1Running head: LOOKING BACK

11LOOKING BACK

Looking Back: Growth as a Student Affairs Professional from a Semester of CurriculumNicole GottleibLoyola University Chicago

Throughout this past semester, I have read a few books in their entirety, whipped up a few case studies that looked at multiple schools and programs within only the span of a month, and created a tangible course module for Marquette University among other things. The feats are not to be taken lightly, and the first part of the semester when I was reading a book a week at minimum while working two part-time jobs and going to school full-time was something I did not think I could survive. Survive I did though, and I now realize how much the chaos of those weeks aided in my professional and personal development. This reflection is a combination of my experience as a student of curriculum development and design, a review of my areas of growth and where I still have some work to do, and how this course and my learning within it fit into my overall experience as a student. Curriculum Development PhilosophyAs a student affairs professional, my philosophy is to help develop leaders who work for transformative change within their communities, specifically with a focus on change for social justice. My philosophy as a developer of curriculum does not change much, but instead provides me with a way to work with students in their leadership development. Throughout my time in this course this past semester, I have focused specifically on leadership development looking at syllabi for leadership development courses and developing a syllabus of my own for a hypothetical leadership development semester-long class. These case studies and applications of curriculum development have allowed me to strengthen both my interest in developing leaders for transformative change and my ability to be a successful professional in such endeavors. One of the core takeaways from this course has been the concept of significant learning. Although it sounds so commonplace, and I likely used it without much thought in the past, the phrase now indicates what the goal of all types of education should be in-the-classroom and out of it. Fink (2013) stated that significant learning should indicate to others that the students learning experience considerably and meaningfully affected their lives. Significant learning is learning that makes a difference in how people live and the kind of life they are capable of living (Fink, 2013, p. 7). When combined with an emphasis on developing leaders and a focus on social justice, significant learning is what I aim to provide to my students as a students affairs professional. Therefore, in order to do so, my curriculum development must incorporate an emphasis on significant learning outcomes. The ability to design integrated co-curricular courses and programs is one of the main learning experiences from this course, and has provided me with a step-by-step process of developing learning outcomes and connecting those with the activities and assessment methods used in the course or program (Fink, 2013; Nilson, 2010). Although challenging for me at times, the backwards process of creating course design is one that will ultimately benefit my programs and the experiences of my future students, as the goals and takeaways will shape the entire program or training module. As a philosophy, I intend to develop my skills in focusing on learning outcomes for students, especially in an outside-the-classroom capacity. Too often, student affairs professionals are able to put out programs and services for students that look good on paper or perhaps are well attended, but that are not intentional in their production, with little to no emphasis on the learning that should occur through that program. I aim to transform my programming within the field in order to create significant learning experiences for all students, as learning in no way only occurs within a classroom setting. With that being said, I also look to build bridges between academic and co-curricular offerings on campus, as all too often they are seen as separate entities. This is a disservice to academic departments, who could benefit from providing students with more and creative ways to learn the materials presented; to student affairs departments, who could use the support and recognition that comes with partnering with academics; and to our students, who are not always able to have significant learning experiences in college and therefore, graduate with less academic motivation and openness to diversity than when they started (Fink, 2013, p. 3). In developing curriculum, I aim to work with academic partners in order to bridge the gaps that currently exist within higher education and to remove some of the silos in institutions. This will allow me to be a better professional and to enhance my curriculum development skills, as I will be able to find more opportunities to create significant, transformative learning experiences for students across many areas of higher education. Reflections on Core AssignmentsCase StudiesThe process of creating multiple case studies in course design and curriculum development including a basic overview of institutional core curricula, a more detailed look at specific course syllabi, and an assessment of service-learning programs at a variety of institutions allowed me to dig deeper into this aspect of higher education. As a professional focused on students affairs, rather than continuing through academia as an instructor or PhD candidate, I found the case studies to be challenging at times. In looking for leadership development programs, specifically during the course syllabus case study, I had to bend my interests to fit them into a classroom setting. However, that experience allowed me to see how syllabi creation does not simply have to be only for academic courses and also allowed me to develop an interest in partnering with academia in the future in order to provide classes for credit that focus on skills that are typically learned outside-the-classroom. Additionally, the ability to dig deeper into what institutions and specifically ones that have personal meaning to me, whether because of my attendance there or my interest in working there in the future offer for core curricula, and what they include as institutional missions was an eye-opening experience. I was able to learn more about what institutions chose to offer and why, and learn how many institutions are not very articulate in providing reasoning behind academic offering decisions. This experience flowed nicely from knowledge gained during my first semester in the higher education program, as both my American Higher Education and Student Affairs Profession courses highlighted the importance of institutional mission and how often it is there but not fully followed or utilized in decision-making processes at institutions. Finally, my understanding of service, charity, service-learning, and experiential learning grew exponentially during this past semester. Service-learning was not something I was very familiar with prior to attending Loyola, as my undergraduate experience at a large, public, research institution did not have the same emphasis on service-learning as a private Jesuit Catholic institution. Additionally, with a double major in communications and theatre, service-learning was not a priority in our classroom conversations, in comparison to education or social work majors, for example. I gained a much better understanding of what service-learning should be and what institutions offer for service-learning, and the dissonance between those two at times. I was also able to recognize that the Office of Campus Life where I currently hold an assistantship calls what they offer to students service-learning, but does not offer almost any learning alongside the service. Prior to this course, and the service-learning program case study, that distinction is not something I would have made. However, I now realize that service and learning must have a symbiotic relationship (Jacoby & Associates, 1996, p. 5) and that the hyphen is vital in designating that relationship. Syllabus CreationThis project proved the most challenging for me personally, due to my invested interest in outside-the-classroom engagement. I appreciated the experience of creating my own syllabus from scratch, a task I did not expect to tackle in my graduate program experience. However, I struggled developing a course that met my ideals of leadership development in a co-curricular setting that also met the parameters of what Fink (2013) and Nilson (2010) consider necessary in a syllabus and course design. This was mainly due to my desire to not incorporate grades or homework because I was trying to envision the course as something students choose to take outside of academia not as something they would earn credit in or would have to complete for their program. I felt the assignment requirements restricted my freedom in how I would design my ideal leadership development course, and I ended up creating one that would count for credit and did incorporate homework and readings. Nonetheless, although not quite how I would envision a leadership development offering, the experience of creating my own syllabus was a rewarding one. I learned that I need to focus on the specific learning outcomes I would like students to achieve, especially in outside-the-classroom programming. If I create a program that does not have specific goals for the students, what is the point of offering such a program? One of my larger takeaways is my need to continue to work on utilizing the basic formula of learning outcome creation in order to focus in on creating specific goals that stem from Blooms (as cited in Fink, 2013) taxonomy. This includes outcomes that are student-centered, clear and concise, use action verbs, are measurable and observable, are realistic and transferable, and are tied to the ultimate mission of the program/department/institution (DePaul University, 2011). Module project for Marquette UniversityTo be straightforward, this project was challenging, frustrating, and ultimately, a relief to complete. An area of growth for me is working under pressure without being provided with a lot of detail. This assignment hit the core of that personal weakness and caused me to look at how I handle large, significant projects without fully understanding the requirements or goals of the project at the start. I pride myself on being able to accept constructive criticism and to take feedback into account in my work, both professionally and within a classroom setting, but this project also challenged me in that capacity. I found that I am less receptive to feedback when it comes from people I do not have a relationship with, and therefore it was hard to take Kim and Shauns mid-project critiques and advice without feeling like my worth and value as a student and professional in the field was diminished. However, with that being said, this experience was also beneficial because of those challenges. I learned that I can work extremely well with a small group in a classroom and project development setting, something I was not so sure about after being out of the classroom for quite a few years. My experience working with a team, with Brody Tate and Megan Segoshi, was nothing but positive and I appreciated the balance we all provided and how we each contributed to the project through our individual strengths and expertise. Additionally, having their support as we worked through the feedback from Marquette on this project was extremely beneficial, as we all worked to produce a product that we were proud of, that incorporated our passion for social justice education, and that was student-focused. The module development project also allowed me to enhance my skills in creating significant learning opportunities for students, and to focus on my skills in developing learning outcomes, activities, and assessment methods that are integrated and connected (Fink, 2013). It also allowed me to expand my understanding of service-learning, specifically in the intertwined nature of service and learning of such programs. This allowed me to reflect on my understanding of the continuum and distinction among service programs outlined by Furco (1996), and how service integrates with social justice education and transformative experiences in learning about social justice. ePortfolioThe experience of creating an ePortfolio for this course has been the most impactful practice for me. Honestly, I would recommend this course to other first-year students in the higher education program for this experience alone though there are obviously other elements that would cause me to recommend it as well. The ability to utilize Taskstream in such depth was extremely beneficial for what I will have to do during my second year, and allowed me to feel significantly less stressed about what is expected of me at the conclusion of this program.The ePortfolio experience highlighted the importance of reflection in learning experiences, which also connected back to many of my other courses in the higher education program. Although the majority of my experience at Loyola thus far has included reflection assignments and reflection opportunities within classes, it has not been expressly addressed until this course. In discussing the importance of reflection while also reflecting regularly ourselves, I was able to become more aware of my learning as it progresses. This also put another phrase often tossed around in higher education but not necessarily clearly defined previously into perspective, the idea of active learning, or anything that involves students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing (Bonwell & Eison, as cited in Fink, 2013, p. 115). Through this course and the ePortfolio development process, I have definitely become more aware of my ongoing active learning within the overall higher education program. Additional Significant Learning ExperiencesA few experiences within the course are a struggle to reflect upon properly, simply because they are still happening as I write this paper. For instance, I am proud of the work I did on the service-learning modules for Marquette, but without knowing their value to the institution and the feedback from the office we developed them for, it is hard to reflect deeper on the overall significant learning experience of that project. Additionally, as I look back on the course over this semester, I wonder how much of what I have learned is strictly developing curriculum and how much of it is about service-learning. I think I have a solid grasp of both, but when asked to briefly explain what I am learning in this course, I find myself speaking slightly more to my newfound knowledge about service-learning than about developing curriculum. While not a negative outcome, it was not an objective specifically articulated in the course syllabus, which causes me to wonder if I am misinterpreting some of the learning within the course, or if there is more of an emphasis on understanding service-learning than initially anticipated. One significant learning experience I would like to highlight, simply due to my surprise in finding such a takeaway, was the role Wagners (2012) book Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World had on my thoughts about parenting and working with elementary-school-aged children. I found the book to be significantly enlightening when thinking about raising children in my future, and was drawn to passages in the book that spoke to best practices for combining play, passion, and purpose (Wagner, 2012, p. 26). While I see how beneficial that concept is when working with college students of all ages, I read the book with more of an interest in how to incorporate the practices into parenting. Perhaps this speaks more to where I am currently at in my life and career, and where I look to be within the next few years as I have been consistently surprised at how often the issue of balancing a family with a career has come up for me in my course topics but it was an interesting take nonetheless. One particular passage that stood out to me as a higher education and student affairs professional is a quote from one parent in the book, Robin Chase. Robin stated that as parents, her and her partner felt it was much more important to teach our kids to be learners and to know where to go for learning. Besides, where they go for graduate school will matter more than what college they went to (Wagner, 2012, p. 221). This seems practical in terms of the idea of developing learners and raising children who can learn instead of just being taught, but also not necessarily true when you consider outside-the-classroom experience. I can say that my undergraduate experience will always stay with me, and I will have strong ties to my undergraduate institution, due to the learning I experienced mainly outside-the-classroom at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. So perhaps the significance of that quote is that students need to know where to go for learning, but they also need to factor a holistic idea of learning in order to truly benefit from any educational experience. ConclusionTo conclude this reflection, I want to briefly address a recent occurrence in my life that caused me to reflect on my coursework and my experience as a student. On Friday (as in just a few days ago), my personal laptop was stolen out of my office at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and all of my coursework from this first year of graduate school went with it. Luckily, I was able to pull everything I had already submitted this semester from Sakai and Taskstream, but my documents from my first semester are lost, along with a few versions of final papers for my courses this semester. This experience caused me to realize three things: 1) to always, always back up my work and not just say I will do it over the summer when I have more free time; 2) that I handle myself very calmly and rationally when something serious occurs, unlike my demeanor when trivial misfortunes occur; and 3) that my experiences as a student do not exist in the papers I write or the work I submit, but in the material that is now in my head. That third aspect of the learning experience from my stolen computer is the one I am focusing on the most currently: the emphasis on moving away from the material aspects of education the papers, the grades, the projects and to focus on what truly impacts how I live my life and how I move forward as a student affairs professional. This is the core of significant learning to me, the idea that I am learning to become a part of how [I] think, what [I] can and want to do, what [I] believe is true about life, and what [I] value in order to increase my capability for living life fully and meaningfully (Fink, 2013, p. 7). I only hope that this recent experience, and this course as a whole, will help me be more ready to tackle the unknown challenges that pop up in my career and the learning experiences that do not always provide a detailed syllabus and outline of every assignment from the get-go.

ReferencesDePaul University. (2011). Learning outcomes resources. Retrieved from http://condor.depaul.edu/tla/Learning/LO_resources.html (as referenced in P. Greens presentation on January 27, 2014).Fink, D. L. (2013). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Furco, A. (1996). Service learning: A balanced approach to experiential education. Expanding Boundaries: Service and Learning. Washington DC: Corporation for National Service, 2-6. Jacoby, B. & Associates. (1996). Service-learning in higher education: Concepts and practices. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Nilson, L. B. (2010). The complete syllabus. In Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college instructors (p. 33-41). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Wagner, T. (2012). Creating innovators: The making of young people who will change the world. New York, NY: Scribner.