An upstream view of advising

As of November 1, 2014, the Learning Center, Advising and Career Services, and the Registrar’s Office have been successfully transferred from Enrollment Management and Student Affairs (EMSA) to Academic Affairs.  While there are details still to be worked out, I want to thank all involved for their mutual respect and collaboration during the transition. You might ask, How will this change allow us to better serve students?   What about this change makes it possible, as one colleague put it to me “to realize opportunities to elevate and improve advising practices?”   

Allow me to use a metaphor and a few examples to share some of my thoughts about advising.     

Metaphor

Advising is one of many successful student retention and student success strategies at PSU. Advisors help students navigate the rapids, rocks, and still water in the long journey down a complex river. They give advice on the equipment a student needs; they call out when there is danger, help correct course, and yes, even sometimes provide the bucket for bailing when the boat takes on too much water, ride it when it capsizes, or toss out a life preserver when someone goes overboard.  

We have recently provided advisors with powerful predictive analytics to give them hidden insights into the patterns of academic success. But I see advising as more than guiding, navigating and tossing out a life preserver.  We have the ability and opportunity to change the characteristics of the river our students travel by constantly examining and adjusting the quality, content and delivery of our curriculum.  

Examples

Think about it, advisors have a holistic view of a student.  An advisor knows how well (or not well) a student did in not only Professor X's class, but in subsequent courses the student had with Professors Y and Z. Through our powerful data analytics an advisor can see that even though many students earn a B in Professor X's class, a majority of them fail Professor's Y class. 

With this knowledge a department can ask: Is Professor X an easy grader? Is Professor Y too hard a grader?  Is there a gap in the curriculum between what Professor X teaches and what Professor Y expects students to know?  Do Professors X and Y have such different perspectives that what a student learns from Professor X is refuted by Professor Y?  The latter resonates with me.  When I was an undergraduate student one of my professors believed in the emerging theory of plate tectonics (and yes, it was an EMERGING theory at that time!) and another thought it was rubbish.  What I learned in one class was considered "wrong" in another. 

Imagine a steady flow of information coming from advisors feeding into curricular conversations that faculty members have in their department or between departments. Imagine not merely calling out to a student when there is a rock or a rapid ahead, but getting rid of the obstacle or calming the dangerous waters through curricular change. Imagine an advisor being able to focus attention on how a student makes a smooth trip down the river rather than a rough one. 

Advising, while an activity in and of itself adds value by guiding students, is a powerful tool to help us see how faculty might change and innovate the curriculum—a means by which we can make sure that we are not responsible for creating the rock, rapid, or conditions that capsize the boat.

I certainly would be interested in your thoughts on this topic.  

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24 Hour Countdown for Flexible Degree Open Comment

There are 24 hours left for public commenting on all Concept Proposals for the reTHINK PSU: Flexible Degrees RFP. Proposals submitted by your colleagues include a Bachelors in Urban and Public Affairs, a Minor in Sustainability, a Degree in Sociology and a Certificate in Collaborative Governance. You can view and comment on all Concept Proposals by visiting http://flexibledegrees.pdx.edu/. The faculty submitting proposals, the team at the Office of Academic Innovation and the Academic Leadership Team will find feedback your feedback valuable as the proposals are further developed and strengthened. What is a Flexible degree? Flexible degrees can be fully online or hybrid degrees (with 75% or more online) that make effective use of technology to offer high quality and affordable education for students who have attended some college without receiving college credentials, or graduate students who seek new opportunities.  Why Flexible Degrees? A recent analysis by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, Jobs and Education Requirements through 2020 estimates Oregon will need to fill about 694,000 vacancies resulting from job creation, worker retirements and other factors. Of these job vacancies, 480,000 will require postsecondary education and nearly half of these vacancies will require bachelors and advanced degrees. Only 214,000 are expected to be filled by high school graduates or dropouts. One excellent place to begin looking for these additional graduates is in the ranks of Oregon residents who have completed some college without earning a degree. In 2011, nearly 567,000 Oregon residents fit into this category—representing more than 27.12% of the state’s adult population. If only a small portion of this group could be supported in attaining a bachelor or advanced degree, it would go a long way to helping Oregon to meet workforce needs and reach its 40-40-20 goals. Degree attainment gaps among racial and ethnic group in Oregon are significant (41.54% of whites vs. 15.8% Hispanic, 25-64 age group). Thus, an important aspect of PSU’s student success strategy is ensuring that students of color, low-income, first generation and working adults have access to and are successful in PSU’s Flexible Degree programs. Are Flexible Degrees part of reTHINK PSU? Yes. reTHINK PSU is a campus-wide effort to deliver an education that serves more students with better outcomes, while containing costs through curricular innovation, community engagement and effective use of technology. Flexible degrees are a way for PSU to meet the needs for some students. reTHINK PSU projects follow a well-designed reTHINK roadmap for developing solutions for challenges facing PSU. We look forward to your comments.  Questions?  Please check our FAQ page or contact us at flexibledegrees@pdx.edu.

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How can we make it all work?

There is a lot going on at PSU! In addition to our most important day-to-day work of teaching, research, community engagement and service, this year we find ourselves engaged in quite a few exciting initiatives:

• Strategic Planning
• Academic Program Prioritization
• Academic Program Review
• Transition of some units from Enrollment Management and Student Affairs to Academic Affairs
• Big conversations in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences on structure
• Discussions on strategic enrollment management and performance-based budgeting
• Filling a number of key leadership positions

Phew!

Questions have emerged
How do these all relate to one another (or not)? Are we trying to do too much? What is the right sequence? What is the overlap? Will any of it make a difference?

PSU: A Complex System

The conversations, initiatives and decisions that need to be made by PSU (those listed above and others) seem to occupy a tight space and be running on compressed timelines. I am guessing I am not alone in wanting the world to stand still to make order of things. However, as many of us know, we do not live or function in a sequential space or time. We are a complex organization that has, and will always have a set of linked initiatives happening at the same time.

I am almost done reading Complexity: A Guided Tour written by one of our faculty members, Professor Melanie Mitchell in Computer Science. Melanie teaches and studies complex systems and although she does not use PSU as an example in her book, she certainly could. I learned from Melanie’s book and from viewing a number of her MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) lectures on the same topic, that complex systems have interrelated parts that have differentiated relationships both inside and outside of an organization.  

Again and again in the book Melanie provides evidence on how interdependent yet self-interested organisms come together to cooperate on solving problems that affect their survival as a whole. By studying a complex system you can begin to understand the symmetry, nodes, interrelationships, and relative magnitudes of how pieces or actions relate to one another.

Mapping it Out

As I examine all of PSU's initiatives I see them mapping onto a network--a complex system.  Of course, as many of you know, my training is in cartography (mapping) and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) so I see most things as having a spatial connection.

I can understand why individuals might believe “there is too much going on” or it is “too complicated.”  The Latin origin of the word complex—complexus—signifies "entwined," "twisted together.” What we need to do is embrace that we are a complex system and sort through the networks, connections and interrelationships. As Melanie points out, interdependent organisms can come together to cooperate on solving problems that affect the survival as a whole. 

I challenge everyone to use one of the models illustrated in this post (or one of your own) to think about how various initiatives at PSU map onto a network.  What are the symmetry, nodes, interrelationships and relative magnitudes? 

I invite ideas on what those connections look like, so that we can create a network map that works for PSU.

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Shark Tank: PSU’s Experience in Academia’s Version of Reality Competition Show

 At the joint National Associate of Land Grant and Public Universities (APLU) and Urban Serving Universities (USU) annual conference this week I had the pleasure of “pitching” an idea for PSU.  The competition was to showcase ideas universities had to create better alignment between what a student learns and what employers need. The Innovation Pitch Challenge session was modeled on the television show Shark Tank (which I admit, I had not seen until we were selected for this competition).

Our Idea

In September, we, along with dozens of universities, submitted an idea. Ours was to create a professional master’s program in Industrial Mathematics; a proposal that had been originally submitted by the mathematics and statistics department for the Provost Challenge. PSU was among 11 universities selected to make a pitch at the conference. Each participant had five minutes for the presentation.

Big Thanks

Mathematics Professors Jay Gopalakrishnan and Gerardo Lafferriere were the brains behind the idea for the program and the content of the script.  Thanks also to Professor Devon Allen in the School of Theatre and Film who spent a session coaching me on how to memorize the script (which I did and now can recite it for anyone!), and to Mark Wubbold in the President’s Office for helping me make math flash cards of the mastery and competencies handed out to the judges.

The Pitch

Here is my pitch. I share it because the ideas your colleagues have for this proposal is exciting. Please note the script was not written to be published, but to be delivered verbally.

I want to start with a question: What does 5x5x5x5x5 equal?  A well-formulated question with a precise answer, 3125.  But wait, in rare cases are problems so easily defined or so easily solved. Imagine training that would prepare employees already in the work place to address computationally intensive problems in science and industry.

I have a proposal for a professional master’s degree in industrial mathematics.  A program that meets business and industry’s need for dealing with complex, discontinuous and disruptive change. An academic program that lies in that void between basic undergraduate math programs and our research-focused mathematical doctoral programs.  A program that takes the concepts and fundamentals and applies them-- not to the well-formulated questions-- but rather to identifying messy questions that exist in our knowledge-based industries.

Think about it--practitioners trained in logical thinking within a business setting; employees that are able to effectively use contemporary computational and statistical tools.  A program that has higher level skills grounded in mathematical thinking and theory, but not one that trains someone to be a mathematician. Just last week, I had four business dean candidates tell me that computational and analytical skills are what employers want most.

I get this. I am not a mathematician. My background is cartography and GIS. I have been a faculty member for over 3 decades and my research and teaching has led me to understand how to deal with change and complex problems.  But I have to say, had I become a practitioner early in my career I would have so benefited from a program like this.  Not only would I have had the skills to map things, but I would have had the perspective to conceive of potential complex interrelationships that go beyond the lines on the map.

We’ve done the math—by working with employers we’ve identified 5 mastery areas where a student would gain 5 competencies each to create this customized program. 5x5 in this case is not 25. Learning is exponential —I can truthfully say it is 5 to the power of 5. One of the most powerful forces in the world is the exponential power of mathematics.  Regardless of how knowledge changes—there is one universal constant—math.  Employees need these skills in their back pocket.

This program is targeted for people already with jobs as engineers, supply chain managers, social entrepreneurs, and even cartographers.  The program will be delivered online, competency based, have no credits, will count experience, and is learner paced.

The number one thing employers are asking for are employees that can innovate. This program delivers on that. We will produce practitioners with mathematical knowledge as applied to their broader skill set.  The saying “do the math” exists for a reason. The evidence shows--Math is a constant no matter what disruptions take place –you all know this, you’ve done the math-- at the heart of all innovation lies computational thinking.

We have the experience to design this program in less than 12 months—Portland State has just innovated over a dozen large-scale curricular projects in 6-12 months through a university-wide crowdsourcing effort called rethink PSU.

We are asking for $5,000, but wait, per each of the 5 mastery areas –do the math—5x5 --we are asking for a total of $25,000. Thank you.

The Many Wins

Unfortunately, we did not win the competition.  But we do have some wins to show for it.  A number of participants and members of the audience thought the idea our mathematics faculty had was “brilliant.”  I learned a lot about the potential this program could have for PSU, and Gerardo’s great sense of humor helped make for a good pitch.  And, upon getting the news that we had not won, I received a great email from mathematics saying:

“All that energy you brought to this effort has energized us and the proposal. None of this effort was wasted. Thank you again.”

This kind of creative thinking on the part of faculty is part of PSU's DNA. My thank you to Jay, Gerardo and their colleagues!

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