Guiding Students Toward SelfAuthorship Cecilia Lucero PhD University of Notre Dame NACADA Oct 13 2017 Session Objectives Consider the question What is the advisors role in creating provocative moments regarding topics centered on raceethnicity gender ID: 651960
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Slide1
Provocative Moments in Advising:Guiding Students Toward Self-Authorship
Cecilia Lucero, Ph.D.
University of Notre
Dame NACADA Oct. 13, 2017Slide2
SessionObjectivesConsider the question: What is the advisor’s role in creating provocative moments regarding topics centered on race/ethnicity, gender, class, and other sociocultural identities?
Highlight self-authorship theories that take into account sociocultural factors,
intersectionality
Offer models and practices to support students as they experience provocative
moments
Provide examples of professional development to cultivate advisors’ cultural
competenceSlide3
Self-authorshipandprovocativemomentsSelf-authorship – the process whereby an individual’s internal voice emerges and asserts its authority
Begins with cognitive dissonance that challenges an individual’s assumptions about the self, social relationships, and the world – “provocative moments” (
Pizzolato
, 2003
)Slide4
Why self-authorship is necessaryAchieving desired college learning outcomes – critical thinking, cultural competence, and moral and ethical judgment depends on self-authorship.“Students who are not yet able to author inner psychological lives often allow their external influence to derail academic goals, jeopardize their identity development, or ruin relationships.”- Baxter Magolda and King, 2012Slide5
Why self-authorship is necessary“Survival in the 21st century requires flexibility, adaptability, the capacity to negotiate between one’s own and others’ needs and the ability to cope with rapid change, ambiguity, diversity and complexity. If we expect our graduates to be leaders – in their work, personal lives, and communities – they need to achieve self-authorship.”- Baxter Magolda, 2001Slide6
Self-authorship and advisingGuiding students to self-authorship exemplifies advising that leads to integrative learning.Advising becomes a space for active learning where students reflect on who they are and make educational decisions based on self-knowledge.Through advising-as-integrative learning, students can begin to make sense of their education as a whole and its relevance to life beyond the academy.- Lowenstein, 2014Slide7
Dimensions of self-authorshipTheory grew from Kegan’s (1994) exploration of the evolution of consciousness, the “personal unfolding of ways of organizing experiences.”Process of self-authorship is complex and disorienting, as individual differentiates self from others yet seeks inclusion in environment.Three dimensions: Cognitive/epistemological – How do I know?Extrapersonal
– Who am I?
Interpersonal – What relationships do I want?Slide8
Phases on the journey toward self-authorshipTrust in the inner voice – an epistemological shiftBuilding an internal foundation – beliefs, identity, and relationships become more salientSecuring internal commitments – integration of all three dimensions- Baxter Magolda, 2010Slide9
The CrossroadThe space where internal voice and external authority vie for prominence, “a place of discontent”Typically happens in late adolescence/early adulthoodExternal authorities: parents, siblings, high school teachers, tradition, cultural and gender stereotypes
May be a compilation of experiences that leads to provocative momentSlide10
Provocative momentDissonance, or experience that results from “jarring disequilibrium”Leads to commitment, rather than merely recognition of the need, to turn inward in search of self-definitionIndividual (student) characteristicsHigh volitional efficacy – more than just motivationBehavior regulation – internal drive, not external controlSlide11
Provocative momentSituational characteristicsSpecific situations activate student characteristicsStudent independently determines (internally catalyzes) that decision needs to be made, and external factors do not require a decisionDecision-making purpose – the reason student engages decision-makingWhy student has to make a decisionWho gets to decide what they should do? Slide12
Intersectionality and self-authorshipKegan’s and Baxter Magolda’s theories based on foundational studies with primarily white, male participantsConcept of self-authorship is complicated by the experiences of marginalized groups, or majority groups who encounter their own privilegesSlide13
Intersectionality and self-authorshipSelf-authorship theories taking account of marginalized groups: Torres (2010), Latino students; Hofer (2010), Japanese and American students; Pizzolato (2003), Asian and Asian American studentsAlso studies of majority students encountering their own privileges through dissonance-creating service learning: Jones & Abes
, 2003, 2004
Additive approach is problematic, “presumes the whiteness of women, maleness of people of color, and the heterosexuality of everyone”
-
Risman
, 2004Slide14
Student storiesHispanicKeysSlide15
Intersectional analysis Centers race, gender, class, and other identities in lived experienceSheds light on differential experiences of those with visible vs. invisible differences (race, ethnicity, complexion vs. sexual orientation, social class, religion, unseen disability)Calls attention to power dynamicsSlide16
Domains of powerCollins & Bilge, 2016Interpersonal – how people relate to one another; who is advantaged and disadvantagedDisciplinary – how people are placed on certain tracks, while other paths are out of reach
Cultural
– manufacturing of messages about fairness and equity, reinforcing of myths and stereotypes that lead to differential treatment
Structural
– how organizations are structured (mission, identity, classification)Slide17
Core ideas of intersectional frameworksSocial inequalityPower relations – mutually constructed, gain meaning in relation to one other; plays out in everyday interactionsRelationality – rejects binary thinking (black/white, male/female)Social context – historical, political, intellectualSlide18
Core ideas of intersectional frameworksComplexity – “no tidy methodology for understanding”Social justice – the most contentious core idea; working for social justice is not a requirement, but often a goal“Within intersectionality as critical inquiry, faculty and students routinely overlook the power relations that make their scholarship and classroom practices possible and legitimate.”- Collins & Bilge, 2016Slide19
Intersectionality andidentityIdentity is central to intersectionality, but intersectionality is not primarily a theory of identityIdentity as political location, not an essenceSlide20
Provocative moments in advisingLearning environments that promote self-authorship challenge students to grapple with dissonance and ambiguity.If we believe “helping students learn is an essential quality of advising” and view advising as integrative learning (Lowenstein, 2014), it is our obligation to engage students in provocative moments.In order to help students understand the “logic of the curriculum” (Lowenstein, 2014) students must also be able to make sense of their relationship to the
world.Slide21
Provocative moments centered on race, gender, class, and other prickly topics“Survival in the 21st century requires flexibility, adaptability, the capacity to negotiate between one’s own and others’ needs and the ability to cope with rapid change, ambiguity, diversity and complexity. If we expect our graduates to be leaders – in their work, personal lives, and communities – they need to achieve self-authorship.”Baxter Magolda
,
2001
AACU LEAP outcomes: knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world; personal and social responsibility; integrative learning
- Hodge, Baxter
Magolda
& Haynes, 2009Slide22
Provocative moments centered on race, gender, class, and other prickly topicsStudents, faculty, staff, and others do not check their race, gender, and other identities at the door. These are good things!Ignoring or minimizing topics of racism, sexism, income inequality, religious intolerance, etc., reinforces these problems.Prickly topics should
be addressed just as advisors may bring up other uncomfortable topics that affect learning and well-being: alcohol abuse, sexual assault, depression, anxietySlide23
When and how to facilitate provocative momentsDepends on advising structureFYS: 23 advisors (including deans)
Caseloads
: 70 to
145
One
required meeting each semester, but often more
Admissions files and
ePortfolio
prompts provide starting points for
conversations
Community service activities, study abroad, dorm life, and current events on campus also open up possibilitiesSlide24
ExamplesStudent lists high school activities related to social justice, service abroad, cultural exchange programsStudent comes from environment different from location of university (rural, urban, east/west coast, international)Student is from different (or no) faith tradition compared to the majority
Student wants to switch out of class because of course content, difficulty understanding professor’s accent
Student registered for, or has returned from, service activity over breakSlide25
Learning Partnerships Model and cultural competence in advisingAdvisors must be explicit about purpose of provocative moments (transparent design).Advisors must develop their cultural competence, entails “personal, reflective analysis of [advisors’ own] education.”
- Lowenstein, 2014Slide26
Learning Partnerships Model (LPM)Baxter Magolda, 2004Validating students as knowledge-creatorsSituating learning in students’ experiences
Defining learning as mutually constructive meaningSlide27
Exercise 1A provocative momentThink of a situation you may have experienced when you had an opportunity to create a provocative moment with your advisee.If you didn’t create a provocative moment, why not?If you did, how did you facilitate that moment and what was the outcome?
How would you use the LPM to facilitate a
provocative
moment?Slide28
Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED)“Creates conversational communities to drive personal, organizational, and societal change toward greater equity and diversity”- nationalseedproject.orgSEED principles echo goals of self-authorship and principles of the Learning Partnerships ModelSlide29
Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED)Guides participants through their own provocative moments“Personal reflection and testimony, listening to others’ voices, and learning experientially and collectively” about “systems of oppression, power, and privilege, without blame, shame, or guilt”nationalseedproject.orgWe are authorities of our own experience, and can learn to facilitate effective conversation about issues of equity and diversity
We learn to understand how our own educational formation addressed or ignored issues of equity and diversitySlide30
Exercise 2Who am I?On a sheet of paper, free-write for five minutes whatever self-descriptors come to mind: beliefs, values, attitudes, personal identities, roles, connections, social identities (race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality), physical traits, . . . any characteristics that define who you see yourself being.Slide31
Exercise 3Your campusWhat are some of the professional development opportunities on your campus designed to cultivate cultural competence?What are some of the student initiatives that address issues of race, gender, class, etc., that may help facilitate provocative moments and self-authorship?Slide32
Works citedBaxter Magolda, M.B. (2001). Making their own way: Narratives for transforming higher education to promote self-development. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.Baxter
Magolda
, M.B
. (2004). Learning partnerships model. In M.B. Baxter
Magolda
and P.M. King (Eds.),
Learning partnerships: Theory and models of practice to educate for self-authorship (
pp. 37-62). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Baxter
Magolda
, M.B
. (2010). The interweaving of epistemological, intrapersonal, and interpersonal development in the evolution of self-authorship. In M.B. Baxter
Magolda
, E.G. Creamer, and P.S.
Meszaros
(Eds.),
Development and assessment of self-authorship: Exploring the concept across cultures
(pp. 25-43). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Baxter
Magolda
, M.B., and King, P.M. (2012). Nudging minds to life: Self-authorship as a foundation for learning,
ASHE Higher Education Report
, volume 38, issue 3.
Collins, P.H., and Bilge, S. (2016).
Intersectionality
. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Hodge, D.C., Baxter
Magolda
, M.B., and Haynes, C.A. (2009). Engaged learning: Enabling self-authorship and effective practice.
Liberal Education
, Vol. 95(4).
Kegan, R. (1994
). In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life
. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Lowenstein, M. (2014). Toward a theory of advising.
The Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal
. Retrieved from
https://dus.psu/mentor/2014/toward-a-theory-of-advising
.
n
ationalseedproject.org
Pizzolato
, J.E. (2005). Creating crossroads for self-authorship: Investigating the provocative moment.
Journal of College Student Development
, Vol. 46 (6), 624-641. Project MUSE.