August, 2009

Ed
Original post
Social Networks / Technology and Programming / Web/Tech — 12 Comments
30
Aug 09

Connecting With Students, One Tweet At A Time

I officially love Twitter.  Over the summer, I dove into the Twittersphere and have fully adopted it into my professional life.  Even though I've been fortunate to gain a small following on my @edcabellon Twitter account, I've really wanted to grow our Campus Center Twitter account as well.  I still believe that students are out there on Twitter, I just needed to find them.  Well last night, I did just that.

I signed onto my "@BSCCampusCenter" Twitter account, knowing that First Year students had moved in and many returning students were about to make their trek back to campus.  I went through "http://search.twitter.com" and typed in "BSC".  As the search completed, many of the results turned in the tweets about the "Hertha BSC" German Football team, but a few turned back some Bridgewater State College commentary.  One student's tweets though, stood out:

Heidi1 

So I started following her on Twitter, read a few more lines of her Twitter feed, and then started reading her Blog that was linked from her Twitter bio.  She had a video blog post up and some very insightful, and well written blog posts.  Within about 15 minutes, she started following our @BSCCampusCenter account and then Tweeted:

Heidi2 

Well, that got my attention :-)   So I read more of her Twitter feed and noticed some BSC references, but nothing too out of the ordinary, so I decided to send her a Direct Message (DM), which is a private message through Twitter that only she would be able to see:

RCCDM1 

Thinking nothing of it, I went along and continued my search for more BSC students.  Within minutes though, I got a DM back, that just blew me away…..

Heidi4DM 

At that moment, it dawned on me.  That simple act of connecting and communicating from a BSC office made her feel more a part of the community.  Then, in her Twitter feed, I noticed that she had tweeted to everyone:

Heidi3 

I was beyond excited!  Twitter had given us the opportunity to connect in such a unique way.  We hadn't even met in person, yet she felt more engaged with the college.  Her view of BSC changed in that one Tweet, at least enough to accept my invitation to come in and meet me and our staff to further our conversation.  Her reply?

Heidi5DM 

I will continue to use Twitter to connect with more students in this way and encourage you to do the same!  Share this story with your colleagues who still may be weary about using Twitter to connect with students, because it can work!

Best wishes on a great opening for you all!

Original post
Work/Life Balance — 9 Comments
27
Aug 09

Thank You Note Thursdays

I’ve started a new tradition: Thank You Note Thursdays. I suppose I could send out thank you notes any other day of the week, but the “Th” that appears on my calendar serves as a good reminder to thank someone.

Here are the rules of my tradition:

1.     Have a running list of people you need to thank. This is easy to accomplish through the “tasks” function of Outlook, GCal, or probably any other online calendar you’re using. If it helps, move these tasks onto the next Thursday on your calendar. But you may be asking yourself, who do I need to thank? Well, just ask yourself these questions:

·         Who has gone out of their way to make me feel welcome and show me the ropes if I’m in a new job?

·         Who have I had to make a last-minute request of?

·         Who have I asked the impossible of?

·         Who have I learned an important lesson from?

·         Who do I see working really hard and may not be getting enough appreciation for it?

·         Who helps me do my job better?

2.     Do it first thing in the morning. Of course, you could sit down and write out thank you notes any time of day, but in the morning, there tend to be fewer distractions in my work environment. And this way, you know you won’t get to the end of the day and have to tell yourself, “I’ll do it tomorrow.” I believe in the power of doing the important tasks first and thanking people who need to be thanked is an important task.

3.     Be sincere. You don’t need to use overly flowery language or ask anyone if they ever knew that they were your hero, and, in fact, the wind beneath your wings. However, you should let people know the positive influence they’ve had on your life and your work. Don’t you like to know when you’ve made a difference?

4.     Be the one. I read somewhere that for every one piece of feedback that you get, there are 500 other people who feel the same way but said nothing. For instance, lots of people read blogs (like this one!), but most do not leave any comments. (I must confess; I am guilty of this myself.) However, that one person who does leave a comment is speaking for countless others who feel the same way, but don’t speak up. By sending someone a thank you note, you are that one person who is representing so many other people who appreciate someone, but are silent. Be the one.

Gary Alan
Original post
SA Humor — 3 Comments
27
Aug 09

Metaphors and phrases for new academic year

Good day and welcome to fall semester!  I have often compared the beginning of the academic year to those moving sidewalks that you experience in large airports — You're just walking along at your normal pace, and you hit the sidewalk and BOOM you're moving twice as fast. 

So, I thought it might be a fun exercise to hear what other metaphors or phrases you use to describe your experience of going from the relative quiet of summer to the explosion of activity with the academic year. Comment away!

Tom
Original post
Poll — No Comments
25
Aug 09

Tuesday Tally – How Long Does Your New Student Orientation Run?

If you cannot view this poll click here.


And here are the results from the last poll.


Tom
Original post
Tour — No Comments
25
Aug 09

Schreiner University Student Activities Office Tour

Consider this the first in a series of tours of student activities and student affairs offices around the country. Along with our “Better Get To Know An SA Pro” series, the purpose is to give you a behind the scenes peek at how other schools and professionals operate. Without further ado, on with the tour of Schreiner University!

Pre Tour Stats

Name: Schreiner University
Type: Private not-for-profit, 4-year or above
Location: Kerrville, TX
Size: 971+

Tour Time


Several members of their program board led the tour. As you can see there are many happy faces to welcome us in. The entrance is adjacent to a lounge and food area.


When you first walk in the the student center you are met with an impressive visual display of stairs and extremely large hand made posters promoting various events. Though, interesting to note, they said 80% of event attendance comes from word of mouth and friends texting each other the day of the event.


The student activities front door has a list of upcoming events for the week as well as pictures and bios of each programming board member.


The office’s main room walls are covered with various signs and posters.


Including a whiteboard and calendar.


The always handy “Bucket-O-Robert’s Rules.”


A few years ago, the programming board decided to re-create the famous Breakfast Club poster, but it wasn’t without it’s controversy as not everyone at the school agreed with the values portrayed in the movie.


Another year the students decided to make their group photo be a Butt Sketch.


What office is complete with out their very own storage room?


Or War Room! I was told this is a work in progress and will soon be a place for group meetings.


The front door of the Director of Student Activities, Jennifer Hudson-Velazquez.


A quick peak inside Jennifer’s office. As they say in Student Affairs, this is where the magic happens!


Students showing off posters for upcoming events. The school’s graphic design department helps them make all their posters.


The story of Todd is sad and touching as he used to be a member of the crew, but then passed away from cancer. Before passing he used to collect teddy bears and pass them out at local hospitals. The current program board has since made the event an annual drive in honor of Todd. It’s great to see how some events have a deeper meaning.


Thanks for the great tour Schreiner!

Original post
First-Year Experience / Freshman — 2 Comments
23
Aug 09

Tomorrow

   "Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of
the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and
fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine
what you'll know tomorrow…" -Kay in Men in Black (1997).

    Imagine what I'll know tomorrow as I start my official
journey in Higher Education and Student Affairs at Baylor
University.  I am anxious and excited to go to class and begin my new
apprenticeship.  I can't image what I will know to tomorrow and in the
next two years.  I feel as if I am a freshman once again the night before
college begins.  I wonder what classes will be like and how this journey
will shape my future career. As a new member to this blog, I plan on writing
about "hot topics" that come up in class as well as issues pertaining
to my apprenticeship.  Also, I will comment on life as a graduate student
in this area.

    I decided to pursue this degree and eventually a career
in student affairs because I wanted to impact students' lives outside of the
classroom.  College is an extremely important time for many students and
experiences outside of the classroom are just as important as experiences
within the classroom.  Many students attending college don't realize that
some of the most important knowledge that they will gain won't come within the
four walls of a lecture hall but rather the four walls of a dorm room. 
Our job as current and future administrators is to make sure that this
knowledge does not fall on deaf ears.

    So, I can't help to think about the first year students
getting ready to start their undergraduate education.  What will they know
tomorrow… a week from now, a month from and even four years from now? Will
they learn from their mistakes? Their world of knowledge is going to explode
and they probably don't even know it yet.  Will they be willing to engage
in this atmosphere and truly experience everything college has to offer?
Honestly, I wish I could go back to my first year of college just to have that
experience again of feeling so small in a giant world but at the same time,
knowing that this journey will make this giant world a little bit smaller and a
little bit more manageable.  As administrators, it is important to
remember that the future is in these students' hands and that they have a lot to
learn in a very short amount of time.

Imagine what I'll know tomorrow but more importantly…what they will
know… tomorrow. 

Tom
Original post
Announcements / Online Tools — No Comments
19
Aug 09

8 Ways To Help Grow The Student Affairs Blog

Since its inception, The Student Affairs Blog has rapidly grown a dedicated community. Every day more Student Affairs professionals find their way here. Sometimes they find us from a random Google search, but most of the time it’s because a current community member (cough cough…you) told them about the site. So, to help you spread the word even further, try out these 8 tips and let’s see how many more of our peers we can reach.

1) Import the Blog’s RSS Into Your Facebook Account

A lot of traffic comes from people who share various posts with their Facebook friends. If you’d like to automate sharing via Facebook, here’s how to take this blog’s RSS feed and make it automatically import into Facebook as a Note. If you’re unfamiliar with RSS, check out this video.

NOTE: Facebook only lets you import one RSS feed at a time. So, if you are already importing an RSS feed into Facebook, then you have to use a tool called FeedRise to merge two RSS feeds together into one. This way both RSS feeds will be imported into Facebook. If you have three or more RSS feeds, Feedrise will merge as many as you’d like. But beware that Facebook doesn’t like anyone posting too much stuff. Be active, just not too active :-)

2) Import the Blog’s RSS Into Your Twitter

For our Tweople on Twitter, you can also automate blog post sharing via Twitter with a tool called Twitterfeed. It’s simple, fun and FREE!

3) Link Your Twitter and Facebook Statuses Together

Instead of remembering to update both your Facebook and your Twitter status with new blog posts, use the Twitter App on Facebook to automatically update your Facebook status every time you update your Twitter status.

NOTE: The Twitter App will only import Tweets that don’t start with an @reply. This way you can still carry on conversations in Twitter without overloading your Facebook friends with too many updates.

4) Subscribe To The Blog via RSS or Email

Have new posts sent to you instead of you having to check the website everyday (not that we don’t love you). Think of it like a free magazine subscription. You can either have your subscription sent to you via email or sent to you via RSS.


5) Add the SA Blog to Your Blog Roll

Have a blog? Add us to your blog roll. While you’re at it, give your blog some exposure love and add it to The SA Directory.

6) Email the Blog Link to Your Fellow SA Professionals

Word of mouth is the best form of advertising. You’ve heard it before and it’s true. Whether they’re in your office, your department or at another school, share the blog link ( www.thesabloggers.org ) with them.

Or, if they have a question related to Student Affairs, share The SA Forum link ( forum.thesabloggers.org ) with them.

7) Share the Blog at Conferences

According to one of our recent polls, 67% of you go to 1-2 conferences per year. A few people said they go to 7 conferences per year, but that’s another story! While at the conference, remember the blog URL ( www.thesabloggers.org ) and pass it on to new people you meet.

It can even make for a great ice breaker… “Hey didn’t I see you comment on The Student Affairs Collaborative Blog.” :-)

NOTE: If you can, write down the URL for them as very few people tend to take action based on just memory.

8) Bookmark or Homepage The Blog

   

We know Yahoo, CNN, and Google are near and dear to your Homepage heart, but if you feel like changing it up, consider The Student Affairs Blog as your new Homepage! Ok, we’ll also be happy with you just bookmarking us :)

There you go. With these 8 tips, we’ll be able to reach out to even more Student Affairs Professionals and, collectively, we can all support each other.

Cindy
Original post
Social Networks — 1 Comment
14
Aug 09

Whuffie IRL (in real life) for Student Affairs professionals

Hey folks…

Hope you have chosen to get this book by now…or do I have to keep writing posts about it to convince you?  :-)  We all know that the school year is about to start up again and I'll have to shift my topics to all things student involvement and leadership.  If you're hoping to avoid me because of our back-to-school timeline, Whuffie will still be on the radar and you're out of luck!!

For those just tuning in, I've been posting a lot lately about a book by Tara Hunt entitled The Whuffie Factor:  Using the Power of Social Networks to Build your Business.  We have explored ideas of changing our approach to social networking through ideas of mutual exchange instead of us just putting information out there and expecting students to flock to our doorsteps. The Whuffie Factor is Tara Hunt's idea of "social capital" and a way we can increase our presence and build community.

We last left off with the idea of "Embrace the Chaos" and I know that by this time of year we've all got a big dose of chaos to embrace, right?  One additional principle of increasing Whuffie that comes naturally to student affairs is the idea of "Find a Higher Purpose."  This is explored by the author clearly directed at corporate America, with directives like "spread love" and "think customer-centrically."  She charges us to "help others go further" and "Doing well by doing good."  Well, I'm not even going to devote type space to convincing you that student affairs is connected to this aspect of Whuffie.  For goodness sake, "higher purpose" is what is supposed to help us be ok with these low salaries, right?

Her chapter on Whuffie IRL (In Real LIfe) does deserve some explanation for sure.  She writes about work by David Macmillan and David Chavis (1986) who published research about community and ways people feel connected.  Their four stages:
  • Feelings of membership
  • Feelings of influence 
  • Integration and fulfillment of needs 
  • Shared emotional connection 

Student activities types… yes, this is just like a recipe for student organization development in a nutshell.  

Building your department's Whuffie can help us to take the good work we do each day with student organizations and attempt to bring social media into line as one of our many strategies for building community. Give some thought to the "emotional connection" that users of Twitter or Facebook feel when those communities go down.  I think some of our student leaders feel the same way when their meetings end for the year, right?  When a community offers feelings of membership, influence, meets needs, and offers emotional connection, there's a formula for student engagement.  

It's up to us, the emerging leadership of the student affairs profession, to explore online strategies as one of many ways we can engage students in the good work of our profession.

How do you get started?  Hunt offers a checklist for entrepreneurs that I"m going to "Student Affairs-ize"

Step 1:  Figure out what you are doing and for whom
If you don't know this already, then I have a strategic planning presentation I can offer.  If that's already in line, then consider this in terms of technology.  What are you "tweeting" about and who are you attempting to connect through your strategies?

Step 2:  Apply the right tools for the right jobs.
Blogs are not going to do the same things as Twitter can do.  Your tweets are only as impactful as the people who follow you and if you are blogging to no readers, you're not making a sound.  Other posts are talking about how are students might not be tweeting, but will they?  How about their parents?  You know they are on Facebook, but do you want a fan page or a group?  Take time to review what is out there and think strategically about what tools are right for the tasks at hand.

Step 3:  Listen, learn and adjust
No blog is going to change lives overnight and your Twitter account needs to build followers before it makes an impact.  Use tools to measure how often your work is being read and be active about getting feeback from students.  As Hunt advises, you may need to recycle steps over and over until you reach the best approach.

Her Step 4 refers to "wash, rinse, repeat."  At this point you have fine tuned your technology strategy and you are already light years ahead of your colleagues.  Tech tools and communities will come and go, but we're not the ones developing them. These tools are merely one of many vehicles to reach out to students and help them to become part of our campus communities.

Are you ready to build your Whuffie this year?  Is a new approach to social networking part of your department's annual goals?

Thanks for reading these posts.

Step 4: 
Gary Alan
Original post
Event Ideas / Social Networks / Technology and Programming / Web/Tech — 1 Comment
14
Aug 09

Planning A Campus “Tweetup”

"What's a tweetup?"  These were the first words out of our associate director's mouth when I told him I wanted to plan a UNC campus tweetup to coincide with a personal branding/new media workshop I'm delivering in September.  A tweetup is an in-person meeting of twitter users, typically organized by geographic region.

This summer I've had the pleasure of connecting with a fairly diverse range of Twitter users from our campus — from students to faculty to staff to the dean of the Kenan Flagler Business School.  So, I had the idea to get these folks together in one room to talk about their Twitter experiences and meet each other face-to-face (okay, I probably won't be able to get the dean to come…).  Coupling the event with a presentation that includes how-to information about a few new media tools — including Twitter — just seemed to make good sense.

Then I had the idea to go beyond pitching the event only to those currently using Twitter.  I reached out to the Daily Tar Heel, our student-run newspaper, and asked if they would like to sign on as informal co-sponsors of the event and incorporate an educational slant by encouraging students to come and informally learn about Twitter and how it can be used professionally.  We won't be doing any presentations, just casual conversation about how the tool can be used.

We've slated the event for September 28, and we'll just have to hold out to see how well it goes.  I have no doubt that the dozen or so active campus program users of Twitter will come, and I also have no doubt that some number of the more-dedicated student user will come.  But, the big question is:  will the event attract the "simply curious" or the "been meaning to learn" crowd?

Have you done a campus tweetup at your institution?  If so, how did it go and what ideas or thoughts would you share with others contemplating hosting one?

Tom
Original post
Poll — 1 Comment
12
Aug 09

Tuesday Tally – Does Your SA Office Have An Employed Technology Expert?

This week’s Tuesday Tally was inspired by a question posted on The Student Affairs Collaborative Forum.

If you cannot view this poll click here.


And here are the results from the last poll.

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