Transition Theory and Student Alumni Support
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Start From Within: #RyersonSA PD Conference 2016 #RoadFromRyerson: A New Pathway for Graduating Student Transition Support by Rachel Barreca, Andrew Bisnauth, and Bailey Parnell We invest a lot of resources into supporting the transitional needs of our incoming students, but pay less attention to the outgoing transition of graduating students. For some, this is a new challenge, as the formal education portion of their lives comes to an end and gets replaced by the world of work. Come learn about how we’re using Schlossberg’s transition theory (1981) and Fisher’s Process of Transition model (2012) to inform an innovative, collaborative pilot project (#RoadFromRyerson), and about our vision for future programming for our graduating students.
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Transition Theory and Student Alumni Support
- 3. Learning Outcomes and Theoretical Foundations 1. Schlossberg’s Transition Theory (1981) & Fisher’s Process of Transition model (2012) 2. ‘Challenge and support’ 3. Recognize gaps in programming 4. Best practices relating to graduating student transition support 5. Role of technology and social media
- 4. Agenda ● Empathy ● Transition Theories ● #RoadFromRyerson Explained ● The Future ● Q&A
- 5. Let’s Remember ● Emotional knowledge ● Empathy as a tool to connect
- 6. Schlossberg’s Transition Theory Components of transition: 1. Approaching change 2.Taking stock 3.Taking charge
- 7. Schlossberg’s Transition Theory Types of transition: 1. Anticipated 2.Unanticipated 3.Non-event
- 8. Schlossberg’s Transition Theory Phases of transition 1. Moving in 2.Moving through 3.Moving out
- 9. Schlossberg’s Transition Theory 4 S’s of Transition 1. Situation 2.Self 3.Support 4.Strategies
- 11. How do you support students with their transition into higher education at your institution?
- 12. How do we support students with their transition from student to alumni?
- 14. Why? Alumni ➔ “No communication about what to expect after graduation.” ➔ “Didn’t know what alumni relations was really as a student.” Students ➔ “Faculties don’t promote Alumni Relations department.” ➔ “Graduating students need to know what they can come back for help with” ➔ “Let grads know that there is a support system of alumni and facilitate connection.”
- 15. What is #RoadFromRyerson? Not just a hashtag ● A connection ● A conversation ● A community
- 16. Events Combined Forces Student Life Alumni Relations Career Centre Creative Unit Awards & Convocation
- 17. The Last Lecture
- 18. Alumni Expo
- 19. Other Events Graduating Student Leader Reception Networking Reception Speaking Your Language New Grad Job Fair Classrooms to Careers Convocation
- 20. How We Collaborated Created a unified team Held regular stakeholder meetings Created a single brand Supported each other Provided feedback Debriefed to improve
- 21. Online Campaign TWITTER ● 1100+ Tweets 4000 ● 2.5 MIllion Impression 10.2M BLOG ● 352,371 Ad impressions ● 13,208 Page + Blog Content Impressions INSTAGRAM ● 500+ posts 651 ANECDOTES ● From 5 ● From others
- 23. Nothing about us without us.
- 24. TOP WORDS CONVOCATION RYERSON STUDENTS GRADUATING CONGRATS ALUMNIEXPO TODAY CLASS CONGRATULATIONS LOOKING GRADUATES HASHTAGS #alumniexpo #ryerson #ryersonsa #trsmgrad #ruarts15 #newgradfair #lastlecture #classof2015 #ramily #lifeadvice #trsm TWITTER ● 2330+ Tweets ● 6.1M Impressions BLOG ● 17.5K+ Reads INSTAGRAM ● 540+ posts
- 25. Trended locally and nationally
- 26. Online Campaign “After writing my last exams I was not sure what I wanted to do. I felt disappointed that I didn’t have my career together, and confused as to how all the hard work I had put into my career thus far could have possibly left me feeling as though I was starting from scratch.” - Danielle D’Costa
- 27. Online Campaign “To be honest, I feel like I’ve been a rollercoaster of emotions ever since I wrote my last final exam of undergrad last month. I go through a cycle of feelings every day.. excited, happy, relieved, and more recently really anxious and nervous.” - Sarah Joaquin “As an international student, I am expected to have a backup plan, a place to go if I don’t stay in Canada, career prospects abroad and such. The scariest thing for me now is that I don’t. If I were to leave Canada, I would head to Pakistan, my country of citizenship and the place my parents were born and raised. Although Pakistan is my country of citizenship, I never lived there.” - Syed Mahmood
- 29. 1. Audition Students 2. Launch Campaign & Introduce Students 3. Produce Weekly Blogs 4. Post Social Updates 5. Encourage Discussion How-To
- 30. Next Time?
- 31. Wins & Opportunities Wins Identified & connected with key stakeholders Collaboration The Last Lecture Uptake in Hashtag Interest in Blogging Supervisors believed in us Opportunities More Lead Time Expanding the Conversation Staff Lead Conversation Last Lecture Assessment New digital campaign
- 32. Our To-Do List 1.Identify Stakeholders 2.Identify Existing Support 3.Identify Gaps 4.Identify Opportunities
- 33. Your To-Do List 1. Engage with & use the #RoadFromRyerson hashtag 2.Brush up on transition theory 3.Start the conversation in your department
Editor's Notes
- Experienced professional - Rachel Barreca New professional - Andrew Bisnauth In the transition between student & brand spankin’ new professional - Bailey Parnell N.B. Tweeting is encouraged during the session and later we’ll be asking you to get online, so now is a good time to ensure you’re hooked into the internet. If you do Tweet about this session, please use the hashtag #RoadFromRyerson
- Rachel At the end of this session participants will be able to: Understand and apply basic concepts from Schlossberg’s Transition Theory (1981) & Fisher’s Process of Transition model (2012). Understand and apply the concept of ‘challenge and support’ in their practice. Recognize the gaps in programming within student affairs divisions/higher education institutions relating to graduating student transition support. Understand and integrate best practices relating to graduating student transition support. Understand how technology and social media can be used to support graduating students in their transitions.
- Rachel
- Emotional knowledge - the wisdom and knowledge that resides in our affective realm. We want to tap into that to knowledge to inform this conversation and to activate our empathy for our students going through graduation transitions.
- Model for analyzing human adaptation to transition. Nancy Schlossberg’s model for analyzing human adaptation to transition According to Schlossberg (1981), transition occurs when an event (or non-event) changes our assumptions about the world and our place in it as well as our subsequent behaviour and relationships changes our relationships, routines, assumptions, and roles Transition process has three components: approaching change, taking stock, and taking charge A transition exists only if it is perceived as one by the person experiencing it. Whatever the transition may be, it is more important to focus on how it interacts with: the context, skill-sets, characteristics, and perceptions of the person involved. THIS is what helps us understand the meaning of the transition.
- Three types of transitions: anticipated - example? (graduation) unanticipated - example? (sudden loss of job) non-event - example? (not getting a promotion) 4 types not going into now Context - person’s relationship to transition and the setting it takes place in. Impact determined by the degree transition alters daily life. Negative and positive transitions can both cause stress. Multiple concurrent transitions can compound stress. Impact of transition and our ability to adapt is influenced by the ratio between our “assets and liabilities”
- Transition is a process that takes place over time. move from preoccupation with to integration of the transition time this takes will vary may lead to growth, but decline also possible can be viewed with ambivalence Taking charge: moving in, through, and out of transition. These are the phases of transitions
- Taking stock: 4 s’s of transition: situation, self, support, and strategies 4 major sets of factors that influence our ability to cope with transition What resources do we have in these areas? As we talked about a minute ago, the impact of change is based on the ratio of these assets and liabilities This explains why different people react differently to the same situation or why the same person reacts differently at different times Situation Timing Role change Previous experience with a similar transition etc. Self Personal and demographic characteristics Psychological resources Support Social support Strategies Three types Four modes Flexibility and mixed methods is most effective way to cope IN SUMMARY - TO CONNECT ROAD FROM RYERSON WITH SCHLOSSBERG’S THEORY GRADUATION IS AN ANTICIPATED EVENT THAT BRINGS BOTH POSITIVE & NEGATIVE CHANGES WE ARE TRYING TO HELP OUR GRADUATING STUDENTS AS THEY APPROACH AND GO THROUGH THESE CHANGES TO TAKE STOCK AND TAKE CHARGE, AND MAKE MEANING OF THESE CHANGES
- John Fisher’s Process of Transition model (2012) deals with how people respond to change through eight stages. Individuals pass through these stages differently, but the two that can cause the most resistance to change are: “fear” AND “threat”. Timing is extremely important when guiding people through change, Also important to find a number of champions who have successfully navigated, or are in the process of navigating, a similar change. We can help our students work through their feelings of fear and threat by: listening to and validating their viewpoints at intentional, strategic points in their time at our institutions. This, in turn, can have a significant impact on resistance to change, and open our students up to new opportunities for success and happiness long before graduation day.
- Rachel Ask group to contribute
- Rachel This is the crux of our presentation.
- RACHEL Rachel & Lesley’s personal experiences with their transitions. Our informal conversations Lesley’s decision to start The Last Lecture at Ryerson Our conversations facilitated easy collaboration and it fit into Rachel’s new role in the Career Centre perfectly Our background in theory gave us a strong foundation At some point, our collaboration for The Last Lecture developed enough into Road From Ryerson - and our vision for the future of RFR was big enough - that we knew we needed to create a one-page memo/proposal to our ED of RyersonSA and our supervisors. This had theory throughout and collaboration is emphasized. Meant that we had buy in and support from above. John is an ED who creates space and support for this kind of initiative, creativity, etc.
- BAILEY Research done by Alumni Relations at Ryerson told us… From Alumni Focus Group: - No transition communication about student to graduate transition – what to expect after graduation - Didn’t know what Alumni Relations was really as a student From Student Focus Group: - Students are directed to Career Centre by faculties for any information about life after graduation and to connect with alumni - Faculties don’t promote Alumni Relations department - Give back messaging should be imbedded into the student experience so that they are aware of Alumni Relations and the role of it after they graduate - Without alumni speaking to students it’s hard to know what the possibilities are after graduation - Graduating students need to know what they can come back to help with - Let grads know that there is a support system of alumni and facilitate connection - Provide value to alumni to give back and stay involved – i.e. free career services, career building program
- Bailey It’s a hashtag, but it is so much more. We know that the road towards convocation and beyond can be quite daunting at times. It will feel so good to cross that stage on graduation day, but there is a lot to do and figure out first, and it means saying goodbye to favourite people and spaces as well as to an important time in your life. We want to make that road easier AND to facilitate reflection, community,conversations, and connections to help deal with these changes. When this hashtag is used it is attached with an event or program or activity geared towards helping students prepare to graduate from Ryerson.
- In creating a unified graduating transition program, we combined forces by combining many different events. We took one new idea and connected it to a pre-existing event to kick off the transition period with one big celebration. The idea came up in Student Life - the department I work in - to host a Last Lecture. It was done at other universities and colleges across the US and Canada and was fairly familiar but never done at Ryerson. In brief conversations with other departments on campus, we found a team who either had ideas for new programming or needed to change existing programming to better serve their target population. Instead of working separately, we decided to bring all of these programs under a single banner, #RoadfromRyerson. We’ll talk about the overarching campaign a bit later, but right now we’ll chat about the events, and how we got to where we are today. As a part of the #RoadfromRyerson campaign there were several events which would kick off the transition, and lead all the way to Convocation in the Spring.
- The cornerstone event was the combination of The Last Lecture & the Alumni Expo. The last lecture was made popular by Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon, when he did his last lecture after being diagnosed with Cancer. Unfortunately there’s no time to play it here, but there is a video of his presentation on youtube and we’ve included the URL in our hand out, if you’re interested in viewing it later. To keep it in line with the collaborations fostered through the theme of graduating student transition we solicited an Alumni Speaker who would be engaging and relevant to our graduating class. In addition to that we had a popular Faculty Speaker and auditioned students to participate as our graduating student speakers. The process went something like this: 1. We reached out to Alumni Relations to secure an alumni speaker, who was again, engaging and relevant. 2. Due to time constraints, and the need for the inaugural event to be as high impact as possible, we sought out an engaging Faculty member. In the future we may open it up for students to decide who their Faculty speaker will be. 3. In seeking a graduating student speaker(s), we created a program proposal form which students would complete if interested in becoming the student speaker(s) for the event. After forms were collected, we scheduled auditions and asked students to prepare their presentation for how they would perform them on the day of the event. We had 11 students sign up, with 8 eventually auditioning with us. When the student speakers were selected, we scheduled meetings with them to examine the feedback from the auditions, work on presentation skills and delivery, as well as to make it more concise and engaging.
- The Alumni Expo is hosted annually by our Alumni Relations office and is an event showcasing the programs and services available to graduates of Ryerson. In the last few years it was a program that was seeing declining student attendance, spurring them to consider a change in delivery and promotion. In asking Alumni Relations for help securing an alumni speaker for The Last Lecture, we were able to create a collaborative partnership where the last lecture and alumni expo would happen on the same day, assisting each other in the marketing of both events, and also drawing crowds from one event to the other. This event takes place in a fair format, where sponsors and partners set up installations to promote their programs, services and deals. The planning of this event involved reaching out to all stakeholders to gauge interest in hosting a booth, once all interested parties were signed up, the layout was created. The layout was created in a way that would naturally guide students towards an adjoining room where the Last Lecture was being held. We captured attendance by swiping student ID cards through the Passport Program which is a platform available through CampusLabs. This helps us to collect student emails which has allowed us to connect with those students again with a follow-up survey.
- There were two other things that happened on the night of The Last Lecture that we should mention: A Graduating Student Leader Reception beforehand A Networking Reception afterwards To celebrate the successes of our engaged, involved student leaders on campus, and to encourage them to continue their support for the university by getting involved on the alumni side, Alumni Relations sponsored and hosted a Graduating Student Leader Reception, which was open to involved students from a number of departments and programs on campus. This also acted as a pre-event for the Last Lecture, which we hoped would have a large turnout and then translate into a good turnout at the Alumni Expo and Last Lecture. After the Last Lecture and Alumni Expo there was a closing networking reception hosted by the Career Centre to celebrate the graduating class. This took place in the same space as the expo which would again give students the opportunity to visit the booths, but also to added a more ceremonious close to the event. Students, staff and Faculty were all present to network and learn more about what the Career Centre has to offer to alumni. Other events connected to RoadFromRyerson on campus, include: Speaking your language: Let's talk graduation This was one installation in the let's talk series that included talks on mental health, relationships and other topics related to student life, health and wellness and academic success for International students. This session focused in articulating experiences, common transitional fears and issues surrounding graduating students. New Grad Job Fair was a collaboration between Ryerson and UofT. It was an opportunity for students about to graduate (and recent alumni) to meet potential employers and vice versa. Classrooms to Careers an interactive one day program run by the Career Centre designed specifically for new graduates who are just starting their job hunt or who are having difficulty finding employment. Students learn effective strategies for gaining employment through networking, cold calling and using internet resources, in addition to employment preparation topics. Convocation I'm sure we all know this one, the final ceremony celebrating and honoring our graduating class. This was a major win for us, as we thought it would take at least a year or two before we could prove to the Convocation office that it would be beneficial to join us in this common branding for graduating student transition support and celebration. Luckily, RUStudentLife had some pre-existing relationships with key people and a strong enough and reliable brand that we made a successful pitch. The hashtag is in the official convocation programs. We will have an active presence at each ceremony to engage with students and add to our social media campaign. And we hope to have a live Twitter feed in the Ryerson Theatre while parents and family members await the graduands before the ceremony.
- In bringing these events together we did the following things: We created a unified group who were passionate, motivated and believed graduating student transition was important and worth resources. We held regular stakeholder meetings updating on progress, new projects, challenges and successes. We also met with other departments on campus who had programming targeting the graduating student population; and proposed a comprehensive schedule of events and that were connected through a common campaign We unified the entire transition under a single banner. At Ryerson, it was the #RoadfromRyerson campaign We provided support for each collaborator in the planning and coordination of events, marketing, and provided feedback and support as necessary After the event we held a program-wide debrief to improve programming for next year.
- As mentioned earlier, #RFR was inspired by it’s counterpart, #RTR. #RTR was quite similar in that students auditioned to be one of the 5 students who would share their journeys TO ryerson with their peers. Orientation is the largest part of RUSL summer responsibilities, so our work shifted more towards incoming students as opposed to current students RU Student Life was built on students telling their own stories and we thought it would be amazing for the same to be said for these incoming students After choosing the 5 students, LG came on board as a sponsor and equipped each of the bloggers with a phone to document their experience and 18 more during orientation week. the campaign ended up blowing up quantitatively and more importantly, qualitatively. Students on both the blogging side and the one interacting with the hashtag said that this campaign “made it easier for them to come to Ryerson”. They said they “could relate to the stories” It was these anecdotes & theory that told us this was a real need. After that campaign, Rachel and her team and I and my team thought, had separate conversation about this. Graduate student transition vs. another roadTo What is the online component? - BP Start with a short “Why?” section. Approach as a User’s Manual. What were the steps we took in general terms and then describe specifically what we did. This is the HOW TO.
- here are some of the anecdotes
- One of the major success factors in both of these campaigns is the fact that the content is created by students, for students. #RoadToRyerson was conceptualized and executed by students as well. Incorporating students into your process gets them more invested and ensures that we are producing content we know they will want to consume. We know they are writing in a way their peers would understand. What makes it especially impactful is that through this online campaign we were able to combine what we know about transition theory, as Rachel pointed out with the authenticity of having students capture it themselves It is a beautiful collaboration of those who know and understand the transition leading the campaign, student leaders guiding it further and then students legitimately sharing their process with us We encourage you to incorporate students as much as possible into your process if it’s a possibility at all Combination of theory which does help us and authenticity of students telling Knowledgeable guiding it Student leaders guiding it further Students saying exactly what it feels like Don’t be absolute Don’t speak beyond my knowledge base What is the online component? - BP Start with a short “Why?” section. Approach as a User’s Manual. What were the steps we took in general terms and then describe specifically what we did. This is the HOW TO.
- [THIS WILL UPDATE BEFORE CACUSS] We are still in the middle of the campaign, so we can’t give you summarizing statistics, however this is what has happened so far. We’ve amassed _____ tweets causing over ___ impressions. The related blogd have over _____reads and there are over ___ instagram posts. Staff vs. student involvement. changed as soon as the blogs started coming out. Being excited nd passionate. us to student leaders These are currently the top words and hashtags associated with the campiagn, #Startedfromthebottom being a personal fave of mine So far, this is telling us that this is something student want to engage with What is the online component? - BP Start with a short “Why?” section. Approach as a User’s Manual. What were the steps we took in general terms and then describe specifically what we did. This is the HOW TO.
- [Closer to CACUSS, I will pull screenshots from the bloggers’ actual live blogs and quote things they have said or nice things that were said about them] What is the online component? - BP Start with a short “Why?” section. Approach as a User’s Manual. What were the steps we took in general terms and then describe specifically what we did. This is the HOW TO.
- [Closer to CACUSS, I will pull screenshots from the bloggers’ actual live blogs and quote things they have said or nice things that were said about them] What is the online component? - BP Start with a short “Why?” section. Approach as a User’s Manual. What were the steps we took in general terms and then describe specifically what we did. This is the HOW TO.
- What is the online component? - BP Start with a short “Why?” section. Approach as a User’s Manual. What were the steps we took in general terms and then describe specifically what we did. This is the HOW TO.
- So how did we do all of this. Audition Students Through our student life brand, we publish the “What, How, Why” blog. Here’s what we’re doing, here’s why we’re doing it and here’s how you can be involved. We ask them to submit a 30s video telling us about their time at Ryerson. This allows us to see their general demeanor. There are no requirements in terms of involvement or life after school. We look for: Diversity of stories program gender diversity maturity cultural diversity International student Ability-based homogenous story Launch Campaign & Introduce Students We collect photos and information from the 5 students, build their pages and have our designers make some grapphics in order to visually connect the campaign. Then we have our big launch. Have them produce weekly blogs after their introductory blogs in launch week, the 5 students are required to writ weekly blogs updating on their personal stories and speaking to one or more aspects of their transition, We encourage them to be authentic and real. to open up. Have them post social updates Through out the weeks and between blog posts, we ask the 5 students to use social media to share their stories. Encourage discussion with others This is the part where we ask all other graduating students to participate. and share their stories as well, but we highlight the 5.
- We realized this format may not work best for outgoing students
- Andrew (opportunities) & Rachel (wins) If you want to run something like this at your school, here’s some transferable ideas to consider based on our experience this year WINS We identified and connected with some of the key stakeholders regarding graduating student transition on campus. Alumni was our first win - quite serendipitous. Convocation was our BIG win - though it would take us at least a year before this happened, but some pre-existing relationships helped us get this department on board. Collaboration Off the side of everyone’s desk this year, as many pilot projects often are. Many hands make light work. Meant that resources shared, both fiscal and human. Our collective connections and abilities allowed us to do something that would have been next to impossible otherwise. Met mandates for all of our departments and performance objectives for all staff involved. The Last Lecture Great speakers Sense of occasion Strong foundation to build on Uptake in Hashtag Give us momentum Interest in Blogging We had students who wanted to participate! Supervisors who believed in us Because we did our homework We knew the #RoadToRyerson program had traction and that RUStudentLife came with social capital. We knew our theory We were good event planners OPPORTUNITIES Next year we will have more lead time We want to expand the conversation We’ve already had suggestions about who to bring into the conversation for next year because of the connections and the positive impressions we’ve made this year. Staff lead conversation in the beginning - we need to continue to make it more of a student conversation Last Lecture Attendance - we need to be more careful about registration next time because we had a tech problem this year CHALLENGES Space for events Access to big spaces on campus is challenging. This hinders our ability to get big name speakers because we can’t book them until we have a set date and we can’t get a set date until we have space booked. We are an urban campus. There are a lot of distractions and our sense of community is challenging to create because we have so many commuter students. Siloed campus at Ryerson, so sometimes there is more connection to Faculties and programs than centralized programming. These are our challenges. Yours may be lack of social media resources or buy in from stakeholders that social media can work this way. Whatever they may be, we’re still making it happen, step by step, in spite of our challenges. NEXT STEPS & FUTURE HOPES Other units on campus will intentionally create activities to support our students’ transition out of higher education. We have a vision to provide a year-round cycle of programming and support services promoted under #RoadToRyerson. This could include participation from all six units within RyersonSA. For example, the Counselling and Student Development Centre and Wellness could work on a campaign around the emotional and mental health aspects of transition, encouraging students to consider what the changes ahead might mean for them and learn about healthy ways they can adapt and cope. The Career Centre could co-brand many of their job and career fairs, workshops, and career chats with the #RoadFromRyerson name.
- Rachel
- Bailey - 1 Rachel - 2 Andrew - 3