HIED 807: Discussion Posts

Introduction

In this activity, you will introduce yourself to your classmates and to the course instructor.

You may elect to create a video using Zoom or post a written response. 

We will be using Zoom throughout this course. Creating an introductory video will not only allow me and your fellow students to learn more about you in your own voice, it will also give you the opportunity to become familiar with an important course too. Your video should be brief, no more than 1 – 2 minutes. For detailed instructions see: HIED807_Zoom_Instructions.docx

If you elect to provide a written response, I would encourage you to add a photograph of yourself.

Videos and/or written posts should answer the following questions:

  1. Provide a brief introduction, including your name, where you are in the M.Ed. program, etc.
  2. If you have had the opportunity to work as an academic or other type of adviser, briefly describe your experience here. In other words, what do you already “know” about academic advising?
  3. What would you like to “learn” from this course? Are there topics or areas of special interest to you? 

​Once you have created your discussion post, spend some time listening to/reading the other posts.

Hi everyone, my name is Emily and I am starting my third semester in the M.Ed. Program. I graduated in 2015 from Meredith College with a B.S. in Biology and I have been teaching high school biology and chemistry in China for the past 4.5 years. I have not had the opportunity to work as an academic or other type of adviser in a higher education setting but teaching high school comes with some level of academic advising. As I do not know much about academic advising at a higher education institution, I am excited to learn about it in this class!

I am most interested in learning effective practices regarding academic advising in a higher education setting. Given my experience working with high school students, it will be interesting to see the differences between the issues these two groups of students face.

What Would You Do?

Imagine that you are about to start a journey. You have a vague sense of where you are going, but are unclear about how you will get there or what you may need along the way. Think about who you are as a person. What five things would you bring with you? Why would you bring them?

List your five items in the subject line of your discussion post. Then provide an explanation in the body of the post. Once other students have posted their items/rationales, take a few minutes and review the items. Are there commonalities? What do the items say about them? Use this as an opportunity to engage your fellow students in discussion and learn more about each other.

 

Passport

Small first aid kit

Smart phone

Multi-tool

Coat 

1. Passport 

Traveling with means of identification and proof of national citizenship is vital. In the event that my journey is to a foreign country or if my identity comes into question I would need a way to prove who I am. A passport is also necessary if I need to seek help from embassies or governments. 
 
2. A small first aid kit including a month’s supply of first aid medicine 

Anything can happen on a journey so its important to have emergency antibiotics, benedryl, anti-inflammatory drugs, etc. 

3.My smart phone with a corded solar battery pack 

Most countries have the ability to access digital currencies, so this could provide access to money. Additionally having GPS, digital guide books, the ability to book hotels, and many other uses. 

4. A multi-tool that has at least a knife, pliers, and a flint. 

In the event that my journey brings me to a non-urban, wilderness terrain, I could use these tools for survival. I say this with the understanding that if I cross international boarders it is likely to be confiscated. 
 
5. A neutral colored gortex parka coat with zipable layers. 

In the event I am I’m the wilderness I could use this as warmth, a blanket, or a trap. I could also tie it for use as a travel sack so I could gather more tools as I go along. 

Are We Champions?

As you have read throughout this lesson, approaches to academic advising and relationship-building vary. In this assignment you will be asked to watch a TED Talk by educator Rita Pierson. The focus of the TED Talk is on the importance to cultivating a positive relationship with students. Watch the video and reflect upon Rita’s comments.

After you have watched the video consider the following questions.

  • Why does she argue that ensuring that students like you is crucial?
  • Do you agree with this sentiment?
  • How does this apply to your role as an adviser?
  • Can you think of an instance where an adviser (or another educator) made you feel like a champion? What happened?

Post your response, then engage your fellow students in conversation.

Rita Pierson argues that “kids don’t learn from people they don’t like”. Although an effective hook for her lecture, I do not agree that students “liking” you is equivalent to them trusting you. 

A teacher’s goal should not be to make their students like them, it should be to earn their students’ respect. This happens through establishing a safe learning environment which involves many of the things Pierson discusses. For example, I teach AP Biology and AP Chemistry. Each year my students enter my class feeling somewhat afraid of the material and unsure of their ability to succeed. If my goal was to make my students like me, I could achieve this through being friendly, funny, forgiving in my grading, or even creative with my lessons, but none of these things ensure learning. My students first need to learn the expectations for behavior in my classroom and the consequences if they do not follow these expectations. Students can’t learn if they are afraid to try, so this often means that I protect them from their peers. Students can’t learn if they are not held accountable for completing their own work with pride, so I must be the person to push them, encourage them, and correct them if they fall short. There are many times where I must be a teacher that is not easy to like, but as long as the students trust me to be consistent, fair, professional, and kind, they will be able to learn.

 As long as students believe that I am professional, respectful, and have their best interests in mind, they will trust my advice and my role as their advisor. If they trust me, it is probable that they will later “like” me.

 I was fortunate enough to attend a small college where I had a close relationship with my academic advisor. One instance he made me feel like a champion was when he invited me to join his undergraduate research team as a freshman following my success in his cell biology class. At this time I was still very shy and unsure of my ability to succeed, but he showed me that he had faith in me and was willing to invest in my love of cells and genetics. Although I like him as a teacher now, I initially was very intimidated by him as a professor and advisor.

Position Paper: Topic Selection

For this assignment you will be selecting the topic of your position paper. Post your topic as the subject line of your Discussion Forum post.

In the body of the post, you are encouraged to provide a brief, one to two paragraph, rationale for your topic. Your rationale should include your preliminary opinion on how the issue relates to academic advising.

Once you have completed your submission, review the topics selected by other students. Are there similar topics? Feel free to engage your classmates, sharing resources and/or insights where applicable.

Academic Advising for International Students

International students face many of the same challenges that traditional students face, but they also must balance language barriers, immigration services, cultural differences, campus involvement, and extreme distance from family members. Any one of these challenges could introduce stress that could threaten the success of the student at the university. I am interested to explore an international student academic adviser’s responsibilities and the resources that are available to these advisors. It will be specifically interesting to explore this role as many current articles address challenges relating to international students and the COVID-19 pandemic. International student advisors are foundational to finding solutions for many students who are facing loss of immigration status due to the pandemic and virtual higher education.

Building Relationship Discussion

Now that you’ve had some time to think through the various aspects of building relationships with the students you’ll advise, take a few moments to reflect on what you’ve learned and to apply your knowledge. Please answer the following questions in your discussion forum post. 

  1. What are two simple conversation starters you could use when meeting with a new student?
  2. How would your questions differ if you knew more about a particular student? For this question, consider each of the five “virtual” students. What questions would you ask, Monica, Maria, Allen, and Jeffrey in your first meeting with them?
  3. What non-verbal cues should you be careful of in yourself? Are there any cues you might want to exhibit? (for example, I might try to make sure I smile often during the meeting).
  4. How might you make your office a welcoming environment? How might you decorate it? What would your walls “say”?

After posting your initial thoughts, make sure to review the questions developed by the other students in the class. How are your questions similar? Different? The purpose here is not only to engage others in dialogue but also to broaden the questions that you could be using in future conversations with students (or your skill-building sessions next week!!)

1. “Have you been able to visit home lately? How are things going there?”
“So you’re originally from __________? What is it like there?”
Both of these questions ask the student to reflect on something that they are the expert on. As I travel frequently, it’s likely we will have some shared experiences or better yet, I will learn something new. It will be a great way to show them that what they say has impact on me and I want to hear it.

2. Monica: “Nice to meet you both! I’m sure keeping up with Kevin is a workout, what’s he been into lately?”…”What about you? Were there any courses from community college that really interested you?” Maria: “Have you traveled to New York lately?” if so ” What new foods have you tried there?” Stephen: “How was your time in North Carolina? Did you get to try the three styles of BBQ there?” Xiang “Allen” Wei: “Where are you from?” Because I speak some Mandarin and have been to most Chinese provinces, I could likely follow this questions with a specific one about his region and have small talk in Chinese. Jeff: “I don’t know anything about New Jersey outside of watching the Sopranos. Is it anything like that?”

3. I would be careful of my posture. I tend to slouch over a desk when I work, but this does not portray an attentive feeling. Also, if I am slouching, it could be an unconscious thought that the student doesn’t want to further burden me, so they may be less open. I also need to be careful to have good eye contact and be an active listener. It’s easy to neglect these while taking notes as well. I also need to communicate with a cheerful tone, have relaxed and enthusiastic expressions, sit with uncrossed arms, and maintain a neat and professional appearance.

4. I am currently a teacher and dream of advising students in my own office, so I apologize for the long response. I would decorate my office with a pennant of my Alma Mater Universities, a scratch off world map with pictures of my travels along the side. Also on my wall and desk would be pictures of me with my family, fiance, and previous international students. I am an avid crafter, so I would have various canvas signs with inspirational sayings in calligraphy displayed on the wall and a welcome sign on the door. There would also be a colorful calendar on the wall. If possible I would use warm, natural lighting. If I am working in an area that is often gloomy, I would provide discrete “blue wavelength” lamps programmed to simulate sunny days and proven to cause serotonin release. A fun tissue box would be on my desk – just in case. There would hopefully be a plant…probably fake…and some life succulents.

My desk would have a large mouse pad of the periodic table, and the documents and books in my office would appear to be neatly filed and organized. I would have hidden handouts that have boxes for notes of our cession including homework, new concerns, and notes to give to students who did not come prepared with a notebook. There would be many brightly colored sticky notes so I can jot down things as they come up and the student can take some short notes with them. There would also be a “coffee table book” accessible in case our meeting is briefly interrupted. I would also include lightly scented hand lotion and sanitizer, comfortable chairs (or at least cushions), and my “good luck ‘gater” stuffed animal.

Finally, the overall color of the office will be a monochromatic scale of grey with pops of color and decor that can be easily updated seasonally. The environment should use color theory and lighting to present a welcoming, open, and professional environment. It should reflect enough about me personally to make the student feel as though they know something about my interests and ultimately comfortable in sharing about themselves. I would be careful to not display too much personalized information about me because this could make them feel like they are imposing on my space.

Advocacy Discussion

Being an advocate for students can mean many different things to an academic adviser. What does it mean to you? For your initial post, respond to the following questions:

  1. How do you define advocacy in higher education? Provide examples to support your definition. Draw from your personal experiences, observations, or look to the literature for examples.
  2. Can you think of instances, issues, or situations where being an advocate is not the best approach? Why or why not? Do you have an example of this? How would you handle that dynamic?

Submit your responses to the questions, then spend time reading the posts from your fellow classmates. Are all of your definitions the same?

Advocacy is having a member of staff or faculty support a student either privately or publicly. This could be recommending internships or experiences that fit the student’s interests, writing recommendations, teaching self-advocacy skills, intervening on a student’s behalf, or providing the student tools and advice to solve their problem. Providing honest, unbiased feedback to the student to present the situation from a different lens and evoke critical thinking from the student. Additionally, being an advocate could mean giving hard to hear advice, referring students to mental health professionals, or notifying the student that they are slacking. Being a student advocate means that I am in the student’s corner with providing them support as my priority.

There is a fine line between advocating for a student and fostering helplessness and misplaced blame. Students must learn the skill of being their own advocate. If an advisor or another person always advocates for a student, they will never learn, let alone practice, this skill.

One instance where being an advocate is not the best approach is when a student is being self-destructive. For example, once a student was skipping many of my partner teacher’s classes and later complaining to me about how my partner teacher is “not as good of a teacher, and it is impossible to make a good grade in his class”. I cannot advocate for this student or it will enforce their unfair views of the teacher and affirm their irresponsible choices. Instead, I must explain the student’s role in their problem, propose a solution – such as not skipping class, asking for makeup work, apologizing to the teacher, etc. – and I must require follow-through from the student. This forces the student to accept responsibility for their actions and practice advocating for themselves.

If I chose to advocate for this student by affirming the student’s claims that his other is bad at his job and that it is the teacher’s fault for the student’s poor grade, I would likely make the student happy. I would also likely inhibit the student’s self-advocacy skills, damage my reputation as a fair and just advocate, and negatively impact my relationship with my partner teacher.

Maria Case Scenario Discussion

Address the scenario below. Post your response to the course discussion board. Then respond to two of your classmates’ responses, indicating if you agree with their approach or how it might be conducted differently:

After you successfully contacted Maria regarding your concerns in the Lesson 5 activity, she responded by saying that one of the courses scheduled for the next semester was pre-approved as a substitution for the required course. The approval, she claims, came from her last adviser. You are unable to find any notes in the institution’s student information system regarding the substitution for Maria. Detail how you would handle the situation. Are there other records/files that should be inspected? How would you communicate the lack of a note to Maria? What might Maria be able to do to help?

I would initially respond to Maria by asking her who her previous advisor was, and I would ask her to send me copies of their communication showing this approval. I would also ask if there were other teachers or administrators that were involved in this preapproval and ask for their names. If her previous advisor is still working at the institution, I would reach out to them to see if they recall this situation and have any documentation showing the approval of the substitution. If this advisor does not work at the institution, I would reach out to the Head of the Education department to verify that this is a suitable submission. I would also inform Maria that unfortunately without documentation of this “pre-approval” it is not officially approved so we either need to start the process of petitioning for this substitution to be approved, or discuss other suitable classes she could sign up for.


It will be important that Maria is involved in providing documentation of the pre-approval and aware that her level of involvement will be directly related to the outcome of this situation.

Students in Crisis Discussion - Student Profile Group 6

Students in Crisis Discussion – Student Profile Group 6

How do we identify a student in crisis? What are the indicators of students in crisis? Is it the absence or presence of what is said? Do we, as advisers, have the responsibility to intervene? What does that intervention look like?

For this discussion you will be working in your student profile small groups. I would like for you to focus on two things. One, take the time to discuss the questions above. Two, think about the student profile that you created. Decide, as a group, what additional developments have occurred and/or what nuances you would like to add to the profile. You should be working under the assumption that time has passed since your last academic advising session. Are there issues/questions/topics that you have that you would like for the student to address with their adviser? Will you be forthcoming with this information or rely on the adviser to ask you questions regarding the topic. Think about what is realistic. There may be a balance of what is shared and what must be explored to be revealed.

 

This information will be used in Lesson 8 during your second skill-building session.

Case Scenarios Discussion

Upload a summary of your response to Scenario 1 from the Case Scenarios assignment. Review the responses provided by each student. Consider the differences/similarities in the approaches. Are there insightful ideas that you didn’t think of? What are the potential pros’s/con’s with the approaches identified by other students? 

Scenario 1:

A faculty member from the Economics department emails you to let you know that one of your students is doing poorly in her Macroeconomics course. While meeting with the student, you ask him about this. He tells you that he has received good grades on both exams, but that he is losing points for class participation. When asked why, his response is, “I strongly disagree with the professor’s beliefs on just about everything. She always talks about her political views during class, so I decided to stand up for my beliefs and let her know that I disagreed with her. Ever since that class, she has not responded to my emails or requests to meet with her during office hours.”

As an advisor, I would first contact the professor of the class to hear their perspective on the situation, then I would set up a meeting with the student. I am interested in knowing more about the specific argument in class, if the student previously attended office hours, and if the professor generally responds quickly to student emails.

I am concerned that the student is not familiar with encountering differing political opinions and beliefs. The ability to respectfully engage in conversations or even debate with individuals with opposing beliefs is a valuable skill that many college graduates learn and practice while attending their university. I am also concerned that the professor could have forgotten the power imbalance that is present between teachers and students. What the teacher views as an opinion could be viewed as information that must be learned and accepted by the students. If political opinions are shared to enhance the material being taught, it is important to share each side of the political argument in order to keep the classroom a politically neutral environment. It is not acceptable for teachers to impose their beliefs on their students, but rather teachers should display the issue as a whole and give students the tools to choose what to believe for themselves.

It is likely the concerns are simple miscommunication rather than purposeful punishment by the teacher, so I will approach the situation as a mediator. I will likely advise the student to look at these opposing opinions as a chance to learn about beliefs that are different to his if not simply for his GPA’s sake but also to practice this communication skill. If it seems the professor is indeed in the wrong, I would discuss this with them and if necessary bring the issue to the attention of the Economics department head.

Interesting Findings Discussion

In addition to your paper described above.

Identify the most relevant fact/concept that you identified in your scan of the literature. Then post that information in this discussion forum. In the subject line of the forum, please make sure to include your specialty area of focus. The body of the post should include information related to the following questions:

  • What about this will inform the practice of academic advising?
  • Why should other advisers be aware of the information?
  • How might it effect current advising practice?

International Students

International students are experiencing increased isolation due to Covid-19, and it’s only getting worse amid the presidential election. Recent “America first” sentiment within American politics has exacerbated xenophobia and microagressions towards international students causing many to avoid public interaction. Coupling this with the social isolation resulting from Covid-19, the American College Health Association has singled out international students as a vulnerable population.

Students are being urged to vote, but international students are not qualified to do so. As many of the policies held by the presidential candidates will directly affect international students, the lack of a voice is weighing particularly heavily on some students. Academic advisors should be aware of this feeling of no control politically within this population, and they should be aware of the potential extreme isolation that the political climate is causing for international students.

This could effect current advising practices because the uncertainty of qualifying for a student visa could change which courses should be taken in the upcoming semester. It is possible that the university could offer some courses online to their international students while other classes, like in person laboratories, must be taken on campus. If more advisors are aware of this changing situation, policies could be put in place to help retain already enrolled international students in the event of a change.

References
Fischer, Karen. (2020, October 29). International Students Can’t Vote. But the Stakes Are Personal. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/international-students-cant-vote-but-the-stakes-are-personal?cid=CDP-articlebottom .

Fischer, Karen. (2020, October 20). Where Are Most International Students? Stranded Here, Needing Colleges’ Help. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/where-are-most-international-students-stranded-here-needing-colleges-help .

Advising Portfolio Presentation Discussion

For this activity, upload your completed advising philosophy into this discussion. Highlight your biggest take away from your portfolio experience and how it shaped your philosophy. What accomplishment, insight, skill development, etc. would you be most proud of/most likely to share with a peer/an employer/graduate admissions officer, etc.?

Review the philosophy statements posted by the other students. What similarities or differences do you see?

**Response to Follow**