Student Engagement

As I am working on a presentation about student engagement, I can't help but think back to students I've worked with in the past. Many were engaged in the college experience (some in less academic pursuits than others) and others struggled to maintain the appropriate level of educational involvement.

We've all had students who struggled and needed help feeling like their failures were not the result of lack of ability. Studies have shown that helping students see the connection between effort and achievement will help improve their self-esteem and overall academic engagement. But how do we get students to put forth the effort when they are convinced that it will only lead to failure?

I once had a student who struggled to make it through his college classes. His lack of success could be attributed to a number of things: lower IQ, lack of knowledge about how to study, but most of all his lack of effort. You see, Todd was a sweet student who was very likeable. He was one that people just liked to help out, take under at this particular school was not an especially difficult course for students who were willing to put in the effort. There wasn't a great deal of technical information involved, just the need to study effectively and determinedly.

Since Todd needed to repeat the class, we decided that this time around he would focus on setting small goals of consisting of tasks to be accomplished rather than focusing on the grades earned. We set up a study schedule with specific daily hours set aside to work on assignments. Each week we mapped out all the steps he would have to take (reading text, reviewing notes, completing assignments, etc.) and laid them out on a daily to-do list. Once that was done, Todd was only allowed to look at that day’s list and to work on those assignments. When he finished, he was done with Theater for the day. This focused him on the effort needed to acheive the daily goals and prevented him from getting anxious about what tests or papers lied ahead. We celebrated each checked off item rather than the grades earned, and I saved every one of those lists. At the end of the semester, I laid them all out in front of him, and we looked at all of the tasks he had accomplished. This was the most dedicated that Todd had been to any class since he started college. But would it be enough?

At the end of that semester, not only did Todd have an “A” in a class he had previously failed, but he also found a new understanding of how effort equals success. It was a lesson he would need to be reminded of periodically throughout his college career. Todd was a student with a learning disability and many years of failures behind him. There were times for him that it was easier to think about those than the successes he had with just a bit more effort. I am proud to say however, that after 5 years of taking classes Todd successfully finished his undergraduate degree and went on to bigger and better things. It is here I hope he continued to put this lesson to good use.

It is possible to try and fail. But it is impossible to not try and succeed.

Hot Buttons and Hair Triggers

Last Friday I asked members of the University College to express some of the things that drive me crazy. As a new employee at NCCU and the UC, I was encouraged when I saw that no one responded to the prompt "The University College would be a better place if people would stop..." In fact, the overall response to the prompts that directly dealt with work were fairly small. People definitely don't like the temperature issues we have in the Alexander-Dunn Building, but aside from that your co-workers simply asked that people help each other out more and communicate.

Among other trends I noticed that many of the comments dealt with the Golden Rule-being willing to accept others, practice forgiveness, not put people down, not stealing [And after the lunch and laptop thief that's a good one], and basically treating others as you would want to be treated. Wouldn't it be nice if we all, staff and students, approached our lives this way? How much better would the world be if we offered solutions instead of just complaining, share information, stopped using bad language, and simply did the right thing?

We have no power outside of ourselves, but even that can be enough. Doing the right thing can make us feel good and more appreciative of our fellow human beings. Each of us can decide for ourselves what we want that to look like. It can be as simple as letting the person with only a few items standing behind you in the grocery line move ahead. Or we can take on more complex roles with volunteer organizations. No matter what we choose to do, we can work at making our little corner of the world that much better.

My first year of teaching, back in 2001, I was working in a rather small and poor school district making $20,000 a year. (In Ohio each school sets it's own teachers' salary and benefits based on the amount of tax money that comes in, so small, rural districts didn't pay very much. To put it in perspective, that was approximately $21,000 less per year than the typical female wage earner at the time.) I had just gotten married, and my husband was still in school. Because the district was fairly rural, there were no part-time jobs available for him, so my income was all we had. That Christmas we hand-made Buckeyes (a chocolate and peanut butter candy) and cookies because we couldn't afford to buy gifts. On the last day of school before Christmas vacation, I came home tired and discouraged. I knew I was facing a bleak night ahead in the dark (we used candles to save on electricity) eating Ramen noodles with hopefully a chicken breast. As I got the mail I saw that one Christmas card had no return address and a "postage due" stamp. While the amount was fairly insignificant, less than one dollar, it was a very depressing moment. I opened the card expecting to see a generic message from a local restaurant or insurance agency. To my surprise there were several gift cards enclosed and a note saying that the senders knew things were tough and they wanted to help us out. The only repayment was the request that someday we "pay it forward." Now I knew it must have come from my mentor and the other teaching staff. No one else knew what kind of shape we were in, but of course they never said. I was so grateful and promised that someday I would do something for someone else.

It took several years before we had the opportunity, but since that Christmas I have been able to do just that. I have sent money anonymously to different people over the years, but it's more than just buying a gift card and sticking it in the mail. The people I worked with didn't have much themselves. We were all struggling. The salaries in that district were quite low compared to the rest of the state. The possibility of a teachers' strike was looming. It was a rough time for everyone. What really made that gift matter wasn't the money, although we did appreciate their sacrifice, it was the fact that despite the depressing circumstances my co-workers were thinking of people other than themselves. That has stuck with me for the last ten years.

I can't say that I have always been the best at noticing when others were in need. Sometimes, especially the last couple of years, my own pain overwhelmed my ability to do anything but get through the day. But even in my lowest times, I remember that card and the people who so generously followed the Golden Rule. My
circumstances have greatly changed since that December and even just since my most recent Christmas. And I am trying to remember to do the right thing on a regular basis. In 1916, Lily Hardy Hammond wrote, "You don't pay love back; you pay it forward." Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if we all lived to pay it forward? I think I'll start by sharing my popcorn with Mr. Coleman!

Getting Lost in Cyberspace

When I first decided to create a presentation on using social media in higher education, I realized that I was going to need an education of my own. I joined Facebook a couple of years ago under duress, and while I have since learned to enjoy it, I have not exactly embraced other forms of social media. In fact, other than the occasional comment on a Yahoo! news story or Dear Abby, I prefer using the internet as a solitary exercise. That all had to change when I realized that there was a desire from the University College staff to learn about ways to use social media to engage students.

I spent several weeks combing internet articles, joining various sites, and soliciting advice and opinions from my more tech-savvy friends and family. My cousin, a sixth grade English teacher in Michigan, has been writing a blog for years. I read her posts occasionally, and enjoyed them, but it wasn’t until recently that I realized how much she was doing with it. She’s an avid reader who has promoted books and made contacts with famous authors. They actually approach her with offers of free books if she’ll review them on her site. She also has sponsors and over 700 members (made up mostly of people outside the family!). Her most recent post detailed a visit from author Carrie Harris who came and spoke to Beth’s classroom.  I’ve always thought she was a good writer, but I had never paid attention to how advanced her blog was becoming (this one has a long way to go in comparison) until I started looking into ways to use social media.

And she’s not the only person out there who has found a niche in the online community. I found wikis, Twitter accounts, Pinterest boards, and hundreds of other sites dedicated to the use of social media in furthering education (amongst other relevant topics). One of my favorites is a blog written by Dr. Rey Junco (http://blog.reyjunco.com/about).  He is a professor who researches how college students use social media. What impressed me most is that even a non-social media person like me can read and understand what he’s saying. Overall I was amazed at how many different uses there are for social media. I guess I had thought that Twitter and Facebook were about it.

I’ve enjoyed my foray into cyberspace and will probably continue to stretch myself to see what other formats I can use in my current position and in my personal life. However, one thing I’ve learned through all of this is the importance of going slow. Pick out one or two forms to start with and ease into them. Create a plan so you know where you want to go. As Yogi Berra once said, “You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there." I hope you’ll wave to me on your journey.

Here are my top 5 tips for using social media followed by links to some excellent sites:

5. Start simple. Figure out which format you feel most comfortable with and start from there.

4. Solicit advice. The cyber world is full of people willing to help. You can even solicit friends and family members to provide feedback. Just don’t give out personal information to anyone you don’t know.

3. The internet is actually pretty safe-but be smart. No one gets something for nothing. If you didn’t enter a drawing or contest you probably didn’t win anything. Clean the cookies off your computer regularly (here’s how: http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser's-Cookies#Steps) and don’t give out any  personal information-EVER!

2. Remember that social media is a tool. It’s not a strategy. It can be one piece that fits into an overall strategy to reach a specific goal, but you can’t rely on it to do all the work. Think about what you want to accomplish and then figure out how social media fits into that.

1. Take a chance! You never know what amazing things you might discover. I never thought I’d enjoy social bookmarking, but I’ve now found a place to keep all those fun sites I accidentally stumble across when I’m working and don’t have time to enjoy them. Like the Yoda hat I’m going to crochet for my nephew or the peanut butter cup brownies I hope to make for training one day. So sit back and enjoy the ride through cyberspace. I did!

Some really good web sites:

50 Definitions of Social Media:

http://thesocialmediaguide.com/social_media/50-definitions-of-social-media

Mom, This is How Twitter Works (Not Just for Moms!)

http://www.jhische.com/twitter

Meet Your Students Where They Are: Social Media

                http://blog.reyjunco.com/pdf/HeibergerJuncoNEA.pdf

Adapting Social Media into College Advising: What is the Connection?

                http://www.collegeview.com/articles/article/adapting-social-media-into-college-advising

Academic Advising, Social Media, and Student Engagement

                http://blog.reyjunco.com/academic-advising-social-media-and-student-engagement

Thinking About Dirt

People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die.
~Plato

I am one of those people with a strong helper personality. It's served me well in the jobs I have had in the past. However, I will confess that my new position really scares me.The trick here is that I'm not working with students any more. In those relationships I was the one with the knowledge and the experience I needed to impart upon them. Now I am working with professionals-people who in some cases have a great deal more education than I do. So how do I go about "helping" these people without coming across as the savior who was brought in to fix their institution? One of the reasons I applied for the job in the first place was the chance to work with this amazing program. It's already so good and staffed by experts in their field. I know I don't have all the answers, but my goal is to make a difference wherever I am.

Earlier this week I attended a conference called "Presentations That Make an Impact." It was developed by Jim Knight who works with KU and does instructional coaching. Despite the large balance now on my credit card, I am so thankful for this opportunity. I learned a great deal but not just about how to present. I learned a lot about people and how to relate to them. One concept really resonated with me. I'd like to share that with you now. The concept is about helping people. In relationships there are 5 truths when it comes to offering assistance. They are:

1. People don't often realize when they need help.
2. People take it personally when you offer help.
3. People have to be involved in creating a solution. If you do the thinking for them they won't engage.
4. If people perceive you as putting yourself one up and them one down, they won't accept assistance. (Think here about men stereotypically not being willing to ask for directions.)
5. Unless people care about the goal, they won't work to achieve it.

What I loved about this notion of helping is that it goes to the heart of who we are as thinking, caring human beings. I love to help others but struggle to ask for help myself. And frequently I don't realize how badly I need help until it's too late. I've also developed a new way of looking at my role at NCCU. At first I thought about how I've struggled for years trying to get students to do what I tell them to do. Because the audience is so different now (i.e. not students) my relationship must be different. No longer am I the teacher, but the facilitator of learning. And then I realized that even when working with students, I need to take these principles into account. No one likes to be told what to do, and people want an opportunity to solve problems for themselves. College students are no different. Given the needed information, they can make informed choices for themselves on how to proceed.

So now my understanding of my new job has shifted. I'm not necessarily here to provide all the answers. We have over 30 people in the University College with many years of experience in a variety of areas. My job is not to control the learning environment but to present information in such a way as to promote the ability to make informed choices about what to do in our profession. How wonderful! We can learn from each other. And how amazing would it be if we took this approach with our students? What if we made them equal contributers to the learning process? What if we gave them choices in they way in which we solve their problems? What if we listened more than we talk to them? Or even at least as much. In order to reach the people we want to help, we must equalibrate the conversation so that all participants have an equal voice. What an amazing world we would have if we all tried to approach each other in this way!

I'm interested to hear your thoughts. What do you think about the principles of helping? Are they realistic in the higher ed environment? And how can we better help our students knowing this? Please post a response below (it can be anonymous). I hate to think I'm having a conversation with myself! :)

Challenges in Motivating 3rd and 4th Year Students

One of the comments in the feedback from today's presentation indicated a need for motivating upper level students to do well, stay in college, and prepare for post graduation. A lot of what we talked about could be applied to older students. They still need to set goals, have a cheerleader in their corner, etc. The difference is the level at which they are working. For example, hopefully a junior will be pretty good at laying out his or her weekly study schedule. Additionally, they probably have an idea of what they want to do after graduation. However, despite the fact that they have achieved so much, they may need support more than ever.

I remember one particular class in my graduate program. It was summer and I had one more summer session and my thesis in the fall and I was done. But this one class was just killing me. I struggled to comprehend the material, the assignments present an even more difficult challenge, and I was definitely not motivated to work. To top it all off the professor was someone who believed that students learned more if they discovered answers for themselves so asking questions just led me to doubt whether I understood anything at all. I remember one Saturday crying at my desk because I just couldn't do it anymore. My husband came home (he had taken our daughter out to give me some quiet working time) and sat with me-reminding me how far I'd come, what my goals were, and what I would get when I finally earned that degree. I can't say that I immediately went back to work, but every time I was tempted to give up after that I remembered what he said. I reminded myself how far I'd come and what I was working for. I think our juniors and seniors need that. They need people to remind them that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and what will be there when they reach it. An uplifting speech, effective praise, or a motivational tip may be just what they need to keep going when things seem to be at their darkest.

Upper classmen also need help preparing for life after college. It's wonderful to have a job or career path in mind, but how do they get there? Hopefully students have started working with Career Services (see document for an example of what students can be doing throughout their education), and at this point we should encourage them to check out career fairs. Giving them a list of concrete actions they can take right now to prepare will help them be more motivated to get through to graduation. I was fortunate to work at a university with a fabulous Career Center (they helped me with my own job search as well). I have not had the opportunity to explore the services here at NCCU, but I do have quite a bit of material for students on finding a career after graduation. I'm happy to share that if anyone is interested.

I have also found some links to articles that might be helpful for additional ideas and information. Please let me know if there is more I can do or if we need a session specifically on this.

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/affective/motivation.html

http://www.virtualsalt.com/motivate.htm

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/boost-your-skills/8454.html

Motivation-Are you a Tigger or an Eeyore?

Human beings are pre-wired to be motivated. Think about it. Something gets us up every morning. Whether it’s the need for coffee or breakfast or the desire to go to work so we can pay the bills we’re motivated to satisfy those needs.

When it comes to work, some people just seem to be naturally more self-motivated than others. And every one of us can recall a time when we felt less motivated about our current situations. The work project we don’t want to do, the laundry piling up at home, there are plenty of things in real life that act as de-motivators. On the other hand, when we’re excited about what we’re doing, we reap the rewards.

Job performance= ability X motivation

So how do we, as professionals, respond when we are feeling less than motivated? After all, how can I inspire students to achieve if I’m not enthusiastic about being at work myself? Just as with students, there is no one size fits all solution to discovering ways to motivate ourselves. There is a motivation cycle that looks like this:

Basically it means that our motivation leads to increased job satisfaction which leads to increased productivity and therefore increases motivation. But remove one of the links and the cycle falls apart. You can’t be productive if you aren’t motivated but lower productivity decreases motivation. We can start by remembering what brought us into this work in the first place? Did you want to make a difference? Enjoy college? Delight in working with college students? Or was it just a job? Think about a time when you were excited to come to work in the mornings. What was it about that time that made it enjoyable? How can you get that back? It’s important to understand the sources of your motivation so you can use them to dig yourself out of a slump.

It’s also important to spend some time looking at what decreases our motivation. College students can be a frustrating group. They are adults, smart and competent, but in so many ways they can still be very immature. Listen to your own self-talk. Are you struggling because you feel unappreciated? Like you aren’t making a difference? Overwhelmed with the workload? And what will improve these feelings?

I am a quote queen. I have been collecting motivational quotes since I was very young and have several volumes full of statements that inspire, motivate, and move me. I love reading inspirational books and going to conferences with speakers. When I'm working I surround myself with motivational objects-quotes, pictures, plants, stuffed animals,-whatever will make me feel good when I look at it.These things energize me and help me regain focus when my motivation dwindles. What works for you and how can you incorporate them into your work life?

I've got another story for you:

The last day of classes before Spring Break in 2008 was rough, and I was feeling severely unmotivated. I had the job of my dreams, providing support services to students with learning disabilities who were attending college, but I was unhappy. I finally had a chance to make a difference for a group of students who were grossly underrepresented in higher education, but I didn't feel like I was reaching them. I was sitting at my desk that cold rainy morning trying to beef up my lesson for the day when I got an email video from my sister.

Although I didn’t know it at the time, the speaker was Randy Pausch, a computer science professor from Carnegie Melon who had given a talk at the university called “The Last Lecture.” He had recently been diagnosed with inoperable cancer and was dying. His speech was really aimed at leaving something for his children, but it had become an internet sensation. He was even invited to be on Oprah giving the scaled down version in my email inbox. My sister simply wrote "Watch this when you have 10 minutes. Very inspirational." I was in the mood to be inspired, so I watched. And I cried. And then I scrapped my entire lesson and brought the video into class. I can’t say that all of them reacted the way I hoped, but I know it touched a few. That day I realized that I cannot reach every student, but I also can’t give up on them. Four years later I still watch this video whenever I'm feeling discouraged or need a little inspiration. I hope it helps you as well.

I hope that this might inspire you the way it has for me. And if it does, take some time to watch the original lecture. The full version is available on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7zzQpvoYcQ

Course Progress Record: Breathe Some Life into Your GPA!

A course progress record (or CPR) is really just an individual’s report card. It helps students keep track of the assignments for each class and also gives them a great icebreaker for meeting with an instructor for the first time. Students who take time to read the syllabus and then meet with the professor also tend to make a good first impression, and it increases the likelihood they will seek help if needed. Plus the instructor knows that at least one student read their syllabus.

It’s a win-win!

Students choose a format for use with each class (they may use different forms depending on the type of class or they may stick with just one method for all classes). The important thing is for them to fill out as much information as possible before the semester gets too far underway. Of course some syllabi have every assignment, due date, lecture topic, etc. and some don’t. Students just have to do the best they can knowing that they may have to add, subtract, or change assignments down the road.

I find that students often don’t know what their grade is in a class. They’ll tell you they’re doing great because they got an A on a 10 point assignment and they completely forget the D on the 100 point test they earned two weeks before. Conversely some students are sure they’re failing as soon as they have one poor grade not remembering that they’ve still got 1000 points possible to earn in the class.

During the first week of classes the student reads each syllabus and completes one form for each class including all listed assignments, a way of recording attendance, due dates, etc.

By the second week of classes the student needs to make an appointment to meet with instructor and follow through. In the meeting, the student should show his/her CPR to the instructor and ask for feedback. It may go something like this:

“Professor Jones, I read your syllabus and want to make sure I do well in this course. I have taken what you wrote and created a chart for myself to help me keep track of my assignments and grades. Would you be willing to take a look to make sure I haven’t missed anything and that if I do everything on this list and do it well I will learn the content and earn a good grade in the course?”

Sometimes the response will be noncommittal or even unimpressed, but in my experience instructors tend to react favorably to this kind of early interaction with students. It shows that the student 1) read the syllabus and 2) has taken the information and created a new represtentation. No matter what happens, the student has most likely made a favorable first impression on the instructor making it easier to come back later in the semester. I once had a student whose instructor suggested that he use a particular web resource from the textbook when studying for his exams. He did, taking every sample test they offered. It turned out that the instructor simply used that program and copied and pasted the test questions directly. So when the student went to take the test he had already studied every single question ion it. She didn’t share that information with the entire class just those who went to see her.

Grades should be added to the CPR as soon as they come in, and I encourage students to keep the form in their notebooks or with their syllabi to facilitate this. Once a week students should review their grades, make additions as necessary, and calculate their grade for each class. Students who are in academic difficulty can be required to email the form to their instructor, advisor, tutor, or anyone else who might be able to help them. I also recommend that a student send them to the instructor if s/he is struggling in the class.

Students struggle with deadlines and understanding syllabi, keeping track of their grades, and realizing the impact that each assignment has on their GPA. Using a CPR encourages students to actively engage in the evaluation process and reduces the risk of missing an assignment.