Ashford Courses

Week 1

Historical Perspective. Based on the historical perspectives on student development, offer a justified definition for student development and a description of how the definition is grounded in the historical evolution of the student development movement. Does your own understanding of student development align with your definition? How did the changes in student development affect your educational experience? Support your response with references to the readings.

Critical Paradigms. Evans et al (2010) noted that foundational student development theories have continued to shift over time. In spite of these paradigmatic shifts, student affairs principles have remained grounded in common tenets for more than 70 years. A tenet is a belief or supposition that maintains relevance over time. In your initial post, present a personal student affairs philosophy statement that is justified by the readings, and addresses these four tenets:

a. Effective Performance

b. Collaboration


c. Diversity and Inclusion

d. Identity

Week 2

Student Development Challenges to Persistence. Identify specific barriers to student 
persistence that could be the area of focus for your Final Project training assignment. Explain your choice and provide real-life examples. Discuss the related student development theory (or theories) that could be used to best address this challenge and what strategies you would use to implement them. Be sure to support your discussion with references from the readings.

Life Stress and Student Development. Review the table of significant life events found under “Life Events” in Smith (2001) and offer your reflections as to how one of the life events listed in the table can cause a significant readjustment period within student development. Provide an example from your own experience that demonstrates a time when a life event caused a readjustment period for you. How could you use your experience to provide support for others? Support your discussion with the relevant references to Evans et al. (2010).

Student Development Philosophy. Be sure to read the instructions for the Final Project prior to starting the Week Two written assignment, and assume the hypothetical role of a Student Affairs professional within a university setting. You have been asked by your supervisor to prepare a training session for a new team of academic advisors that that will be hired and onsite by the next semester.

You will prepare a five- to seven-slide Microsoft PowerPoint presentation that will be used to introduce the new advisors to the Student Affairs department’s mission and goals and student development philosophy at your university. In addition to the five to seven content slides, the last slide should be a References slide that is formatted according to APA style.

Week 3

Student Individual Identity Development. As Evans et al. (2010) noted, Chickering argued that the college environment has a tremendous influence over a college student’s development (Chickering, 1969; Chickering & Reiser, 1993). Select one of the key issues facing today’s college freshmen from the list below and use any individual identity theory (or combination of theories) to justify your discussion as to how the issue may influence a student’s college persistence and/or academic success:

2.Academic preparedness

3.Family-related issues

4.Job-related issues

Emergent Student Identities. As Evans et al. (2010) described, in the real-world application of several of the identity development theories, great care is needed by higher education leadership in the development of programs or services that support a college student’s evolving individual identity. Choose one common, emergent identity that surfaces for traditional, undergraduate college students that need such support, and offer at least two recommendations for direct or indirect services that student affairs departments should be responsible for in upholding within both an online and traditional university setting.

Training Objective & Advisor Reading List. The Student Affairs department you presented in Week Two will serve as the setting for the academic advisor training session designed to focus on student individual identity development or student social identity development (see Final Project instructions).

In this assignment, you will first design the training objective for the training session. Your training objective will be based one of two choices:

a. Student individual identity development

b. Student social identity development

Keep in mind that your training session is limited to 50 minutes, so focus the objective on one concrete issue that the academic advisors will commonly encounter in their first term of service.

Secondly, you will develop an annotated bibliography to share with the advisors prior to the training that includes at least three to four sources that you feel are essential as background information for the training session focus. You will expect that the advisors have read these sources in advance of your training.

Week 4

Student Social Identity Development. Evans et al. (2010) noted that historically, college student development issues have mirrored the social constructs of the time. Select one of the key issues facing today’s college freshmen from the list below and use any social or socio-cultural identity theory (or combination of theories) to justify your discussion of how college student development issues may reflect current social or cultural constructs:

a. Sense of belonging

b. Diversity (gender, race/ethnicity, sexuality, religion, etc.)

c. Oppression

d. Privilege

Include an example, from your own experience or from history, that illustrates how a social issue could affect student development. Suggest interventions that may facilitate learning.

Social Media and Student Social Identity. Much has been studied and written in this decade on the influence of social media or networking on traditional-aged college students. Conduct an internet or library search and discuss one scholarly article that has addressed the relationship between social media or networking and a college student’s emerging social identity from a theoretical perspective. Share a summary of the article’s main points and your reactions to them. Make sure to include the link to your article.

Student Development Principles Checklist. In Week One, you explored the historical literature that led to various tenets and principles that founded the contemporary field of student development.

In this assignment, your goal is to prepare a one-page student development principles checklist for the group of new academic advisors that you will be training. Your checklist will consist of an itemized list of 12 to 15 tenets or principles that underscore the student development philosophy in the PowerPoint presentation you prepared in Week Two. Think of the checklist as a handout that you will share with the advisors to accompany the presentation. Ensure that your handout includes an adequate balance of principles from foundational student development theory to contemporary perspectives. These are the working principles that will serve as a foundation for new academic advisors’ understanding of the university’s student development philosophy. (Note: For purposes of this assignment, you will assume that no such list of principles currently exists for your institution, so you are creating one.)

No title page for the checklist is required, but any sources consulted should be included on a separate References page in your submission

Week 5

Student Affairs as Student Support. Evans et al. (2010) advocated that Transition 
Theory should be used for ongoing support and intervention, especially for graduate learners, but cautioned against “pigeon-holing” student support systems solely based on Schlossberg et al. (1989) or other single theories related to the adult learner. In your initial discussion post, present an argument for the use of Schlossberg’s adult learning theory in combination with other theories to support your project training objective. First, present the training objective that you will use to develop the training syllabus. Next, follow this with at least a 100-word justification as it relates to student development theory and adult learners

Student as Self. For this discussion, draw on your own experiences as a graduate learner and reflect on the various support relationships that have been important to your own academic success. What are the roles you consider critical to your own progression within a graduate program, especially as related to student development, support, or student affairs?

Academic Advisor Training Syllabus. Project Scenario: Assume the hypothetical role of a Student Affairs professional within a university setting. You have been asked by your supervisor to prepare one 50-minute training session for a new team of academic advisors, who will be hired and onsite by the next semester, and an advance reading list that they will have read prior to the training. Your goal is to train the team of academic advisors on one learning objective that you will develop with an individual identity focus or a social identity focus as justified by student development theory.

As you have read in your Final Project instructions, one of the components of your project will include a one-page training syllabus that outlines the 50-minute training session on one, focused objective that is related either to student individual identity development or social identity development.

For your Week Five submission, you will begin with the training objective and reading list you completed in Week Three to develop the one-page training syllabus. The training should be focused on one key issue that the academic advisors will commonly encounter in their first term of service as related to the training objective. Be sure to keep in mind that your training session is limited to 50 minutes, and time at the beginning of a new term in a busy academic setting is valuable, so the focus of the session is essential.

Week 6

The Student Affairs Professional. As Evans et al. (2010) states, “Models designed to 
connect theory to practice can be helpful in the intentional structuring of programs and interventions to facilitate student development” (p. 353). Using one of the models presented in the text or one that you have found in an internet search, draft a memorandum to your supervisor that explains why the model supports the training objective and training materials you have developed for your advisor training session. Next, post your memorandum to the discussion forum for your peers to review and include a justification statement as to why it is essential for student affairs professionals to ensure their practice remains grounded in student development theory.

Student Affairs Professional Practice. Since time is a premium commodity for Student Affairs professionals, setting aside time for reflection may be a luxury. However, it is essential that time is scheduled for reflection when bringing student development theory to a professional practice. In this final discussion, take a few moments to reflect on an existing or potential role in higher education student affairs and offer at least two priorities you have learned in this course that now you will engage in to bridge student development theory with the daily priorities of student affairs

Student Development Training Session

Assume the hypothetical role of a Student Affairs professional within a university setting. You have been asked by your supervisor to prepare one 50-minute training session for a new team of academic advisors, who will be hired and onsite by the next semester, and an advance reading list that they will have read prior to the training. Your goal is to train the team

of academic advisors on one learning objective that you will develop with an individual identity focus or a social identity focus as justified by student development theory.

For the Final Project, you will present the academic advisor training session material that focuses on one of the two options based on the university’s philosophy for student development:

a. Student individual identity development

b. Student social identity development

Schedule for component submissions:

a.Week Two- Student Development Philosophy Presentation

b.Week Three- Training Objective & Advisor Reading List

c.Week Four- Student Development Principles Checklist

d.Week Five- Academic Advisor Training Syllabus (50-minute training session)

e.Week Six- Student Development Training Session 
Revise, assemble, and submit all Final Project components and include the URL to your recorded training introduction.
The recorded introduction should be at least five minutes in length.
You may use Jing, a free screencapture software, or another multimedia software application of your choice. If you need a guide, please refer to the Jing Instructions.

The Final Project will not require a title page, but all references consulted for the presentation, theoretical justification, and training design should be included and formatted using proper APA style.