Leveraging Educational Technology to Support Co-Curricular Learning at the

Pennsylvania State UniversityAndrea Gregg

Student Affairs Instructional Designer

Philip Burlingame, Ph.D.Associate Vice President for Student Affairs

Copyright 2006. Andrea Gregg and Philip Burlingame. This work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

Overview

• Penn State and Student Affairs at a glance

• Recent challenges to Student Affairs

• Educational Technology as one solution

• Project Highlights

• Challenges and Future Directions

Penn State Snapshot

The Pennsylvania State University

• One university geographically dispersed

• 25 campuses (including law and medical schools; online World Campus)

• 19 campuses are linked to University Park with variable Student Affairs staffing structures

Student Affairs at Penn State:University Park Campus

• Career Services• Center for Ethics and Religious Affairs• Center for Women Students• Counseling and Psychological Services• Judicial Affairs• LGBTA Resource Center• Paul Robeson Cultural Center• Residence Life• Unions and Student Activities• University Health Services

• Support Units: Development; Information Technology; Instructional Design; Research and Assessment; Human Resources

Student Affairs at Penn State:Regional Campuses

• Admissions (some)• Career Services• Counseling Services (contracted services) • Health Services• Intramurals and Recreation (some)• Judicial Affairs• Police Services (some)• Residence Life (only a few residential campuses)• Student Activities

• Support Units: None

The Student Affairs Profession

• In 1920’s Dean of Men and Women acted in loco parentis

• The Student Personnel Point of View (1937) added a student development mission

• 1960’s student activism eroded in loco parentis

• The Student Learning Imperative (ACPA, 1996) and Learning Reconsidered (NASPA, 2004) emphasized educational role

• Middle States accreditation now requires assessment of learning outcomes and specifically includes cocurricular learning

Student Affairs Professionals

“Student affairs professionals are educators who share responsibility with faculty, academic administrators, other staff, and students themselves for creating the conditions under which students are likely to expend time and energy in educationally-purposeful activities.”

(Student Learning Imperative, ACPA, 1996)

Broadening the Scope: Regional Campuses & World Campus

• Renewed mandate to coordinate among campuses to deliver consistent programming throughout the University.

• “Institutions’ experience and research demonstrate that [distance education] students’ retention, completion, and satisfaction depend heavily on achieving a sense of connection with the institution.” (Guide to Developing Online Student Services)

• World Campus students currently only have access to Penn State Student Affairs programming that is online.

Penn State Student Affairs Challenges

• 1,200 educational sessions per year at University Park• Staff make limited use of technology (e.g. PPT but not CMS)• Varying staff abilities in the creation and delivery of educational

programming• Not available conveniently to adult students• Not available to World Campus students• Not consistently offered to the regional campuses

Response

• Invest in Instructional Design efforts

• Leverage Educational Technology

Instructional Design in Student Affairs

• Improve quality of educational content – learning outcomes, clarity, assessment

• Improving pedagogy – learning theories

• Developing shared resources – library of structured activities

• Create educational content for multiple delivery modes

Student Affairs and Technology

• Penn State University Park Student Affairs has an advanced and responsive technology infrastructure

• Help desk, graphic design, email services, Web services

• Staff do not consistently take advantage of educational technology

Educational Technology at Penn State

• CMS (ANGEL at Penn State)

• ePortfolio

• WPSU (audio, video production)

• Videoconferencing

• Blogs, wikis, podcasting

• Instant messaging technology

Steps toward New Infrastructure

• Utilize ANGEL CMS

• Be where the students are: push educational content with ANGEL for clubs (eStudentUnion)

• Utilize ePortfolio for students to actively manage their cocurricular experiences

• Approach all educational programming with focus on multiple delivery modes

Project Highlights

• Online Career Services workshops

• Contract Signatory Training

• Students in Distress

• Multicultural Competence Resources

• Certificate programs (Multicultural Competence and Career Development)

Career Services

• Limited staff at campuses

• Most requested workshops World Campus students

• Use of ANGEL CMS, Website, Flash

• Positive Feedback: focus groups; surveys

• Key Challenge: Who supports resume review?

Career Services

Career Services

Contract Signatory Training

• 75% of trainees from regional campuses• Benefits: reference material, improved quality, travel cost savings, time

savings, consistency across University• Time savings:

– immediate: 55 hours (create and manage online training = 75 hours; in person = 130 hours)

– yearly projection: 80 additional hours saved (assuming travel and phone training time)

Contract Signatory Training

Counseling and Psychological Services

• Educational Outreach role of CAPS: faculty, staff, and students

• Contracted with WPSU

• Established a best practices for other colleges and Universities

• Challenged notion that certain topics “off limits” for online delivery

Counseling and Psychological Services

Multicultural Competence Resources:

Group in ANGEL CMS Staff from all campuses accessing materials Includes an activities library, handouts, references, definitions,

assessment tool Also includes complete introductory workshop with facilitator

notes

Multicultural Competence Resources:

Multicultural Competence Resources:

Cocurricular Certificates:

• University wide needs analysis established highest priorities: Career Development and Multicultural Competence

• Will be available to all campuses

• All materials available in ANGEL: will combine online workshops with facilitator materials for face-to-face

• Modifying ANGEL interface to include Curriculum Management Tool

Challenges and Future Directions: Required Modifications of ANGEL

CMS:• Required Modifications of ANGEL CMS:

– ANGEL for clubs (eStudentUnion)

– Curriculum mgmt tool (for certificates)

– ePortfolio tool

Modifications to ANGEL CMS

Curriculum Management Tool

Challenges and Future Directions: Assessment

• Assessment

– Efficacy of various workshop delivery methods (focus groups; surveys)

– Achievement of intended learning outcomes

Challenges and Future Directions: Professional Development of Staff

• Professional Development of Staff

– Learning Theory, Pedagogy, Learning Outcomes

– Paradigm Shift regarding technology

Questions

• Andrea Gregg: axg251@sa.psu.edu

• Philip Burlingame: pvb7@sa.psu.edu