Over the last few years, as the economy went into the tank, our public discussions about the future of higher education have increasingly been about budget cuts, rising tuition, and the need for accountability. A central talking point in these discussion has been the need to implement outcomes-based measurement.
This new emphasis has changed the way we plan programs and services in higher education. At many schools, everything must be matched to an outcome, and every outcome must be assessed in some way. Institutions then use this data to drive decisions about funding and priorities, and to justify their programs and services to state legislatures, donors, accreditation bodies, incoming students, their parents, alumni and an ever-growing number of watchdog groups like the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).
So, like it or not, we live in interesting times. This can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, and it’s my opinion that we need to find the blessing in this situation, and to be thankful for the opportunity today’s political and financial environment provides. Change isn’t easy, and in our personal and professional lives, we all have periods of doubt. There are healthy and productive ways of dealing with this reality. Wanting things to stay the same is not one of them.
As a career coach, I help individuals work through these issues, by discovering their purpose, and finding ways to align that purpose with their work. This involves discussions about a person’s background and professional history, but more importantly, it requires exploration and discovery. The process that gets people unstuck is co-creative. Coaches ask the “big questions” and give activities that help clients explore them. We challenge assumptions, conclusions and doubts. We work through blocks. We help people explore new interests, research them, and focus on creating new, more positive patterns of behavior. We try to integrate the important parts of a person (talents, skills, abilities, interests and values) into each individual’s plan to move forward, and to help clients set S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time Limited) goals.
The best part of being a coach is that for the most part, clients come to you when they are ready to change. The discussions and activities are geared toward helping the client define, in real and measurable terms, what success means, and how they will know when they achieve it.
But lately, I’ve been wondering if higher education, as a field, is really ready to be coached. Furthermore, I’m not quite sure who should be coaching. I don’t think the state legislatures should be doing it, because they aren’t looking at the big picture, only at the cost of doing business, and who should be paying it. And politicians are more worried about re-election (their S.M.A.R.T. goal) and what institutions shouldn’t be teaching, than how they should be teaching. Watchdog groups like FIRE are often most passionate about the what than the how, and many times, their approach shuts down discussion, or erodes into a chaotic and mind-numbing clash of talking points or a game to be won, rather than a co-creative, purposeful process of discovery.
Here are three resources that really got me thinking about these issues.
Digital Students: Toys vs. Tools (A brief response to the article mentioned above, and thoughts on how it relates to adult learners, by Jeannette Passmore on her blog Learn, Unlearn, Relearn.)
I’d like to start a dialogue on this topic. Please share your thoughts and questions by commenting on this post. Take whatever direction you like, but here are some questions to get you started:
What’s the purpose of higher education these days? Has it changed from in the past?
What do institutions of higher education need to learn?
Is higher education, as a field, ready for change? (And if so, is higher education “coachable?”)
What learning outcomes do you think are most important?
What S.M.A.R.T. goals should the field set for measuring improvement?
Where should higher ed look for coaching on these goals? The legislature? The federal government? Professional associations? Somewhere else?
And if you have perspectives you’d like to share on these topics, in an upcoming guest poston Monday Morning QuarterBack, send me a message at sean@higheredcareercoach.com. I would ideally like to have guest posts on this topic each Monday for the next 2-3 weeks.
On today’s episode of the Higher Ed Career Coach show on BlogTalkRadio, we’ll be talking with Cindy Kane, Director, Student Involvement & Leadership at Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater, MA, about the challenges of parenting young children and working in student affairs. Kane is also a doctoral candidate, an adjunct instructor for the Department of Counselor Education at Bridgewater State College, and of course, a working parent. You can follow her at @cindykane on Twitter, and you can follow the funny exploits and life commentary of her son at @littleredsaid.
Call-ins on the topic of parenting and work/life balance are not only welcome, but encouraged. We’ll also talk about news in higher ed, the recent design changes for our sites and more. We may have some other random guests and call-ins, so stay tuned.
You can get to the show via the badge below or the BlogTalkRadio Player in the sidebar. To call in during the show, our number is (347) 989-0055, or you can connect for free once the show is on air by clicking on the Skype click-to-talk logo from the page for this episode
Thanks for visiting! In this new feature, My Coach’s Toolbox, I will share information about products I like and use. In most cases (like this one) I will likely link to the product through an affiliate link. Feel no pressure to buy the product through the affiliate link. I just want to let you know in the interest of full disclosure and transparency that just about any products I review or write about will be shared in this fashion. It helps support this site. At this point, most of the income I bring in actually goes back out to pay some of my regular contributors. (i.e., it keeps good content coming your way.) So definitely shop around, read other reviews if you need more information, and of you buy a product, buy it from a place you know and trust, at the best price. If you decide to buy through Amazon.Com, then consider buying through my link. It doesn’t cost you anything more, and I don’t get any information about you. Amazon just thanks me by giving me a small commission for referring you, and I use it to improve my sites, and to introduce new programs.
Please feel free to comment on the video and give me any tips or tricks for doing better! Let me know what you like and what you don’t. I want to keep you coming back for more.
And if you need a second opinion about the VXI BlueParrot B250-XT headset, here’s a review from a drunk guy, which also features a review of Sylvester Stallone’s classic movie Over the Top.
If reviews from a drunk guy don’t impress you, you can see review (and prices) on Amazon.com by clicking the affiliate ad below.
I believe that everyone needs a break every now and again, and I know that for me, Tuesday is almost always one of those days. Mondays are slow moving at the start but usually pick up, and then Tuesdays, if I am lucky, I feel like I’m starting to accomplish something.
Wednesdays are the worst, and everybody knows that, but Tuesday doesn’t get enough cred. It often sucks, too. So I am going to start giving you an early break in the action each week with a new feature, the “Tuesday Time Out.” Some of you will feel it’s too early to take a break, and if so, that is the beauty of this thing. You can catch it Wednesday sometime. It will still be here.
The art for this feature is another great spot illustration by DJ Coffman, my friend from Third Tribe. He’s a super-swell guy and very funny. And from what I can tell, a pretty reputable comic artist. So I was psyched to connect with him on 3T and even more psyched to have his art on my site. Check him out at DJCoffman.Com.
So the first lesson I learned is that I need to get an earlier start and stick with a concept once I have it. But today, I got a little sidetracked. One of the hazards of working at home. I was supposedly catching up on some client notes and projects, and cleaning my office (a perpetual task, it seems, but I will pretend that is the only reason you see all the clutter. Roll with me here, please.)
Anyway, the first edition is therefore late, so many of you will not see if until Wednesday. But you will understand a little about how I got off track, and what my priorities are. Sorry in advance for the bad camera work.
The new identity mark, a mortarboard "C" will be used across all Cook Coaching & Consulting websites.
Today you will notice a fresh new design for Higher Ed Career Coach. The streamlined design incorporates my new brand logo, a stylized “C,” wearing a mortarboard, with a stylized ball court on the inside part of the letter. This is just one step in a larger redesign of all my sites, including Higher Ed Life Coach, SeanCook.Net and two others that I will be debuting later this year (Higher Ed Coach, which will be a directory and resource site for coaches and consultants who work with higher ed institutions, students, faculty, and professional staff.; and PuttingYourPurposeToWork.com, which will feature articles on how to live a more purposeful life and resources to help you do so, including some coaching programs and services for those ready to pursue more purpose-driven paths in their careers.)
The mortarboard “C” came about as the result of a 99designs contest I ran. This is a great site for anyone wanting logos, graphic design services, and corporate image packages, at a low price. To set up a contest, you write out a design brief describing what you want, decide on a prize, and then you run the contest, and designers submit ideas for your consideration. I received over 40 different designs (I think it was 56, but some designers withdrew their designs when it was clear they weren’t going to win.) The winning design was by Nelly Tonchev, a branding consultant from the Boston area. YOu can see more of her designs here.
The re-design and streamlining of my theme was done by my friend Michelle Panulla who works sometimes with her former roommate Beth Hayden of Blogging with Beth. They sang a duet at my wedding. (“Power of Two” by the Indigo Girls). They are working on similar integrations of my new brand elements on the other sites, as well as doing some back-end SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for me. I will likely be working with them soon to move over my mailing list from Constant Contact to another service.
I’ve also integrated a neat little toolbar from Wibiya that floats over the bottom of the page. This toolbar is customizable, but for now, I have it set up so you can search this site or the web via Google, see how many people are online here, join chats using tinychat, see my Twitter feed or go to yours, like items on Facebook, share them on Twitter, Facebook or other networks, and read site specific announcements and news.
This custom cartoon by DJ Coffman will be used for our new feature "Monday Morning Quarterback."
I’m also integrating some custom elements into the site, as well as regular features. Pittsburgh comic artist DJ Coffman recently drew a couple of great items for me. The first one is a sketch of a vaguely familiar-looking guy at a chalkboard, explaining plays the team could run. I’ll be running this art with a new regular feature each Monday, which I am calling “Monday Morning Quarterback.” Each Monday, we’ll start the week with some opinion and analysis about recent events, news or trends in higher education. Sometimes, I’ll be the one offering my thoughts, but I hope to give guest writers an opportunity to share their perspectives as well. If you are interested in writing a guest post and being a “Monday Morning Quarterback,” send me an e-mail at sean@higheredcareercoach.com.
Work with Sean. I help higher ed professionals take control of their careers with tailored services including resume and CV development, LinkedIn profile optimization and networking strategy, interview coaching, and one-on-one career guidance.
