C2C

At Ryerson a group of student service staff have created a group we call Connections to Campus or C2C. A better name might be Connections to Colleagues though. I'll explain.

Somewhere between 15-20 full-time staff from nine student service units came together in May 2007, at our Director's urging, to find ways to "create a more vibrant campus community." We started with a full day facilitated discussion. We celebrated some of our achievements, identified some of our challenges and started to develop an action plan for moving forward together.

In our first several gatherings over six months or so we talked a lot to help us understand our purpose. Our first project, with a tangible outcome, was to support our school's community food room drive in late November. We agreed that it would be best for us to support existing initiatives rather than build something new that may (unknowingly) compete with something else in our community.

Meeting attendance in our first year was spotty at times, but in time members grew more committed and we now regularly have 12 or more people show up for our monthly 1.5 hour meetings. It is important to note that participation in the group is not mandatory.

Making progress on other projects likely helped members understand C2C's purpose and the role each member could play. For instance, we identified communication of our events, programs and services as an area requiring attention early on and it lead to the creation of our Student Life Promotions Team which now consists of six student staff that manage the content on our Student Life website.

We recently held another all day meeting to help us take stock of our progress and map out a plan for our future activities. It was interesting to note that about 75% of those in attendance were not around when C2C started nearly three years earlier.

As one of founding members of the group who has taken a leadership role in moving our agenda forward it is gratifying to see the progress we have made and the ways members have come together. The units making up our group has expanded a little as we understand others who have similar community development goals. One such group has been Alumni Relations. We have three of our five faculties represented and it would be great to see all of our faculties represented in time.

One need our group seems to be meeting is breaking down the hierarchy or "silos" so commonly found in a large organization (ie bureaucracy). All members certainly report up through the hierarchy and for the most part we report to the Vice-Provost, Students, but C2C provides an opportunity for members to work "horizontally" rather than in the more traditional "vertical" methods. Reaching across to colleagues, rather then up to management, and engaging in regular dialogue and partnering on projects raises awareness of what others are doing to create community and gives members a chance to find ways to fill in the gaps.

We identified three areas that need attention in our recent full-day meeting, as follows: (1) how we share information, (2) how we collaborate and (3) how we define success. We have had discussions about these topics in the past (and will likely continue to have them for some time into the future), but it was neat to see all of us identify the issues and determine an action plan collectively.

In my experience I'm not familiar with a similar group being used at other schools. I would be very interested in having C2C members share their thoughts on our group, hear what others outside of Ryerson think about our approach and find ways other schools use to promote student service staff to work collaboratively to "create a more vibrant campus community."

Eyes on the Horizon

A friend from MUN told me about the Horizon Project earlier this month and its definitely worth sharing widely. The project "charts the landscape of emerging technologies for teaching, learning and creative inquiry." In other words, it paints a picture of how the future might unfold in the coming years for educators. The report, which was first published in 2002, focuses on the upcoming five year period.

The reports highlight key trends, critical challenges and technologies to watch. The 2010 reports highlights the following technologies to watch:

• Mobile Computing
• Open Content
• Electronic Books
• Simple Augmented Reality
• Gesture-based Computing
• Visual Data Analysis

Definitely worth taking a look at the report if you have an interest in understanding how our world could evolve in the near future.

Money Sense for Students

I find that Money Sense magazine has several good personal financial management tips and practical examples of how people have applied the tips in their life. I had fallen behind in my reading so I've tried to get caught up over the last few weeks and in doing so I came across a few good articles that might appeal to students. Thinking back to my days as an undergraduate, as well as reflecting on some of the conversations I've had with my staff over the years on how we can help students understand good financial management practices, has led me to think that sharing these two articles might help some students out.

The first article is called Tax 101: What students need to know and it offers, obviously, tax tips for students.

The second article profiles five people from across the age spectrum and one profile was of a 22 year who had just graduated from university debt free. His story starts on the bottom of page 3.

Middle Management

Early in my career I recall making the occasional comment to colleagues that began with "If I was the Director, I'd do..." acting as if I had solutions to the problems of the day that others were not privy too. Eventually I matured and began to realize that situations are typically much more complex then they may seem on the surface.

Last year I was fortunate enough to actually be given a chance to take on a Director's role so I could see how my early career thinking compared to the real thing. After a year, some ideas have become reality, some have failed and others have yet to see the light of day. Being at a Director level is an interesting place to be as I am literally in the middle of the management structure - I am two levels below the President and two levels above the students. One way I have come to think of my role is that I provide clarity for my staff and advice to my superiors. Clarity allows my staff to know what is expected of them so they can feel comfortable performing their work, while advice for my superiors provides them with information and knowledge they need to make informed decisions.

After a few stumbles, a little debate and some luck I am beginning to see what strategies will help me carry out my responsibilities. My plan for this blog post is to share a few strategies I have adopted so readers can comment and, ideally, have readers share strategies that work for them or that they have seen work for others.

1. Develop a Meeting Plan - I believe the highest value my team can gain from meeting together is to discuss and debate issues so different perspectives can be understood. I do not believe much time should be spent sharing simple information as that can be accomplished just as effectively in other ways. My staff and I have read Death by Meeting and used it to open a dialogue on what we expect from our meetings together.
   
2. Meet with all staff - In my current role I am responsible for more than 20 full-time staff. I have come to accept that it is not reasonable to know what everyone is doing all the time, but I believe I need to make time to get to know my staff and give everyone a chance to interact with me. I believe it is easier for people to follow the leader if they know the leader and that happens best through dialogue. When I meet with staff individually that do not report directly to me I make a point of saying "I am meeting with you so you can ask me what you want to ask me and/or tell me what you want to tell me."
   
3. Macro-manage, not micro-manage - Giving instructions versus giving direction are two approaches that seem to be at opposite ends of the management spectrum and each has pros and cons. Ultimately, as a Director I try to give direction by conveying the outcomes I expect and allow my staff to choose the methods. One of my favourite books is The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and the concept of stewardship delegation has stuck in my mind and seems to have influenced my approach here.
   
4. Anticipate the needs of the executive - I believe that providing good advice to my superiors requires me to anticipate their needs as best as I can. To help me anticipate I pay special attention to what executive members say in public or share in writing and in the media. In addition, I try to ask questions of the executive when given the opportunity or ask those that work closest to them as they are more likely to be available. Lastly, I have come to accept that I must be open to adjusting my position because the executive may change their approach, often without disclosing the reasons for the change.
   

Opportunities Abound with India

Globalization has been a hot topic in many sectors for nearly a decade, including education. This article in University Affairs highlights an important opportunity that Canadian universities can take advantage of if efforts are taken to reach out to India. With a rapidly growing economy, a population of more than 1 billion people and a middle class that now exceeds 200 million the opportunities must be endless.

Sadly, I have never been to India so I cannot speak to the exchange and partnership opportunities that the article points too. I do wonder how student affairs can contribute to the development of a relationship between higher education institutions in each country. Is it possible (or reasonable) for associations, like CACUSS, to play a role in finding solutions? ACUHO-I has used study tours of different countries to help professionals learn, exchange knowledge and build relationships.

Future enrollment of Canadian schools is going to be increasingly driven by new or recent immigrants to Canada according to this article in The (Waterloo) Record and many of those immigrant will be from India. Creating relationships with Indian schools could help these students or it could open the door for other students to explore the world and understand globalization first hand.

Developer's Perspective on Student Housing

Student Housing professionals may have an interest in this article, written by Derek Lobo, that is published in Canadian Apartment Magazine that is targeted to private developers. Lobo is predominantly a consultant for real estate and property developers who has also provided advice to some schools on their student housing. He presented at a past OACUHO conference and I was impressed with his grasp of the student housing industry, especially since he has no experience working directly in higher education.

The article touches on several issues that student housing professionals will have to contend with as we move into the future, such as: financial factors to consider for new construction, choosing the best location, public-private partnerships and student & parental expectations to name a few.

It would appear that private developers will be playing an increasing role in student housing in the year's to come, especially when college & university budgets continue to tighten. Are dollars and cents the biggest factor affecting the future of student housing or do others see more influential factors?

UBC Student Engagement Programs Highlighted

Earlier this week I attended a presentation called Using NSSE to Enhance Academic Success: Best Practices on Canadian Campuses. It was hosted by my school's Learning & Teaching Office. The session was targeted to faculty but a few student affairs professionals joined in. The presenter was Dr Debra Dawson who is the Director of Teaching and Learning Services at the University of Western Ontario.

Many points made by Dr Dawson would be familiar to student affairs professionals. For instance, a key part of her talk centered around Chickering & Gamson's Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education (1987), which is a key article discussed by those that study higher education.

A point she mentioned that is worth highlighting here is that NSSE data tends to be more differentiated within a school then between schools. For me this reinforces the need for student affairs professionals, or anyone in higher education really, to collect and analyze data at their school to determine which programs are having more of an impact.

To conclude her presentation, Dr Dawson shared examples of what several schools across Canada are doing to improve student engagement, but she made a point of highlighting UBC and some of the strong work happening there. The three programs/initiatives she highlighted are:

• UBCevents - one common calendar for students to find information
  
• Commuter students hostel
• Terry Talks - which uses a similar approach to TED Talks

I would encourage any student affairs professionals to check out the great initiatives happening at UBC. It would also be great for people to share strong student engagement programs and initiatives happening at your school so we can learn from and support one another.

Measuring Educational Success Thru Employment & Graduation Rates

As a follow up to my last blog post I wanted to share the employment & graduation rates for students that attend Ontario universities, which are the other two key performance indicators used by schools in Ontario. Employment rate could be increasing in importance as a high percentage of students attend post-secondary schools for the purpose of gaining a job. An article in University Affairs a few months back, which I'm struggling to find at the moment, suggested that 90% of students today attend college or university to get a job whereas a decade ago that number was closer to 50%.

University	Employment Rate After 6 Months(1)	Employment Rate After 2 Years(2)	Graduation Rate(3)
Brock	94.50%	96.20%	72.00%
Carleton	89.20%	95.70%	62.80%
Guelph	94.20%	95.50%	75.10%
Lakehead	92.80%	97.00%	73.00%
Laurentian	95.00%	97.20%	64.90%
Algoma	85.70%	84.20%	49.60%
Hearst	100.00%	100.00%	51.70%
McMaster	90.70%	95.80%	81.30%
Nipissing	94.30%	97.50%	86.20%
OCAD	90.30%	97.00%	53.60%
Ottawa	93.60%	96.50%	75.90%
Queen's	94.40%	96.90%	86.90%
Ryerson	92.10%	96.50%	70.50%
Toronto	90.30%	97.10%	79.80%
Trent	93.80%	94.30%	65.60%
Waterloo	94.70%	97.00%	78.20%
Western	94.30%	96.70%	79.20%
Wilfrid Laurier	94.90%	96.00%	79.40%
Windsor	92.50%	95.90%	72.20%
York	91.60%	94.30%	67.70%
Average	92.80%	96.20%	75.60%

This information was found on the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities' website, but the Accountability Gateway at each Ontario university website or the Council of Ontario University (COU) website are good alternate locations to find this type of info.

(Notes: (1) Percentage of 2004 graduates of bachelors or first professional degree programs who were employed six months after graduation. (2) Percentage of 2004 graduates of bachelors or first professional degree programs who were employed two years after graduation. (3) Percent of year 1 students in bachelors or first professional degree programs in 1998 who subsequently received a degree between 1999 and 2005 in any program of study.)