The video is a little big, might work better to pause and let it load all the way.

For those late nights and long weekends when the little voice asks you: “Why do you do this again?”

A Student’s Thoughts On Student Affairs from kprentiss on Vimeo.

Do you feel there are not enough hours in a day? Working on a committee that’s in need of goal reminders? Are you and your grad assistant really on the same page? Is your desk covered in post-it notes of all your "to-dos"?

If so, you’re not alone.

Feeling overwhelmed with the quantity of post-it notes that were slowly overtaking my workspace, and recognizing that I needed a clearer way to communicate with my office assistant, I searched for a way to organize daily projects while keeping long-term goals in sight. I knew that I needed something that was easy to access and was incredibly user friendly. Of course, I looked digitally – thanks to advice from Swift Kick.

What did I find? Basecamp.

A free* online tool that makes collaborative work more efficient.

This flexible tool allows for sharing of ideas between users, a calendar of upcoming events or "milestones", a to-do list that allows for items to be checked off (giving a great sense of accomplishment), and so much more! Even when I’m out of the office, I can keep up-to-date with events and track deadlines.

(This tool is free* if you’re only using 1 project. With multiple projects, there are different fees associated.)

Here’s the current project my assistant and I are sharing: Spring 2008 Activities…a broad reaching topic with many possibilities.

For this project, we use "Milestones" as a calendar of registered events on our campus.

(A great visual to aid in determining when the "busy days" are.)

Beside each event, we list who’s responsible as the office contact or who will be attending the event to represent the institution.

Event specifics can also be listed – aiding in risk management and year-end reporting.

With the goal of getting rid of post-it notes (GO GREEN!), all of our to-dos are posted with who is responsible for the task.

When at my computer, I keep the tool open so that to-dos can be added as the thoughts come to me.

We even share messages about the tasks we’re working on!

This feature is similar to Email, with the fact that you can attach documents…but, more efficient for collaborative projects in my opinion.

In student activities, much of the work we do is a collaborative effort to provide educational experiences for our students outside of the classroom. Toward this end, it’s important that we manage internal projects and "to-dos" of our offices, while coordinating campus-wide initiatives, and communicating upcoming event information to the campus community. Why not find a tool that makes this goal or task easier?

This tool is useful within clubs or committees, too! One of our student organizations is setting up a project in Basecamp to plan and implement Relay for Life. All members of the club are signing up as users and will share details about tasks. The organization’s use of the tool is in its infancy; however, the time they are saving on meetings has already grown exponentially.

Think of the possibilities of what you could accomplish if you only had more time.

There are never enough hours in a day, and since I haven’t quite figured out how to clone myself, this tool provides an organized way to keep all the projects I’m working on in check.

However, it’s not the only tool. What tools have you found or use to make collaborative projects easier and more efficient?

So often, I have seen my students succeed by planning great events – just single, unrelated events that have some broad, student appeal. One day, a concert. The next day, a movie. The following week, a lecture. And the week after that, a comedian.  But, what I really like is when my students come together to plan events all around some themed week.

This year, my department took this unique approach to some of our programming. We have implemented “departmental” programming. Essentially, this means, all of our Resident Assistants (yes, I am in residence life) work together – collaboratively – to plan around the same departmental theme.

We have planned & implemented four departmental themes this year – Safety & Security Week, Alcohol Awareness Week, Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week, and, in the coming month, we will be doing Multicultural Week.

The idea behind these themed weeks was to create a departmental-wide effort to recognize these various topics/ideas/themes.  Our RAs split into teams, and each of those teams was responsible for planning a program using our theme. Each RA team had a day of the week, Monday through Friday, so that we could offer at least one program per day that week.

Some of our programs were passive, but most were active, interesting, and fun approaches at educating and entertaining our student population.

Alcohol Awareness Week featured everything from an educational spin on Beer Pong to the widely-favorite “Drunk Buggy” program. Hunger & Homeless Awareness featured a pledge to fast for 24 hours and a movie (“Pursuit of Happyness”), among other things. And Safety & Security Week included a casual, sit-down chat with our campus police officers (“Cop Talk & Donuts”), as well as a program on Driving Safely in Winter Weather.

Yes, this may sound like a typical approach to programming from a residence life office; but my experience with Student Activities Boards and other programming bodies are proof that themed weeks work effectively for these students as well. I’ve seen Winter Weeks, Homecoming Weeks, School Spirit Weeks, and more. You can create a themed week around any topic imaginable.

What are the benefits?

Among other things, you hopefully involve more people in the planning and implementing process, which, in turn, increases the number of students to whom your events appeal. Themed weeks also lend themselves to great advertising and publicity. Not only can you promote each, individual event; but you will also have the ability to promote the entire week’s events together.

Themed weeks can be difficult to implement successfully, but they are very rewarding ways to program on a college campus. I hope you will consider implementing a NEW themed week at your institution. If you already use themed weeks to program, tell us about your experiences.

After my last post about how Bemidji State University is using Sonicbids to book artists for their coffeehouse acts, Nancy Oeswein of Auburn Moon Agency sent me a detailed email outlining why online booking is no substitute for the value of a face-to-face programming conference.

Nancy is a good friend of mine as well as to many student activity advisors and student leaders across the country. The bottom line is she cares. She cares about the artists she represents, she cares about the programming quality at each school, and she cares about the entire college entertainment market. She cares so much that she participates in several boards to discuss the future of student activities.

Online showcasing and online artist booking are hot issues and the debate will continue well past this post because technology is increasing exponentially. Sonicbids is just the start.

I fall on the side of using technology to increase the effectiveness of face-to-face moments, not to replace it. I think technology can go a long way in improving programming conferences, but as for now, I don’t think it can, nor should replace the conferences.

Here are several quotes from Nancy’s email:

• Conferences provide networking opportunities among student leaders, people who share their passions, people who might have solutions to their problems, people who might hire them.
• Conferences provide hours of educational sessions targeted at their specific needs in all aspects of programming
• The experiential education of participating in the conference process from ed sessions, networking, showcasing, volunteering, co-op buying, building relationships could not be taught in a year of classroom work
• Personal enrichment…I was a student myself in NACA and I remember my conference experiences now 20+ years later….I probably couldn’t describe one class I took in any detail.
• Technology is a pale, pale replacement for face to face contact with Artists & Agents.
  
• Every year I am approached by students who tell me I changed their life…thru a conversation, an example, an ed session; I don’t think that has ever happened with one I didn’t meet face to face.
• The whole point of showcases is to see how Artist engages students live.  As an agent, I can tell you that maybe 5% of my Artist’s videos really capture the magic that they create Live.  It’s nearly an impossible feat.  And there isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t hear a student or advisor complain that they had a bad behavioral or performing experience with someone they found on the internet (without benefit of agency screening or what self-repped Artists learn from participating in APCA or NACA conferences).  The opportunity to engage Artists in conversation teaches you a lot about their appropriateness.  I know we spend hours conducting interviews and reference checks and screen hundreds of Artists every year to pick 1 or 2 new ones.  There is so much that goes in to making a good college act beyond who has a friend with access to great professional video equipment.  If a picture is worth a thousand, a video is worth ten thousand, then a live showcase in front of an audience of your peers is worth a million in what it can tell you about that Artist.
• Showcase selection committees typically have years of experience and spend 4 non-stop days pouring thru and evaluating submission materials, that include a wide variety of background and info.   In addition to all the other enrichment of the conference, the students get to see live the fruits of those labors…so much more time effective than spending days pouring over EPKs that haven’t been screened by any agency or committee.
  
• Ultimately the fact that this is so much LESS cost effective for Artists will eventually drive up costs significantly to schools or bankrupt most Agencies & artists.
• CO-OP BUYING saves schools thousands every year. It’s never been done effectively on-line.
• My company has done 15,000+ shows on college campuses in 14 years, plus everyone here was a student and/or advisor in NACA/APCA before becoming an agent….we have screened and referenced checked and spend hundreds of hours preparing and educating our Artists about the road, and how to be both appropriate and to ensure that they are engaging on college campuses…our Artists are more accountable for their actions with the power of an agency that is providing their livelihood….etc. etc…..I don’t think anyone could possibly question that we have something to teach students every day about selecting, promoting and producing shows.  The relationships students develop with experienced professionals committed to teaching them could not be replaced by a sonic community.
  

The normal way of finding new artists to book is to attend a programming conference, watch several showcases, block book with other schools, and be done.

The programming board at Bemidji State University is trying a new method, well at least new to me. They are using Sonicbids, a sort of online showcase place for talent, to post an open casting call for artists to fill their coffeehouse performances.

Bemidji State University is currently accepting submissions for performances during the Fall 2008 semester. Located in Bemidji, MN and enrolling over 4,500 students, they typically book 2-3 artists for Coffeehouse performances each semester.

Performances will take place in the Lower Union on campus during lunch hours. Local, regional, and touring acoustic acts are welcome to submit for consideration. Specifically, the school in interested in smaller, acoustic alternative rock, indie, folk, R&B and pop acts.

Artists will be compensated for their performances with a negotiable amount ranging from $500-$800, all inclusive. The school will provide a PA system. Past performers include Julie Moffitt, Tyler James, Shevy Smith, and others.

I think this does several things for the artist booking process:

1. Saves the school money and time of going to the conferences.
2. Allows the school to set their budget and have the artist submit interest, instead of the artist setting their fee and the school submitting interest.
3. Better organization and environmentally sound as it is all done electronically.
4. More artists are given a shot at being booked as it is very cheap to use Sonicbids.

I’ll contact the Bemidji programming board and ask them to comment on this post to let us know how the process is going. Has anyone else used Sonicbids to book acts?

Walking into the campus billiard hall I manage, I am witness to a definitive example of blurring boundaries. Before me are seven students, intently engaged in manipulating individual laptops to perform winning moves in some online game each is playing. At first glance, I notice that a) each has headphones on and is ignoring the environment around them (though all are seated around the same 8 seat table) and b) each is playing the same game.

I am able to engage one of the players in a brief conversation when his game is paused, and here’s what I gathered:

1.) All seven are playing the same game: Second Life (an example of a MMORPG)
2.) Each can communicate with one another – but only through typing in the game (Comfortable in their anonymity)
3.) All are friends who are in the billiard hall because it has Wi-Fi with faster connections and zero blocks – otherwise they’d be in their own residence hall rooms. (Forced interaction?)
AND THE MOST STAGGERING FACT FOR ME…
4.) Some of the gamers/students’ greatest friends are players of the game – who they chat with online, but have never met in physical space. (Sharing details of one’s life before "meeting"…)

While there may be a few discussion topics in the above situation – I focus now on Blurring boundaries - when the line between online and offline relationships is indeterminate and nearly irrelevant.

This is a difficult concept to grasp if you’re from a generation where communication is based on face to face interaction. A concept so easy to accept if you’re a student currently enrolled in an institution of higher education who easily accepts friends into his Facebook/MySpace network. For those of us in-between "both worlds", like me, it’s a concept I am torn between completely understanding and being totally intolerant of, but accept that the students I work with thrive in the blurred environment. For this reason, I strive to learn more.

I clearly see the blurring of the line between an offline and online life in-terms of work habits and household duties. For example, 15 years ago I may have only recorded financial transactions in a check ledger. Today, I track all financial history online and am working on using tech resources like Mint for money management.

In terms of student affairs, blurring boundaries is a topic we will need to address and work with if we are truly striving to offer students the best experiential education possible. Students who would rather interact online than in person will feel uncomfortable in workshops of a new student orientation program that is solely based on face-to-face interactions and activities. Students, who want to invite their "friends" to events, may be including those that they have never met – creating a situation for physical or emotional distress, according to the school psychologist in my SA department.

MMORPG’s provide an environment where a particpant befriends a player who has shown loyalty in a crisis. In life, we interact and make friends, determining after a crisis if the relationship is to continue. For students that are active MMORP gamers, they are versed in the blurred boundaries of online and offline relationships.

Is your institution discussing the blurring of the two relationships? 

With this grey area, a question can also be raised about data ownership and portability – what information and details about your life can be found online? Are they exact details or a character you’ve created (i.e. Second Life)?

Can we as student affairs professionals help students bridge the gap – aid students in recognizing the importance of having strong, supportive relationships, either online or off?

Is blurring boundaries an issue worth addressing?

I just came across an explanation of social bookmarking (i.e. delicious.com) by Common Craft and it’s a quick solution to two questions I’ve been asked many times:

“Ummm. . . what is delicious and why should I care?”

Here you go . . . three minutes and twenty-five seconds to clarity:

So then I was excited and poked around all their stuff, where I found videos for two more “new ideas” made simple: RSS and Wiki’s.

Enjoy!

RSS In Plain English

Wiki’s in Plain English

Great work by Common Craft. And a great, extremely easy, way for advisors to share technology with others that may not fully get it yet!

Mark Clague, a faculty member at Michigan State, created a Facebook group titled Faculty Ethics on Facebook. The goal of the group is to collectively define a set of guidelines for faculty members to use when entering into the social networking world.

Here’s the current list:

1. Keeping official course activities in official online tools and not on Facebook.

2.
Never requiring students to participate in Facebook or having Facebook
participation influence a course grade. (An exception is for class
projects that might use Facebook for research purposes [such as a
statistical analysis of how Facebook groups grow and fade] and make
their connection to a course explicit.)

3. Not friending
students unless they request the connection. Not poking students. Never
pressuring students to friend the professor (such as repeated mention
of a faculty profile in class).

4. Accepting friend requests from all students (unless the instructor makes the decision not to friend students at all).

5.
Not looking at student profiles unless the faculty member has been
friended by the student and even then using Facebook information
judiciously and for educational purposes. In short, not spying on
students, but getting to know them better when invited to do so.

6.
Faculty members should avoid association with Facebook groups with
explicit sexual content or views that might offend or compromise the
student / teacher relationship. This guideline must be applied
sensitively within the context of a diverse educational environment in
which both students and faculty practice tolerance and accept competing
views.

7. Taking extreme care with privacy settings and faculty
profile content to limit profiles to information relevant to
educational purposes. A broad variety of information may be
appropriate, however, given the area of expertise / subject, the local
customs of an instructor’s school, and the personal dynamics of his or
her classroom. Content should be placed thoughtfully and periodically
reconsidered to maintain this educational standard.

8.
Exercising appropriate discretion when using Facebook for personal
communications (with friends, colleagues, other students, etc.) with
the knowledge that faculty behavior on Facebook may be used as a model
by our students.

9. Never misrepresenting oneself by using a
false name or persona on Facebook, unless that characterization is
connected explicitly with the real identity of the instructor.

10.
Considering that the uneven power dynamics of the academy in which
professors have authority over students, continue to shape the online
relationship, even when the network tool (such as Facebook) is
apparently democratic.

11. Keeping wall posts and other
Facebook communication in concord with standard ethical practices of
the educational relationship.

12. Never posting official course
communication (feedback on an assignment, for example) in a public area
of Facebook. Feedback might be given through private Facebook messaging
when the student has asked a question via Facebook or a previous friend
connection exists.

I previously posted a similar set of guidelines and think the two compliment each other well. What do you think about the guidelines? Would they work for you? If you were to add or change a point, what would it be? Join the discussion on this collaborative list and share your two cents.

It started out with the ambitious goal of soliciting 50 low-cost program ideas in a little less than an hour.  Fifty minutes later, the delegates at the APCA National Advisors’ Summit in Las Vegas had suggested 91 ideas!

Ashley captured these for you, and I wanted to make sure they got posted.  If you weren’t there, then some of the ideas may sound odd (or make no sense at all).  If that’s the case, drop me a note and I’ll explain it to you.

Fifty Ninety-One Ideas in Fifty Minutes

1. Grocery
   Bingo

2. Medallian
   Hunt

3. Life-Size
   Monopoly

4. Game
   Hunting

5. Pot
   Luck Dinner

6. Video
   Gaming

7. Iron
   Chef Dorm Room/Ramen Noodle cook-off

8. Game
   Show Contest

9. Poetry
   Slam

10. Day
    of the Dead

11. Dark
    Side of Oz (Pink Floyd & film)

12. Walk-in
    movie

13. Dive-in
    movie(pool)

14. American
    Idol

15. Talent
    Show

16. Bed
    Race

17. Bean
    Bag Toss

18. Themed
    Dances

19. Halloween
    Contests

20. Live
    Haunted House

21. Campus Ghost
    tours

22. Halloween
    Casino

23. Recycle
    plastic bottles into planters (Arbor day)

24. Leadership
    retreats

25. Water
    World  (slip ‘n slide)

26. Movie
    on the Lawn

27. Bonfire
    & S’mores

28. Themed
    movies

29. Stress-Free
    Spa Day

30. Chair
    Massages

31. Oreo
    Stacking (Guinness Records)

32. Star
    Gazing (astronomy club)

33. Leap
    Frog

34. Twister

35. Reflective
    Movies

36. Commit a Random Act of Kindness

37. Family
    Fest

38. Canned
    Food  Sculptures

39. Food
    Bank Drive

40. Frozen
    turkey bowling

41. Campus Fear
    Factor

42. Photos
    with Christmas mascot

43. Easter
    Bunny Pictures

44. Dogoween (pet costume contest at Halloween)

45. Scavenger
    Picture Hunt

46. Campus
    Idol

47. Parking
    space lottery

48. Campus
    Safety (self-defense)

49. Sleep-out

50. T-Shirt
    relocation (collect rival school T-shirts and take to Salvation Army in another city!)

51. Clothesline
    project

52. Women’s
    forum

53. Cultural
    showcases

54. “Get Into Your Genes”;
    Too small Blue Jean give away

55. Campaign
    for real beauty (acceptance of normal bodies)

56. Mary
    Kay (or Avon) day

57. Financial
    Education

58. Monster.com
    (Free financial planning)

59. “Girls”
    or “Guys” Night out

60. $2
    Movies in town

61. Mock
    weddings

62. YouTube
    Contest

63. Hillbilly
    Olympics

64. Human
    auction

65. Mentoring

66. Study
    night with pizza

67. Midnight
    Breakfast   

68. President
    for a day

69. Parking
    ticket raffle (pay your fines)

70. Pre-release
    movies

71. Unhomecoming
    Faculty King and Queen

72. Kiss
    the Pig (Spam loaf)

73. Pageant
    and formal dinner auction

74. Pie
    a professor

75. Hot
    topic lunch

76. Glow
    in the dark easter egg hunt

77. Pie
    your RA

78. Recycle
    drive with prize

79. “Big
    dog on Campus” Fun Olympics (Bulldog is school mascot…)

80. Cinderella
    project (Prom Dresses for high school girls)

81. Graffiti
    party

82. Change
    drive into mosaic

83. Car
    show

84. Speed
    dating ideas

85. Cow
    patty bingo

86. Mardi
    Gras Sidewalk Parade

87. Art
    festival/contest

88. Nametag
    Day (everybody wears a name tag)

89. Parking
    lot sale (like rummage sale)

90. Pumpkin
    Carving Contest

91. Holiday Window
    Decorating

Palomar College reviewed their current programming and realized that almost all their student activities occur between 10am and 2pm. The problem is 5,000 to 7,500 of their students strictly take evening classes.With a FTE of 30,000, night goers make up nearly 25% of the student body, but yet were receiving almost 0% of the student activities.

To curtail the imbalance and to seize the opportunity:

The college’s Associated Student Government hosted its first “Coffeehouse Night” last month, during which students heading to class in the twilight were treated to coffee, cookies and the sounds of an acoustic guitar, as played by a fellow student.

“People drop by, grab a cup of coffee and listen for a little,” said Jesse Lyn, student government president. “Many night students come straight from work, so they need an opportunity to unwind before class.”

More than 100 students stopped by within the first hour of the event and were “thrilled” by the break from class, Lyn said

Commuter campuses, like Palomar, are known for their large percentage of evening or non-traditional students. Sherry Titus, interim director for student affairs, said:

“They get here after work, take a class and get home to get dinner
started,” she said. “They have no buy-in (to the college) besides the
educational one.”

Coffeehouse events give these students an
opportunity to become a part of the Palomar community, even if it’s
just for a few moments, Titus said. Students are entertained by their
peers or can use the venue to showcase their own talents, including
music, poetry and dance, she said.

So don’t forget about your night time students. How are you servicing them with the same student activities fees that everyone else is paying?