Transcript Contested issues in Student Affairs

Contested issues in
Student Affairs
DIVERSE-PERSPECTIVES-ANDRESPECTFUL DIALOGUE
Two questions – Baxter and Magolda
How do graduate
preparation program
faculty prepare future
student affairs educators to
address the complexities of
higher education?
What kinds of continuing
education opportunities do
divisions of students affairs
offer to optimize staffs’
effectiveness?
How it is organized
The editors posed 24 questions within chapter that consists
of two essays.
One essayist addressed the question and then a second
essayist responded to the first.
First framed the contested issue by defining terms and
providing a historical context, while making perspectives
explicit.
The second essayist responded to the first by noting
agreement, disagreement, and additions
Four topics
 Philosophical foundations of student
affairs work in higher ed
 Challenges to promoting learning and
development
 Achieving equitable and inclusive
learning environments
 organizing student affairs practice for
learning and social justice
Philosophical foundations
 Essential knowledge for student affairs educators
 Classroom knowledge is the only knowledge
 Scholar-practitioner & theory-practice helpful?
 The collaboration challenge between academic and
student affairs
Learning and Development
 Age of consumerism
 Allowing students to fail: risks and benefits
 Impact of social networking on learning?
 Relationship between policy and social norms
 Do intervention aims really curb alcohol abuse?
 What do we do about “that parent”?
 Age of accountability and really making a difference.
Inclusive and equitable learning
 Talking about race; why is it so challenging?
 Identity center impact?
 What does it mean act affirmatively in hiring?
 Girl or Woman…Dorm or Residence Hall. What’s the deal with language?
 Implications of providing special considerations?
 Responsibility & limits in addressing mental health issues
 Attending to religious and spiritual needs
 Protecting freedom speech, while ensuring civil discourse
Organizing for Learning and Social Justice
 Social justice agenda
 Inclusive learning practices
 Supervision to include, learning-centered practices
 Navigating professional boundaries
 Clash with supervisors & organizational beliefs
Healthy dialogue
Graduate students developed the questions
Classroom sparking fruitful, and even heated, discussions
 Does social networking enhance or impede student learning?
 Do identity centers divide rather than unite higher education
faculty, students, and administrators?
 In this age of accountability, what counts as good and how do we
know if student affairs educators really make a difference in the
lives of students?
 How do campus administrators go beyond the first amendment in
achieving balance between free speech and civil discourse?
Essay opportunities/value
 Multifaceted examination of the issues and
suggested additional questions and areas for future
consideration.
 Different ideological and theoretical perspectives
when seeking to understand these complex issues..
Chapter 10 example
 Opening vignette of a visit to an academic advisor of a
student and his mother
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Academic advisor perspective
Parent perspective
 Makes a case for resisting the easy interpretation of
parental involvement as overly intrusive or “helicopter”
style
 Generally the case that colleges and parents share the
same goals for the student: learning, good decisionmaking, personal agency, happiness, replacing
dependence with responsibility
Changing expectations of parents
 Time to redefine this in terms of what we know about
the relationships of Millennial Generation
 Why they “hover.”
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World is often portrayed as a dangerous place, and parents feel
a stronger need to protect their children
Middle-class parents have in the past twenty years become
more directly involved in their children’s K-12 educational
world, and expect to continue that connection.
This is less often true of poor or working-class parents, who
are more likely to encourage their children’s independence at
an earlier age.
Parents or individuals are carrying more of the cost of higher
education which often creates a consumer mentality.
Let’s try
W H A T , T H E N , C O N S T I T U T ES
APPROPRIATE INVOLVEMENT
ON THE PART OF PARENTS IN
THEIR CHILD’S HIGHER
EDUCATION EXPERIENCE
Another example
 What Forms Would Supervision Take to Model
Inclusive, Learning-Oriented Practice?
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We never stop learning and developing throughout our lives;
the process is continuous, only the developmental tasks and
our understandings of them change. We are all works in
progress. (p. 419)
Supervisors must commit to their own and others’ learning, be
culturally competent, hold themselves and others accountable,
and establish mutual partnerships with staff members so that
supervision is learning oriented and inclusive. (p. 429
Different perspective
 A certain amount of professional development
should be initiated by young professionals
themselves.
 Rather than expect supervisors to create the best
developmental plans and steps for their supervisees,
the supervisee need also consider their own learning
goals and expectations.
 Young professionals should work with their
supervisors to create a supervisory relationship that
will support those goals.
Developmental supervision
 Developmental supervision as a form of supervision
that fits the specific needs of the supervisee
 Assess the developmental levels of the learner and
both challenge them to grow whilst support them in
their effort
Discussion
 Do you agree with this approach?
 Can it be effectively implemented?
 What is the supervise role?
 Does the structure of student affairs support this?
How you might use this
HTTP://CONTESTEDISSUES.WORDPRESS.CO
M/TABLE-OF-CONTENTS/CHAPTER-22-WHATFORMS-WOULD-SUPERVISION-TAKE-TOMODEL-INCLUSIVE-LEARNING-ORIENTEDPRACTICE/
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