ACPA – techKNOWtools

AcAdv, ACPA, ACPAdigital, Blended Learning, Higher Education, Learning, Learning Technologies, Online Learning, Professional Development

Academic Support In A Digital Age

September 7, 2016December 11, 2019 Laura Pasquini

Although you might not advise or support students in an online degree program, there are increasing efforts for teaching and learning technology. Learning delivery and design does impact how we support our students, and we mediate much of our work in higher education using digital tools and platforms. That being said, any adoption of technology should be led with informed decisions on modifying pedagogical methods (Bates, 2015), which is directly related to our advising models and programs we offer in the post-secondary.

Our students want the same flexibility, access, and online support they often receive from instruction and other services they use. When learning with technology, our students are accustomed to having access to student support or other features alongside their online/blended coursework; however, the digital student success side is frequently an afterthought for these technology determinations. We need to have more student success and academic advising programs consider the best technology to provide advising content and service delivery (Steele, 2015) for a more learner-centered approach.

Digital DNA by Adriana Varella and Nilton Malz

Whether you are leveraging technology to optimize your student support services or your campus is transitioning to either a blended or online learning model, there is both a need and desire to improve technology for academic advisors and student support practices in higher education (Pasquini & Steele, 2015). During your planning, it will be critical for your institution to ask the following questions before selecting technology-mediated environments for advising and learner support:

What technologies is your institution currently utilizing for academic advising or student support?
How does your division or unit on campus decide on the most appropriate mode of technology delivery? [Will this be a campus-wide decision?]
What factors should be determined when designing technology in advising program and/or student support functional area?
What other strategies and structural support might benefit your campus in preparing staff as they support learners digitally? (e.g. training, skill development, etc.)

Join me as I discuss this further next Wednesday, September 14th from 12-1 pm EDT for the ACPA Commission for Academic Support in Higher Education (CASHE) Presents Webinar: “Selecting Technology for Advising and Supporting Your Students.” During this online event, I will be sharing a few evidence-based ideas and practical resources to help your advising team address these questions. This webinar will introduce your campus planning group to a few strategies and structures as they select technology for advising and student support. Sign up for this FREE webinar sponsored by ACPA CASHE here: http://goo.gl/tR8THa

References

Bates, A. W., (2015). Chapter 9: Modes of delivery. In Guidelines for designing teaching and learning for a digital age. Open Text BC.

Pasquini, L. A., & Steele, G. (2016). Technology in academic advising: Perceptions and practices in higher education. figshare. Retrieved from https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3053569.v7

Steele, G. (2015). Using Technology for Intentional Student Evaluation and Program Assessment. NACADA Clearinghouse of Academic Advising Resources.

ACPA, ACPAdigital, Professional Development, Reflections

Introducing the 2016 @ACPA Powered By PechaKucha Night at #ACPA16

March 1, 2016August 12, 2019 Laura Pasquini

With the 2016 ACPA Convention just around the corner, I am so excited about the upcoming events and happenings in Montreal. As a member of the #ACPA16 Technology Programming Team (Shout out to our awesome chair Brian and fantastic planning posse: Erica, Jason, Kristen, Amanda, and Idriss), we have been busy organizing a number of program events like the Genius Labs, High Tech Room, and the “PK Talks.” I am really looking forward to the stellar ACPA Powered By PechaKucha night happening on Tuesday, March 8, 2016 from 7-10 pm in Palais des Congrès de Montréal, 517 C & D and on the backchannel with our event hashtag: #ACPA16PK.

Join ACPA’s innovation movement and attend ACPA Powered by PechaKucha during the convention! PechaKucha is a simple, but innovative and challenging presentation format where presenters show 20 images, each for 20 seconds that cover a wide range of topics, ideas, perspectives and thoughts. Our goal is to create an exciting and uplifting atmosphere that is full of good thought and new ideas that will help advance the field of higher education. The event will include comfortable seating, coffeehouse lighting, a cash bar, and phenomenal presentations. A number of outstanding presenters who have had an impact on the association and higher education have been selected for this inspiring event will be welcomed by the co-hosts, Idriss Njike and moi! Here is the schedule line-up and a little bit “about the PechaKucha talk” for this year’s event ACPA Powered by PechaKucha™ event:

UPDATE 3/9/16 – All the TWEETS shared on the #ACPA16PK Hashtag

UPDATE 3/25/16 – Videos from the #ACPA16PK are embedded below… enjoy!

PechaKuka Speakers	ACPA Powered by PechaKucha™ Talks
Paul Brown	Your Professional Network is Powered by Bacon Many people have said that student affairs is a small profession. In this PechaKucha, the concept of “six degrees of separation” will be explored as it relates to professionals’ historical lineage and connection back to some of the founding members of the field.
Jacqueline Mac	“Where Are You From?”: A Complicated Question Through exploring the concept of “home” and where “home” is for a group of displaced people for generations, this PechaKucha will attempt to answer the question, “where are you from?” This talk highlights storytelling as a tool for liberation, where voice and perspective is at the center.
Michael Goodman	Honoring Parentless Students The landscape of families is changing, and “Mom’s Weekend,” “Dad’s Day,” and, “The Office of Parent Programs,” are no longer relevant to all students. Let this PechaKucha serve as a charge to you and your campus, with hope that we’ll adjust our practice to truly support all students.
Sarah Molitoris	Making the Impossible Possible: Lessons from Cirque du Soleil Explore lessons from the whimsical world of Cirque du Soleil as they connect to student affairs work. Applying creativity to our work allows us to seek new ways to connect, create innovative environments and inspire ourselves, and those around us, to reach for the possibilities.
Hamza Khan	The Stress Paradox Student affairs professionals are working longer and harder than ever before, and are at the risk of burning out (if we haven’t already burned out). It’s time to re-think stress, develop resilience, and make the transition from overachiever to high performer.
David Ip Yam	Supporting Francophone Students beyond the Classroom The government of Ontario has made significant investments to increase access to French-language postsecondary programs. Learn about the imperatives and challenges of supporting Franco-Ontarian student life and success in minority settings.
Stacey Pearson-Wharton	Failing to Succeed: A Guide for Falling and Getting Back Up Everyone has slipped fell down, failed, made a mistake..this is your chance to get back up again and thrive!
Kristen Perry	The Little Red Bird Sexual assault is a scary and uncomfortable subject. This talk will walk you down a path of recovery, highlighting how a little red bird made a difference. This talk will give a voice to the stories that need to be told, and focus on the importance of empowering and supporting survivors.
	PECHAKUCHA INTERMISSION BREAK
Bailey Parnell	“Dark Side of Social Media”: Social Media’s Impact on Mental Health Yes it can be fun, but what else is happening out in the world of social media? How is it affecting our mental health and the mental health of our students? “The Dark Side of Social Media” will examine the current social media landscape, highlight the undesired effects it has on us every day and provide next steps for how to improve this situation.
Josué “JQ” Quiñones	Touch For Success The sense of touch is a simple, yet powerful form of communication that can transform campus cultures and lead to more success.
Josie Ahlquist	What the Class of 2020 Doesn’t Know about Social Media There is a difference between use of social media and leadership on social media, both for the incoming class of 2020 and student affairs professionals.
Tricia Seifert	Success isn’t Linear: It’s Geometric Popular media cheats students out of the richness of college in its obsessive focus on defining success as a degree that leads to a high-paying career. “Success isn’t Linear, It’s Geometric” will introduce a success in all of its wonderful complexity.
Brittany Williams	Moving Beyond Identity Development: Why #DigitalActivismMatters Digital activism empowers students and practitioners alike to address issues of social injustice and create multi-media platforms to acknowledge and celebrate their individual, cultural, and political identities. Session attendees will gain contextual understanding of the historical and social environments that inform digital activism, and its implications for campus and popular culture.
Keith Edwards	“Putting My Man Face On” How do college men understand what it means to be a man? How do they construct their gender identity and manage their gender performance? What consequences does the performance have for others and themselves? What can we learn from their voices?
Stephanie Muehlethaler	Home and Abroad: Global Citizenship Identity Development Through Service Learning Global Citizen. The term is everywhere in higher education. What does it even mean? Can any student develop and identify as a global citizen? This talk will explore one researcher’s questions around what constitutes a global citizen and whether or not all students have access to this identity.
Craig Bidiman	Revolution on Canvas: Art Therapy, Mental Health & the Job Search This talk focuses on the often unspoken mental health aspects of the initial post-grad job searching in higher education. I will bring in my experiences with depression and anxiety and how I used art to not only cope with those issues, but also create a powerful networking tool!

Higher Education, SAchat, StudentAffairs

Digesting the TECH Competency for Student Educators #SAtech

February 19, 2016February 24, 2016 Laura Pasquini

I have been thinking a lot about how we guide and support technology in higher education. Last year, ACPA/NASPA drafted a joint document sharing Professional Competency Areas for Student Educators [PDF], which included a new competency – Technology (TECH). As technology is woven into much the educational practices and student support field work, it is critical for student affairs educators to consider how this competency is guiding their work. Here are the basics about the TECH competency from the report:

TECH Competency Description: Focuses on the use of digital tools, resources, and technologies for the advancement of student learning, development, and success as well as the improved performance of student affairs professionals. Included within this area are knowledge, skills, and dispositions that lead to the generation of digital literacy and digital citizenship within communities of students, student affairs professionals, faculty members, and colleges and universities as a whole.

Professional Development: Professional growth in this competency area is marked by shifts from understanding to application as well as from application to facilitation and leadership. Intermediate and advanced level outcomes also involve a higher degree of innovativeness in the use of technology to engage students and others in learning processes.

TECH (page 33-35) The Technology competency area focuses on the use of digital tools, resources, and technologies for the advancement of student learning, development, and success as well as the improved performance of student affairs professionals. Included within this area are knowledge, skills, and dispositions that lead to the generation of digital literacy and digital citizenship within communities of students, student affairs professionals, faculty members, and colleges and universities.

With the 2016 ACPA Convention (#acpa16) just around the corner, I am looking forward to digging into the TECH competency further in a couple of weeks with Josie, Tony, Paul, Ed, and participants during our the Pre-Conference Workshop: Social and Digital Technology Competency Institute for College Student Educators (March 6th) in Montreal, Canada. I know that we each have some fantastic ideas and tools to share — and we are looking forward to learning from colleagues who will be joining us.

To prepare, I took another look at TECH as a competency earlier today. As a researcher, I naturally started to code these competencies into general themes, to further understand and digest the TECH competencies. Here are the categories I came up with based on themes:

Trends, Research, and Knowledge Development
Leadership, Governance, and Stewardship
Assessment and Implementation for Education and Program Planning
Information Literacy and Management
Applied Skills for Using Technology
Inclusion and Access
Learning and Professional Development
Communication and Collaboration

Many thanks to Brian Bourke for instigating this initial review of the ACPA/NASPA TECH competency last fall with the NASPA TKC Research Group (and kudos for crafting an #SAtech Research Agenda as well!). In returning to the TECH competency for the pre-conference workshop, I thought it would be a good idea to share these broad categories with participants and student affairs. Please take a gander and leave any thoughts/comments in this open google doc of what might need to be adjusted or reconsidered from this first analysis. I welcome comments here (on the blog) or directly in the document. From this, I hope our student affairs community of inquiry, practitioners and scholars alike, can continue to work together to consider how these competencies can be applied our work with students in higher ed, and measured (as another ACPA/NASPA task force/working group is developing rubrics, etc.) to evaluate the work we do in the field. Google doc: http://bit.ly/SAcompTECH

mentor, mentoring

Thank Your Mentor Day!

January 21, 2016August 12, 2019 Laura Pasquini

Happy THANK YOUR MENTOR Day! January, with January 17, 2016 being International Mentoring Day, was proclaimed National Mentoring Month by President Obama. This mentoring campaign is targeted at supporting youth and mentoring IRL (#MentoringIRL).

Although my youth is behind me, I can definitely say a number of people helped to get me where I am today. A mentor can listen, teach, guide, and coach. Can you think about the mentor(s) in your life? Where would you be today had it not been for their support?

Here are a few simple ways the National Mentor Campaign suggests to THANK your mentor:

Contact your mentor directly to express your appreciation;
Express your gratitude on social media; (#MentorIRL)
Pass on what you received by becoming a mentor to a young person in your community;
Make a financial contribution to a local mentoring program in your mentor’s honor; and,
Write a tribute to your mentor for posting on the Who Mentored You? website.

You can download a Thank you card from the Campaign Marketing Materials page.

As a thank you to all the mentors who have supported me and the mentees I have learned from, it would be only fitting to introduce this research study on this topic; however now I am interested learning how mentoring supports professionals and the field they work in:

Exploring Mentoring Programs in Professional Learning Organizations

Have you been part of a mentoring experience? Tell us about it. I am grateful for the informal and formal mentoring experiences, and I would not be interested in this study if it weren’t for the formal mentoring programs I have been a part of (shout out to ACPAgrow & NACADA ELP). If you have any formal or informal mentoring experiences, please take a few minutes to share by filling out this survey:

http://bit.ly/ExploringMentoring

More about the research study: https://techknowtools.wordpress.com/mentoring/

ACPA, ACPAdigital

The #ACPA16 Genius Labs Wants YOU!

November 23, 2015November 23, 2015 Laura Pasquini

Are you going to the 2016 ACPA Convention in Montreal (#ACPA16)? Are you interested in getting involved in #ACPA16? Consider contributing to a quick demonstration presentation at the #ACPA16 Genius Labs! With the ACPA/NASPA Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators latest edition, which includes Technology as one of the competencies, I think it is a critical time to educate and support our profession. The Technology Competency description:

“Focuses on the use of digital tools, resources, and technologies for the advancement of student learning, development, and success as well as the improved performance of student affairs professionals. Included within this area are knowledge, skills, and dispositions that lead to the generation of digital literacy and digital citizenship within communities of students, student affairs professionals, faculty members, and colleges and universities as a whole (pp.33-35).”

The #acpa16 Technology Program team are looking for 30-minute technology-based presentations related to the general themes from the Technology Competencies for our profession. This may include (but not limited to):

Applied and/or soft skills for using technology (i.e. “how to” ____)
Digital literacy and identity development
Assessment of technology in student affairs
Training and learning approaches for professional development using technology
Communication and marketing strategies
Implementation of an online/blended student affairs program, course, etc.
Trends and research for technology in higher education
Leadership, organization, and infrastructure for planning with technology
Information and data management

The Genius Labs sessions will be presented in the Palais Convention Center on Level 5 near Room 510 & the Westin Hotel entrance. Here is the schedule for Genius Labs at #ACPA16:

Sunday, March 6th: 12 pm – 3:00 pm
Monday, March 7th: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Tuesday, March 8th: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Our team is gathering the best and brightest ideas, examples, and resources around emerging technologies to share with other Student Affairs Educators in Montreal. The convention’s Genius Labs are 20-minute skill-building workshops in the main thoroughfare of the Convention Center offers a prime location with great visibility! Workshops will be highlighting a number of practical technology-based activities designed for participants to learn about, experiment with, and implement immediately. You can select any technology topic or resource to share, with the intention to have meaningful conversation directed at all skill levels. Think about a digital tool you can present in 15-20 minutes, and then offer an applied experience for attendees to get hands-on, tinker, and/or discuss for your Genius Labs session. We are also accepting ONLINE Genius Lab session presentations for those individuals who might not be able to make it; however they have an excellent idea/concept they want to share. We would like to offer a select number of web-based sessions via an online conference platform and co-facilitated on-site by a member of our volunteer team.

Do you have an idea? What sort of technology resource can you share? If you are interested in presenting a Genius Labs session please SIGN UP HERE:

For further questions, please feel free to reach out to the Genius Lab Coordinator, Erica Thompson (@EricaKThompson). Thanks!