Session Type: Campfire Session
Competency: Strategic planning, research and assessment,Student advising, support and advocacy
Room: Campbell
4.11. Navigating the waters: student housing and residence life across Canada
Tracey Mason-Innes, Director, Residence and Housing, Simon Fraser University; Ian Crookshank, Director, Housing and Residence Life, Ryerson University; Lynn Cahsen Basso Manager, Residence Life, Mount Saint Vincent University
The Senior Housing Officers from across Canada have been meeting for a few years to talk about student housing issues on our campuses. We will introduce the top issues and emerging trends that student housing professionals are facing and how they are impacting other student services and affairs professionals and our campuses as a whole.
Program Description
This program will highlight current themes and emerging practices in student housing that are making their way across the country. Some topics may include: What are people building?, unionization of student staff, Aboriginal student housing, Cannabis in halls, gender neutral housing, current Canadian research on the value of living in residence, academic initiatives.
Learning Outcomes:
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How to collaborate with student housing and residence life to create a positive living and learning environment.
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Understanding the trends, research, and innovative approaches that are taking place in our residence halls.
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What emerging practices are occurring in student housing that impact other areas of Student Affairs and Services. Theoretical Foundations
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Where appropriate the facilitators will cite current research in the field. For example, the discussion about aboriginal student housing will be based in the recent research by Michelle Pidgeon and Chris Rogerson published in the ACUHO-I’s Journal of College and University Student Housing. The value of Living and Learning in Residence will build upon the research recently conducted by Academia.
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Relevance and Significance
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Student housing professionals are highly collaborative and innovative student affairs and services professionals. The issues that student housing professionals are encountering often impact other areas of student affairs and services and the opportunities are endless for collaboration. This session will create awareness and connections between all services to ensure our students have a positive experience.
Session Type: Roundtable Discussion
Competency: Strategic planning, research and assessment, Student learning and development
Registrarial Practice: Student Recruitment, Systems
Room: Cartier
4.12. Meeting Students Where They Are: International Student Support
Stephanie Walker, Director, Student Support, guard.me/Morneau Shepell; Clark Horsting, Vice President, guard.me; Dr. Mohsan Beg Director, Student Counselling Centre, University of Windsor
In this session we will present how implementation of an International Student Support Program (ISSP) dramatically increased students’ willingness to utilize mental health services both on and off campus. International students often resist seeking help for many reasons (perceived personal stigma, cultural/linguistic barriers) and by doing so place themselves and their institution at greater risk of significant harm. The introduction of the ISSP also supported the student affairs professionals serving this population and showed that getting assistance while studying abroad doesn’t need to be a challenge for international students.
Program Description
The increase in mental health concerns among university and college-aged youth is well documented. However, the higher prevalence of a variety of mental health concerns among international students has not been thoroughly examined. This session will demonstrate how the effective implementation of an innovative International Student Support Program (ISSP) has fostered international student outreach and support. Distinct from Canadian student support programs, the ISSP has a focus on creating awareness, providing 24/7 access to culturally and linguistically relevant services and uses innovative digital channels to reach international students.
With the elements of an effective program in place, the true success of this program has been in its integrative implementation. Going beyond traditional communication methods such as program orientations and posters in the student centre, the innovative approach to implementation has involved a campus wide integration across all areas with specific focus on faculty involvement. Information will be provided using the first-hand experience of one Canadian institution, and the successful implementation of the keep.meSAFE International Student Support Program.
This session will review the prevalence of mental health issues among international students and present best practices in gaining acceptance and integration across various key campus-wide stakeholders (faculty, international department, student services, campus counselling centre, student union, and others).
Session Type: Storytelling
Competency: Student advising, support and advocacy
Room: McGee
4.13. Turning the tide to retention and graduation- Working with Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs): Core principles to encourage success
Maureen Barnes, Director, Student Accessibility Services, York University
How does your campus meet the needs of academically competent, overwhelmed and needs-intensive students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)? These students can excel academically, but often do not, as a result of their social, emotional, and sensory challenges. Five Core Principles grounded in a collaborative approach will be discussed that are crucial to the successful transition of students with ASDs. Hear about the learning/findings as we incorporated these core principles.
Program Description
Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are increasingly attending university. These students, though often academically competent if not gifted, struggle with many aspects of our campuses. Over the past 5 years, York University has offered an innovative Project for students with ASDs. Its focus is to break down the barriers these students face in the transition between high school and university as well as once they are on campus in their first year. The goal is that we deliver a multi-sector, collaborative and holistic approach to meet their needs.
This session will discuss the development of 5 Core Principles that we believe are crucial for students with ASD as they transition to, study on campus and eventually gradate. As each campus has different environments and every student with ASD has different needs, it is imperative that these Core Principles be flexible enough to accommodate all students and all campuses. Adopting these core principles might allow campuses to increase the probability that the needs of students with ASD, and other students with similar challenges, will be addressed.
The 5 Core Principles are 1) Clear , Early and Transparent Communication Protocols with parents and high school personnel, 2) Early and consistent connections to dedicated university persons and spaces 3) On-going professional and staff development across campus to allow for cross campus support and collaboration, 4) On-going developmental supports focusing on individualized coaching, and 5) Structures that allow for “ just in time” connection with campus services.
The Core Principles are rooted in Alf Lizzio’s Five Senses of Success, which suggest that developing a sense of resourcefulness, connectedness, purpose, capability, and academic culture are key indicators of student success. For students with ASDs, the nature of the disability is such that establishing connections and being resourceful can be significant challenges. This session will discuss Lizzio’s framework, evaluation and implementation of the Core Principles and the learning along the way when theory did not translate into practice.
Participants will learn about the pilot, its Principles, and findings, and will brainstorm solutions to obstacles that institutions might face in working with students with ASDs. Key discussions will take place as to how to provide in-service training and education for campus partners and how to break down silos in to effectively support students with ASDs and those with similar challenges so that the tide changes, and they graduate at the same rate as their peers.
Session Type: Storytelling
Community/Network Stream: Accessibility & Inclusion, Orientation Transition & Retention
Competency: Equity, diversity and inclusion,Student advising, support and advocacy
Room: Langevin
4.14. Leveraging Financial Aid to support Student Success Outcomes
Chantal Joy, Associate Dean, Transition & Academic Support, Humber Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning; Daniel Castillo-Sanchez, Manager, Financial Aid, Humber Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning
Humber’s SEM Student Success & Retention Committee undertook a review of our financial aid program with an eye to maximizing the impact on measures of academic success and retention. The data analysis yielded some valuable findings about where our investment of discretionary financial aid dollars is yielding the biggest returns. Join us as we share the key findings from our review , the lessons we learned about our approach to financial aid, and the key areas of focus for our program moving forwarand invite dialogue on the the critical intersection of student affairs and financial aid in advancing students success.
Program Description
Humber Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning is a Canadian post-secondary institution whose SEM Framework is relatively new, having been established in 2013. Recently, Humber’s SEM Student Success & Retention Committee undertook a review of our financial aid program with an eye to maximizing the impact on measures of academic success and retention.
Co-chaired by the Director, Strategic Planning & Institutional Analysis, and the co-chair of the SEM Student Success & Retention Committee, the review was conducted by a Working Group with representation from a wide range of stakeholders from across the institution. The group focused specifically on forms of financial aid that came from discretionary dollars that Humber, as an institution has authority to allocate. This included entrance scholarships, awards of academic excellence, financial need bursaries and the Work Study program, which consists of funded on-campus employment opportunities.
The work undertaken included a cataloguing of all forms of financial aid disbursed at Humber, from eligibility criteria to administration and funding sources, and an external scan for related research and best practices. An analysis of recipients of these forms of financial aid was conducted to determine if measures of success and retention among this group was significantly different from their non-recipient counterparts, and based on other characteristics such as semester level, gender and domestic versus international students.
The data analysis, and the review overall, yielded some valuable findings about which forms of financial aid are producing the biggest returns, what key changes we might want to make in our administration of that aid to increase our impact, and some possible new avenues to pursue in support of our SEM targets. This session will provide attendees with an overview of our process and methodology and highlight key findings in terms of both our own data and the external scan we conducted, as well as key recommendations made by the Working Group and progress made in implementing those recommendations. This information sharing is intended as a jumping off point to a facilitate dialogue engaging participants around their own experiences and successes with exploring financial aid as a vehicle to improve SEM outcomes.
Session Type: Storytelling
Competency: Leadership, management and administration, Strategic planning, research and assessment
Registrarial Practice: Financial Assistance
Room: Tilley
4.15. Paths to Success: Technological Partnerships on Student Success
Summer Prejean, Consultant, Campus Success, Campus Labs; Amber Scholtens, Manager, Student Leadership & Engagement, Brock University
Campuses across the globe have utilized the Co-Curricular Paths tool within the Campus Labs Engage platform with great success. Through this tool, campuses can tailor high-impact, outcome-based programs, which allow administrators to track a student’s progress through targeted learning opportunities. Campus Labs and Brock University will provide a demonstration of the Campus Labs Engage Paths tool and how engagement can be tracked throughout the platform, and discuss ways that different campuses leverage technology on campus.
Program Description
Research has shown that there are benefits to intentional co-curricular learning that goes beyond membership in student organizations. Campus Labs promotes student success through guided co-curricular paths and experiences. This session, in partnership with Brock University, will demonstrate the advantages of using technology to assist with these programmatic objectives.
The first section of the presentation will involve a demonstration of how the Paths tool connects back to key functionalities within the site via Organizations, Experiences, and Events. There will be an overview of what it means for a student to utilize the Paths functionality. In addition to student views, the presenters will discuss ways administrators can leverage the data they pull from student progress to assist in storytelling on student engagement on their campus.
The second portion of the presentation will showcase Brock University’s Paths program, the ways that they have currently implemented Paths on their campus, and their successes and continued education.
The presentation will conclude with time allowing for any questions that may have arisen during the demonstration.
Session Type: Demonstration
Community/Network Stream: Digital Communication, Co-Curricular Record
Competency: Technology and digital engagement
Registrarial Pratice: Systems
Room: Henry
4.16. Aligning Complaint Procedures with a New Policy on Sexual Violence: A Case Study and Discussion
Brock Richardson, Director of Student Services, St. Thomas University; Scott Duguay, Associate Vice-President (Enrolment Management), St. Thomas University
Like many institutions across the country, St. Thomas recently implemented a survivor-centered, standalone policy on sexual violence. As progressive as that new policy was, however, it relied on our Code of Conduct for complaint procedures. We soon recognized that our procedures were not aligned with the values of our new policy. In this case study presentation/discussion, we will explore some of the key dynamics affecting sexual violence complaint processes and discuss various procedural options for addressing them.
Program Description
Over the past few years many institutions have undertaken significant effort, by their own accord or to comply with provincial regulation, to develop standalone sexual assault policies. The development of these policies has been a significant topic of discussion within the field, but now that most are complete, considerations on the issue of sexual violence on campus turn to the next areas. One of those areas is the procedural complaint mechanisms for incidents of alleged sexual violence. On most campuses this generally means the Code of Student Conduct (when students are alleged perpetrators). Many of these codes of conduct, however, were not designed with a modern understanding of sexual violence cases and their unique dynamics. St. Thomas undertook a review of their Code of Conduct, making significant changes to the process in order to better align with the values of their Policy on Sexual Violence. The session will be somewhat technical but very practical, exploring and spending significant time discussing as a group the various dynamics unique to sexual assault cases, and how procedures can be developed to best respond to these dynamics.
For our discussion of each of the key dynamic areas we will draw from other case studies, research on sexual violence, and examples from international jurisdictions. The areas referenced reflect the broad nature of the issue ranging from a Trauma informed approach to investigation techniques, the use of lawyers, and questions of cross-examination. Theory and research will be used here as a reference point across a number of key dynamics, but there will not be an opportunity to delve significantly into theory on any of the individual dynamic questions.
The new procedure has now been in place for one year, and the facilitators will be able to provide evidence of the efficacy and issues surrounding the updated procedural approach.
The key dynamics for exploration are:
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How many times and to whom does a survivor tell their story?
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Who receives the complaint, investigates, and adjudicates? (the value/problem with panels)
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Do the complainant and respondent need to ever be in the same room?
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Cross examination
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Fairness and the appearance of fairness
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Trauma and its impact
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Scope and Jurisdiction
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Approaches to sanctioning.
Session Type: Expert Lecture
Community/Network Stream: Student Conduct
Competency: Equity, diversity and inclusion, Post-secondary acumen
Room: Beach (Holman Grand Hotel)
4.17. All for one – A collaborative approach towards individualized student success
Echo Pittman, Associate Registrar, Memorial University; Natalie Spracklin, Academic Advising Officer, Memorial University
Through the generosity of Dr. Ronald V. Joyce, our institution established a bursary and student success program to support students with critical financial need. Since minimizing the economic barrier is just the first step to support these students, we also created a holistic support program that is structured, yet flexible and adaptive enough to address individuals’ diverse needs. Our presentation will discuss early days and challenges encountered during development and delivery of our collaborative, multi-unit/multi-campus bursary program. We will discuss solutions employed to overcome challenges. We will also share lessons-learned, student feedback and celebrate our success stories!
Program Description
In 2015, through the generosity of Dr. Ronald V. Joyce and the Joyce Family Foundation, our institution received the largest single donation of its history, to establish a bursary and student success program entitled the “Joyce Foundation Bursary Program”. The Joyce Foundation is dedicated to supporting the social, economic and emotional well-being of children and youth by empowering them to develop into healthy, confident, independent contributors to Canadian society. As a condition of this historical endowment, we were tasked to establish a program that would support students who demonstrate dedication to their education, but face critical financial need and various personal challenges. The program would not only minimize the financial obstacles, but it also needed to identify and tackle any potential hindrances to the realization of their goals.
Because we needed to work across multiple support units and campuses, it was necessary to adapt a collaborative, consistent, community-based approach to student success by developing a program that addressed the Foundation priorities while considering the needs of the individual student recipients. The program should also consider individual needs and adapt to shift focus as needed and, within the constraints of our rules and regulations, employ a flexible approach to find unique solutions for individual needs. The challenge of student engagement also needed to be addressed.
We strive to maintain an individualistic, empathetic, and holistic approach, while encouraging a sense of belonging and ownership to help students thrive during the tenuous transition from high school to university, and throughout their academic program. Our presentation will discuss the early days of our program, the challenges associated with the development and delivery of this unique program, and the solutions we employed to overcome them. We will also share lessons-learned, student feedback and celebrate our success stories!
Session Type: Alternative Session Type
Competency: Student advising, support and advocacy,Student learning and development
Registrarial Practice: One Stop Client Services, Scholarships & Awards
Room: Steeves
4.18. Examining Exams and Improving Student Experience
Michelle Green, Manager of Examinations and Special Projects, Ryerson University
While we might not be able to make exams stress-free, we can improve student well-being through administration, procedures, and supports. This session will discuss ways to improve the examination experience, from physical environment and procedures, to staffing and invigilator training, all with the intention to support students while maintaining academic integrity. See how we garnered partnerships and support across campus, the latest technology used in academic misconduct, and demonstration of online invigilator training. You will also be invited to share your own exam initiatives and challenges with the wider group.
Program Description
In a story-telling format, using onscreen supports of pictures, quotes, graphs and videos, this presentation will:
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Discuss the rationale to reduce unnecessary stressors associated with exams
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Discuss the research associating lowered stress levels with lowered levels of academic dishonesty
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Present the findings of a Canada-wide survey on exam procedures
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Discuss modifications that can be made to the physical environment and procedures to provide a better exam-writing environment
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Discuss why students should be allowed to keep their belongings at their desks, rather than the common practice of at the front of the room, and how this practices does not contribute to additional academic dishonesty
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Demonstrate how the academic plan, examinations policy, and stakeholder consultations were used to support changes to the exam procedures, as well as the process to implement change
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Highlight partnerships across campus
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Present the highlights of student focus groups
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Share faculty and student feedback
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Highlight the cheating technology our students report as most commonly used, and why we currently can’t detect it
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Present a module of an online invigilator training course
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Explain a model of an effective group interview
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Discuss efforts to promote better forms of assessment than final exams
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Provide 7-10 minutes for participants to ask questions and share their own exam initiatives and challenges
Session Type: Storytelling
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