September « 2009 « The Student Affairs Collaborative

September, 2009

Event Ideas — No Comments
30
Sep 09

The Pedagogical Value of a Day Off

As an undergraduate freshman at Hollins University, I was introduced to a strange holiday (unique to the Hollins campus). Every fall, just after the first frost, the chapel bells would begin to toll early in the morning…very, VERY early in the morning. Tinker Day was upon us. When you heard the bells, you were to spring from your bed and head to the cafeteria (remaining in your most comfortable jammies), where you would be treated to a breakfast of Krispie Kreme donuts. After breakfast, all of us would run to our dorms where we would put on our wackiest outfits (purchased weeks before at a thrift store in anticipation) and then meet on the front quad. The president (similarly garbed) would give a speech, announcing that classes were canceled and the entire student body would proceed to Tinker Mountain…which we then climbed. At the top of the mountain, each class (freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior) would perform a skit and we ate fried chicken.

It seems nonsensical…and it is. But as an educator and advisor, I can see the pedagogical value in Tinker Day. We were given a day off. Without warning, without any reason–in essence, we were given a student "mental health day." How often do you want to take mental health days as a professional? We were given a collective break from our worries. We were allowed to laugh and bond with the entire university (that includes faculty and staff). I can't tell you the number of times I watched one student help another on the way up that mountain. That kind of experience stays with you–you remember when someone goes out of their way to help you to reach a goal (in the same way that teachers and advisors help students reach the "goal" of their degree). And when we reached the top of the mountain, we reached it with our classmates. We shared in the journey and we shared in the rewards.

So I think about Tinker Day when I'm teaching my classes each semester. When my students look particularly stressed, when their Facebook status messages are depressed, when they're loaded down with work for their other classes…I look at my own syllabus. I ask myself if a given lesson plan can wait for a week (I usually build a bit of flexibility into my syllabi)…and then I cancel class. Sometimes even an extra hour of time can make a difference to a student who is a little behind. As teachers, we have the power to give our students the gift of a day off–my students really appreciate it.

Daniel W. Murphy

Original post

A Millennial’s Confession

I have a confession to make… I am special. It’s not my fault that I’m special, I’m just living up to the expectations that have been placed on me by the people who designed my generation. By designers, I don’t necessarily mean my parents as much as you all… the Boomers and the X-ers.

I was born in 1982. While some say that the Millennials started a few years prior (or after), I’ve most often seen 1982 as the start of Generation Y. This works for me… after all, we were also the first class of the “new millennium,” hoping that the world wouldn’t end just months before we graduated from high school. Contrary to many in my generation I didn’t have a cell phone until I went to college, the Facebook boom hit right as I started graduate school, I didn’t own a digital camera until I was 23, and I’m not even a toddler by twitterverse standards. My tech savyness comes from a willingness to play and a curiosity for the world encouraged by the possibilities created by Generation X.

As tends to happen in a given week I was sitting in a meeting discussing what we needed to do for “this generation” with some campus colleagues. Cut to a scene from “Mean Girls” in which Cady Heron, in an attempt to woo Aaron Samuels, is downplaying her mathematical prowess so that she can get some help. As Aaron begins to answer her questions we are privy to the conversation in Cady’s head that goes something like “Wrong,” “So Wrong,” “Wrong, wrong, wrong.” I guess that’s a pretty dramatic example but I can admit that I’ve had thought process myself once or twice.

If my math serves me correct, Millennials have been working in Student Affairs for about three or four years now. The majority of us probably serve as the Coordinators or Assistant Directors on your campuses. Some of my peers have already stepped into Director roles… we are ambitious after all. Or, we’ve just recently unleashed our first bit of research in the field through our Doctoral candidates, now graduates. All of this to lead up to my next confession: we’re already here!

There’s a fallacy out there that we crave structure. Structure can be good, but I think what we really crave is clear expectations and established boundaries. Within those boundaries, however, we seek the freedom to play. Just like with technology, we like to look at problems as an opportunity to find a new way of doing things. If we are given a task and then given steps 1 through 8 to complete it… that is what the product will be.

(A question I’ve often pondered: What if our contracts were designed to promote the actions that we hope to see from our students as opposed to a list of actions/activities that are off limits? Are the contracts really designed to help with student learning, or are they to make it easier on us that have the difficult conversations? Your thoughts?)

Trust is big for us. We need to feel like we’re trusted to do our jobs. That can be hard though, because sometimes we don’t look like we’re working – I get that. The thing is that many of us have made ourselves so available via emerging technologies that we’ve entered a world of being perpetually on-call. Maybe it’s because I was one of those students writing the 2:00am emails and asking for references due in two days that I extend a bit of patience (and an understanding smile) to the students I work with. Truth be told… I was the one checking my email at 2:00am to know they sent the message. Our attempt at development will be more warmly received if we’ve established trust.

There is one place we get ourselves into trouble… we do have a tendency to think that we’re always right. My “Mean Girls” moments are a testament to that. Be patient with us… more often than not we come back around. A lot of us learn best by making mistakes. As a professional I’ve recognized that we have moments at work that there is “no fail option.” It’s important that we learn that lesson too, but I can tell you that if I’m given a chance to mess up… that same mistake won’t happen again.

I have some other confessions to make:

-I didn’t proof this before I submitted it… that’s Microsoft Word’s job. Not to mention those little green wiggly lines don’t even make sense, no one actually talks like that.

-I called my mom before I sat down to write this. It’s the third time we’ve talked this week… oh, and there have been a few emails too. After all, my parents have been the ones who have believed in me from the beginning and told me that I can do, or be, anything.

-I’m also “gchatting” with a former student and tweeting simultaneously. That’s just an attention span issue…

-Oh, and I’ve watched all five of the” Bring It On” movies (yes, there are five). That actually has nothing to do with being a Millennial, I just felt the need to get that one off of my chest.

Now, I make no promises that what I have to say applies to every Millennial. After all, I’m not the only one that is special – we all are! I’m just saying that I think it’s time we change the conversation a little. “This generation” is in the room and if we have a chance to play, we all might be surprised.

Cindy

Original post

Work/Life Balance — 2 Comments
28
Sep 09

To Do…Doing…Still Doing…Not yet Done?

Hi folks. Am I the only one out here in SABlogger land that feels like the academic year has been long already and it's barely even a month?

During the craziest days on the job in student activities I always notice that things get most out of control when I lose sight of all of the great time management lessons I have learned over the years. It never fails, but on the worst days I see that my To Do List is a mess, my voice mails are piling up, and I've lost track of every committment I have made that day while also having no idea what the next day will bring. Sound familiar? Well, I'm here to offer some quick time management tips both in an effort to share my experience and also to force myself to take another look at how my semester's been going! So, I'm admitting to being a little selfish…but here we go:

1 – Is it time for a planner makeover?

If you're like me, I can't go completely techie in time management so there's still some element of paper in my time management life. Check out your planner and make sure it's keeping track of the right information for you. If you're using the same "monthly calendar boxes" planner that you've used since your junior year in college, it might be time to see what else is out there. Make sure your planner or other tool is helping you to manage your tasks, helping you to manage what kinds of tasks you are agreeing to complete, and helping you manage your appointments.

2 – Take time for power planning!

Whether you are most productive in the morning or at night, take ten minutes and force yourself to plan your To Do List for the day ahead and review the day's prior events. Don't just spend three minutes doing it. Force yourself to take the full ten so that you offer yourself the benefit of a little clarity before the day gets hectic. Don't you deserve it?

3 – Plan based on your roles!

We all play so many roles in life – employee, sibling, spouse, mentor, volunteer, parent, manager – list them all. Now that you've mastered your daily planning routine, take that up a notch and plan based on your roles for the week ahead. Set at least one focus for each role so that you work to maintain some degree of balance. For example, if you're a mom and you're also having a crazy week at work, this will assure that your 'mom stuff' still gets some airtime whether it's a small task like "enroll kiddo in swimming lessons" or a big one that makes sure you save time to go pick out a new bike.

4 – Take control of your calendar life, too!

No one says that you have to attend every meeting just because someone asks. Make sure your time is scheduled "on purpose, for a purpose" and start asserting the importance of your personal time. If someone schedules a meeting and you don't know why you are going, ask them! If you feel your participation in a committee is a duplication of someone else's role, then talk with your supervisor about what he or she is looking for. Also, if you reciprocate the value of people's time by making sure your meetings have clear and communicated agendas it will let people realize how kind it is to have that kind of consideration.

I could go on and on here, but let's hear from you! What are your favorite tips to keep things afloat? Student affairs folks, I know you're great at this stuff so let the comments roll!!

Have a great week!

Amybeth

Original post

Uncategorized — No Comments
19
Sep 09

New sitcom, Community

As a community college administrator, I was all set to dislike the new show “Community” but then I read the interview (posted below) with the creator and after watching the show I’m not offended at all, but intrigued. It’s not as funny as I would like but I think it shows promise. Chevy Chase’s character is the best one so far, in my opinion. In fact this show may be a proponent to the best kept secret of a community college which is the relationship building aspect and the notion that one size does not fit all. Joel McHale declared in the first episode that, “If I wanted to learn something, I wouldn’t have come to community college.” Well, I see that as a set up for the whole show as we watch these characters learn a lot about themselves and their potential. So I’m going to give this show a chance to fully develop before I judge it one way or another!

The following news article is reprinted from the Community College Times:

Q&A with Dan Harmon, creator of ‘Community’
By CCTIMES, Published September 10, 2009
CC Times: What made you decide to use a community college setting for the sit-com?

Four or five years ago, I took a few classes at Glendale Community College in California. I was acing my biology exams, which a few classmates noticed, so they kind of cornered me during a smoke break and asked if I would study with them. Like the Joel McHale character in the show, I’m kind of a self-centered jerk, but it would have been too awkward to say “no,” so there I was, late at night, in a library study room with these strangers. And then, we all got a handle on the material we were studying, all at the same time, and I got this weird feeling, because I had never connected with strangers. I had never been part of a “community.” And then I thought, “I should sell this as a TV show for a bunch of money,” because I’m a self-centered jerk.

CC Times: What role will the college itself (its administrators, policies, etc.) play in the program? Or will it be more simply a setting, like in other sit-coms set at a high school or college?

It’s definitely just a setting. All shows are just sticking a bunch of people in a jar and shaking it. Sometimes the jar is a spaceship, or a desert island or a school, but it’s not what’s really important. That’s why I wanted to call the show “Community” and not “Community College.” That being said, the shape of this jar is a community college, and I am definitely using the school itself—including the administration of it—to shake the jar. For example, the dean of Greendale is a university graduate that seems to think his job is to put Greendale Community College on the map, and a certain percentage of stories are motivated by his misguided ambitions.

CC Times: You have talked with some community college officials about the show. What were those discussions about? Were they offering technical suggestions for the program?

Like you, they just wanted to know if we were going to make fun of them.

We shoot some of our exterior scenes on a local city college’s campus. The officials of that college had an understandable need to be sure they weren’t taking part in something that “makes fun of community colleges.” And there’s a huge organization of like 1,200 community colleges whose representatives called our producers to ask, of course, “Are you making fun of community colleges?” And I think you’ll be asking me that question later in this interview, so I’ll let the suspense build until then.

CC Times: Why did you decide to set the college in Colorado?

I think it was when the wardrobe lady asked me where the story was happening because she needed to know if people should be wearing mittens or shorts. I’m hoping we’ll be able to see and feel the seasons changing throughout the year, so I picked a spot somewhere in the middle of the country.

CC Times: What are you pulling for the show from your experience attending a community college?

Certainly the emotional component that I touched on earlier—there’s a feeling of actual “community” that I don’t think can exist in any other kind of school. Some people are rounding out their lives, some people are building a future, but unlike at a university, you’re not going to find anyone wandering a community college campus saying, “I don’t really know what I want from life, I’m just here because I want to take the path of least resistance.” A lot of people are on “missions” at a community college.

CC Times: The show’s characters—and the faux college’s Web site—were realistically developed in that they represent transfer students, high school students, older learners and others who reflect the community college student body. Was that pulled from your experiences at a community college?

The fact that in a community college, the student sitting next to you could be absolutely anyone was very inspiring to me, and I wanted to take full advantage of it by assembling a diverse group, each with very different reasons for enrolling at Greendale, but there was no particular category of student at the college I attended that I adapted into a character for the show.

CC Times: Being a former community college student, are you sensitive to any particular issues regarding community colleges, such as the stereotype that they offer low-quality education? How will you handle those issues on the show, if at all?

I wasn’t aware of any issues regarding community colleges when I was attending one. But when I was researching community colleges to write the pilot, I became aware, for the first time, of the “movement” to bring more four-year degrees to colleges with open admissions. I also became aware of the less-vocal but more-powerful counter-movement to deny community colleges four-year degrees. At first glance, and also at second glance, it sure seems like pretty blatant policing of an entrenched but unacknowledged class system. Rich people only want other rich people to have access to rich people’s careers. I’d like to shine a light on that at certain points during the series. Of course, I have to find a funny way to do it.

CC Times: As you know, some community colleges are sensitive to such perceptions. A few have already said they don’t want anything to do with “Community,” while others are taking a more wait-and-see approach, even hosting viewing parties for the initial pilot. What would you say to folks to alleviate their concerns that two-year colleges are not the “target” for the show?

Come on, is there really a community college out there that has declared they don’t want anything to do with my TV show? That’s kind of awesome. Did the administrator stand on the quad and read the announcement from a scroll? I will assume that the concerns I’m alleviating are of the more reasonable nature, such as people hoping, for the good of community colleges, that Greendale Community College will not be a total dump where all the teachers are stupid and the roof is leaking. It’s not.

Now, I will say this, because I am more interested in telling stories than I am interested in selling community college: Joel McHale’s character does rag on Greendale now and then. He considers himself above it. But it’s quite clear to the audience that his character is wrong to judge Greendale that way. Greendale is an underdog school. Like most of the characters in our ensemble, it’s not heavily funded nor highly regarded by the world around it. But the bottom line is, when you’re watching the show, you’re glad those people are there, and you’re rooting for the college. And you want to be there taking classes. So, it’s essentially a half hour commercial for community college. And that, coupled with Obama out there calling it the “backbone of the nation,” is definitely not going to discourage enrollment or morale.

# # # # # # #

Tom

Original post

Poll — 3 Comments
15
Sep 09

Tuesday Tally – Rank Which Days/Times Would Generally Work Best For #sachat For You?

Recognizing that our SA community has grown rather large and filled with many knowledgeable professionals, next week The SA Blog will begin facilitating a weekly Student Affairs Chat (#sachat) on Twitter based on the models already used by #edchat and #journchat. In my next post I’ll explain more about the #sachat outline and structure. But to start we need to know what week days/times work best for the most number of people.

If you cannot view this poll click here.

And here are the results from the last poll.

Jeff

Original post

Uncategorized — No Comments
14
Sep 09

Forecasting the Future in Higher Ed

I read a scary article from Friday's Washington Post entitled "A Virtual Revolution is Brewing for Colleges" that reinforced something I've been saying for the last 6 months. The world is changing and higher education is firmly in the crosshairs of this technological revolution. This is not a revolutionary idea, Clay Shirky, professor at NYU, predicted the coming tidal wave caused by the lowered cost of coordination and communication in his talk from the TED conference in 2005 entitled Institutions vs Collaboration saying that any institution that relies on information monopoly would be directly affected by the change in technology. Sound familiar? Higher Ed is essentially founded on a delivery of information from a group that has the information to a group that doesn't. We seem to be firmly in the crosshairs of this revolution and we should be aware of it.

So where is this all going? I don't think you can replicate the on-campus experience. I think students will continue to want the experience of living in a communal experience with their peers, termed by others as a youth-centric subculture. However, anything that does not directly affect this cultural experience is easily replicated at lower cost and with easier delivery by use of technology.

Want to live stream your class all over the world? This has become infinitely easier in the last 5 years. Want to have live real time class discussion by text? Welcome to Twitter, google documents and the coming Google Wave frame shift.

The market does seem ripe for an entrepreneur with deep enough pockets to create the campus experience and a willingness to facilitiate the cheap delivery of classes. As the article said, community colleges and for-profit schools are ALREADY working on affecting this technology.

Forecasting is a critical skill for work in our fast changing world. How the technological revolution will affect our individual jobs and our institutions is still in the works, but it seems obvious at this point that it will. Are you ready for the coming tidal wave?

Michael Cashman

Original post

Creativity / Event Ideas / Low Cost Programming / Series Programming — 2 Comments
14
Sep 09

Random Days of Fun

Those of us who facilitate students activities know that a
lot goes into brainstorming, planning, advertising/executing, and evaluating our
programs. We can spend days, weeks and sometimes even months going through the
process. Though these more sophisticated programs are a blast to plan and
execute, simple programs that require very little planning can also be
favorites and successes.

One of the things our office does to supplement our
programming calendar is to coordinate monthly Random Days of Fun such as
International Talk Like a Pirate Day (just for fun), Bubble Wrap Appreciation
Day (a great stress reliever), and Licorice Day (accompanied with the history),
just to name a few. These activities occur in the college center just outside
our office. We table for two hours, handing out items and using the theme of
the day to interact with our students. The days go largely unpublicized and
tend to grab the students by surprise – making it random fun!

Last year was our first time implementing these Random Days
of Fun. One gained so much popularity it has become the kick off to this year’s
RDF series. September 19^thwill mark our 2^nd annual
International Talk like a Pirate Day celebration. Therefore,
we gunna once again celebrate by spendin' a pair o’ hours handin' out temporary
tattoos, eye patches, chocolate coins 'n other scurvy pirate booty. Additionally,
we gunna take pictures 'o students wit' scurvy pirate apparel.

Days like these have been very successful due to the buy in
from our colleagues. Administrators like our Vice President and our Director of
Residence Life get in the spirit by going by their Pirate Names http://www.froggynet.com/cgi-bin/pirate.cgi
for the day.

I encourage others to consider adding Random Days of Fun to your programming
calendar. Get started with International Talk like a Pirate Day http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html.
For more ideas, visit http://www.brownielocks.com/

Original post

Collaborative Learning / Social Networks / Technology and Programming — 2 Comments
14
Sep 09

Examples of How I Use Twitter In Student Affairs

Since my last blog post about connecting with students over Twitter, I've had some wonderful responses and conversations. Jeff Lail and I have been having a great on-going conversation regarding practical uses and examples of Twitter in Student Affairs and I thought, why not share it them with all of you?

1. Use Twitter Search to Find Students Who are On Twitter

Every day I do "Twitter Searches" for "Bridgewater
State" and "BSC" in them and try to reach out to students who "tweet"
about anything regarding the school. It's like a living "Customer
Service" line that I want to answer and follow up on. I also follow those users for future tweets and if they follow back, then I send them a Direct Message thanking them and seeing how they are doing at school.

2. Create Opportunities for Conversation

On Facebook, our Campus Center fan page
tries to engage our fans by asking questions and looking for
responses. For example, last Friday, Sept. 11th, we asked "Where were you 8 years ago" and we had 10, very honest and real responses. Remember, while sharing information is important, Social Media is about the conversation.

3. Ask for Opinions

We also will post polls to our followers to gather information and opinions. Our latest poll asked our fans and followers
what our Campus Center "Tag Line/Slogan" should be and it linked them
our online poll, which brought users to our website. The response has been
great so far!

4. Connecting with Faculty

I also reach out to classes using Twitter. For example,
the latest class I found was a Communication class being taught by professor Nancy VanLeuven that is using the hashtag #BSCPR and I try to connect with those students and Nancy. She is a great resource who is using Twitter very well. It reminds me of another great example from the University of Texas at Dallas from professor Monica Rankin. I wish all professors would at least consider doing this!

How are you using Twitter in Student Affairs? I hope this list is helpful, and keep Tweeting!

Kevin

Original post

Technology and Programming — No Comments
14
Sep 09

Playing Catch Up: College and the Web

"We shape our tools and then our tools shape us." – Marshall McLuhan

You've probably heard the term "Web 2.0." The
idea was that the changes in how the internet worked over the last 8
years were profound enough to warrant a whole new version. While the
term has come to embody a whole host of ideas, for our purposes, I'm
going to focus on one main idea: the shift from one to many to many to
many.

At the beginning of the web, pages were
published and static. The web surfer could read or look at multimedia.
The early web was a book, magazine or television experience, delivered
via the computer. There was one publisher and many readers. It was
profound because there could be many publishers which massively
expanded the total content. Soon the content was searchable. It was a
good start.

The expanding "Web 2.0"
insight is that the web, unlike previous mass media, does not have to
be one way communication. The website does not have to just publish, it
can be a conversation. Site visitors can leave comments, upload
pictures, or edit the content on the website, and these new features
provide a mass media experience entirely different than anything that
has come before it.

The idea of allowing
anyone to edit a website, enabled by a simple software tool called
"wiki," lead to the explosive growth of Wikipedia. Turns out thousands
of people around the world wanted to donate their time and expertise to
a repository of human knowledge. Wikipedia was the first to let them.

We
are social animals, and it didn't take long for this preference to come
to front. Comments were better if we could see the person behind them.
Pictures were more interesting with a little back story. Interacting
with the content of the site quickly became interacting with the people
of the site. "Social networking" sites were the logical extreme of this
shift back to our foundational values.

Sites like Facebook and
Twitter prioritized the human and the social – people came first, with
their individual content second. Neither Facebook nor Twitter have any
of their own content. People do not connect to Twitter, they connect to
other people using Twitter. These sites, and many others, are
successful because they skipped the publishing model entirely and went
right to a connecting and aggregating model. These sites don't produce,
they collect content from the users and manage the delivery of that
content through the network.

The difference
of these approaches is the difference between an expert publisher, and
an old style telephone operator working the switchboard. Amazingly
enough, it is now the "telephone operator" business models that are
worth billions and the "expert" business models that are in trouble.

Web 1.0: The "expert" publisher

Web 2.0: The connector and content aggregation

As the competition for
attention heats up, and social sites experience explosive growth, firms
that have a publishing model, like the New York Times, are desperately
trying to figure out how they can make their offering more social.

To
make a website "social" is to add functionality that allows site
visitors to actively interact with each other, to move from viewer to
participant. Site owners see social features as a way to get users to
stick around longer – because people are more interesting than content.

The desire to add "social" to a core
function of an institution is not new to higher education. Student
Unions were some of the first institutional efforts to make college
more social. Students wanted to connect with each other, and, when it
happened, this connection created belonging, engagement, collaboration,
enhanced learning, and community. Student affairs, through student
activities specifically, has long stressed providing students with
opportunities to interact and socialize.

Based on the incredible investment of universities in social
architecture: in quads, residence halls and lounges, it's ironic that
most universities still do not see the internet as cost effective
social venue, despite the countless examples online.

People want to socialize with their peers, both in person and online.
Facebook's massive growth rate, and continued use, within college
networks proves a
profound need and opportunity was (and is) there. Universities just
couldn't see how to extend the old value and investment into connecting
and learning, to the new field.

It is still a challenge. Universities are following along the same
trends of the internet as a whole, with a bit of a lag. College
websites are still mostly "web 1.0": characterized by static content,
controlled by a centralized office. Curriculum and learning is still
centralized and controlled in learning managment systems like
Blackboard. Where there are discussion features in Blackboard, the
content stays centralized with the class and is lost at the end of the
term. Where there are blogs on university websites, they tend to be
written by selected and edited "brand ambassadors" – an attempt to put
a real face on a preferred message.

This year, often led by the
admissions department, it has become fashionable for schools to use
social media links on their sites. The thinking, however, is still
mostly in the 1.0 paradigm: "follow the school on twitter" or "become a
fan of the university on Facebook." In this paradigm, the university is
still the focus, a one to many publisher.

Based on competition
and financial pressures, businesses based on publishing models are
scrambling to decentralize, lower cost structures, and move their
models towards connecting and aggregating. When will the paradigm shift
for the University?

When will the goal of university
technology efforts be to connect the students to each other, rather than
connecting the students to the school?

These kind of institutional paradigm shifts – from one to many, to many to many – won't come from just one department. These shifts have to bubble up from many places. Do you think the university can catch up?

Cindy

Original post

Uncategorized — 5 Comments
13
Sep 09

Item Needed: One Crystal Ball

One of my classes this semester is titled "Intro to Future Studies." The focus of the course is to learn about the field of future forecasting and how to apply the ability to forecast in a range of ways. It's been a great few classes so far and I'm starting to get a little more into using the future forecasting model and evaluating the field of student affairs and campus activities.

One of my upcoming assignments asks me to put a bibliography together of resources about future forecasting as applied to my field of specialty. I had hoped to use campus activities as my specialty, but finding not much out there I expanded to student affairs. Even in student affairs, things are limited so I need to broaden even to higher education administration. This hunt for research brought me to thinking about the process of future forecasting on campus.

When I think of forecasting and various forecasting activities I've been involved in, I come up with a very scattered list. I think of the enrollment management forecasting that has our campus planning for expansion of facilities and looking at how many faculty need to be hired at our institution in the coming years to account for our growing numbers. I also think of the various strategic planning activities that I've been a part of over the course of last year as our campus strives to develop a new plan for the next few years. I also think of various articles that come across my desk relating to leadership development and the skills our students need to develop for the future. What I don't recall, however, is the last time we talked about the future of the campus activities profession.

What does "future forecasting" look like for my profession? We've seen campus activities change from a focus on "keeping students busy" to one that doesn't just encompass entertainment but instead has a list of possible functional areas that could easily spin off into its own division of the college, all with a focus on student learning. Your department may include community service, fraternity/sorority life, orientation, or commuter programs. Or, you may end up managing the campus shuttle service, the campus center, and a huge graphic design and printing operation. With so many varied areas, how can we predict what's ahead? Could the plate of responsibilities grow even more vast? Or, will the time for a back to basics focus come around again?

Here are some trends that I think we need to talk about…

What will the recent presidential election and the flurry of political enthusiasm on our campuses mean for political organizing on campus and related student organizations?
Campuses across the country are anecdotally reporting significant increases in new student organizations. Why is this happening and what are future implications?
Where will the pendulum swing in the next ten years relating to student involvement? Are the students of the next decade likely to keep embracing the student organizations of today?
Knowing what we know about engaged student learning, what might be ahead for campus activities professionals with respect to involvement in the classroom and our relationships with faculty? Is more collaboration ahead?
What role will social media play in developing community on campus and with outreach to students about our events and programs?

As we juggle so many responsibilities on campus, the list of future trends we need to talk about gets longer and longer.

What future trends do you think will impact our profession?

The Student Affairs Collaborative

Know-how from peers and professionals

September, 2009

The Pedagogical Value of a Day Off

A Millennial’s Confession

To Do…Doing…Still Doing…Not yet Done?

New sitcom, Community

Tuesday Tally – Rank Which Days/Times Would Generally Work Best For #sachat For You?

Forecasting the Future in Higher Ed

Random Days of Fun

Item Needed: One Crystal Ball

#sachat on Twitter

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The Student Affairs Collaborative Know-how from peers and professionals

September, 2009

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The Student Affairs Collaborative

Know-how from peers and professionals