I'm excited to beginning the journey for my Multimedia Montage Project (MMP). The work that I do is as a Higher Education administrator. A significant responsibility that I have is to serve on and chair search and selection committees for the University. This ranges from hiring entry level Student Affairs Professionals (i.e. Advisors, Residence Hall Directors, Student Activities Coordinators, etc) to senior level positions such as Vice Presidents of Student Affairs to presidential candidates.
In the area of Student Affairs, the departments of Residence Life (dorms/residence halls) and Student Life have the highest turn over. These positions are typically entry level and have turn around times of 2-3 years on average. To this end, on a yearly basis these departments are hiring new staff members. Subsequently, there is a need to provide resources and best practices for these Student Affairs professionals in an effort to aid in their efforts.
This is where my MMP comes in! I would like to create 'Online Community Awareness' (via a website) that promotes the best practices and provides resources and support for the selection of professional staff within Residence Life and Student Life.
In an effort to support my venture and creation of this website, I will be an active member of two communities to get ideas from and get feedback on my project. The first is the course Thinkfinity community. While I know that the general expectation is that we join two Thinkfinity groups, it's my hope to join another community outside of Thinkfinity (workforce.com), as Thinkfinity is targeted towards K-12 education. Since all of my efforts and professional experience are within Higher Education, I think it would be more advantageous for me to be a part of the Workforce.com community. In this community, it mobilizes Human Resources professionals and provides a medium for them to engage each other in conversation and the sharing of best practices. A likely forum for me to be active in within this large Workforce.com community is the 'Staffing and Hiring' subgroup.
I am excited to be a part of both of these communities and believe they will serve as great resources in the design of my MMP. The course Thinkfinity group will challenge me to think with regards to education and the content we are learning in this course. The Workforce.com community will challenge me to think outside of the educational sphere and look at business practices. I am excited to be able to fuse the feedback and ideas from these two communities into my MMP project.
Thanks for reading! More to come...
Steve T.
Additional Info
Workforce.com
Picture of the day of my daughter (to get you to want to read my blog)
Hello to another member of EdD cohort! I am also in EdD program (Cohort 2011).
ReplyDeleteSteve, my first one complain – the cutest ever picture of your daughter should be the FIRST thing on your blog, not the last. Congratulation! She is adorable, I hope you are finding time to enjoy the time with your baby – kids have tendency to grow up so fast…
I like the idea that you plan to create 'Online Community Awareness' (via a website), it could be very useful place, where you can offer advice and mainly these professionals will have an opportunity to share their experiences and support to each other. I looked at Workforce.com – interesting site, I wish you would create a link between the name of this web and Staffing and Hiring group to the URL – it would help your readers to check it out. I like your post, background with birds and, of course, the photo of baby takes it over the top ☺.
Looking forward to see your website soon.
Natalia
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Natalie, move your daughter to the top of the page-she is adorable! I really am excited to see your Multimedia Montage Project. I do not have experience in higher education, but I was part of Residence Life at Rutgers University. Also, I know as a teacher a one stop shop for resources are very helpful. So I am eager to see the completion of your design.
I think you made a good decision in choosing one group outside of thinkfinity. I agreed that it would be to your advantage to be a part of workforce.com. In your position, you are dealing with students that will be entering the workforce. My suggestion would be to link that group workforce.com to your final website, as a resource tool under Student Life. I saw the website had many upcoming events and even blogs for a multitude of career paths.
That is my only suggestion; otherwise I think you did a good job on your first blog entry. Best of luck and can’t wait to see the final result!
~Anita
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteI think this is a wonderful idea for your MMP -- in all the semesters I've taught this course, while I have had several students who were not K-12 educators, I've yet to see a site dedicated to Student Affairs "best practices". I have had three other Student Affairs students in particular, one whom was just starting his career and created a website showcasing his resume; my other S.A. students were working at Rutgers at the time and created websites dedicated *specifically* to the RU student community.
Best,
Erica
P.S. While I do not need an additional reason to read your blog, Maiya (sp?) is precious -- I cannot get enough of those adorably chubby cheeks! What a cutie!
Steve,
ReplyDeleteNice "meeting" you again...
I think your project is a great idea, having a place for Residential Life professionals to share ideas, practices and issues. I assume that you are part of Rutgers Residential Life community already and that you are having meeting periodically. The meeting minutes are probably recorded and share via email.
Allowing these people to continue the discussions online, it would be very resourceful for the community as a whole.
Also, you might want to consider creating a separate link for the Residential Life issues pertinent to summer camps. Being a counselor in charge of youngsters (K-4, 4-8, 9-12) during a summer camp, has its own issues. Maybe these non-professionals kids (usually hired as season workers) could use some resources...
The workforce.com seems a very good resource for you, a well established organization.