Deciding which interviews to accept? It's a balancing act.

Why can’t it just be that you are assigned 10 schools to interview with, you go do those, and then choose from any offers that result?

Have you ever watched a movie where the main character is like “Oh, my life is so hard, two people are in love with me!” And their funny sidekick friend is like “That must be such a horrible problem for you to have.” Whenever I’ve seen a movie like that I’ve instantly disliked the main character. Really? You’re going to complain about having more than one person that likes you? That must be just a terrible problem for you. I would instantly side with the friend, who usually got stuck petting a dog at the end as everyone else paired off. This was perhaps because I never had two attractive suitors chasing after me at the same time.

This is not meant to sound overly confident, but it is really hard when all the schools you sent interest letters to sent letters back saying “Let’s set up an interview!” Because then, in all the excitement of feeling wanted by these institutions, you set up interviews with ALL of them. Like when the main character decides to date both people at the same time. It’s stressful, it’s tiring, there’s wacky hijinks. And I’ve never felt bad for that main character until now. It actually is a horrible problem to have.

So that’s where I’m at this week. Currently trying to do a balancing act. I’m thankful to many of my amazing mentors who have been help me process it all on twitter, over email, and in their office as I came crashing in with a bag of Dove chocolates and the look of a crazy person. I’m hoping today to contact a couple schools and apologize for the change, but decline the interview. It would be nice to not stretch out the stress to next week.

Maybe I could also stop imagining myself as a character in a movie.

According to my countdown calendar there are 75 days left until graduation. Job hunting has been sucking up the majority of my time lately. I never thought that working on my thesis would be a nice, relaxing change of pace. I spent the majority of my weekend on that, other homework and just getting away from the whole job search process for a while. And the Olympics. No matter how hard a job search is, at least I’m not required to hurl my body down a mountain of snow with me feet strapped to a board.

Next time: Practice interview questions!

Although I am not a new professional, I am the newest member of the staff of my current office (about 14 months on the job). I blurted out a statement in a meeting the other day that was truly off the cuff.  But, it has since been swirling in my mind.

A portion of our staff were interacting with our Student Ambassadors, and we were giving them our bios and info about what we do in the office. I went through my normal intro of education and professional background. I outlined my primary responsibility of internships. I noted a secondary item of social media utilization. Then, out of nowhere, my mouth says, “as the new guy, I also take it upon myself to be entirely willing to fail. So, I’m the one doing these new events that go down in a blaze of glory.”

I’m not sure why I chose to say that. Partially it was a self-deprecating moment, as I am wont to do. Partially it was meant as a lighthearted moment. But, there was a kernel of truth in there.

Although I don’t mean to imply I’m never disappointed when things don’t work out, I do find it exhilarating to try new things. And with that must come the occasional failure.

Case in point, last fall my office held a “Career Week” of events. Having interacted with the RoadTrip Nation folks via Twitter, I thought inviting them to campus for a screening would be a great end to that week.  I convinced my colleagues. We rolled out the red carpet, did a bunch of marketing and booked a 300 seat auditorium in the Union.

One student showed up.

That’s right, one.

Now I was entirely embarrassed that it occurred, and I found myself compelled to repeatedly apologize to the RTN folks, who (to their credit) didn’t seem phased at all. But, in truth, I’m still very glad we tried it.  Although it didn’t even come close to being a “success,” I am still driven to try new things and experiment and give my best shot to things that aren’t guaranteed to succeed.

I’m fortunate to have a supervisor and director who were also happy with the experimentation and not disappointed with the response (or if they were, they hid it very well), and that’s part of how I know I’m in the right place. I’m glad I work with people who encourage new attempts and activities.

Will we repeat the same event in the same way? Of course not. But, we attempted, we failed, we learned, we grew. And isn’t that what education is really all about?  It’s been attributed to many over the years.  But, it deserved repeat here:  If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough.

The NACADA Technology Seminar at the NACADA Region 8 Conference resulted in a lot of Twitter activity. As the lead faculty at the technology seminar I was very pleased with the level of professional engagement that occurred on Twitter. Participants used Twitter hashtags (#NACADATech or #NACADAR8) to create a back channel of connectivity. It was inspiring to see so many of the technology seminar participants using their Twitter skills during the conference. Hundreds of NACADA-related tweets were generated!

Here are the top contributors:

#NACADATECH:
@ericstoller (24)
@oakvich (23)
@UOAdvDir (15)
@sally_garner (14)
@laurapasquini (13)
@mavet (7)
@yojpoj (5)
@OSUMary (4)
@tbump (4)
@dmmoos (3)
@OSU_UESP (3)
@stephaniehambli (3)

#NACADAR8:
@ericstoller (25)
@kurtxyst (23)
@cschwenn (15)
@oakvich (15)
@sally_garner (13)
@UOAdvDir (7)
@ReaAdvising (5)
@laurapasquini (3)
@OSU_UESP (3)
@AdvisorLoftis (2)
@BilOregon (2)
@carmenincalgary (2)
@OGPY (2)

PS: Thanks to Julie Meloni for providing me with the NACADA hashtag stats.

Tags: academic advising, hashtag, Higher Education, nacada, NACADA Tech, sachat, seattle, social media, social networking, student affairs, student affairs technology, technology, twitter

Slightly hidden, due to a minuscule font size, within the recent ACPA eCommunity email update was an interesting question: “Are You Ready To Mingle?” Intrigued, I read the rest of the “mingle” text:

Are You Ready To Mingle?
Engage in real life social networking at the Boston 2010 Annual Convention. This new and innovative technology enables attendees to simply ‘click to connect’ at the event and then share their online profiles after the event.

With over 4,500 ACPA members expected to attend the Annual Convention in Boston, the MingleStick may provide an interesting means for folks to exchange contact information. Instead of business cards, attendees can use the MingleStick to exchange electronic profiles. This is slightly similar to the iPhone Bump app. I predict that there will be a lot of digital mingling at ACPA.

The MingleStick plugs in via USB to your computer, uploads its data to the MingleStick website and allows you to browse your recent connections. An individual’s profile information is dependent on what they have included in their public MingleStick profile.

I’m co-presenting a session titled “Wise and Connected – Demystifying Social Media for SSAOs and Directors.” I have a feeling that we will end up polling the room to see who is using a MingleStick and whether or not they are including their Facebook and Twitter accounts on their public MingleStick profiles.

What do you think? Will you engage in digital mingling at ACPA via a MingleStick?

Tags: acpa, Boston, facebook, Higher Education, MingleStick, sachat, social networking, student affairs, student affairs technology, technology, twitter

Like many institutions, my university participates in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to measure programs and activities that enhance student learning and personal development. The purpose of NSSE is to help identify areas to improve the undergraduate experience in and out of the classroom.

The scholarship program that I coordinate hosts a first-year seminar course each fall for the 100 recipients of the award. The course is loosely based on the University 101 model framed by John Gardner when he was at the University of South Carolina. It follows an orientation and transition format and includes community-building activities for our program. We have a large group lecture for one hour each week and students meet in recitation groups of a dozen students for a second hour weekly.

In the NSSE spirit of enhancing the course experience and engaging our students, we try to integrate fun and a bit of technology for student projects. Our latest adventure was digital storytelling. Staff and peer mentors selected random movie genres, and a student from each recitation section drew from the genre options. We shared examples of digital storytelling and creating storyboards. We suggested task assignments such as videographer, actor, writer, and film editing to help the project go more smoothly. We made certain to review campus computer labs for the appropriate editing software in advance and provided this information to students. Finally, we stocked up on sale priced Flip Camcorders and gave this assignment to students:

• Create a media project that embodies the transition to college and your first semester experience.
• Final Project: No longer than 5 minutes and must include a flash mob.

The final productions were screened during our class “Film Festival” complete with popcorn and soda. Students were encouraged to vote for “Best Picture” and create award categories to fit the projects. Winning productions were featured on our student-run cable news channel.

There were a few bumpy roads throughout the ten-week project, but overall the response and student evaluations of the project assured us that students were engaged and most importantly, community was achieved. On an unexpected side note, our first semester grade point average rose to the highest level in five years, with no change in entering student academic profile. Of course we already look forward to repeating the project with our next student cohort.

Check out the final productions and let me know what you think.

Mystery/Thriller

Blair Witch

Western

Romantic Comedy

Action/Adventure

Musical

Crime/Gangster Part I and Part II

Zombie

Like many of my colleagues in student affairs, my first job in the profession was the result of a student leadership experience, student tour guide to be exact. My work as an admissions tour guide as an undergraduate later led to a position as an admissions recruiter for a small private college. I like to think that working in admissions, helping students with their college decision-making, is where I honed facilitation skills that are critical to my current work. I had a couple of gigs as a director of admissions before turning my sights to program coordination.

Stanford business professor Robert Sutton suggests employees need predictability, understanding, control, and compassion. As anyone who has spent even a few months in a student affairs position can tell you, those items are few and far between. You learn early in your career that student affairs hours include nights, weekends, and other duties as assigned. The concerns of an 18-year old in college differ from year to year. Reactions to course assignments or program activities may not communicate their message or be perceived as useful. Faculty and academic units question the value of student affairs programming and services, particularly in challenging financial times. Student affairs professionals do, however, provide predictability, understanding, control, and compassion…for our students.

The graduate assistants who have worked in my unit over the years have enhanced my work and life. They went from grad to pro and are now high school teachers, logistics managers, academic advisors, independent consultants, and campus activity and orientation coordinators. Each of these individuals had an opportunity to make a difference in student lives. They used their creativity, energy, and enthusiasm to make our university a better place for students. When I think of my colleagues at the Student Affairs Collaborative, you may find us in campus activities, student union management, leadership development, residence life, career planning, scholarship programs, and consulting. Those paper titles do not include the personal counseling, financial advising, academic enhancement, and other duties as assigned that we provide on a daily basis.

I borrowed the title for this post from a former graduate assistant who is now blazing trails of her own. She used the analogy that Student Affairs is like a box of chocolates for a course assignment and it really stuck with me.

Student Affairs is:

• Being a generalist in helping, listening, organizing, and facilitating, while a specialist in your position.
• Never growing up as you surround yourself with 18-22 year olds.
• Spending your life by the academic year calendar.
• Justifying your existence with the belief that higher education is also about the out-of-classroom experience.
• A real profession.

Student Affairs professionals work hard to make our colleges and universities more welcoming, engaging, and understanding for students because we believe in higher education and all that it offers. We get up every morning and face the day with a smile, because we never know what we’re going to get.

How do you define your work in student affairs?

The Student Affairs Collaborative blog is a popular multi-author Student Affairs site. The SA Blog, as it’s popularly referred to on Twitter, contains a lot of relevant student affairs reflections, polls and information from a variety of student affairs professionals. Yesterday, I was invited to be a member of the Student Affairs Collaborative blog. From now on, all of my posts that are tagged with “sachat” (short for Student Affairs Chat) will be auto-aggregated via RSS into the SA blog. This will be similar to how my current “higher-education” tagged posts get auto-magically posted to the Blog High Ed site.

Note, content repurposing via RSS will be a featured topic at the NACADA Technology Seminar in Seattle on January 24th.

Tags: aggregation, Higher Education, nacada, NACADA Tech, RSS, sachat, student affairs, student affairs technology

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!

As millions of college students return to their respective campuses, they come armed with a backpack of technological tools, ready to learn and interact with us. For them, they have their cell phone or smart phone; laptop; Ipod, and their Facebook accounts in their backpack. As Student Affairs professionals, who work and live with these students, what's in our "Techno Backpack?" SA folks need to stay ahead of the technological curve if they want to balance work and personal lives, build their respective SA communities, and connect with their student populations. Here are the top 4 pieces of "technology" I recommend that all of my colleagues in Higher Education get acquainted with, and put in their backpacks:

1. Online Group Meeting Manager
We all know that scheduling "group meetings" take up valuable time and energy, so how can you make this process more efficient? Use an Online Group Meeting Manager like Schedule Once! This is a Google product that allows you to send your available times out to as many people as you want, track their responses and even gives you the best time and day for your meeting!

Similar Sites: WhenIsGood, Meet-O-Matic, Doodle, TimeBridge, and Congregar.

2. Event Invitations
While I still like using Faceook Events to advertise, Anyvite is a relatively new online  tool, that simply rocks. The interface is easy to use and not a bad addition to whatever your office or organization uses right now to send out event or program invitations. Plus, if you use Twitter, it integrates very well with it. Try it with a few of your Fall programs, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Similar sites: Invite43, Pingg, Crush3R and PhoneVite (I think PhoneVite is very cool and would be interested trying it out also, unless someone you know has already used it?)

3. Google Voice
This, by far, is one of my favorite new things in the Technology world. It is a internet phone service that allows you to pick ONE phone number that you can choose to ring your mobile, and/or work, and/or home phones all at the same time! This way, you're not giving out multiple phone numbers, just one! If you are already a Gmail user (which I also recommend for email!), you can import all your contacts into it from Outlook or any other "address book", set up "call" groups, individualized voice mail prompts, etc. For example, if you gave your Google Voice number to your colleagues at work, you can set it up to ring your mobile and work phone so you don't miss their calls. You could also set up a family group so that when any of them called you, it would ring your home and mobile phone. It was released this past June and you need to "sign up" to get an invite at the Google Voice website. Check out this video for more information:

4. Miscellaneous Tech:

Internet Browsers: Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome

If you still happen to use any version of Internet Explorer, please stop using them right now, and download one or both of the above browsers and see what you have been missing! Don't use IE unless you absolutely have to!

Anti-Virus / Malware Program: AVG Anti-Virus (free version, but it worked so well, I bought the full version!)

While I believe that software programs like Norton, Microsoft Forefront, and McAfee are good, the best all around software I've come across is AVG Anti-Virus and AVG Internet Security. Give the free version a try at home and see how it works for you.

PC Optimization Software: PC Pitstop (free version, but it worked so well, I bought the full version!)

Why wait for your IT Support folks to come by to "speed" up your computer? This software will do it for you for free and it works great. The full version gives you a complete tune up, while the free version just does some of the basics.

What do you use that isn't on this list? I'm always interested in finding new pieces of fun technology so please share here! Best wishes to all for a great opening to the Fall Semester!