The Student Affairs Blog

Got Game?

At the Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience, I was excited to attend a session with Loriann Irving, of Kutztown University. Loriann has built a creative portfolio of exercises for use in her first-year seminar course that she changes up to appeal to the different learning styles of students in her first-year seminar. Thinking along the lines of Scene It or Cranium, games with a variety of tasks, you have many options for interactive learning in your next course.

Sharing Props: Seek a volunteer from the class and invite them to reach into a pre-assembled basket of "props" and select an item. Gather your props ahead of time, looking for random items that could have potential beyond their intended use. Examples could be a chip clip, kitchen sponge, nametag lanyard, pocket pencil protector, mousepad...you get the idea, whatever may be around your home or office. Ask the student volunteer to share uses for the selected item. Following the prop suggestions, discuss with students that different uses for the props allow us to see things through different lenses. Just as perception of material in a class can differ from student to student, we learn and visualize in contrasting methods. This is a great introduction to learning styles and useful for students early in the transition to college.

Can You Hear Me Now: For a lesson that appeals to auditory learners, identify 4-5 audio clips from inspirational speeches or movies and play them for the class. Loriann shared clips from a Martin Luther King speech, Mr. Holland's Opus, and The Pursuit of Happyness in her presentation.  Following each clip, ask students to individually identify who was speaking and how it could be motivational or inspirational for them in their quest for a college degree. As you ask students to share their responses, link to educational goals and aspirations and what students hope to achieve.

Visualize This: Any PowerPoint presentation is helpful for vision-based learners, but making it interactive is the challenge. Loriann uiltized basic Photoshop techniques to distort common images related to the first college year. Creating distorted filter overlays that are slowly peeled back to reveal an alarm clock, student planner, wall calendar, and student ID card can be fun ways to introduce time management and responsibility. 

Can't Touch This: Using Scrabble tiles or paper letter squares to create word scrambles is a tactile game for engaging students in group problem solving. Distribute letter tiles that create words related to the first-year of college. Examples would be "dreams', "calendar", "organize", "grade point", "homework". Invite groups to share the importance of their word when the letters are unscrambled.

Interactive learning in the first-year seminar keeps students engaged and builds community. Another fun Loriann Irving classroom idea can be found here. 

What's your game?

An Alternative to Robert's Rules

Mention "Robert's Rules of Order" to any assembled group, and you will get a collective groan.  "Robert's Rules" is a part of our lives as leaders-- it's even written into the bylaws of most organizations.  When presenting my leadership development program "Recreating Your Organization," I'm often asked if there is an alternative to "Roberts Rules."

Yes, there is.

Many organizations across the country are adopting a meeting process called "Consensus."  It's effective and efficient for most groups, and it doesn't require the learning curve of "Robert's Rules" for new members.

"Robert's Rules" was first published in 1870, and incorporated the so-called parliamentary procedure as used by Congress.  It was presented as the best way to run a meeting.  Perhaps it is the best way to run large meetings, conventions, Congress, and other rowdy assemblies.  But for smaller groups, it's rather confusing with it's formal motions, debates, precedence of some motions over others, and more.

Consensus is a simplified method of discussing an issue and reaching an agreement.  It is important to understand that consensus doesn't mean that  everyone be in agreement.  It does mean that everyone has to be willing to accept the agreement that is reached.

It works like this:  an idea is brought to the floor.  It doesn't have to be a motion, or even a formal proposal-- just an idea.  The idea is discussed, and likely it will be improved from the input of others.  When a general agreement appears, you test for consensus by stating the current version of the idea.  If everyone agrees, you've reached consensus.  If there is dissension, then you can continue the discussion until a more acceptable version is reached.  When you've reached consensus, or when there is a willingness to accept the current proposal, then-- in those familiar parliamentary terms-- the "motion is approved."

In reality, this may likely be the way your organization already operates.  And, after you've already reached consensus, you revert back to parliamentary rules, asking for someone to make a formal motion, a second, and then calling for a vote to make it "official."  If you were using Consensus, it would already be done.

Mark Shepard has an excellent introduction to Consensus here.  Then, if you like the concept, there is another, more formalized guidelines available here.

Check this out, and see this alternative to "Robert's Rules Of Order" doesn't make more sense for your organization.   

Why College Programming Conferences such as APCA and NACA Matter

After my last post about how Bemidji State University is using Sonicbids to book artists for their coffeehouse acts, Nancy Oeswein of Auburn Moon Agency sent me a detailed email outlining why online booking is no substitute for the value of a face-to-face programming conference.

Nancy is a good friend of mine as well as to many student activity advisors and student leaders across the country. The bottom line is she cares. She cares about the artists she represents, she cares about the programming quality at each school, and she cares about the entire college entertainment market. She cares so much that she participates in several boards to discuss the future of student activities.

Online showcasing and online artist booking are hot issues and the debate will continue well past this post because technology is increasing exponentially. Sonicbids is just the start.

I fall on the side of using technology to increase the effectiveness of face-to-face moments, not to replace it. I think technology can go a long way in improving programming conferences, but as for now, I don't think it can, nor should replace the conferences.

Here are several quotes from Nancy's email:

• Conferences provide networking opportunities among student leaders, people who share their passions, people who might have solutions to their problems, people who might hire them.
• Conferences provide hours of educational sessions targeted at their specific needs in all aspects of programming
• The experiential education of participating in the conference process from ed sessions, networking, showcasing, volunteering, co-op buying, building relationships could not be taught in a year of classroom work
• Personal enrichment...I was a student myself in NACA and I remember my conference experiences now 20+ years later....I probably couldn't describe one class I took in any detail.
• Technology is a pale, pale replacement for face to face contact with Artists & Agents.
  
• Every year I am approached by students who tell me I changed their life...thru a conversation, an example, an ed session; I don't think that has ever happened with one I didn't meet face to face.
• The whole point of showcases is to see how Artist engages students live.  As an agent, I can tell you that maybe 5% of my Artist's videos really capture the magic that they create Live.  It's nearly an impossible feat.  And there isn't a week that goes by that I don't hear a student or advisor complain that they had a bad behavioral or performing experience with someone they found on the internet (without benefit of agency screening or what self-repped Artists learn from participating in APCA or NACA conferences).  The opportunity to engage Artists in conversation teaches you a lot about their appropriateness.  I know we spend hours conducting interviews and reference checks and screen hundreds of Artists every year to pick 1 or 2 new ones.  There is so much that goes in to making a good college act beyond who has a friend with access to great professional video equipment.  If a picture is worth a thousand, a video is worth ten thousand, then a live showcase in front of an audience of your peers is worth a million in what it can tell you about that Artist.
• Showcase selection committees typically have years of experience and spend 4 non-stop days pouring thru and evaluating submission materials, that include a wide variety of background and info.   In addition to all the other enrichment of the conference, the students get to see live the fruits of those labors...so much more time effective than spending days pouring over EPKs that haven't been screened by any agency or committee.
  
• Ultimately the fact that this is so much LESS cost effective for Artists will eventually drive up costs significantly to schools or bankrupt most Agencies & artists.
• CO-OP BUYING saves schools thousands every year. It's never been done effectively on-line.
• My company has done 15,000+ shows on college campuses in 14 years, plus everyone here was a student and/or advisor in NACA/APCA before becoming an agent....we have screened and referenced checked and spend hundreds of hours preparing and educating our Artists about the road, and how to be both appropriate and to ensure that they are engaging on college campuses...our Artists are more accountable for their actions with the power of an agency that is providing their livelihood....etc. etc.....I don't think anyone could possibly question that we have something to teach students every day about selecting, promoting and producing shows.  The relationships students develop with experienced professionals committed to teaching them could not be replaced by a sonic community.