Lisa Endersby – Canadian Student Affairs professional working to topple pedestals and create paths for student success.

@tomkrieglstein Damn, guess that means I should blog about the 'My First Lecture'. I'm on it! #sachat

June 30, 2011 1:57 pm via TweetChatReplyRetweetFavorite

@lmendersby

Lisa Endersby

Following another awesome #sachat conversation, one idea for Orientation programming that took hold was the idea of ‘My First Lecture’ – an abbreviated sample lecture that gives students a taste of what academic life is like at university. This idea caught on in the Twitter-sphere and I wanted to write a brief post to explain more about this program.

I first planned a My First Lecture session at new student orientation at the University of Toronto Scarborough when I acted as Orientation Coordinator in 2005. Our intent then was to combine information about the history and traditions of our campus with some good old fashioned ‘unintentional’ or, as I call it, ‘sneaky’ learning. In this case, we purposely chose a lecture style format (an information delivery method I now try to avoid where possible) to give students an opportunity to sit through a ‘lecture’ that they might see in one of their first year classes. While the topic was different, the delivery method of one or two people in front of the room talking and the (over) use of PowerPoint slides was the same. The intent here was to show students what a possible lecture could be like, so there wouldn’t be as much of an academic shock when they started classes the next week.

What was missing from this presentation, and what we’re trying to rectify at my current institution, are two things:

1. The ‘lecture’ content needs to be more relevant to the students. While a lesson on campus history and traditions may be fascinating to us professionals (especially when we’re the ones delivering it), a lecture that brings in current faculty members teaching first year content makes the sample lecture more ‘real’ and provides a more realistic view of what life will be like inside the classroom. There are some logistical and often political issues with getting faculty to come in and teach before the first day of classes, but we’ve been lucky so far around securing strong departmental and faculty support.
2. The ‘lecture’ needs to be followed by intentional discussion and reflection. Providing students with an opportunity to review and reflect on the lecture and how they felt about it is a key component of this learning experience. Our next ‘first lecture’ will include time at the end for students to tell us whether this lecture fit with the assumptions and expectations they brought with them about what learning in university. We also want to include a (shameless) plug for some on campus resources to support them in their first year classes, especially if they may now be experiencing some cognitive dissonance after our dose of academic reality.

Q4: Moving away from faculty/staff just 'being there' we get them involved in delivering sessions & actively interacting with stdts #sachat

June 30, 2011 1:27 pm via TweetChatReplyRetweetFavorite

@lmendersby

Lisa Endersby

After spending over 5 years working and participating in co-curricular activities, I have always been fascinated by is the idea of student life as a ‘privileged’ or ‘special’ opportunity reserved only for certain students. Beyond any discussions of marketing these activities to the non traditional student population (e.g. mature students, transfer students or other students who do not fit the ‘typical’ 18-24, direct from high school mold), what struck me was the notion that many students could simply not afford to participate in life outside the classroom as their time was taken up with academics and working to afford school and supplies.

This idea was brought up during a discussion of how to get more students involved in co-curricular activities. Many of my colleagues, myself included, thought that students simply didn’t see the value of these programs, and that it was therefore our job to convince them that spending time in these workshops, seminars and activities would help them develop skills and knowledge relevant to their career goals. What we failed to consider, however, was that many students were already working close to full time hours simply to pay for school. These students spend the time we would consider available for student life activities working so they can attend classes and take exams, the very things we consider to be only one part of the full university experience.

What strikes me as most compelling about this issue is the notion that students who work to afford university or college are somehow ‘missing out’ on the complete university experience. As most of the student affairs administrators I come across are passionate about their craft and will continually extol the virtues of getting involved in life outside the classroom. We consider this to be part of the ‘whole’ university experience, thereby implying that a student’s university experience is not complete without participation in co-curricular activities. Whenever we imply that someone is ‘missing’ something, the very connotation can make students feel like they are somehow different or that their own experiences are less valuable than others’.

What I would like to consider is that instead of a black and white conception of student development through co-curricular activities (i.e. participation or no participation), we must begin to view other student activities, even those outside the campus walls, as relevant to a students’ learning and growth. Many mature students present life and/or work experience when applying to academic programs, citing numerous skills that will support and enhance their own university experience. Those students who work, or even those that participate in programs that are similar to those offered at the university in their communities (e.g. charity work, volunteer activities), are developing these same life and work experiences that make mature students valuable additions to the classroom. Instead of assuming that only those activities offered by the institution provide meaningful development, it may be time to branch out and consider how these students who work and volunteer outside of the university can contribute to student life. Just as there is no longer one type of student, there must no longer be one type or method of involvement that we can expect to respond to a multiple of student needs. Moving the consideration of life and work experience beyond the admissions process and into the realm of co-curricular involvement remains an interesting new research direction I am looking to explore.