Relational Practice: The Currency of Student Affairs (original) (raw)
Related papers
Journal of Student Affairs in Africa, 2014
This book, an update of a 2007 edition, describes eleven models of student affairs practice, divided between 'traditional' and 'innovative' types. The authors, all respected scholars of student affairs and higher education, draw from several sources to describe and differentiate these models, including extensive historical and theoretical grounding, their own experience, and data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and the related DEEP (Documenting Effective Educational Practice) study, which described universities that had both higher than predicted NSSE scores and graduation rates.
Relational Pedagogy, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education
and Keywords One could easily argue that the pedagogy of relation is not new: a genealogy of the approach would send us back to the ancient Greek philosophers. However, in recent years relational pedagogy has been taken up in novel and ever-deepening ways. It is a response to ongoing efforts at school reform that center on teacher and administrator accountability, based on a constraining view of education as the effective teaching of content. In this view, methods, curricula, and high-stakes testing overshadow the human relationship between teacher and student that relational pedagogy theorists place at the center of educational exchanges. When relationships are secondary to content, the result can be disinterested or alienated students and teachers who feel powerless to step outside the mandated curriculum of their school district. Offering an alternative vision of pedagogy in a troubling era of teacher accountability, contemporary relational theorists take inspiration from a range of philosophical writings. This article focuses on those whose work is informed by the concept of caring, as developed by Nel Noddings, with the critical perspective of Paulo Freire, or the ethics of Emmanuel Levinas. Although these approaches to ethical educational relations do not necessarily mesh together easily, the tensions among them can bear fruit that informs our pedagogy. Each student-teacher relationship is a unique pedagogical space: it is a one-on-one teaching situation, a partnership of sorts, that can lead to learning exchanges that enliven both individuals. However, in the United States, ongoing efforts at school reform and a culture of teacher and administrator accountability take a limited view of pedagogy as the effective teaching of mandated content. This approach is particularly troubling in an era of deeply inequitable educational access, resources, and outcomes that disproportionately affect the poor and students of color. Further, student demographics
Underlying Paradigms in Student Affairs Research and Practice
Student affairs professionals benefit from understanding paradigms, world-views, and ways of being among diverse faculty, staff, and students. It is challenging to understand core differences of paradigms, design student affairs practice and research in congruence with or across specific philosophies , and work effectively with individuals operating in paradigms different from our own. For most, it is more comfortable to develop practice
Relational pedagogy for student engagement and success at university
The Australian Educational Researcher, 2011
People in regional Australia who experience low socioeconomic status face a range of barriers to participation and success at university. These barriers both limit possibilities for university participation and compromise people's abilities to study successfully once they become university students. This paper explores the experiences of students on a regional university campus as they struggle to maintain their desire for learning in the face of enduring cultural barriers to success. As students reflect on the cultural and pedagogical conditions that promote, support and enhance their continuing participation and engagement in higher education, a picture emerges of the importance of students' relationships with academic staff and with other students. Positive relationships help students to remain engaged, while negative experiences work against continuing participation and engagement. Given the undoubted contribution that universities can make to the well-being of regional communities, the research suggests some challenges for universities wishing to better address the needs of students from regional communities.
Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice in Student Affairs. ASHE Annual Meeting Paper
1987
Problems of bridging the gap between theory and practice in the professional preparation of student affairs practitioners are considered. After briefly discussing the character of professional work and the role of theory and research, attention is directed to problems inherent to the nature of applied educational fields and issues related to the imperfect correspondence between theory and practice. Strategies are recommended concerning professional preparation and successfully connecting theory and practice in the course of graduate education. While many of the examples are specific to student affairs, the assumptions and general processes outlined are presumed to be applicable to the task of applied professional preparation in general. The suggestions for professional preparation include: encourage the role of "personal theorist;" move from the concrete to the abstract, from practice to theory; and move from the abstract to the concrete, from theory to practice. It is suggested that the best place to present theory is with the concrete experience of students, and that inductive methods that move from particulars to general principles are more effective. Strategies to move from the abstract to the concrete might include using a particular theoretical model to critique current campus policies or practices. Included are 15 references. (SW)
2012
partner in life, Reverend Christy C. Correll-Hughes, this doctoral journey would not have been possible. Thank you for believing in me, being my biggest fan, and choosing me every day. People often asked how I did this doctoral education with young children, but Brooks and Lucy have provided the energy to do this and I will forever be thankful for the time with them that I have had during these three years. Diane Cooper has been a source of consistency for me throughout this program and has always been the advisor I needed, always available as a sounding board, holding me to my word, providing gentle encouragement, and consistent direction. This profession is fortunate to count her among its senior scholars and the University of Georgia among its faculty. Laura Dean has always asked me the right questions at the right time during this process, which profoundly affected the direction of my study. Diane Samdahl has provided me sound counsel on the intricacies of questionnaire design. Bill McDonald has been a mentor to me in this last year and a half and has been a constant source of encouragement. Dick Mullendore facilitated the class in which the topic for this dissertation became clear. Merrily Dunn and Michele Espino provided classroom instruction throughout this program for which I am truly grateful. The company of fellow travelers along this journey, fellow and former doctoral students not only in my program, but in other programs at UGA and across the globe, has helped me tremendously. Conversations both in-class and out-of-class with Dallin vi
Collaborative Relationships Between Faculty and Student Affairs Professionals: A Case Study
In this constructivist collective case study, the collaborative relationships of faculty and student affairs professionals co-teaching were examined. Bowling Green State University was selected as the site, and four pairs of co-instructors for BGSU1000, a first year seminar, each with a faculty member and a student affairs professional, were the participants. A Vygotskian framework was used to consider the individual by herself or himself, and in interaction with a partner. An individual interview was conducted with each participant, was followed by an interview with each pair, and concluded with a final individual interview with each participant.
Extant research utilizing the Relational Communication Perspective has provided important insights concerning the student-teacher relationship. However, we believe that there is a wider epistemological terrain for communication and instruction scholarship to explore than has been to date. This essay draws upon Relational Dialectics Theory (RDT) to highlight how studying the sociocultural and contextual elements of relational communication can complement existing research programs. We first review past instructional communication literature concerning immediacy, affinity-seeking strategies, and teacher misbehaviors and show how each relies primarily upon deterministic, efficient-cause, and teleological logics (respectively). Second, we describe praxiological, formal-cause, and indeterminate logics and explain how incorporating each can promote new ways of teaching through and researching about relational communication. Third, we offer that a holistic account of students' and teachers' relational communication is a crucial step toward cultivating dialogic communication in educational spaces. Finally, we argue that the expanded epistemological scope of relational communication research C. Kyle Rudick should encourage scholars to engage in issued-based and methodologically pluralistic inquiries concerning the communicative phenomenon that are unique to educational spaces. Ultimately, we hope that this essay serves as an impetus for communication and instruction scholars of different paradigmatic loyalties to work together to forge rigorous, holistic, and politically hopeful research.