What Does Your #HigherEd Handwriting Say About You?

I am a HEAVY writer and my print is bold and wide. Look at the infographic listed below. How do you think the faculty, staff, students, administrators, and staff perceive your writing? Perceptions exist, but it is always great to know about potential perceptions ahead of time.

Sincerely - @drjtedwardsTSU

#NASPA15 - Conference Recap: Connected, Communicated, Converted, and Convinced (+BookClubs)

This week, I was fortunate to attend and present at the NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) Conference and I had such a great time learning about new concepts in higher education/student affairs. This includes: Yik Yak, Title 9, assisting student parents, marketing to new college students and their parents, and the importance of THINKING BIG!

Book Clubs in Student Affairs - Neat Concept!

One of the sessions that I loved the most was the "book club session" focused on student affairs publications and other publications in the leadership field. This session really inspired me to "think outside of the box" because it is incredibly hard to read an assigned/required book within a specific time frame and then report the important findings (and my reflections) to my accountability group (book club). 

This book club enabled me to think about creating a journal clubs or reading e-books from the library databases without having to add an expense to our university accounts or the book club participants' personal accounts. I will write a few additional ideas about the higher education book club concept in a few days.

Connecting with Past Colleagues

Through NASPA, I was able to connect with one of my former supervisors from Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) and connect with MANY colleagues from TACUSPA (Texas Association of College and Student Personnel Administrators). These connections are always valuable for me, because I made a point to remain in contact with my student affairs colleagues even when I left the student affairs field and became a member of the faculty. You NEVER know how your career path will take twists and turns!

Communicating with Others via Twitter and Instagram

During conferences, especially a large scale conference (for example, NASPA had 7,000+ participants) it is important to connect with other attendees via the conference backchannel on Twitter. This is valuable because I believe a rich conversation exists on the conference hashtag (before, during, and after the conference). Also, through the conference backchannel, participants can form relationships and participate in "meet ups" during the conference (to take the virtual conversation to the virtual environment). It is always amazing to meet someone who recognizes you from Twitter.

Converted My Mind About Blogging

I attended the "Blogging Bravely" session on March 23, 2015 at 8:30 am and this session featured many of the premier student affairs bloggers - @paulgordonbrown @MarciKWalton @reneepdowdy  @josieahlquist. This was a great session, because it caused me to re-examine my blogging goals.

I had a hard time finding my blogging voice in my new role. It was incredibly easy to blog about

teaching techniques, but it is difficult to blog about a hybrid role (academic affairs and student life functions). It is very difficult to find a which topics appeal to your audience! 

Convinced Me to Publish Articles on Academic Affairs and Student Affairs Partnerships

Also, I usually publish in Communication Journals and speak at communication conferences, but I will definitely have to modify my venues and outlets to publish on bridging the gap between academic affairs and student affairs at institutions of higher education. I am actually energized and I hope to publish an article in the near future!

As you can see, I had a great time. It was great writing this brief blog post, because this post functioned a great reflection piece for me. Energized! Back to work!

Sincerely - @drjtedwardsTSU

Linking First-Year Undergraduate Students with Relevant Campus Resources #Retention #FYS

Recently, Noel-Levitz (http://blog.noellevitz.com/) posted an article on their blog titled, "Linking College Students with Relevant Retention Resources Throughout the First Year". This article REALLY stood out to me this year because I taught one of the First-Year experience courses at my university.

I was excited about this opportunity, because I have not taught an FYS course since I worked at Sam Houston State University. I loved teaching the course there and I still stay in contact with the students.

This year, I learned A LOT about our first-year students in the academic environment. In fact, I think this was a great effort for retaining our students in their individual academic colleges (and ultimately at the university). For example, I learned that first-year students do not know how to use technology for academic reasons, but they CAN LEARN how to do so.

I established a Facebook group for the first-year student enrolled in my class. At first, the students were VERY reluctant to join the group, but as the semester persisted, the students were able to help each other answer questions related to the course (and also to study material). In addition, we had several snow days in a row this week and the students were able to post pictures and ask questions about rescheduling their examinations.

Now, back to the article...Brandi Phillips highlighted several ways to link first-year college students with relevant college resources. These include:

- use assessment data to adjust intervention and retention strategies during the first-year

- engage first-year students in career planning

- build a bridge to the second term and beyond

Read the entire article here:

http://blog.noellevitz.com/2013/11/18/linking-students-relevant-resources-year/?utm_source=Strategies11212013&utm_campaign=optin&utm_medium=email

Sincerely - @drjtedwardsTSU

Neat #HigherEd Retention Idea! - TRANSformations Kick Off Event for Transfer Student Success

TRANSformations for Transfer Student Success

University: University of South Carolina - Columbia

Department - Transfer and Special Student Population Services

Each semester, the University of South Carolina - Columbia sponsors an event titled, "TRANSformations" for their incoming transfer students. During their kickoff event, the office provides the following activities for their students:

- A review of the entire semester (fall, spring)

- A "Pin It" activity for transfer students to pin the location of the university/college from which they transferred to a large map of South Carolina and the United States.

- "Transfer Student Bingo" Team Builder

-  Transfer Student Panel

-  Overview of services available for transfer students.

In the future, the university might offer a "t-shirt swap" and "transfer mentors".

Neat ideas! 

My thoughts...

This program sounds spectacular! I would probably invite the library and other academic support services to present during the event as well. In addition, if we implemented a similar academic program at our university, I would probably suggest monthly workshops for students during their transfer semester (with food of course)!

Overall, neat program!

Sincerely - @drjtedwardsTSU

Neat #HigherEd Retention Program - "Out-to-Lunch" Program for Faculty/Staff

The "Out-to-Lunch" Program to Promote Faculty/Student Interactions Outside of the Classroom

University - University of South Carolina

Department - Student Success Center

The University of South Carolina Student Success Center offers an innovative way for students to connect with their faculty members. Through the "Out-to-Lunch" program, a student can pick up a ticket from the university's student success office and take their faculty member to lunch for free.

The student pays for their own lunch with their meal plan, cash, etc.

My thoughts...

I think this is an innovative program to promote faculty/student interaction, but if we implemented a similar program at my institution, we would probably seek innovative ways to pay for the student's meal (or provide a discount or incentive).

Overall, neat program!

Sincerely - @drjtedwardsTSU

Academic Affairs + Student Affairs = Student Success (My Presentation at the @TACUSPA Conference)

Last week, I presented at the Texas Association of College and University Personnel Administrators conference in Houston, TX. I always have a great time connecting with my colleagues in student services across the state.

This time, I presented on connection strategies between two different areas of colleges and universities: "Academic Affairs + Student Services = Student Success". This is actually my new research area and I am excited for the next phase of my research to emerge.

Here are a few slides from the presentation...

If you would like the entire presentation, please contact me via e-mail or Twitter.

The participants had a fair amount of contributions and I arrived back to my Texas campus with a wealth of ideas to foster connections between student affairs and academic affairs on my own campus.

Sincerely - @drjtedwardsTSU