the pulse april/may
DESCRIPTION
The Official Newsletter of the Ontario Association of College and University Housing Officers.TRANSCRIPT
THE PULSETHE NEWSLETTER OF THE ONTARIO ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY HOUSING OFFICERS
APRIL & MAY 2015
IN THIS ISSUE
President’s Welcome [4] RLC & FBM [6]
Changing Student Housing Landscape [8] Assessment with Julie [13] OACUHO Research [22]
and more!OACUHO 2015 SPRING CONFERENCE
Rejuvenate - York University
JUNE 8th - JUNE 11th
Board of Directors
The Communications Committee
PRESIDENTLaura Storey | Carleton [email protected]
ura
PRESIDENT-ELECT / FINANCE DIRECTORJulie West | University of Guelph [email protected]
PAST PRESIDENTChad Nuttall | University of Toronto Mississauga [email protected]
COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR Brian Cunha | University of Waterloo [email protected]
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DIRECTORMatthew Harris | York University [email protected]
MEMBERSHIP ENGAGEMENT DIRECTORBrian Ingoldsby | University of Guelph [email protected]
CONFERENCE DIRECTORBrittany Gawley | McMaster [email protected]
CORPORATE PARTNER RELATIONS DIRECTORColin Ryrie | Brock [email protected]
SENIOR-LEVEL MEMBER AT LARGEGlenn Matthews | Western [email protected]
MEMBER AT LARGESamantha Wiebe | University of Waterloo [email protected]
TH
E P
ULS
E DIRECTORBrian Cunha
CONTRIBUTORSDrew SimonHeather Lang
THE PULSE EDITORSVictoria GadonAlison KavanaghLyn-Marie FarleyKatie CalcaterraLaura Mammone
THE HISTORY PROJECTGlenn MatthewsMatt WaghornAndrew Quenneville
6rlc & fbm
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11
OACUHO Research22
EDITOR Brian Cunha
OACUHO mentorship program
our place in the rapidly changing student housing landscape
assessment with julie westgoal setting 16
2 0OACUHO spotlight moment
Table of Contents
checkouts: an admissions perspective18
21
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t’s been a fantastic year .illed with change. I, for one, am re.lecting on what I’ve learned this year and I’d like to share with you some of my “nuggets”. While some of these things I knew before, sometimes it’s great to have them reinforced through a life lesson.
A decision is just a decision.
That’s right. There is no good or bad decision. When you’re trying to make a decision to take a new job, to move, to take on that new project – there is no good or bad decision. There are probably good and bad things that come with each choice regardless of the decision. I moved to a new job in a new city this year. There have been so many great things about this decision… and also some really hard and sad parts of leaving my old job and my old city.
When you’re trying to make a decision to take a new job, to move, to take on that new project – there is no good or bad decision.
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I
President’s Message
1.“ “
Things I learned this year… by Laura
It’s okay to ask for help. And know the difference between desire to support and ability to support.
I de.initely knew this before this year. However, as I’ve moved forward professionally this has become more nuanced. Who do I ask for help and when? Asking for help requires vulnerability and authenticity and I am careful in trying not to burden anyone when asking. During a particularly dif.icult incident on campus, I was more than three hours away. Because of the relationship I have with the people I work with I was able to let them know I wouldn’t be back on campus right away and asked if they could manage the incident in my absence. My desire to help and my ability to help were not congruent at that time – and admitting that to the team allowed for those involved in the incident to get the support they needed. A great team will know that there will be differences between ability and desire.
What keeps you busy?
I’ve tried to shift my focus to be more balanced in my everyday life and in that I’ve tried to not de.ine myself by only my work. In that, I’ve stopped asking people “what do you do?” and started asking “what keeps you busy?”. The former often prompts a work or school response while the latter prompts a response that includes a lot of passion. Sometimes “what keeps you busy” has the person telling me about their work – but more often it has them telling me about an art project, their family, a book they’re reading or a trip they’ll be taking. It’s a great conversation starter that doesn’t come with assumptions.
What are your favourite nuggets from this year? Tell me more on twitter @oacuho #lifelessons.
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President’s Message
Laura StoreyOACUHO President
2.
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Q: Why the change in date for the Residence Life Conference?A: By hos.ng the Residence Life Conference in November, those who a=end the conference will be able to op.mize on the .me following the conference to implement and share the knowledge gained at the conference. With two rounds of proposal applica.ons for student delegates, there will be plenty of .me to prepare and prac.ce! Furthermore, by having the conference in November as opposed to January and February, it doesn’t overlap as much with typical RLS hiring cycles.
Q: Why the decision to combine the FBM and RLC and host at McMaster University? A: Since both the Fall Business Mee.ng and the Residence Life Conference are happening in November 2015, the decision to host both the same weekend at the same loca.on will help to maximize the number of professional and student delegates that can a=end. In having the two conferences together, it ’s a great opportunity to bring student staff and professional delegates together whi le promo.ng OACUHO to student staff.
With the exci.ng change in date to the Residence Life Conference and the collabora.on taking place between McMaster University and Carleton University’s Fall Business Mee.ng, we thought we would take the opportunity to answer some of the frequently asked ques.ons we have been receiving!
Melissa Pratt & Drew Simon McMaster University
Sara Wills & Natalie Allan Carleton University
RLC & FBM
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Q: Will there sCll be two themes? A: Yes! Carleton’s theme is Capitalizing on Collabora.on and McMaster’s theme is Follow your Curiosity. You’ll no.ce that both of our logos of the maple leaf and the light bulb are .ed to one another in design but con.nue to represent each of our themes. Q: Will there be an opportunity on the day of Friday November 13th for student staff who come early with professional delegates?
A: Yes, we are currently working together to develop a pre-‐conference opportunity for student staff who are traveling on the Friday morning to a=end pre-‐conference sessions in the aWernoon. This may include social and learning ac.vi.es as well as the opportunity of to connect with professional staff. This year the Business Mee.ng por.on of the conference is being held on Friday AWernoon as opposed to the morning. We are changing the tradi.onal schedule to accommodate those professionals who wish to a=end the FBM in combina.on with the Residence Life Conference and cannot
make it in the morning. This is currently in the ini.al planning stages and we would love to have your input on what can be done to make this an amazing and valuable experience for student staff in our pre-‐assessment survey: h=ps://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FBM2015 Q: Will there be a reduced or packaged cost for those who register for both the Fall Business MeeCng and the Residence Life Conference? A: We are currently working out pricing for the Fall Business Mee.ng and Residence Life Conference registra.on. Based on the needs assessment response, we will be providing addi.onal informa.on. We encourage you to visit our websites for more informa.on as we get closer to the date at: h=p://rlc2015.mcmaster.ca/ and h=p://cua[bm2015.com/. We look forward to seeing you all November 13-‐15, 2015 for the Fall Business Mee.ng and the Residence Life Conference!
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e've seen tremendous growth in off-‐
campus housing construc.on in Waterloo over the past decade. Derek Lobo, a real estate professional who started working with companies interested in the student housing market more than 25 years ago, says that more than 10,000 purpose-‐built beds have been constructed in Waterloo in a li=le over a decade. By comparison, that is as much growth as has taken place in the rest of Canada over the same .me frame. This results in Waterloo students having more choice in where they live than anywhere else in the country. Those of us working in UW Housing are trying to understand what this means for us. In my role as Director of Housing at UWaterloo one of my biggest responsibili.es is to provide leadership. To do that effec.vely I need to know where I’m leading my group, a challenge made more complex by the rapidly changing landscape.
To help me understand how our local market is evolving I've spent some .me looking at how the student housing market has developed in the United States. The sheer size of the popula.on and the higher educa.on industry, along with the crea.ve spirit of the culture, oWen means business opportuni.es are explored earlier there then they are in Canada. In early April I a=ended the 7th annual Interface Student Housing conference in Texas. This gathering a=racts companies from all parts of the (student) housing market, including investors, developers, real estate professionals, lenders, property managers, builders, and marketers among others.
Our place in the rapidly changing student housing landscape
Glen WepplerDirector, Housing & ResidencesUniversity of Waterloo
W
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Nearly 1,000 people registered for the conference, which is comparable in size to ACUHO-‐I's annual conference. The sessions I a=ended covered a variety of topics including: current and future state of the student housing market, current and future construc.on projects, trends in design, management and opera.ons, informa.on technology infrastructure, future of social media, public-‐private-‐partnerships and town-‐gown-‐property rela.onships. It ’s worth highligh.ng that while all of these topics are relevant to campus housing, none of them focus on a student’s learning and development, which we know to be a key component of student success. The conference was a valuable experience for me and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to my peers and leaders in campus housing. The lessons learned for me included: • The student housing market con.nues to grow steadily if not rela.vely fast when compared to other types of investments. Purpose built (for-‐profit) student housing is now as large as on-‐campus housing in the United States. This growth has largely happened inside of the last two decades. • Several companies now have a good handle on what's involved in opera.ng a student housing property and some have billions (with a 'b') of dollars in assets. • Proximity to a campus was iden.fied as a very important factor in the success of a property. • Differen.a.ng one property from other proper.es was an outcome commonly desired yet it was readily acknowledged that it is hard to achieve.
• A common incen.ve/marke.ng tac.c shared was to provide giW cards to encourage students to sign a lease. One example shared saw a property spend well over $100,000 on giW cards. • The high end of the market in the United States appears to be saturated (which appears to be the case in Waterloo as well). • Considerable effort is put into marke.ng proper.es a n d t h e a p p ro a c h e s t a ke n a r e e vo l v i n g constantly. Social media is a key component of the marke.ng efforts. • A heavy focus was placed on metrics in each session – no ma=er the topic. As I reflect on this conference experience, I not only remain op.mis.c about the future of campus housing, but some of my beliefs have been strengthened. Foremost among those is that our student's learning and development is a core part of our work, which aligns perfectly with the reason's a student a=ends university in the first place. That said, we must con.nue to seek out ways to deepen our understanding of how living on-‐campus contributes to learning. Furthermore, we must tell our students, their parents and our partners across campus the value that residence adds to our student's experience. The contribu.ons we make to our student’s learning and development is what makes us dis.nct from other types of student housing.
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w a l k i n g t h r o u g h campus with trees and flowers star.ng to bud – the magnolia and cherry blossoms are already in full bloom. Isn’t that invigora.ng to step out of your office on a sunny day and take a stroll on your lunch? Don’t you feel revitalized as you sit outside on a bench with your colleagues with your coffee? If you’ve been nodding along and smiling then you know exactly what I mean, and you’re going to love what I’m going to say next…‘Tis conference season!! Don’t you feel rejuvenated just by that thought alone?! While the days grow longer, the .me is quickly disappearing as we look forward to the 2015 OACUHO Annual Spr ing Conference. Each spring, Housing and Residence Life professionals from across Ontario, along with professionals from some out-‐of-‐province Colleges and Universi.es, gather to discuss and present
on trends in student housing and showcase new ideas and products that further advance innova.on in the field. York University is very proud and excited to host the conference next month and have been an.cipa.ng
that aWer a long year, taking a bit of .me for yourself and some PD is exactly what the doctor (read: manager) ordered. The Host Commi=ee was inten.onal in selec.ng the conference’s theme to be “Rejuvenate”. Rejuvena.on is a process of renewal, for individuals, for facili.es, for prac.ces and for ideas. Considering how we care for ourselves is essen.al to best enable the proper care of others. To rejuvenate can look very different from one person, or from one place, to the next – we believe exploring and highligh.ng this process will be helpful to individuals, their prac.ces and their campuses as they move into the future.
Tammy Douglas Residence Life CoordinatorYork University [email protected]
Rejuvenation is a process of renewal, for individuals, for facilities, for practices and for ideas.
Ahh,
“ ”
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As proposals were reviewed, the need and want for re juvena.on on your campus, within your departments, and within your prac.ces became clear to us. There are so many incredible ini.a.ves being undertaken right now within our colleges and universi.es, within Housing, Facili.es, Admissions and Residence Life. Where there was need for change, you’ve been looking for posi.ve and prac.cal solu.ons. Where there has been progress made, you’ve documented your steps and are ready to present best prac.ces to your colleagues. Where there have been new and invigora.ng ideas, you’re ready to share your success. We too, as the Host Commi=ee, have been rejuvena.ng how such programs are reviewed and accepted to present at OACUHO’s Spring Conference. A difference in the process this year was the crea.on of the program review commi=ee – OACUHO members were sent an email inquiring of their interest in reviewing program proposals and we had an overwhelmingly posi.ve response. Each interested member reviewed 1-‐2 programs with each proposal being reviewed by two separate people. This is a change from previous conferences where the Host Commi=ee reviewed all proposals. By involving the membership on this level, the reviewers could gain some insight as to what sessions are being offered. Addi.onally, those who reviewed had the opportunity to look at a proposal and think, “maybe I’ll put something together next year”. York has also refreshed the medium of the conference program. AWer much research and discussion, we’ve secured the services of an App provider, EventMobi. The building of the app to suit the needs of the conference is currently in full swing. Get your smartphones ready and engage, stay organized and
plot out what sessions you’ll a=end on a whole new level! Not to worry if you’re not smartphone compa.ble -‐ there will be a small offering of programs for such a purpose as to make your conference experience tailored to you. As all the pieces come together to make this conference happen, we are very pleased to be able to announce the opportunity to have Dr. Carney Strange as our Faculty in Residence throughout the conference. Not only will he be giving a Keynote address, but he’ll be leading a Pre-‐Conference workshop (I see some of you have already jumped on that boat) as well as a mid-‐week session. If you, like me, were at CACUSS 2013 in Montreal, you may have had the chance to a=end a session with Dr. Strange and hear him teach through the strumming of his guitar. He has served as a mentor to many in the field of Student Services and has co-‐authored/edited several books, many with a focus on Higher Educa.on in Canada. These are simply a few of the developments I can share at this moment. York University’s Host Commi=ee has been eagerly planning and awai.ng your arrival at OACUHO’s Spring Conference, an opportunity we have been so happy to have been given for this year. We want to showcase what makes our York community so vibrant, as well as, provide social opportuni.es that encompass just a small sampling of what Toronto has to offer. We hope you come away from this conference teeming with possibili.es for the upcoming year. Engage, learn and rejuvenate!For more informa.on please look to the website: h=p://rejuvenate2015.info.yorku.ca/
Off on the Right Foot
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he Free Dic.onary (by Farlex) defines assessment broadly as “the act of assessing or appraisal” – it can be used in educa.on, banking and finance and many other areas. Assessment is a concept that ins.lls fear in some people. It oWen treated as an aWer-‐thought, but in reality without it, you can’t determine your progress or success. How can I do assessment?Let’s address the fear factor first – you don’t need a degree in sta.s.cs to be successful in assessment. For instance, you can contract with an outside source that specializes in assessments. Educa.onal Benchmarking (EBI – now called Skyfactor) and Campus Labs are two examples. Skyfactor is a great resource to do some assessments and the beauty of par.cipa.ng in their surveys is: a) you don’t need a stats background to analyze the results and; b) you
can see how you measure up against other schools that are similar to yours. They provide a great interface that allows you to view the overall sta.s.cs, compare groups and determine priori.es for ac.on. This kind of data allows you to ‘toot your own horn’ at your ins.tu.on and provides performance feedback that may help you nego.ate be=er service agreements with university service partners.
A less costly method may be to engage with an academic partner. Link up with faculty or graduate students who may be looking for a research opportunity. In some cases a local senior undergraduate or graduate student may have a project where they are required to do some research. It’s a great way to bridge with faculty and gets some great assessment or research done at a reasonable price (oWen nothing) and a wonderful opportunity for collabora.on and academic engagement with residence.
Alterna.vely, you can do it yourself. Just be aware of the limita.ons of your skill, .me and cost constraints.
Julie West Coordinator, Research & Special ProjectsUniversity of [email protected]
Assessment
T
Who uses assessment?Everyone! If you‘re not doing it and using it, how can you set goals and chart your progress toward them? In ResLife, assessment is oWen used to determine if learning has taken place. You may use it in training, programs, and structured conversa.ons. For classroom assessment, just google Classroom Assessment Techniques – there is a wealth of info online. One example is that last year, I did a training session for our ResLife staff on ‘who are our students’. I began with about 5 learning outcomes and ended the session with a re-‐cap of the outcomes phrased as ques.ons and polled the group for answers. I received an instant indica.on of whether or not they took in the informa.on I provided. In the facili.es area, you may be interested in building condi.on, and assessment may be in the form of an engineering report, lifecycle analysis, energy use, etc. In such circumstances it may more typically be called an audit. These types of assessments provide informa.on useful in the development of capital renewal plans and budgets. Assessing students sa.sfac.on with services provided can also be useful in determining changes in opera.ons or procedures. Assessment undertaking by the admissions group can provide useful informa.on for occupancy management, such as the ability of students to obtain their first choice of residence accommoda.ons, or in determining why students leave the residence system. The EBI offered a sec.on on Room Assignment and Change that may provide some informa.on about how sa.sfied students are with their assignment or their ability to move.
In the IT world, assessment measures can provide informa.on on how do students define a successful wireless network deployment and what characteris.cs are most important to them. We asked, and our students said speed, coverage, reliability, were 3 of their top 5 indicators. In looking at these factors, there are many ways to assess the network: perhaps a wireless site survey to give you some objec.ve data on coverage, capacity and other quality of service metrics. Perhaps a use and sa.sfac.on survey to determine how students want to use the network and their sa.sfac.on with their ability to perform various tasks on the network. And how about off-‐campus housing – do you know what the most popular type of housing your students are in? Purpose built student housing, accessory apartments in houses, homestay? In the end, assessment is central to evidence based, data driven decision making. Where to get data? Sources of data oWen freely exist; you just need to know what you need and where to look. Internally, check to see if your department has par.cipated in the EBI survey. In 2014, more than 20 Canadian ins.tu.ons took part in the EBI Resident Sa.sfac.on Survey. What did your department learn? How did you compare to your comparator groups? What goals were set? How have you measured progress or success on those goals? You can also check your ins.tu.onal research department (aka Analysis & Planning). They oWen collect data from students that can prove helpful. You can typically find data on enrolment forecas.ng and large scale surveys that take place on campus (Na.onal Survey of
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Student Engagement – aka NSSE, Canadian University Survey Consor.um aka CUSC). They would also be the ones who would look at reten.on and persistence data and you could ask them to compare your residence students with those off campus. Or are there differences in the various styles of your residences. Check with your campus health service to determine if your campus par.cipated in the 2013 edi.on of the Na.onal College Health Assessment survey (with 30+ Canadian ins.tu.ons par.cipa.ng). Our interna.onal student office recently invited us to a presenta.on of the Interna.onal Student Barometer. While there weren’t many items pertaining to residence, those that did provide some great context on a topic we were concerned about. Externally, when we were looking at whether or not to build a new residence, Sta.s.cs Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Finance (and lots of other reports) provided us with projec.ons of popula.on growth that helped us to determine what our ‘share’ of tradi.onal post-‐secondary students might be. Now what? What ques.ons do you have? What data do you already have? What do you need to collect? How might you collect it? And what will you do with it? If you are in Res Life, your ques.on might be: are your students learning? What are your learning goals for students? How can you measure them? How many students successfully meet those learning goals? If you are in admissions, how many students request transfers each year and what are their reasons, are there any themes that your office can address; or anything for another part of your department (i.e., a par.cularly noisy areas,
or building repairs that are stalled or perhaps a drug concern). Are there any policies or procedures that need adjustment to be=er inform students of their op.ons? If you are in facili.es, are your laundry machines deemed ‘ineffec.ve’ by students? Put up a poster in the laundry room teaching students how to do laundry (No, 5 pair of jeans in one load probably won’t dry in one cycle). Then find a way to test them. ‘Have they seen the poster? Have they read it? Do they follow the advice? For those students living off campus, where are they in the community? Has there been a migra.on from one area of the community to another? What impact has that had? Finally, tell your story (especially if you can a=ach numbers). You might find that you have a 12% recidivism rate for students that go through our alcohol educa.on seminar, but a 35% recidivism rate for students that get a fine. When it comes to cleanliness of the washrooms, 82% of your students indicate that they are sa.sfied or very sa.sfied. From admissions, 38% of your students may indicate that they received their first choice of residence and nearly 70% received their first or second choice. To connect to the wireless network, 85% of your students might indicate that they were either sa.sfied or very sa.sfied with the ease of connec.on. And the older neighbourhood near the campus has reduced the student concentra.on by 40% in the past 5 years. Be sure to share with OACUHO your assessment challenges, successes, ques.ons. The more we can talk about it, the be=er resource we are to each other. Assessment in The Free Dic/onary by Farlex. Retrieved on April 27, 2015 hAp://www.thefreedic/onary.com/assessment
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“Goals help us focus our energy and ac.ons, measure our progress and, ul.mately, achieve purposeful results. “ –Ontario Ins.tute for Educa.onal Leadership
I like goals. Even more, I love the development that occurs through the achievement of goals. There are .meless goal sexng strategies that can be found at your finger.ps using Google search such as Locke & Latham’s Goal Sexng Theory (clarity, challenge, complexity, commitment, and feedback) or Doran’s S.M.A.R.T goals (specific, measurable, a=ainable, realis.c, and .mely). As professionals in the housing industry, I believe our collec.ve knowledge in regards to these strategies is extensive. However, I am not here to address the ‘what’ behind goal sexng. Rather, I am choosing to begin with the ‘why’.
Beginning as early as the 1960’s, Locke’s pioneering work established the rela.onship between clear goals, appropriate feedback, and employee mo.va.on (Locke and Latham, 2002). We see how this determina.on has carried over into a variety of professional work environments through performance appraisals, professional development employee programs, and work incen.ves. It is interes.ng to note how goal sexng remains the underlying explana.on for all major theories of fostering work mo.va.on and engagement (see Vroom’s VIE theory, Maslow or Herzberg’s mo.va.on theories, Bandura’s social cogni.ve theory, or Skinner ’s operant based behaviourism to name a few!). If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of goal sexng, there are an extensive number of studies (Echols, 2005; Erikson, 2004; Knight et al., 2001; Mathieson, 2006;
Tasker, 2004) that have discussed effec.ve goal sexng’s posi.ve impact on outcomes within organiza.ons. This is just the .p of the iceberg in terms of the vast amount of knowledge that is immediately available to us in regards to the proven advantages of goal sexng.
To elaborate on one specific study, the results from an experiment conducted by Medlin (2009), demonstrate that goal sexng directly and posi.vely impacts employee engagement (coefficient of +0.58). Employee engagement directly and posi.vely impacts workplace op.mism (coefficient of +0.65) and that workplace op.mism, in turn, directly and posi.vely impacts individual performance (coefficient of +0.77). Therefore, in transferring this knowledge to the workplace it translates to:
In short, goal sexng is important and it works.
Goal SettingLaura Mammone Residence Life Area CoordinatorWilfrid Laurier University
GOAL SETTING
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
WORKPLACE OPTIMISM
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE
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Next, I will focus on the future of ‘how’. One thing that I chose to emphasize this year with my student staff team was goal sexng (who would have guessed!). I began an experiment of my own through beginning the year by conduc.ng an informa.onal interview with each of my staff members. I wanted to learn about what passions they had, the strengths they felt they already possessed, where they wanted to grow, and what they hoped to accomplish throughout the year. From there, I worked collabora.vely with each of them to create somewhat of an individual learning plan. We included both the goals, ac.on plans, and resources that they would need to accomplish their goals. In order to keep these goals at the forefront of their minds, we measured their progress throughout four phases during the year. By having the goals in wri.ng, at the end of the year they were able to see how much they really did accomplish and to also reflect on how they had grown as leaders. This made it extremely rewarding for both myself and for the staff members. One example of the successes of this occurred with a staff member who was interested in student discipline. Using myself as a resource, I discussed the behavioural sanc.oning process and objec.ves of disciplinary mee.ngs. We then worked towards the final goal and this student was successfully able to conduct a lower level disciplinary mee.ng. My personal observa.ons at the end were that students seemed much more sa.sfied with their staffing experience. Addi.onally, through them being challenged, they ended up achieving more than they would have without these goals and also resulted in them gaining a higher level of self-‐efficacy through their accomplishments. To summarize, I challenge us all to begin thinking outside the box to determine in what other ways goal-‐sexng might be applied to our work environments. Perhaps as a collabora.ve team encourager? What about to increase the performance of student leaders? Is it possible to align our efforts in assessment results with substan.al goal-‐sexng prac.ces? Whatever might resonate with you, it might be S.M.A.R.T to reserve some .me during the summer months to strategize on how to incorporate more goal-‐sexng into your prac.ce!
“Goal sexng has yet to become personal, real, and compelling for us in our daily lives in schools. As a result, we are missing one of the most powerful tools for helping students achieve. The loss to adults is just as profound. We are missing the opportuni.es to experience empowerment, efficacy, and ..joy in work.” –Conzemius and O’Neill 2006References Conzemius, A. & O’Neill, J. (2001). Building shared responsibility for student learning. Alexandria: Associa/on for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Echols, M.E. (2005), “Engaging employees to impact performance”, Human Capital, February, pp. 44-‐8. Erickson, B. (2004), “Nature /mes nurture: how organiza/ons can op/mize their people’s contribu/ons”, Journal of Organiza/onal Excellence, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 21-‐30. Locke, E. & Latham, G. (2002). Building a prac/cally useful theory of goal se`ng and task mo/va/on: A 35 year Odyssey. American Psychologist, 57 (9), 705-‐717. Mathieson, M. (2006), “Improving organiza/onal performance through developing our people”, Industrial & Commercial Training, Vol. 38 No. 2, pp. 70-‐7.Knight, D., Durham, C.C. and Locke, E. (2001), “The rela/onship of team goals, incen/ves, and efficacy to strategic risk, tac/cal implementa/on, and performance”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 44 No. 2, pp. 326-‐38. Locke, E. et al (1981) Goal Se`ng and Task Performance: 1969 to 1980. Psychological Bule/n, Vol. 90, No. 1, pp 125 – 152Lunenburg, F. (2011). Goal Se`ng Theory of Mo/va/on. Interna/onal Journal of Management, Business, and Administra/on. 15 (1), 1-‐6. Medlin, B. & Green, K. W. (2009) Enhancing Performance through Goal Se`ng, Engagement, and Op/mism. Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 109, No. 7, pp 943 – 956. Ontario Ins/tute for Educa/onal Leadership (2014). Se`ng Goals: The Power of Purpose. Ideas Into Ac/on. Ontario: Queen’s Printer for Ontario. Tasker, J. (2004), “Engagement equals produc/vity”, Personnel Today, October 5, pp. 8-‐9.
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t was April 2013, and as the student staff member scheduled for a checkout shiW, I came prepared with my clipboard, checkout form and pen. Akin to any other checkout at Western, I began to make my way through the checkout mo.ons: the washroom fixtures were intact, the student’s bedroom was leW in a cleanly manner, and the common area of the room was clear of damage. Alas, I reached the last step of the checkout form, a signature from the student. As I leaned against the wall, I felt a poster slightly give way. Slowly, I ran my hand behind the poster and found that there was a sizeable hole hidden carefully behind it. Upon further inspec.on I found similar holes behind a few other posters in the room. Checkouts on the front lines can be complex, and filled with surprises as illustrated above. However, we some.mes pay li=le mind to the
complexi.es of checkout processes at our respec.ve ins.tu.ons and the esprit de corps between func.onal areas of Housing programs.
Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with Ruta Lawrence, Assistant Director of Residence Admissions at Western University, to gain a be=er understanding of checkouts from an admissions perspec.ve. Ruta explained that the checkout process at Western has changed significantly during her .me with the admiss ions team. Or ig ina l l y, checkouts were largely handled building-‐to-‐building where the Front Desk teams would process paper work and apply respec.ve charges. T h i s p r o c e s s w a s . m e l y ,
decentralized, and resulted in inconsistencies. Ruta shared two words to describe the changes she has seen over the course of her career, streamlining and automa.on.
Ruta shared two words to describe the changes she has seen over the course of her career, streamlining and automation.
Andrew QuennevilleResidence Manager Western [email protected]
Checkouts: An Admissions Perspective
I
Following the checkout process, two members of Western’s Front Desk team receive the paper forms from the nine residences at Western and immediately begin to input damage charges. Ruta explained that these charges are documented by two sources: student staff members and members of Western’s Facili.es Management team. Focus is placed on combining this informa.on, making sense of differences and conver.ng informa.on into an electronic format. ThereaWer, her team endeavours to invoice students for damages as quickly as possible. Ruta commented on the .meliness of this process as being important to her team, as it can be challenging for students to connect an invoice with a damage that occurred months earlier. I asked Ruta to share some of the challenges faced by her team over the course of her career and how they have gone about remedying these challenges.
Ruta explained that her team has been inten.onal about elimina.ng the challenge of students checking out of residence and accidentally removing elements of the room that belonged to the University. For example, students at Western were provided with ethernet cables before the switch to a wireless internet service. OWen, students would mistakenly pack these cables with them at the .me of their departure from residence. Ruta laughed while recalling that her team would oWen receive parcels containing these cables and other items accidentally removed from rooms. Another challenge Ruta iden.fied was the year-‐to-‐year assessment of the threshold for charging students for damages. She gave the example of a
residence room with four students and the difficult decision of whether or not to assign the students in the room a shared damage fee of $30. While these costs add up, Ruta recognized that a balance needs to be struck between charging students for damages and the .me spent assigning, billing, and reconciling these damages. Ruta concluded with placing emphasis on checkouts being a year-‐long process. She shared that when students move in to residence they are encouraged to fill out the Residence Inventory Condi.ons Checklist, which allows them to iden.fy any pre-‐exis.ng damages in their residence room. ThereaWer, Residence Staff at Western encourage their communi.es in an ongoing manner to take care of themselves, each other and this place. This take care mo=o drives a culture of community and caring, that results in a great track record of minimal damages at the close of the academic year and reduces the workload on Ruta’s team. Ruta spoke with pride, and closed by commen.ng on the success achieved by students taking care of their community, and the excitement gained by working with student staff and young professionals year-‐to-‐year. So what will the future of checkouts look like? Ruta remarked about the importance of cri.cally reviewing the process each year and making the call of when to assess damage charges as a source of consistent change for her team. As the checkout process for 2015 is about to begin, Ruta’s team is just beginning to flip over their next poster!
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This month’s Spotlight Moment recognizes Lindsay Winger, from the University of Guelph, for her work in suppor.ng her staff: “As Guelph’s Ac/ng Associate Director (AD) of Residence Life, Lindsay Winger has done a fantas/c job of suppor/ng Guelph's Residence Life Management Team this year – truly going above and beyond. Taking on the AD role, while s/ll managing responsibili/es of the Community Standards Officer posi/on, has been no small task. However, Lindsay has managed it all with a smile on her face, maintaining her commitment to each student’s success and experience in residence.
Whether she is “on-‐call” or not, Lindsay will regularly aAend difficult residence situa/ons to ensure the staff feel supported. Plus, she always makes sure to make /me for her team, even if it
means losing some for herself. Lindsay’s on-‐going effort and the support and mentorsh ip she provides certainly make her worthy of the “Spotlight”. Thanks for all you do Lindsay!”On behalf of the membership and
engagement commi=ee, congratula.ons Lindsay on gexng recognized for all the work you do in suppor.ng your staff!
Spotlightmoment
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As the year comes to a close, the commiNee would like to thank all of those who submiNed nominaCons and contributed “Spotlight Moments” this year. We would also like to recognize all of the staff, across all funcConal areas in OACUHO, for the work that gets put in daily, in supporCng staff and students and contribuCng to the overall missions of student development and staff support. It takes a strong level of commitment to stay engaged and driven throughout an academic year. #OAKUDOS to all.
For the 2014-‐15 program, we were able to facilitate 31 mentorship pairings, involving 58 professionals from 22 ins.tu.ons within OACUHO. Now as we prepare to launch this year’s program, we are excited to announce we are accep.ng mentor and mentee applica.ons!Launched in 2007 at the OACUHO Annual Spring Conference at the University of Toronto Mississauga, the OACUHO Mentorship Program aims to foster meaningful professional rela.onships by matching an experienced housing professional (min. 3 years experience; “Mentor”) with newer professional (“Mentee”) looking to advance their knowledge and/or skills in a specific func.onal area in Housing. The OACUHO Mentorship Program aims to:• Cul.vate rela.onships among members of the Associa.on by promo.ng life-‐long learning through personal and professional development• Facilitate opportuni.es to network within the Associa.on• Engage with professionals in various func.onal areas in Housing, and from various ins.tu.ons within the Associa.on
• Increase reten.on of Housing professionals through support from experienced peers in the field. Program par.cipants regularly connect – approximately 1 hour per monthly minimum – to develop and work on professional and personal goals. This is a great way to engage and learn from other members within the Associa.on on a deeper level. More informa.on is available on the OACUHO website: h=p://oacuho.com/index.php?sec.on=overview-‐mentor Applica.onMENTOR: h=p://goo.gl/forms/qpfGVwHx1c MENTEE: h=p://goo.gl/forms/nQTK4KUps5 Our hope is to have some applicants paired with a mentor/mentee in May, to allow the chance for them to connect in person at the Spring Conference at York University. We will also be accep.ng applica.ons on a rolling basis in the summer/year, making pairs as appropriate matches become available. If you have any ques.ons or concerns, please c o n t a c t A n d r e w Q u e n n e v i l l e ([email protected]). Looking forward to a great year ahead for our mentors and mentees!
OACUHO Mentorship Program 2015-16: Applications are open!
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It’s Never Okay: Ontario Releases Action Plan to Curb Sexual Violence
ast month, Ontario announced a groundbreaking and wide-‐ranging ini.a.ve to curb sexual violence and harassment in the province. Called It’s Never Okay: An Ac.on Plan to Stop Sexual Violence and Harassment [source: h=ps://www.ontario.ca/document/ac.on-‐plan-‐stop-‐sexual-‐violence-‐and-‐harassment], the plan was announced by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and encompasses a three-‐year, $41 million mul.-‐pronged approach that includes a mul.media public educa.on campaign, stronger workplace safety legisla.on, and an enhanced prosecu.on model. Addi.onally, the province commi=ed increased, stabilized funding for survivor support and proposed legisla.on to eliminate the two-‐year limita.on period for civil sexual assault claims, as reported in Academica.
OACUHO Research
with Trevor CorkumOACUHO Research Writer
L
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Importantly, according to Academica, the province also says it will introduce legisla.on to require all postsecondary ins.tu.ons to adopt a sexual assault policy, developed with input from students; to have clearly stated complaint procedures and response protocols; and to report publically on incidence of sexual assault as well as the effec.veness of campaigns against sexual violence. The plan is blunt and direct in its language:“We want to eliminate rape culture on campus. We want school environments to be safe and respec[ul. We want every student, in every university and college in Ontario, to be able to learn and study and experience campus life at its finest, free from sexual violence and harassment…Ontario’s campuses should be safe for everyone.” The plan has been widely praised by university and college leaders. For Colleges Ontario President Linda Franklin, “this is a priority for every college in the province.” The Council of Ontario Universi.es, meanwhile, said that “they are encouraged by Premier Wynne’s ac.ons”, and that “universi.es will con.nue to do our part, and step up our efforts where we could do more.” Earlier this year, Ontario’s publically-‐funded universi.es unanimously agreed to a number of ini.a.ves [source: h=p://academica.ca/top-‐ten/ontario-‐universi.es-‐unanimously-‐agree-‐ini.a.ves-‐address-‐sexual-‐violence] to curb sexual violence on
campus, including the crea.on of a reference group to discuss best prac.ces for addressing on-‐campus sexual assault and working with Ontario’s colleges to discuss and combat the issue. The report comes in the wake of a number of high-‐profile cases of sexual assault and harassment on university and college campuses across Canada. Many universi.es and colleges in Ontario have responded to the wider issue of sexual violence by conduc.ng their own research or crea.ng or upda.ng protocols for handling sexual assault. At Wilfrid Laurier University, for example, researchers released a report last month [source: h=p://www.wlu.ca/media/news-‐releases/march-‐2015/study-‐by-‐laurier-‐researchers-‐into-‐gendered-‐violence-‐on-‐campus-‐shapes-‐university-‐efforts-‐to-‐change-‐culture-‐and-‐improve-‐services.html] looking at gendered violence on campus. Called The Change Project, the research involved a survey of 570 students and interviews with 51 students, faculty members, and community partners. According to Academica, the goal of the report was to build a solid founda.on of evidence that would allow the university to build strategies to address gendered violence and improve preven.on programs and support services for providers. Recommenda.ons include developing a sustainable bystander program, focusing on men and masculinity, and delivering broad-‐based and targeted educa.on and awareness campaigns.
Ontario Association of College and University Housing Officers312 Oakwood Crt, Newmarket Ontario, L3Y 3C8 Telephone: 905-954-0102 Fax: 905-895-1630