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Collectively Designing Mentorship: A Journey

by William McDonald-Newman

What do you do when mentorship doesn’t exist? Build it. Or at least that’s what we did.

I was hired in Fall ’24 to be the Assistant Coordinator of Supplemental Instruction (SI). At that time, I barely knew what SI was. Weeks into the job I had student staffers, SI Leaders, asking for help that I didn’t yet know how to give, but I knew a thing SI Leaders do. At a study table, an SI Leader redirects questions, they pivot and pull in others to give them a chance to build confidence by helping their peers. So, I did an approximation of that. I connected one extremely competent student staffer with the newcomer dealing with challenges.

Then it happened again. And again.

By the time winter term rolled around, I was getting better at my job. I knew enough to help, but there were times when a peer mentor was needed, and there was no structure. I recommended this student, that student; the experienced and friendly and knowledgeable, to those looking for mentorship. Usually, I had the chance to chat with both students first, to prep the duo for success, but not always.

I like structure. Not too much, but enough to help people succeed. The system as it stood was messy, improvised, and only helped those who came to me and asked. Chatting it over with some of those I’d directed students towards, that I’d asked to be informal mentors, we decided to make it an actual ‘thing.’ I sent out one email for volunteers and got twelve replies from our team of roughly forty: five seniors who wanted to help design it, and seven underclassmen who wanted to design it, train for it, and be mentors. It only took three meetings.

Meeting Overviews

Meeting 1 involved collecting what mattered, what they wanted it to be. I suggested things here and there, largely to consolidate similar ideas, but that was it.

Meeting 2 involved splitting into two groups going over what their mentors had done, what a mentor can’t do, what the mentor/mentee relationship should be, and comparing between the groups.

Meeting 3 was for consolidation. We put all the pieces together and made it into a training schedule.

Here is a detailed list of meeting topics and notes, so you can see the range and depth of thinking in each meeting. The topics and plan were student-driven and informed by SI Leader experiences and perspective on how we could better support incoming SI Leaders.

So What?

It’s all about the journey. I believe that, and this journey reminded me of it. At the end of that term, we had a document, a plan, and a group of brilliant people who were ready to make it a reality, but we all knew it’d evolve. It wasn’t a project that ended, it was a journey with a pause. Now, I’m looking at spring and planning another design meeting.

As a supervisor this felt easy, natural, but it was only that because we did it together. Twelve students built something that would help the nineteen joining the team then, the eighteen joining the team soon, and who knows how many to come thereafter.

My advice is to trust good people to do good things, to build something ambitious, insightful, and amazing. There may be moments where you need to keep things on track, clarify confusion, or keep the creation inside the scope of your resources, but be honest, be open, and be flexible.

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What’s WISE about Human Support in the Era of ChatGPT?

by Chessie Alberti & WAW

Dancing Through Chaos

To deal with the increasing chaos, precarity, and uncertainty of rapid change in a higher education environment that is impacted by continually expanding generative AI tools, lately we have both been drawn to embodied practices which feel untouchable by AI: Somatic Experiencing and social dancing.

As Woodrós explained in prior posts (here and here), they have been studying Somatic Experiencing (SE), a particular type of supportive, one-on-one conversation.

Recently, Chessie started taking lindy hop classes and learning about the role of “lead” and “follow” in partnered dancing. Dance is also deeply somatic and embodied. Social dancing requires the ability to connect and respond to another human body in a one-on-one context, noticing the cues of a partner and responding.

On Being Embodied

So, we found ourselves reflecting: what can we learn from these partnered embodied practices, like dance and SE, that can help us understand what makes our 1-on-1 work go beyond what an AI large language model can provide to a specific person? After all, AI doesn’t (at this time) have a body. Humans are essentially nervous system mammals, and our need for other people in order to learn is why we have universities.

In the Office of Academic Support, our programs use a conversational framework called the WISE model. According to the WISE model, academic support conversations move through four stages: Welcome, Identifying goals and approach, Supporting the learner, and Ending with purpose. When we think about what human-centered learning support services have to offer in comparison with AI programs, it makes sense to consider our embodied experience within the WISE conversation cycle.

So, how do we consider WISE as an embodied practice?

Looking with Both “I”s

As we reflected and brainstormed ideas for this article, we kept coming back to the power of identifying an approach for each conversation. We realized that the I in WISE has two features: Identifying goals (the one we’re most familiar with) and Identifying APPROACH. Somehow, we realized, the “Identifying approach” piece of WISE kept falling out of our training materials or ending up in the S (Support the learner) part of the cycle.

When we “Identify goals,” we ask questions like: Why is the student at office hours? Why did your colleague want to meet with you? What is the student hoping to accomplish in their conversation with a peer coach or writing consultant? This way, we draw on the knowledge the person seeking support has about the challenge they are facing and the knowledge of the person offering support, working together to clarify the goals.

The second part, “Identify Approach,” is essential but we find it is easier to overlook. We typically have trained students on this component as a part of the “Support” phase, but believe it adds values to clearly root it in the “I” of “WISE,” and conceptualize the different shapes this “Identify Goal” and “Identify Approach” phase of the conversation might take.

“Im-Bodied” Idea Generation

It is here, as well, that we make distinctions between what AI can do and what is possible with a body, a “soma” – what somatic information and moves are available to us as social animals interacting with fellow mammals? The state of each nervous system entering the conversation and the extent to which the two people’s nervous systems can sync up in a productive way also impacts the approach that will be taken towards the goal. Maybe a conversation needs to start with a little venting, then move into problem solving or brainstorming, and then narrow the plan based on that. Maybe laughter is needed to dissipate tension so that deeper thinking can be possible.

These two areas intersect to help determine the most optimal conversation shape: Who knows more about the relevant part? How much deep thinking can be made available in the conversational space?

The combination of deciding the two “Identifies” is important, and there is also variety in the way the I and S might interact (Identify Goals, Identify Approach, offer Support). Some conversations are linear, following the progression we’ve outlined. In others, there is an ebb and flow between the different components – it might not be clear when identifying goals shifted into choosing an approach or offering support, as they do have interconnected components. Additionally, the model can be recursive, with several small cycles of identifying goals, identifying approach, offering support, and repeating, starting with identifying the next goal. That’s a little theoretical, so let’s put it in an embodied context.

Conversation as Dance

Actually–the shape of this conversation starts to feel a little bit like partnered dancing. At the beginning of the conversation, one partner takes the “lead” role, and one partner unfurls as the “follow.” In social dancing, being a good “lead” is less dictator-like than one might expect; the “lead’s” role is more about creating a “picture frame” for the “follow” to fill in. The “lead” offers cues that are responsive to the “follow” and within their skill level. A “follow” responds to the “lead,” filling in the space offered by each cue. In gender-inclusive “Everybody Leads, Everybody Follows” dancing culture, partners may switch roles depending on what they’re trying to practice–depending on the goals of their dance.

We believe the WISE model of 1-1 support conversations connects to this “Everybody Leads, Everybody Follows” culture, and Woodrós also sees connection to wisdom gleaned from the Somatic Experiencing model. Responding to the reality of what’s accessible and important in that moment and prioritizing based on that – still informed by deep topical or self-knowledge – allows a more compelling conversational “dance” to unfurl. Each person brings relevant, deep knowledge (whether self-knowledge or subject-specific knowledge) and uses that to create the necessary “picture frames” that will evoke a solution aligned with the goals. The nervous systems of these two social mammals inform, support, and enable this complex and multi-tiered exchange, mixing explicit and implicit knowledge sources to optimize the conversation for these two embodied individuals in this particular moment.

AI Not WISE Enough

This is so different from talking to ChatGPT! There, you have to be the “lead” and the “follow.” You have to define both the approach and the goals you want. You cannot receive coregulation from ChatGPT to support higher level thinking, but instead need to have prepared that ahead. It’s a different kind of conversation than the one that is possible with another person. Of course, it’s also quite complex to facilitate one-on-one support as a whole person with a nervous system of our own: ChatGPT isn’t going to have days where it’s less regulated and less able to effectively empower someone (but how good at empowerment is it to begin with, really?)

Perhaps a person under stress is more likely to fall into a “saviorist” mentality or tell someone “just go here instead, I can’t help you,” but AI is known to be sycophantic, offer hallucinations, or do the math wrong. If we human facilitators can remember that we are embodied and attend to the needs of our own nervous systems to support co-regulation, we can access our strength. Embodiment provides us the magic of the dance, and it also calls us to have the level of self-awareness that an experienced lead brings to that medium.

In conversation, we can also adjust to best support the other person to be as skilled and confident as they can be that day, supporting their agency. This might mean doing the conversational equivalent of switching roles so they can introduce a favorite dance step, setting them up for a solo spin, or supporting them in learning a new set of dance steps they’re stressed about and unsure of by providing firm direction and then gradually reducing the pressure of that guidance as they increase in confidence.

AI can’t dance like a person can, so it’s worth the effort it takes to have high quality conversations. One-on-one conversations can shift the world.

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I Kill Trees for Quality Feedback. I Am a Tree-Killer.

by Nicole Hindes

A few years ago I integrated the regular use of a new paper-based feedback tool when I facilitated discussions and workshops at the Basic Needs Center. I also began to intentionally reserve (spacious) time at the end of each workshop and discussion for participants to complete the feedback tool before the session’s scheduled end-time. Immediately, I noticed how useful the feedback was for my practice, how quickly the regular feedback helped me improve my facilitation and staff development skills. 

When I distribute these forms at the end of a workshop, I name my goals authentically, and I make my request clearly. I might say something like “Feedback you share with me always helps me grow and get better at this. I consider today’s workshop a 1.0 version—there were definitely some parts of today that felt clunky to me—help me take this workshop to the next level so I can get even better for future BNC students. I take your feedback seriously and it’s really helped me grow our team. I appreciate all the time you spend writing your feedback every week.” And then I wait patiently for students to record their feedback, and I try to say thank you to each of them as they finish and add theirs to the stack. 

Some of the helpful (real) feedback I have received has included: 

“I liked the out-loud reading of the article, kept everyone in sync (paying attention)”

“Let us read to ourselves.” “It’s difficult to annotate when we read aloud. I can’t take in the information in the same way.” (We can’t please everyone at all times!)

“Seeing where my coworkers stand on the discussion questions helps me to understand them better.”

“Good mix of moving and sitting.”

“It might be good to re-order this: do the reading earlier in the workshop and then the activity to explore the ideas in the reading.”

“I enjoyed not being rushed in conversation and the facilitator’s continued solicitation of input from the group; this led to richer discussions.”

“I would like more practice with things we learn or examples we will face at work.” 

The team sees me integrate their feedback—and when I remember, I mention in the next workshop that the facilitation changed as a result of feedback from the team. I also like that the worksheet makes clear what my goals are, metrics and values that matter to me in my leadership. These forms get kept in binders in my office. Some of the quotes on my feedback forms make clear how important staff development is to quality services for students. Feedback from co-curricular and student employee workshops help demonstrate Student Affairs’ contribution to student learning outcomes. This qualitative data can be useful contributions to annual reports, advocacy efforts, budget considerations, donor communications and other strategic communications. 

Last week one of the BNC students left feedback suggesting that I use a digital feedback tool to save paper. Because I’m committed to feedback, I find myself clinging to this paper form not willing to let go (it is just so effective!) and simultaneously challenging myself to stay open-minded to the feedback being offered, open-minded to the idea of a digital version of the same questions I’m asking nowadays. 

But I don’t feel ready to jump in yet. 

I would love to hear of a colleague finding success with a digital workshop feedback form. I would be thrilled to hear that an OSU staff member is regularly receiving (in a digital format) the same quality of feedback that I’m receiving from these paper forms. If someone shows me proof of concept, I’ll experiment with a digital form. But until then, you can pry these binders full of paper feedback forms out of my cold, dead hands. 

Nicole welcomes feedback and conversations about promoting feedback practices throughout our division and our campus. Send her an email: nicole.hindes@oregonstate.edu 

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Five Ways Fiction Fuels My Work

by Sarah Norek

I love reading fiction. I love being read fiction. Some of my favorite kid memories are me in my bed watching stories my mother read form and shift inside my brain. Fiction has fed me for a long, long time. It’s offered escape, provided comfort, consumed me with discomfort, and shown me structures for narratives I wouldn’t have known otherwise. And, I think it’s an interesting thought experiment to explore how it shapes moves I make and perspectives I have in my role here at OSU. Because it’s not non-fiction that I’m using to learn more about a topic, or to grow my skills as a communicator or facilitator or supervisor, or to deepen my understanding on a key topic (though I do engage with this kind of reading, too). But the fiction I read can still offer insight into those areas.

Reading fiction has…

1… informed my email voice. I read, and listen to, as many books as I can, and the cadence and rhythm and sentence structures I’m exposed to inherently inform the way I approach written communication with others. I communicate with colleagues and a lot of students. And in this communication, I need to inform and convey care, or leadership, or both, and more. Do my sentences get too long sometimes? 100%. But the bones and tone and voice are there and have been informed and supported in their development by the stories I’ve consumed.

2…girded my reflection. As I like to read, so too do I like to write. And, in particular, I love an exploratory free-write. While free-writing I’m often reflecting, and these reflections help me explore what might be going on for me at work that I’m not necessarily voicing. I find it so much easier to write than to speak! Reflection has led to realizations about boundaries, support, connections, and more. It’s offered a container to puzzle through challenges and try out solutions. Is fiction involved? Sometimes. Or maybe all the time in that my personal narratives are informed by the narratives I’ve read, if not in terms of content, then perhaps in terms of flow and the invitation to engage in free-association, which can make things an adventure and also offer avenues for resolutions I might not have entertained otherwise.

3…offered points of connection with others. This feels like one of the most consequential to my work-work, even though it’s grounded in non-work. I love talking about fiction and novels or story collections being read. I love to share and hear about books and to process narratives and characters with colleagues. I get to learn about their experiences as readers, and also about them as humans, and I feel like (and I hope they do too, but no pressure… 😊) our relationships become richer because of these shared fiction experiences, which then further our work-work together too.

4…given me multiple opportunities to learn about experiences different from my own (and, to read similar experiences or thinking in others and feel less alone). I’m reading characters who hold different identities than me and finding authors whose backgrounds and experiences may overlap with mine, but also may diverge quite a bit. Am I learning strategies for supporting others and to better recognize processes and structures that have inequitable impacts on students? Maybe not explicitly, but I do think that by choosing to read a variety of books and authors I have the opportunity to apply learning and thinking I’ve done within academia to fictional spaces, and to find ways I’ve developed and also gaps in understanding I still have. 

5…humbled me. I used to have a lot of strong feelings about romance novels. I used to have a lot of biases against them and what I assumed was their writing. And I was challenged in these biases and misconceptions by first one book, then another, then another, as I listened and thought, wow, what a fabulous description, or, good grief, what a gorgeous sentence. Now, these are books and authors I seek out. It may seem small, but it’s an instance of me getting to practice changing my perspective. It feels low stakes, but practice is practice and informs my ability to walk into more challenging conversations, or more divisive or contentious discussions, and to bring that experience of being open to changing my thinking and interested in listening to others.

I write all this not to imply that everyone should go and read a bunch of fiction now (but, totally, everyone should definitely go and read some fiction right now, and if you want to talk about books and what you like to read or what you recommend or what we’ve both read, surprise!, definitely let’s connect), but to reflect on how this act (reading) and this form (fiction) have played a part in my being who I am and what I do in my work at OSU. It’s not a connection I would’ve made naturally (thanks for the nudge, Marjorie!), but I think that’s maybe what I’m getting at – what are the things you love outside of work and how do they shape who you are and what you do at work? We’re complex! Comprised of so much. And as much as we may compartmentalize, what might happen when we select a non-work compartment to see what it means to the work that we do?

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5 Wise Ways to Work with Your Operations Whiz 

By Anna Bentley and Brad Young 

At Oregon State, every unit has some kind of operations work. Many units have positions dedicated solely to operations or admin support work, while others tack on these tasks to other types of positions. Some of the work is easier to define, like scheduling, office management and/or customer service, purchasing and fiscal support, human resources support, and technology management/support. But much of our work is not easy to define. We tend to be the ones folks go to when there are random bits and bobs that just need to get done. The work is often invisible and unglamorous until it is needed–and then, it is often needed immediately.  

Operations work at Oregon State plays a crucial yet often invisible role in keeping our campus running smoothly. To make the most of this essential support, it helps to understand how best to work together. The following five recommendations offer practical ways to collaborate with operations staff, ensuring that both your needs and their expertise align for an efficient, effective campus experience. 

1. Give us the tea. Keep us up-to-date on what is going on with your program, events, or other efforts. Operations roles are often the connective tissue, the grout between the bricks. When we are in-the-know about what’s going on, we may be able to identify opportunities for greater efficiencies, align efforts, and avoid potential pitfalls. 

2. Ask if we’re the right person to do a thing. Operations and admin support roles across campus can be incredibly varied. Maybe you’ve worked with someone in a former unit who was responsible for scheduling, but someone with the same title in a different unit might be responsible for HR support tasks, purchasing and invoice processing, or customer service. Unless you’re certain it’s within our scope to do a certain task, it’s best to ask to make sure we’re the right person.  

3. No need to apologize when making an ask. We love to provide operational support! It means a lot to us when folks acknowledge our work, but you don’t need to apologize when you ask for something. It’s not an inconvenience; it’s our job! It brings us fulfillment to play a part in helping our colleagues achieve their objectives.  

4. Ask us about our processes, approaches, and timelines. We want folks to have realistic expectations for how long tasks will take. Some tasks are surprisingly quick, while other seemingly simple tasks can take a long time due to complex processes and workflows or technical limitations. We’re also typically balancing a lot of asks and interruptions at once. One way you can help us help you is by asking about our processes and timelines, giving us as much heads up as possible when you request something, and communicating how rigid or flexible your deadline is. 

5. When in doubt, follow up. We are happy to update you if you’re wondering about where things are in the process. We want to keep you informed, but sometimes we need to be prompted because we are juggling a lot in our brain. If you’re worried that something slipped through the cracks, don’t be shy to ask about it—we want to make sure everything is taken care of and keep you in the loop. 

As we begin our work implementing Prosperity Widely Shared and Thriving Together, many of our goals will require strong operations work across campus to achieve them. From making effective referrals for students, to holding knowledge of other services to avoid duplication of efforts, to facilitating communication within and across units, operations staff bridge the gap between otherwise siloed units. As we continue serving a high volume of students, we’ll need to get even better at this and improve operational efficiencies so we can help students get to the right place the first time and continue delivering high-quality services. By communicating regularly, understanding roles, respecting timelines, and following up as needed, you can help operations professionals provide the best support possible.  

If you work in operations or admin support, what did we miss? What would you add? Let us know in the comments below. 

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That Time We Redesigned for Drupal 10: Considerations

by Sarah Norek

Back in September (2024), the websites for the Academic Success Center (ASC) and the Learning Corner (the ASC’s online academic support resource) migrated from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10.

For context: the ASC site shares ASC programs and services and how they can support students in their academic experience, progress and success at OSU. We also have information for partners, and broader academic support information for learning at OSU. Connected to the ASC site is the Learning Corner, the ASC’s online resource available whenever users have internet access. The Learning Corner is a collection of quick-to-read articles and interactive tools grounded in the science of learning and developed to help students learn how to learn. It’s a point of pride for the ASC that folks from across the country and around the world access the Learning Corner to support their learning or their students’ learning.

Leading up to the migration, we saw great opportunity in redesigning pages (and layout, structure, etc.) to improve the student-user experience. Below, you’ll find 5 considerations we made during the Learning Corner redesign specifically, and how we implemented them. We know this shift from D7 to D10 is happening across the university, and we hope that, in sharing about our process, we might offer ideas that resonate for or support others in a similar place.

  1. Students consume information differently than before. This will almost always be the case. Our access to information, the channels through which we learn information, will continue to evolve. In our current context, we know folks use social media feeds for quick bursts of content, so we moved away from longer, scrollable articles to shorter content that could be quickly consumed. It’s not an Instagram reel (but we do have those to share Learning Corner content and if you don’t already you should follow us!), but it’s a bloggier style, we’re incorporating more images, and we’re focusing on sharing tangible tips that can be considered quickly.
  2. Universal Design improves everyone’s experience. Sure, some folks will lean into a text-heavy webpage and be able to draw information from it, but it might not be a pleasant experience and, for a lot of users, it’s taxing.  We thought intentionally about how many characters we wanted in each line (ideally, 50-60), how many words we wanted on each page (between 300 and 700 is our goal), and how we could use white space, images, and bolded font to amplify messaging and create a better, more effective and efficient reading experience. We want users to arrive to pages and not feel overwhelmed by the content but like it’s a friendly, inviting space to learn.
  3. Care matters. This wasn’t new information for us – we work hard to craft messaging and share content that’s student-centered and strengths based, and to do it in a tone that conveys care and relatability while also being reliable and informative. But the intersection of relatability and reliability can be challenging at times, when thinking about tone – we want to keep the research present and also be sure we deliver it in digestible ways. In our content, we’re writing to the student, we’re inviting the student to reflect, we’re acknowledging everyone’s going to approach things individually and what works for one person might not work for someone else. We’re conveying care through choices we offer as much as through tone we use.
  4. There’s no one way to engage with and consume information. Some users will be happy to read through a Quick Read (or two or three) and get their information in that form. Others might prefer to download information (a Handout), saving it to their computer or printing it out. Others might choose to print out a Tool to write on, while still others might decide to use the Tool as a fillable PDF. Knowing information consumption isn’t a monolith, we drafted content and content-types (Quick Reads, Handouts, Tools) to offer options and meet users where they’re at in terms of preferences and capacity.
  5. Guiding values and documents can inform and help us check our choices. The Office of Academic Support adopted Branding & Marketing Guidelines during the year that helped us ground our Learning Corner text and design choices. Having these, we could ask, Were we writing in the clearest way possible? Were we adhering to information hierarchy, with the most important information coming first? Did at least half of our images include people? Were we creating an intuitive tool? These questions reflect some of our values, and while each office’s values may differ, the exercise of checking against them can help to create a cohesive user experience.

We know these aren’t all the considerations to make, or what every office will consider for a shift to Drupal 10, but maybe there’s something here to support you in your Drupal 10 adventure, if you’re still on it. Drupal 10 can be challenging (so challenging!), and iteration takes time and capacity. Wherever you’re at and whatever you’re choosing, we’re cheering for you and, if you’ve got questions or want to talk about your process, or if you visit the Learning Corner and wonder how something you encounter relates back to these considerations or others, please be in touch!

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Shared Supervision of Student Employees: Spotlight on Supplemental Instruction 

by Chris Ervin

Many units across the university employ student staff, and it’s not unusual for unit managers to share supervisory responsibilities. Collaborative supervision of student staff has the potential to create beneficial redundancies in mentoring and support, and some units like the Writing Center, the Academic Success Center, Supplemental Instruction, and the Basic Needs Center have thoughtfully and intentionally created structures that support student employees’ professional growth and create clear supervisory roles. I was curious about how each program manages shared supervision and what values serve as foundations for their supervision and support of their student staff. For this issue of The Success Kitchen, I share what I learned about Supplemental Instruction’s supervisory team. 

Program: Supplemental Instruction 

Program Leads: Adam Lenz and William McDonald-Newman 

Values: Equity, Efficiency, and Flexibility 

In Supplemental Instruction, the shared supervision model is based on a division of labor that puts the student employee’s experience at the center of focus. William and Adam have made decisions about their respective responsibilities based on their own strengths and interests, while guarding against creating confusion for their staff. For example, William and Adam both contribute to hiring decisions and monitor the team through observations. While Adam approves timesheets, he corroborates with William to ensure accurate reporting. This is because William maintains an office in the BRC adjacent to most study tables and leads the day-to-day operations, scheduling, and facilitating team meetings so he has a more grounded view on the program. William has also taken lead on the SI’s new mentor program, supporting the design and implementation in collaboration with veteran SI Leaders.   

Adam, on the other hand, focuses on pedagogical design and assessment. His day-to-day work contributes to building, updating, and maintaining SI’s assessment protocols; managing SI’s registration management software (Ideal-Logic); and looking at the numerous program artifacts that the team produces in order to determine how to improve future team meetings or initial training by adding new topics or inviting new units. It is Adam’s job to be in touch with colleges, administrators, and space partners when it comes to building or maintaining collaborations necessary for SI to happen successfully, and for sharing relevant data about the program that demonstrates SI’s successes, needs, and pinch points. In sum, Adam’s share of SI’s collaborative supervision involves seeing SI and its staff at the program/big picture level.  

An example of how SI’s supervisory model has been successful is the recent development of a mentor program. William brainstormed and piloted SI’s mentor program with Adam’s support and co-facilitation. Experienced SI leaders (SILs) are now taking more agency in planning and leading team meetings as well as serving as additional forms of check-in support for newly hired SILs. This effect has seen an increase in cross-team communication and reduced confusions during onboarding substantially.  

To close this spotlight on SI, I offer this visual representation of the SI shared supervision model, which I believe represents a structure for supervising student employees that works well for a program with one Coordinator and one Assistant Coordinator: 

Venn diagram containing two ovelapping ovals, one red and one blue. The overlapping area indicates where supervisory duties are shared (hiring, observation, evaluation). The blue indicates where Adam takes lead (programmatic assessment, pedagogy, and logistics). The red indicates where William takes lead (staff-level and day-to-day operations and logistics).
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What Are OSU Colleagues Reading

We asked colleagues, “What have you read that has informed your work or resonated for you, and why? This can be reading in any form (e.g., books, articles, videos, podcasts, audiobooks, etc.).” Perhaps you’ll find a book for reading over the winter break or for future exploration individually or as a team.

Cynthia Castro, Director/Associate Athletics Director, Academics for Student Athletes

In Dare to Lead, Brené Brown (2018) (Valley Library print, ebook) states, “The true underlying obstacle to brave leadership is how we respond to our fear” (p. 12). This insight resonates in higher education, where we sometimes encounter hesitance to engage openly. By addressing these fears, we can shed our protective armor and embrace vulnerability. Courageous conversations foster genuine connections and create a supportive environment for everyone. When we approach challenges with openness, we encourage growth and resilience. Together, we can lead authentically, transforming our community into a space where all individuals feel valued and empowered to thrive.

Tait Bergstom, Director, Graduate Writing Center

I research multimodal approaches to literacy and writing. Recently, one book read for fun became unexpectedly relevant: The Confessions by Jean Jacques Rousseau (Valley Library print). He describes vividly the relationship between writing and human movement: he seemed to arrive at almost all his big ideas while walking. He also notes frequently becoming socially paralyzed or incommunicative when forced to stand still and lecture in the public speaking style that was esteemed in his day. He needed physical movement and the input of changing scenery in a way that seems relevant to how people talk about composition strategies for neurodivergent writers today.

Allison Wilson, Director, Center for Advocacy, Prevention & Education (CAPE), Student Health Services

The Wound Makes the Medicine by Pixie Lighthorse – this is a beautifully written book providing insights to help navigate the grief of loss & fear of change. So many folx that we work with at CAPE are navigating vulnerable and extremely difficult experiences, including staff who are supporting folx as they move through trauma. This reading has been so helpful for me in thinking about ways that folx navigate grief, loss and change in the context of gender-based violence work and how I can best support them (and myself) through those processes.

Regan A.R. Gurung, Professor, School of Psychological Science

If you have noticed people are more attached to their phones than ever (especially students scrolling reels), Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation: How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness (2024) (Valley Library print) is an absorbing must read. Disturbing and stimulating, it documents how the advent of the smartphone maps on to kids spending less time with each other in person and a rise in depression, loneliness, and anxiety. While I do not agree with all the suggestions, this is great food for thought regarding how we (as a university/ society), live with technology and social media.

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Improv for Leadership and Team Building

by William McDonald-Newman

Amongst the myriad tools for making teams better, or for being a better leader, supervisor, or facilitator, I’m constantly impressed by the power of improv. The skillset goes by many names: flexibility, adaptability, or being quick on your feet. All of these generally refer to the same things, and improv is perhaps one of the more socially pressurized contexts for learning them. Beyond the ability to refer to yourself as “flexible” with confidence, improv (or something improv adjacent) can be personally and professionally rewarding.

For clarity, improv (abbreviating improvisation) is most often used in reference to theater techniques developed to help people thrive in the spotlight. Whatever hiccups or challenges, improv experience prepares a performer to adapt and can give a shy performer a lower stakes form of showmanship. Personally, I think performing Shakespeare is a much scarier challenge than to be amongst a smaller crew of people in a make-shift show based on audience suggestions (no offense intended to the truly stunning skills of improv troupes everywhere, who do amazing things).

Like many practices, removing improv from its home context is a jump, but much less of one than it seems! Facilitating a team meeting is not so far off from a stage performance, and sometimes it can be far more tightly scripted. Committees following rules of order can be extraordinary to watch, a careful ballet of words and forms, though, sadly, far less likely to be accompanied by music or applause. Applying improv skills to meetings can make a facilitator, or a participant, far more comfortable when technology fails, when someone is put on the spot, or when disagreement arises.

So, knowing a bit of what improv is, and how it applies outside of theater, how do we get better at it? What a fantastic question that I ask myself all the time!

For those looking to jump in the deep end, improv classes/workshops are not uncommon in many cities, especially if there’s a theater community. For the more cautious, there are party games like Yes, And or That Escalated Quickly, with summer camp games like Mafia as excellent additional options. For the more game inclined, Dungeons & Dragons is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game (TTRPG) that has spent the last decade or so blossoming in part thanks to improv/theater performers. D&D is the most common of many TTRPGs, ranging from the most esoterically math inclined to essentially improv games with a single page rulebook. Lasers and Feelings, one of the more well-known one-page games, is a single 8.5×11 meant to get you pretending to be a crewmember of what is definitely not the copyrighted Star Trek franchise.

Whatever your preferred starting point, the key to improv is practicing it in a lower stake environment first. Improvisation is valuable when it helps ease the confusion, startlement, or fear that can come from surprises. It gives you reflexes for those moments when your mind goes blank, or when your face wants to betray how you actually feel. It’s also a great, borderline miraculous, excuse to interact with others, form social connections, and try something new.

Life doesn’t come with a script, and we all learn to improvise to handle that. Growing in a skill you may not know you had, and doing so intentionally, purposefully, can make you a far better team member, facilitator, friend, and leader. If you were itching for an excuse to try a party game, start a D&D group, or take a class, here’s a reason.

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Making Individual Feedback on Assignments a Manageable Routine

Individual feedback on assignments is a valuable way to connect with students, support individual understanding of course content and growth, and encourage engagement. It also takes time and effort and can feel overwhelming. My teaching experience is mainly across writing and academic success courses which are usually 30 or fewer students. However, I used to teach 4-5 sections at a time, regularly providing individual feedback to 100+ students. Whether you teach 25 or 200 students, if you’re providing individual feedback, it helps to have a plan and find strategies that work for you. Here are some strategies I’ve found helpful providing timely and supportive individualized feedback to students.

Before Grading

  • Gather materials. Create a document for drafting comments before posting to Canvas. Have the assignment directions and the scoring guide for reference.
  • Read the full assignment directions and scoring guide if applicable. Be sure you understand requirements and areas outside of the assignment’s scope.
  • Be open-minded. Avoid imagining one “ideal” assignment and consider the range of ways students could meet requirements.
  • Skim through a sample of submitted assignments. Get a sense for general understanding, quality of work, and missing work for outreach.
  • Plan a format for comments. This can help you provide each student with a similar amount of feedback. The format can create consistency whether you’re at the start or end of grading. Here’s an example:
    • Greet and thank student by name
    • Note two areas that were working well
    • Share one or two areas they could improve/focus on in future work
  • Think about feedback if students are meeting requirements. Students whose assignments meet requirements often get shorter or less nuanced feedback. While it’s great to acknowledge success, if that’s the extent of feedback, students may feel like they don’t know how to continue developing skills. Including praise and areas to prompt thinking for each student can ensure everyone has ideas for ongoing development.
  • Plan more time than you need. If you start early, you’ll have time for norming, revision of comments, and follow-up.
  • Plan for grading at times when you feel most alert and focused. Are you a morning person? Evening? Do you have a day that’s more open?
    • Avoid grading if you’re upset, overwhelmed, or exhausted. Most students understand if you share that grading will take longer than anticipated.
    • Break grading into manageable chunks so you can maintain energy and consistency.

While Grading

  • Start grading at different points the alphabet. This ensures one person’s work isn’t always graded first or last.
  • Stick to your planned format.  This supports consistency, routine, and momentum.
  • Spend as much time on praise as you do on feedback. Helping students identify their strengths, validating work and effort, and thanking them encourages future learning, revision, and motivation.
  • Don’t worry too much about language in your first draft of comments. If you’ve saved time to revise, you can read and revise specifically for language later.
  • Be a generous reader and meet students where they’re at. Here are some practices to support that mindset:
    • Read to understand vs. from a point of critique
    • Work to make connections like you would when reading writing in your field
      • Be open to an approach to the assignment that you didn’t anticipate
  • Be specific. Reference specific ideas from students’ work. If you have something to say to all students (copy/pasting, rubber stamping), talk about it in class or post an announcement.
  • Engage with ideas and assignment requirements. Spend time with at least one or two ideas that stood out to you. Show students you’re listening and care about what they’ve said.

After Grading

  • Leave time between drafting comments and submitting them. Give yourself time to think about what you’ve read and written; then revise.
  • Grade norm for your class. Review student work that earned similar grades. Keep in mind different students might have the same grade but for different reasons. Revisit work if you find inconsistencies.
  • Re-read comments and revise for language, tone, depth. Consider the language you’ve used to praise, give feedback, pose questions, or point students in a specific direction. Show up in a way that represents you and your values.

While I know not all these ideas will resonate for everyone, I hope some might prompt thinking about how to provide feedback in a way that creates routine and supports individual students in their learning and growth.