Adapting to a New Network

How Much Are You Worth to Facebook? is an article by Adam L. Penenberg in the October 2009 issue of Fast Company. Penenberg adapted the article from his book Viral Loop where he explores how people will spread a message, usually on behalf of someone else, to their friends, family and colleagues because of their strong interest in the service/product/idea.

The article highlights how marketers use a few key pieces of information about people, such as age, gender and postal/zip code, that can found on a social network and direct a message at them. A few examples are used to highlight how effective this approach can be in spreading a message. Mark Zuckerberg, one of the founders of Facebook and its current CEO, is quoted to strengthen this point, "The message you get, in a lot of ways, is less important than whom you get it from."

While reading the aricle I tried to adapt it to the higher education environment, especially to the work that is done outside the classroom. We have a tremendous amount of information on students yet we study it very little, especially in Canada, and I'm not familar with anyone taking advantage of viral loops on a social networking site to share a message or advertise an event. This presents opportunities for those who hope to reach students in new and deeper ways. Student Life staff have a ton of experience spreading messages through networks at a peer level so it may not take much to adapt.

Learning from Harper

Let me be clear from the beginning: I'm not a supporter of Stephen Harper's politics. However, he has achieved success in that he has been our Prime Minister since February 2006. As such, I believe one can learn from his rise to power. Last week I finished reading Harper's Team by University of Calgary Professor Tom Flanagan who worked for Harper as his Chief of Staff during his campaign to become leader of the Canadian Alliance and the Conservative Party of Canada.

Some points from the book can be applied to many people or organizations, including a student affairs division in a college or university. Here are some of the points I pulled from the book:

• Collecting & Managing Data - Harper and his team develop a powerful set of data on his supporters which is used quite effectively to help him progress to leader and eventually Prime Minister.
  
• Understanding Grassroots Support - In his bid to gain the leadership of the Canadian Alliance and then the Conservative Party his resources largely come from grassroots support as opposed to corporations.
  
• Relationship Building - Harper does not have the knack for building bridges beyond his base, but he has been quite effective at relationship building within conservative circles. Flanagan points out that this has never been an easy task for Canadian conservative leaders with the exception of Sir John A. MacDonald. (We'll see if Harper can maintain his relationships over time)
• Using Strategy & Tactics - Harper is known widely for his strategic skills and the book highlights some points where he used them wisely and other times where he learned from mistakes.
  

In recent years assessment has become a hot topic in student affairs. To increase our influence and demonstrate the value that our work has outside the classroom, we need to collect more data and study it. This analysis will allow us to show the value we can bring to higher education. Furthermore, by sharing this information with our students we can seek them as partners in telling the story of the important work that happens outside the classroom, just as Harper understood and leveraged the support from his base.

Relationship building is one of our strengths, but our focus tends to be inward and it will become increasingly important to look beyond our traditional partners. For me this includes faculty and especially people and organizations beyond a school's borders. Experiential learning is one way we are doing this already, but seeking resources, such as funding, is one largely untested area for our field.

It would be hard to suggest that we do not use strategy and tactics in our work now. Every person in our field will undoubtedly have a few good stories to share. The coming years will stretch our thinking to new levels as resources continue to shrink and the academic core of a school will continue to press their case for having the lion's share of the resources. Therefore, we must continue to adapt, support one another and most importantly share our stories widely to show the powerful impact we have on learning.

Learner Centred vs Profit Centred?

Over the past couple of decades one important debate taking place in higher education has been teacher-centred education versus learner-centred education. A prominent point of discussion at the recently completed Unesco World Conference on Higher Education is the rise of private schools in the sector, as outlined in this Chronicle of Higher Education article. Several news reports highlight that a report from Unesco, named A New Dynamic: Private Higher Education, states that private higher education now accounts for 30% of the enrolment in higher education worldwide and in some countries it makes up 3/4 of the options.

Private schools certainly have a place in higher education, but for the landscape to change so rapidly is cause for concern. One reason for this concern is that one unmet goal of this gathering - and from a similar conference in 1998 - is ensuring access to traditionally underrepresented groups of people. Achieving this goal will be a challenge in an environment where profit becomes an increasing focus.

Getting involved in the dialogue will maximize the chance that important issues, like equity & access, will be considered as higher education evolves. For Canadian student affairs professional one place we should put this topic on the agenda is at any CACUSS gatherings.

ACUHO-I Continues to Impress

ACUHO-I continues to be involved in an impressive number of projects that are showing some real results for student housing professionals. The 61st Annual Conference & Exposition was held earlier this week in Baltimore, Maryland and more than 1,000 people attended the gathering.

The conference highlights for me included a keynote address by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., having the chance to hear Dr. Susan Komives share her research on student leadership and to hear Dr. Gwendolyn Dungy speak on trends in the education sector.

The business meeting provided a glimpse into some of the activities that the association has focused on over the past year. The following are noteworthy for me:

• Global Housing Summit & China Study Tour - Nearly 100 people gathered in Hong Kong to explore student housing issues and find ways of expand the association's reach beyond North America. Chinese higher education is expanding rapidly, with enrolment having increased 100% in four years to 26 million, so this is a crucial area for ACUHO-I to focus its growth.
  
• Strategic Planning - The Executive Board spends a significant amount of its time on strategic planning activities (likely 1/4 to 1/3 of its time) and this year their efforts were expanded to include a Knowledge Summit and Strategic Planning Summit so input could be gathered from a larger number of people.
• Fiscal Responsibility - The Executive Board & Central Office managed to find ways to cut more than $300,000 from the budget. No easy feat when the association has been pushing in so many directions and must continue to do so to remain current.
  

Perhaps the most impressive results come from the work of the Public Policy Advisory Committee. This group began its work less than two years ago and has already been able to influence the US federal government and legislation that would have an impact on student housing operations. Many people and groups hope to have this level of impact, but to actually make it happen multiple times, demonstrates the level ACUHO-I has been able to reach in its work.

Moving forward the work of the Credentialing Task Force on developing courses on assessment for student housing professionals will provide a depth of knowledge not previously available. In addition, the first Business Operations Conference in October will bring together staff in areas of student housing departments that have never had this type of opportunity to gather together before.

American's Studying in the Great White North

My first reaction to reading this article in the Globe & Mail about an increasing number of American student's enrolling in Canadian universities was surprise. I cannot completely explain this reaction. Perhaps it has to do with the media exposure that the US generally receives in Canada, the history of the US being the destination for many students from around the world or the fact that US students on Canadian campuses receive little profile compared to students from other countries. At my school students from more than 100 countries are represented it would be difficult for students from any particular country to receive all of the attention.

Towards the end of the article I began to realize it should not be that surprising considering the quality of our educational system and the proximity to the US. Increasing recruitment efforts would certainly contribute to this increase as well. I would be curious to know the outcome of the points raised around finances and whether schools receive more funding from an international student when compared to a domestic student. The point about school's not making money on international students because of increased expenses related to recruitment or services is not new to me.

From a learning and student life point of view bringing students from abroad is a great move. The different points of view and diversity that will be added to the campus will benefit the entire community and raise the level of learning for all students.

Details

Its been a while since I've posted any new material so I thought I'd share one of the projects that has occupied my time recently.

From 2006 to 2008 I had the opportunity to serve on the Executive Board of the Association of College & University Housing Officers, International (ACUHO-I). It has been one of the most powerful professional development opportunities in my career. The quality of the people I worked with on the board & in the central office was truly impressive.

When my term ended on the board I knew I wanted to stay involved, but was I was unsure of how I would make that contribution. Fortunately, I was invited to the ACUHO-I Knowledge Summit in September 2008. It was there that an opportunity presented itself - The Credentialing Task Force.

The Credentialing Task Force was created to explore new ways to provide more in-depth professional development opportunities for student housing professionals. The group has been in place for more then three years and the outcomes are becoming very real now. Assessment has been the first area of focus and a series of courses are now being developed.

Creating a course is an impressive process. The DACUM method has been adopted to develop the courses. In the fall a group of student housing professionals developed 51 tasks split into six categories that are required to carry out assessment in student housing. This past week another group of people, including me, further defined the tasks involved and we now have 189 tasks identified. Each task includes the desired outcome, the resources required, knowledge & skills required, behaviour needed, decisions to consider, cues to help guide decisions and errors that would result if the task is not done correctly.

Digging this deep into an issue is not normal work in the life of a staff member in higher education. I would imgaine that few people in our line of work have identified processes with nearly 200 tasks ;-)

"This is hard!" was our slogan as we worked toward adding content over our three days together. It was awkward work at first, but in the end we painted a very clear picture of what is involved in developing an assessment plan.

Cuts at the Wrong Time

This Globe & Mail article highlights some of the issues that colleges and universities are facing currently in Ontario/Canada. Unfortunately, the writer points out (likely correctly) that student service units will likely be an area targeted.

In a recent post I suggested that fundraising is something that Student Affairs needs to get involved in. The fact that PSE institutions in Ontario had to cut budgets last year, when the economy was in good shape, and must make deep cuts this year, when demand is going to increase more then normal, reinforces the need that alternative sources of funding must be sought out.

Taking the initiative now could prevent decision makers from making choices such as contracting out services. To some this may seem like a ridiculous suggestion, but food services, bookstores and residence operations have all been contracted out for quite some time. Employment firms, counselors and health care clinics are well established outside of higher education. It is not inconceivable that one day a President could take a risk and contract out a career centre to Work opolis, a counseling unit to private providers and student health operation to a local health clinic.