the University of South Carolina, and a Doctor of Education in
Higher
Education from the University of North Florida. Within the KC, I have previously served as the Team Leader for Resources and
Recognition.
Student
leadership
touches every aspect of student affairs, and I hope we can bring the collective efforts of our membership to advance what we know, improve our practices, and celebrate our successes.
Matt Clifford
I am very grateful for this opportunity to serve our KC! Currently, I am the Director of Orientation and Commuter Student Involvement at the University of Miami. Prior to UM, I worked in the NASPA office in DC, which will prove useful to our KC. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Social Sciences focusing on Sociology and Psychology, from Central Washington University and a Master of Education in Higher Education Administration from University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Our KC has the potential to grow and impact every member within NASPA. I am very passionate about student leadership because I truly believe it can be applied to every aspect of student affairs. I look forward to leading this KC with Matt, meeting additional members, and continuing the success of the SLPKC.
Danielle Howard 3
Ashley Spicer-Runnels is the Leadership Institute Coordinator in the Dean of Students Office at Texas State
from the co-chairs
University. She obtained a B.S. in Family Studies from Lamar University, an M.B.A. from
University of Houston-Victoria,
and a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership from Lamar University. Her research was broadly based on multiracial student persistence as well as the implications of social and academic integration. Prior to her existing role as Coordinator, she was responsible for the following areas: multicultural programming, new student programming, student government, Greek life, and parent and family programming.
meet the
EDITORS Amanda Horton is the Assistant Director for Campus Life and Student Programs at Wake Forest University. She received a B.A. in Communication from N.C. State University and a M.S. Ed. from Baylor University. In her current role she oversees the My Journey Initiative which seeks to develop and promote innovative programs designed to
intentionally challenge
and support students through the distinct developmental transitions that occur throughout a four-year college experience. Prior to her work at Wake Forest, Amanda worked in the Office of the Chaplain at Baylor University. 4
SLPKC Leadership Team
SLPKC Leadership Team members come together from all over to share best practices, provide critical evaluation of the field, examine standards for leadership programs, support national and regional efforts to develop student leadership programs, make contributions to the literature, recognize exemplary programs, and cultivate a forum for the presentation of new ideas. Meet the Leadership Team and find more ways to connect with the SLPKC via our WEBSITE.
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Announcements!
LEI REGISTRATION IS OPEN 2014 Leadership Educators Institute December 11 – December 13, 2014 Texas Christian University, Fort Worth Texas The Leadership Educators Institute will engage early and mid-level student affairs educators in active learning and dialogue to assist with program and leadership course development. Register HERE for LEI 2014!
“If I had to choose only one professional development opportunity to invest in, it would be the Leadership Educators Institute.” -Joseph Ginese www.joeginese.com 6
2014 National Leadership Symposium Registration Open! Leadership Competencies from Research to Results July 14 - 17, University of Tampa, FL, USA As student leadership development professionals, the task of assisting students in the development of their leadership competencies seems to be a much harder task than the theoretical framework we base our craft on. What leadership competencies are most critical for students to develop? How do we create meaningful experiences to assist students in developing those competencies? And how will we know they have developed the intended competencies? This symposium will introduce participants to the world of leadership competencies; how they are conceptualized, utilized, and evaluated. In addition symposium participants will work together to explore the following issues in regard to leadership competencies: What exactly is a competency? What are the foundational tenets and the historical context of competency-based learning? What competency-based models currently exist? If I were to create a competency-based model, how would I do that? Where do I start? What is the process for creating a competency-based leadership curriculum? How do I determine what competencies to focus on for students at my individual institution? Can competencies be developed or mastered? How would one know? What kind of assessment and reflective techniques assist in measuring competency development?
Register HERE for the 2014 National Leadership Symposium!
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Ask an Expert Dr. Amanda Chesser Drum - Assessment in Action Amanda Chesser Drum, Ph.D. has designed and implemented student development programs and services for over twenty years. She has experience in the areas of housing, student activities, student organization leadership, judicial affairs, prevention, strategic planning and assessment. Dr. Drum serves as the Executive Director of Strategic Engagement Initiatives at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. In this role she led the Division of Student Engagement and Success in the creation and implementation of a division-wide assessment plan which includes program review and the assessment of student learning outcomes. Under her leadership, the division was awarded the 2011 Ted K. Miller Achievement of Excellence Award from the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS).
How can student affairs professionals create a culture of assessment and create buy in? This is the million dollar question. I believe the best method is to appeal to their base motives. We chose this field because we love students. We want to provide them the best experiences we can to learn and grow. Assessment helps us do that. I believe it also helps to make the process as simple and pain-free as possible. Many professionals believe it is just another “hoop” to jump through but when assessment is done well, it is not overly burdensome and can really inform our programs. I am not saying we should water down our assessment efforts, but we should keep the process simple and focus on the real goal – continuous improvement. Many student affairs professionals already have some type of assessment efforts in place. How can individuals take ownership of assessment within their departments and cultivate an environment of assessment excellence? Assessment is about continuous improvement. While we use assessment to inform and improve our programs, we should also remember that our assessment efforts can grow and improve. A year does not pass without my looking at our assessment plans to see where we should improve. We may add a student learning outcome, modify an instrument or take a program in a completely different direction. Our students’ characteristics change and our institutions and programs evolve. Our assessment plans and methods must do the same.
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How can professionals benefit from better understanding, implementing, and assessing professional standards? Professional standards guide our practice and aid us in program improvement to better facilitate the learning and development of our students. Individuals who understand and utilize professional standards to guide their efforts will not only find that their programs improve but also that they further develop as a professional. It is also important to touch base periodically and make sure we are really doing what we believe we are doing. I find the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS Standards) self-study process very beneficial when reviewing our programs to assure we meet our professional standards. It is a simple, straightforward method to assess our programs and incorporates an action planning strategy for continuous improvement. Why do you think professionals have such a fear of assessment and how can supervisors work to overcome this fear within their departments? People are, by nature, fearful of what they do not know. Many professionals believe that assessment will reveal that they are not effective in their duties, will lead to program – and potentially staffing – cuts or that it is a lot of work to satisfy a bureaucratic requirement. Many supervisors unintentionally perpetuate this message. Supervisors can lead the effort in helping staff become less fearful by first tackling their own fears. Only by educating themselves on the purpose and benefits of assessment can they eliminate any negative messages they may be communicating to their staff. Then, supervisors can create buy-in to the process by educating their team and helping them achieve their professional and program potential by focusing on the process of closing the loop.
Amanda Chesser Drum, Ph.D. Executive Director, Strategic Engagement Initiatives Division of Student Engagement & Success Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi Amanda.drum@tamucc.edu
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Spring Spotlight Award Winner Profiles On a quarterly basis SLP KC recognizes the contributions of members who are transforming higher education through outstanding and innovative leadership programs and services. All NASPA members are encouraged to share successes and highlight good or promising practices in research and assessment, influences on student learning in and outside the classroom and theory to practice.
Cal State Dominguez Hills Circle of Change Leadership Conference Spotlight Award for Influences of Student Learning In & Outside the Classroom
Program Spotlight
Since 2012, California State University, Dominguez Hills has partnered with the Circle of Change to host a three-day National Leadership Conference that is focused on preparing students for career leadership success. During this three day period, student leaders from across the country are empowered and inspired through a variety of speakers, workshops, panel discussions, small group conversations with facilitators, and exciting activities. The conference also includes a community service project, a career fair, and a powerful graduation ceremony. The first day of the conference is strategically focused on career success. A variety of accomplished speakers, workshop presenters, small group facilitators, and dynamic panelists donate their time and expertise to share life skills and lessons learned around their career journey. During this exciting day of events, students not only have the opportunity to hear from two nationally recognized keynote speakers, they also get to participate in cutting-edge leadership workshops that are focused on helping them develop important leadership skills for leadership success. Mixed in with these different sets of speakers are networking events; powerful dialogues with industry experts from various fields talking with students about the keys to career and leadership success. The panel discussions are arranged based on students’ majors. Student have more than 10 panel presentations to choose from ranging from Business, Health Care, Entrepreneurship, Entertainment, Sports, Social Responsibility (Non-Profit), Education, and Public Service (Government), to name a few. Finally, at the end of the first day, student leaders participate in an exciting dinner where they get to network and engage in a variety of activities alongside the individuals from the different companies and organizations.
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On day two of the conference, a new batch of keynotes, workshops, activities, and panel sessions take place where the strategic focus is centered on leadership success. Similar to the first day of the conference, students had the opportunity to hear from nationally recognized speakers and participate in cutting-edge leadership workshops that focused on operational and relational leadership success. In addition to gleaning knowledge from the amazing speakers, a corporate reception was hosted followed by a community service project. Student participants learned about the importance of service and they walked away with practical leadership skills and connections with executives from companies such as Mattel, CNN, Magic Johnson Enterprise, Disney, Warner Bros. Universal, ESPN and many more. The final day of the conference featured a strategic focus on service. Student leaders participate in small group discussions to reflect upon the weekend thus far and had the opportunity to engage in an inspirational graduation celebration that consisted of selected student speakers, student testimonials, free giveaways, dancing, a powerful keynote speech from the president of UPS, and dynamic voices of the University of Southern California Gospel Choir. In addition to the celebration, students received Circle of Change certificates, which indicated their commitment to leave the conference as a change agent who was inspired, transformed, and empowered with the connections, resources, and skills to make a positive impact in their community, nation, and world as a 21st Century Leader. Some of the greatest takeaways of this program for higher education professionals is that leadership educators need to expand their concept of leadership and become more creative in developing innovative programs that can positively impact the lives of student leaders on their campuses. Secondly, this leadership program reveals that campuses can obtain sponsorship from outside sources and they can use professional resources and partnerships with campus departments, such as Student Activities, Multicultural Centers, and Career Development Centers to create powerful leadership programs that will empower their students for career leadership success. Finally, the last takeaway from this leadership program for Student Affairs professionals is the inspiration and courage to step outside of the box and pursue those innovative and incredible leadership development programs that many leadership educators may have within to transform the lives of student leaders.
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California State University, Fullerton
Program Spotlight
Spotlight Award for Research & Assessment
The Center for Research on Educational Access and Leadership (C-REAL) at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) is a data-driven, solution focused research center that strives to develop strategies in response to addressing the complex challenges of educational access and leadership through practice, policy, and change. This partnership between local educational agencies, schools and colleges, as well as faculty and graduate students from the College of Education at California State University, Fullerton serves as a strong foundation for quality work. C-REAL conducts research on access, equity, and success for P-20 student populations and P-20 educational leadership. Additionally, C-REAL carries out program assessment and evaluation for a broad range of educational and community partners with the goal of assessing program effectiveness, making program improvements, and identifying promising practices. Projects include the program evaluation of federally funded programs such as GEAR UP and
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C.R.E.A.T.E. that work with K-12 institutions to increase enrollment of ethnically unrepresented students in higher education and integrate the arts into the classroom to increase student engagement, attendance, and academic performance, respectively. Other evaluations include a campus climate study regarding the experiences of undocumented students, a review of a program that intends to develop future nurses to be more culturally sensitive, an evaluation of institutions’ effectiveness of engaging students in STEM fields, and working with a variety of community colleges to increase the number of minority male students that transfer to a 4 year college. Results from assessments and evaluations are shared with practitioners for program improvement. The center shares findings as well as evaluation and logic models at regional and national conferences such as NASPA, ACPA, AERA, AAHHE, NCORE and WPA to encourage practitioners to assess their programs. Moreover, findings from studies are also shared through publications. In addition, C-REAL also provides a number of educational programs, ranging from College of Education colloquium series to international partnership exchange programs and professional development workshops for local and international partners. Programs include a summer research institute for local high school students, annual research symposiums that showcase student research, an LGBTQ symposium exploring the identity development of students who identify as LGBT or Q, and research institutes coordinated for interactional partners from South Africa and Vietnam. All program evaluations and educational programs are led and coordinated by undergraduate and graduate students with the supervision of the director and coordinator of the center. Some of the greatest takeaways of this program for higher education professionals is that the center’s assessments are by student assistants of all levels, including doctoral students, master’s students, and undergraduates. Secondly, through the evaluation and assessment of various programs being done at the center, other campuses can learn about some of the best practices that have been identified within these different program designs. Finally, C-Real provides a great model of assessment that can be effectively implemented at other campuses throughout the country.
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OrgSync for the Assessment Professional Analyzing data can be a challenge on campuses where it is collected and stored in a variety of ways and locations yet it’s become one of the most important tasks to document learning outcomes and student success. One tool that makes things easier is OrgSync. From conducting annual assessments or tracking program participation, data can be easily collected and analyzed at multiple levels in OrgSync. The platform is especially helpful for assessment professionals because it creates a central repository for all involvement and assessment data to enable successful execution of campus assessment strategies.
“
“
Assessments and Evaluations
OrgSync is great because it allows so much information to be gathered...
Resource Review
Moving all surveys and assessments online not only allows for easier completion by your participants but also eliminates the need for manual data entry. There are plenty of online survey tools on the market all offering different features and benefits. With OrgSync, submitted forms link to other student information in the system, like profile information, so you can easily compare results across demographics. It also can be connected to involvement information in the system. Roquee Forson, Director of Student Involvement at Houston Baptist University, says, “OrgSync is great because it allows so much information to be gathered, and there are so many opportunities to use it for assessments and accreditation. You can also aggregate participation and service data in a way that makes sense.” Moving beyond simple participation numbers for program evaluation is essential to determining impact and ROI for programs on campus. But, how you do it is sometimes the biggest challenge. In OrgSync, you can customize event and program evaluations. From pre-tests to post-tests or simple feedback forms, the platform allows you to target the correct people for your evaluations helping reduce survey fatigue on campus. So, whether you are assessing the effectiveness of presenters or trying to identify learning outcomes achieved, the platform is a streamlined solution.
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Quantify Student Involvement and Success Research consistently points to a direct correlation between campus involvement and student success, but documenting this trend can be difficult without a resource like OrgSync. The platform helps campuses streamline their data collection. For example, The University of Akron used OrgSync to compare involvement information and GPAs stored in OrgSync. For example, after comparing 2011 and 2012 GPA data, administrators found that in Fall 2011 the average GPA for an organization President was 3.515 (campus average: 2.70), Fall 2012 was 3.461 (campus average: 2.75), and Fall 2013 was 3.418 (campus average: 2.82). With this information, they can now better tell students, parents, colleagues, and administrators the value of involvement on campus. Damon Brown, Director of Student Activities and Involvement at Central Michigan University said, “OrgSync provides a great platform for institutions to track involvement and justify what students are doing and tie that to retention and persistence throughout the collegiate experience.� By combining OrgSync and campus data, powerful insights can be gleaned regarding the impact of student involvement and other factors influencing student success.
Adam Cebulski Director of Research and Strategic Initiatives adam@orgsync.com
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Reinventing Student Leader Training to Promote Self-Authorship and Transformative Learning
Curriculum Review
The debut of our new Student Life Curriculum, bLUeprint, encouraged our department to rethink our work, particularly with student leader training. To align our practices with a more learning-centered approach, we created interactive training sessions, focusing on student growth and self-reflection. Following the bLUeprint learning cycle model, students engaged in interactive experiences that encouraged them to “Discover, Explore, Connect, and Apply:"
Discover: Gryphons (RAs) completed online learning modules throughout the summer covering fundamentals; Shared national, institutional, and departmental assessment data with Gryphons.
Explore: Gryphons spent five uninterrupted minutes sharing a personal story with a peer; Students participated in a gallery walk to encourage them to consider aspects of their identity and others’ identities; Students participated in a scavenger hunt introducing them to community members and local resources to assist in programmatic efforts; Monthly Lunch and Learns facilitated by campus presenters allowed students to explore optional special-interest topics.
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Connect: Through panel discussions, Gryphons connected support networks to crisis followup and their role in that process. Students utilized previously gained knowledge to rehearse conversations with residents and to practice confronting policy violations; Student staffs created Pecha Kuchas highlighting best practices. Apply: “Gryphon Leadership Tracks” allowed student staff members to apply their skills in workshops addressing hot topics. 1:3 supervision between professional staff and 3 Gryphons provided students an opportunity to be learning partners in their leadership role. Students shared experiences, advice, and feedback with one another. The benefits of this new model include increased student engagement, heightened community connections, and an improved understanding of resident concerns and community dynamics.
Visit our website for more information about bLUeprint! http://studentaffairs.lehigh.edu/content/blueprint
Lehigh University Office of Residence Life Taran Cardone, Kate Grady, Kerri Kloorfain, Brandon Morris, Michael Mullin, Jennifer Scaia, Chelsea Sims tac212@lehigh.edu
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Wake Forest University Redefines its Fraternity/ Sorority Experience Utilizing Rubrics In the summer of 2013, Wake Forest University set about the task of redefining its fraternity and sorority community toward a shared vision and common goals. The initial intent was to create a program that offered increased support and resources while measuring each chapter’s experiences in meaningful ways. Like many other communities, the WFU community had become defined almost solely through a social lens leaving little opportunity for learning experiences to take center stage.
In Practice
Over the course of nine weeks, a committee redefined the fraternity/sorority experience by outlining five core learning areas, developing belief statements and common definitions for each learning area and assigning a continuum of growth based on an abbreviated version of Bloom’s Taxonomy. In essence, we created an assessment rubric as our measurement tool. Rubrics provide the means to measure multiple interconnected areas along a shared continuum of growth. When considering cultural change, they are one of the best assessment tools to strategically plan and measure growth.
For a detailed view of the rubric, click here.
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The result of this work was the development of the Expectations for Excellence program. At its core, the program measures the environment that exists within an organization, which we would also think of as the organizational culture. By thinking with the end in mind, the program provides our staff with a framework and common set of language to guide our organizations, essentially working on a roadmap toward excellence in each learning area. Additionally, it allows each organization’s leadership team the opportunity to assess the organization, practice goal setting, reassess and reflect on how successful they were by the end of their year in office. This then becomes a transition document, passed along to the next leadership team when they begin their process of assessment and goal setting. As a result of the Expectations for Excellence program, WFU is provided with current data on each chapter’s experiential environment, a snapshot of strengths/weaknesses of the entire community and the longitudinal data resulting from these measurements. This data shows where there may be potential gaps for educational and resources. It provides our staff with needed information for long term planning, curriculum development and educational interventions. More information on the Expectations for Excellence program can be found on our website.
Annie Carlson-Welch Associate Director, Student Leadership & Organizations Wake Forest University carlsoaw@wfu.edu
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#Assessment for #GradStudents: The Importance of Assessment Course in Student Affairs Graduate Programs
Entering the student affairs field as a graduate student, it is easy to underestimate what all the word “assessment� entails and encompasses. We constantly hear about the necessity of assessment and how important it is to the value and credibility of our field. However, it sometimes feels as though we are launched into graduate assistant positions before we even start course work in our program without being taught background Information, while at the same time being expected to complete certain tasks. One of these tasks that feels as though it is thrown around without any introductory information or knowledge is assessment.
Graduate Impact
In our specific program in Texas, one of the most beneficial and helpful classes we take as a part of our two year program is our assessment course. The only downside to this course is the fact that it is currently offered the last semester of our program. The course itself, however, is one that is bursting at the seams with curriculum that has students leaving each class feeling as though our brains are about to spill over with information. With that being said, assessment is truly nothing less than just information. This particular course allows us the opportunity to learn everything from the basics of qualitative and quantitative data, to budgeting, to the grand finale of creating a full strategic plan for a designated department on campus. The course is designed to start from the bottom up and filled with readings that are often tedious; but as a student with limited prior knowledge of assessment, each week seems to build nicely off of the previous information to create a holistic educational setting for the acquisition of assessment knowledge.
Since taking a formal course in assessment, we have been able to put the content we learned in the course to work. We have updated old, tired, and repetitive evaluations for our programs and have received more, useful feedback from our students. In addition to simply improving the assessments we use in our programs as graduate assistants, we now have a greater 20
understanding of why we do assessment and why we do it the way we do; assessment overall has become more intentional. As it was previously mentioned, we currently do not take the assessment course until our final semester in the program but feel it would be beneficial to take this course within our first year to better utilize and practice these assessment skills before heading off to be a full time professional.
At the end of what seemed like a very quick semester, we have a greater understanding of designing learning outcomes, the different types of budgets and how to build a budget, the difference between goals and objectives and how to write each, to conducting a needs assessment and ultimately building a strategic plan. We feel more prepared to enter the field of student affairs, and the overarching realm of higher education because of the usefulness and practicality of the assessment course.
Bailey P. Albrecht Graduate Research Assistant Dean of Students Office Leadership Institute Texas State University bpa13@txstate.edu
Kristina Graves Graduate Research Assistant Dean of Students Office Leadership Institute Texas State University kgraves512@gmail.com
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