Tag: post-secondary education

Learning and Performance, PLN, Professional Development

Q: What is #SAcdn Chat? A: A conversation across Canada with #HigherEd colleagues.

Laura Pasquini

The #SAcdn hashtag has been embraced by student affairs (SA), student services, and professionals who support students in Canadian higher education. The goal (and tagline) for the #SAcdn community is “connecting our country,” specifically to share what the world of SA and higher ed is like in my home and native land.

The#SAcdn Chat is a type of “digital water cooler” conversation that I am personally a fan of for my own personal and professional learning network on Twitter. As an ex-pat Canadian working in US higher ed, the #SAcdn hashtag helps keep me in the loop and I have enjoyed listening/learning from the #SAcdn twitter chat archives as the conversation offers insights into issues into Canadian post-secondary education, offers support for staff/professionals, and expands my point of view to how I’m thinking about learning and campus life.  As of August 2016, the #SAcdn community began hosting a monthly 60-minute chat (now the 2nd Tuesday of each month from 12-1 pm CT) on Twitter with higher ed professionals to gather to discuss Canadian issues, ideas, and experiences in context to the Canadian higher ed.  Are you a professional, practitioner, and/or academic in Canada higher education who wants to engage with peers and the conversation on Twitter? Join in! p.s. Friends & colleagues outside Canada are also welcome to join in as well!

HOW TO: Participate in the #SAcdn Chat

Here’s a quick overview of how to participate in #SAcdn Twitter Chat:

  1. Set up your Twitter Account (HOW TO: Set Up The Twitters).
  2. Follow the in #SAcdn hashtag on Twitter for the latest tweets.
  3. Follow @LauraPasquini who will moderate the Q & A for the Twitter Chat THIS MONTH ONLY. You should also follow @CACUSStweets, who will typically host the#SAcdn. chat each month.
  4. Get ready and excited for Tuesday’s (6/13) chat by checking out what’s being shared and discussed on the #SAcdn hashtag NOW! BONUS: You might learn what’s happening & being shared on the backchannel at the #CACUSS17 conference. 🙂
  5. JOIN US Tuesday, June 13th from 10-11 am PT/12-1 pm CT/2 pm AT as I am fortunate enough to be hosting the LIVE, synchronous #SAcdn  Twitter conversation on Twitter during the CACUSS 2017 Conference (Learn more about the professional association, here: About CACUSS). We will “talk” about TOPIC: Show & Tell: What Does #SAcdn Mean to You? [Meta chat: Talking about this Twitter Chat & being part of the #SAcdn Community]

Be sure to contribute to the LIVE #SAcdn Twitter Chat by:

  • Logging into your Twitter account as the#SAcdn  chat will happen ON THE TWITTER platform.
  • Follow along in real time during the #SAcdn Twitter chat by following along on the  Twitter hashtag: #SAcdn or this Tweet Chat Room: http://tweetchat.com/room/SAcdn
  • The MOD (moderator) @LauraPasquini will ask 4-6 questions during the 60-minute chat; please respond with the Q# in your update, e.g. “Q1: Your Answer”
  • Invite your higher education faculty/staff peers to join the conversation – all our welcome to join!
  • Include the#SAcdn hashtag in your tweets and responses (“@”) to others.

To help you prepare, here are a few of the #SAcdn chat questions to ponder IN ADVANCE of our conversation:

  1. What brought you to Twitter and/or to the #SAcdn Twitter chat? Why do you TWEET?
  2. MOD: Q2: What tips or suggestions do you have for newbies to Twitter or a Twitter Chat to help them follow/contribute to the conversation?
  3. What have you learned from either participating in a #SAcdn Chat, reading the #SAcdn hashtag, or following #highered folks on Twitter?
  4. What TOPICS would YOU like to see added to the #SAcdn conversations? What is relevant for your work in Canadian #highered? #cdnpse
  5. What barriers or challenges might there be for you or others to participate in the monthly #SAcdn chat?
  6. What impact has the #SAcdn Chat community had on your professional development and practice in higher ed?

UPDATE June 13, 2017: Tweets archived from the Twitter Chat via Storify

AcAdv, nacada

What’s On the Horizon for Academic Advising?

Laura Pasquini

Last week, I shared my thoughts about what academic advising might look in the future in higher education with an advising group.

Based on Lowenstein’s (2013) “Vision, Not a Prediction” description in his Academic Advising Approaches chapter, I shared my ideas of how the field of academic advising COULD contribute to evolution of post-secondary education. Lowenstein shares a number of insights and examples about how advising as a profession can move forward, so my talk focussed on HOW (specifically with examples) where faculty and professional advisors can enhance student development in terms of:

  1. Interaction with students to  contribute and encourage learning outside their curriculum.
  2. Influence to changes and developments on their own campuses.
  3. Integration into the broader focus and purpose of academia.

Much of this session discussed how higher education institutions and administrators would be the only ones to lead advising changes, unless the advising profession asked the following questions themselves:

  • What is the role of advising or the advisor in post-secondary education?
  • What will advising look like in 5, 10, or 20 years?
  • What do YOU want the profession of advising to look like?
  • What sort of advising “profession” do YOU want to participate in?
  • How can YOU contribute to the change and develops occurring in higher ed, specifically with regards to how advising is organized?

In thinking about my own responses to the above prompts, I know that advisors can be at the forefront of institutional and organizational change. A number of advisors I interact with and know are very forward thinking, innovative problem-solvers who want to contribute to research, teaching, or service initiatives for the profession. It is this type of critical thinking and resilience of this generation of advisors, that we need to step up to debate practices, contribute ideas, and become active participants in how the role of advising at our institutions.  Does this mean increased advising training and development, enhance qualifications, or greater expectations for advisors? Perhaps. I think the advising community of practice can decide that, and should before some one else in the post-secondary sector decides to take this challenge on without consulting advisors altogether.

 

Reference

Lowenstein, M. (2013). Chapter 14: Envisioning the future. In J. K. Drake, P. Jordan, & M. A. Miller (Eds.), Academic advising approaches: Strategies that   teach students to make the most of college. (pp. 243-258). San Francisco,   CA: Jossey-Bass.