When I created my practicum proposal, my learning objectives focused on expanding my knowledge and experience with various student populations. Due to my role working with international students, I saw this practicum as an opportunity to work with traditional first year students, first gen, transfer, etc. I was aware this was an area I was lacking in my professional career and hoped this practicum would help me become a more well-rounded student affairs professional. While I did gain this experience and knowledge, where I actually grew the most from this experiential learning opportunity were in terms of group dynamics and in supervision styles.

            In the fall 2020 semester I enrolled in the course, Organization and Administration in Higher Education. This course introduced me to organizational theories and its’ applications in higher education institutions as it relates to structure, governance, and management. This was one of the courses I found to be the most challenging and the most interesting in the Higher Education and Student Development program curriculum. One of the key concepts in this course I noticed immediately in my practicum experience was with group dynamics.

            Bess and Dee (2012) define a group as a “social system - a collection of individuals who communicate with each other” and who work towards social and/or task goals. There are different types of groups in an organization (Bess & Dee, 2012). The type of group this reflection will focus on is a work team, specifically the Quill Camp team. Typically in a group, I take on task-related roles to ensure the efficiency and performance of the group. In the Quill Camp team group, I found myself taking on the group-building role to ensure group norms were followed and everyone was working together successfully. These were roles I was not accustomed to taking on since I have always been a part of cohesive teams. Due to interpersonal conflict among some of the group members and the absence of a mediator, I took it upon myself to facilitate constructive discussions while also providing support and encouragement to the group members. I acted in this role for the majority of my practicum so it is no surprise when completing the NASPA/ACPA Competencies Post-Assessment, the area I improved in the most was Advising and Supporting.

            Another component of group dynamics is the stages of group development as defined by Tuckman (Bess & Dee, 2012). These stages are forming, storming, norming, and performing (Bess & Dee, 2012). Forming is characterized by ambiguity as the members learn about each other (Bess & Dee, 2012). Storming is when there are disagreements and conflict so that norms and rules can be established in the norming stage (Bess & Dee, 2012). Finally, in performing, the group members are confident in each other’s ability and role and begin to function as a cohesive unit (Bess & Dee, 2012). The Quill Camp team had already been through these stages prior to my arrival, but when I joined the group, the team went through these stages again. Additionally, the Quill Camp team went through these stages a third time, when a group member departed. This practicum allowed me to witness and experience first-hand this development cycle while keeping these concepts in mind. When the group member departed, the Quill Camp team had to establish new norms and responsibilities (norming) while also launching a Quill Camp within in two weeks (performing).

            Understanding group roles and group development stages is important when it comes to being a successful student affairs professional. We will always be working in different groups with different group members such as students, other student affairs professionals, and faculty. This practicum provided me with the experience and highlighted how valuable it is to have the ability to navigate between various group dynamics.

            Schuh, Jones, and Torres (2017) discussed Winston and Creamer’s model of staffing practices. In this model, there are five components, - recruitment and selection, orientation, supervision, performance, professional development, and separation. In my practicum, my site supervisor practiced each of these five components so I was able to experience the benefits and have an understanding on how to implement each of them when I supervise other staff in the future.

            Even though my site supervisor, did not select me specifically, she did design the task responsibilities to coordinate with my schedule and professional role responsibilities while still providing a valuable practicum experience. As mentioned, my site supervisor was cognizant of busy periods in my professional role and so had an extended orientation for me, where I spent the first few weeks in meetings and simply observing the team and every member’s responsibilities. This allowed me time to acclimate to additional responsibilities and time for me to figure out what my role within the group would be. During this time I not only observed how my supervisor supervised me but also how she supervised others. I was surprised at the amount of autonomy she gave to the Graduate Assistants and Student Coordinators since my style with supervising student staff can be more micro-managing. I realized there can be a balance between both our styles in order to challenge and support student staff effectively. While we did not have a formal performance evaluation, we did have weekly one-on-one meetings where she provided feedback on projects I completed. Additionally, we went through the mid-term and final evaluations together as a learning opportunity for both of us. Even though this was a short-term assignment, having that performance feedback was paramount. In our one-on-one meetings, my site supervisor also made it a point to let me know of any conferences, team meetings, university town halls that I should attend for professional development. By participating in many of these events, I was able to feel more included and have a better understanding of what was happening at the university level. We ended our final one-on-one meeting with me asking and her accepting to be a professional reference once I begin applying for jobs. This highlights that I was not only able to expand my skill set and professional experiences, but I was able to expand my network as well.

            This practicum experience has proven to be more valuable than I initially expected. What I learned from this was how to be an effective and efficient supervisor, team member, and leader. Characteristics I learned here will help me in my goal of going further in my career in student affairs.

 

 

 

 

References

Bess, J. L. & Dee, J. R. (2012). Understanding college and university organization. Stylus Publishing.

Schuh, J. H., Jones, S. R., & Torres, V. (Eds.). (2017). Student services: a handbook for the profession. Jossey-Bass.