VOLUME 5
No. 1
PP324494/0062
The Australasian
The Australasian
Adbourne PUBLISHING
www.adbourne.com 18/69 Acacia Road Ferntree Gully, VIC 3156 PO Box 735, Belgrave, VIC 3160
Contents
Melbourne Office Neil Muir Ph: (03) 9758 1433 Fax: (03) 9758 1432 Email: neil@adbourne.com Adelaide Office Robert Spowart Ph: 0488 390 039 Email: robert@adbourne.com
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Message from AACUHO
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AACUHO 2010 Conference Program
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Can Colleges Change?
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Compass Weekend
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Production Claire Henry Tel: (03) 9758 1436 Email: production@adbourne.com
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Administration Robyn Fantin Tel: (03) 9758 1431 Email: admin@adbourne.com Marketing Tania Lamanna Tel: (03) 9500 0285 Email: tlamanna@bigpond.net.au
International survey of Principals on health and wellbeing
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The Internet is running out of space!
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A New Framework of Governance
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Reputation Management and Universities
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The Opposite Sex or the Adjacent Sex?
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Recipe to a Damage Billing Process
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Making a Commitment to Assessment
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The why and how of rebranding
43 The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal is published by Adbourne Publishing in conjunction with AACUHO, the Australasian Association of College and University Housing Officers Inc., and AHAUCHI, the Association of Heads of Australian University Colleges and Halls Inc.
Front cover: University of Ballarat Arts Academy and Student Residences Image provided by University of Ballarat
Meeting the needs of students from remote areas
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Emotional Intelligence in educational settings
Online Social Networking: Training Our Staff as Role Models
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Product News
DISCLAIMER Adbourne Publishing cannot ensure that the advertisers appearing in The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal comply absolutely with the Trades Practices Act and other consumer legislation. The responsibility is therefore on the person, company or advertising agency submitting the advertisement(s) for publication. Adbourne Publishing and The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal reserve the right to refuse any advertisement without stating the reason. No responsibility is accepted for incorrect information contained in advertisements or editorial. The editor reserves the right to edit, abridge or otherwise alter articles for publication.
AACUHO
All original material produced in this magazine remains the property of the publisher and cannot be reproduced without authority. The views of the contributors and all submitted editorial are the author’s views and are not necessarily those of the Australasian Association of College and University Housing Officers, or the publisher.
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Message from AACUHO
O
n behalf of the Australasian Association of College and University Housing Officers (AACUHO) welcome to the first edition of The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal for 2010. Please do not hesitate to contact the management team at Adbourne Publishing if you
have any contributions you would like to make to this excellent publication. It is with a sense of great anticipation that I write this article as we are only a few weeks out from our Annual Conference to be held this year at the Sebel Citigate Hotel in Brisbane. We have an outstanding program in place for the delegates and we know it will be both professionally and personally rewarding for all those who attend. I would like to express my sincere thanks once again to the corporate business partners who have signed up in support of our association once again. We have many long standing partners who have stood the test of time and we really do appreciate their dedication and we look forward to being able to support them in their business endeavours in the future. It would be remiss of me not to mention Starnet Starez at this point who are, once again, our Platinum Sponsors. I know many of us enjoy particularly the presence of Adele and Con at our conferences, your generosity and support of our association has been second to none, and we thank you sincerely for this. The AACUHO Committee has met numerous times since our last conference at Torquay and we continue to address issues of relevance to our members. We have upgrades our website significantly over the last 2 years and we welcome you to visit www.aacuho.edu.au and find out what is new. We have initiated a member’s only page including past conference resources, blog (forum) and member directory. If you have any other ideas re the website please let a member of the committee know and we will attempt to include it. We have made a number of recommended changes to the constitution which will be presented at the AGM. These changes are primarily to “modernise” the wording but also to address some issues with the committee make up and present role descriptions and titles to all members of the committee. We have also revised the concept of life membership of our association and will be looking to add some worthy recipients in the near future. Please, if you are interested, read through the changes to the constitution and bring any concerns you have to the AGM – we do not operate in a vacuum and really appreciate the thoughts of our members. I am planning to attend the ACUHO-I Conference and study tour in Texas in June and look forward to the opportunity to represent our neck of the woods in this newly “globally” focused association. The study tour is always a great eye opener and a chance to steal some really good initiatives and sometimes be reinforced about the way you do things yourself! In closing I would like to thank all of those people who have made the Brisbane Conference a reality in particular, Terry Ryan, Liza Allen, Peter O’Brien, Matthew Sheahan and the AACUHO Committee for their constant support and encouragement. Look forward to catching up with you all very soon.
Warm regards, Simon Scott B.A. MLM Ed
AACUHO
AACUHO President Head Halls of Residence, UQ Gatton
Conference 2010
FUTURE FOCUSED: Shifting to 21st Century Thinking
AACUHO
The Sebel and Citigate King George Square Brisbane Tuesday 6 April to Friday 9 April 2010
Conference Program Tuesday 6 April 2010 10.00 am – 3:00 pm
Study Tour – University of Queensland Colleges (Kings, Women’s and Union) and Urbanest, Southbank Coordinator—Matthew Sheahan, Deputy Head, Kings College
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
CONFERENCE CHECK-IN—Grand Windsor Ballroom foyer
4:00 pm – 4:45 pm
Information session for those who are new or recent to the tertiary accommodation industry Coordinator: Sean Brito-Babapulle, Master, John XXIII College, ANU Location: Lincoln Room, Sebel Citigate
5:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Trade Exhibition open Trade Exhibition formally opened and Conference Welcome Party— Grand Windsor Ballroom (substantial finger food and drinks 6.00—7.30pm)
5:30 pm – 7.30 pm
MC: Tom Mitchell, Deputy Head, Trinity College, UWA Welcome: Simon Scott, Chair, Conference Organising Committee, AACUHO President, Entertainment by Brad Manuel
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Own arrangements for dinner
9:30 pm – 11:00 pm
Nightcap Networking KG Bar, Sebel Citigate
The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal
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Conference 2010 AACUHO
FUTURE FOCUSED: Shifting to 21st Century Thinking
Wednesday 7 April 2010 8:00 am – 8:45 am
Conference check-in and coffee in Trade Display area, Grand Windsor Ballroom Trade Display open
8:45 am – 9:00 am
Opening Ceremonies: Master of Ceremonies - Tom Mitchell Welcome to Country
9:00 am– 9:25 am
Opening Conference Address: Professor Paul Greenfield, Vice Chancellor, University of Qld
9:30 am– 10:30 am
Plenary Session: Brett Rutledge In the minds of champions
10:30 am – 11.10 am
11:15 am – 11.55 am
Morning Tea in Trade Display areas Sponsored by Sleepmaker & Direct Products Address: Professor Sarah Leberman, Massey University, Palmerston North Leadership in university Halls of Residence; developing people of influence
11:55 am – 12.10 pm
Speaker Spot – Platinum Sponsor (StarNet/StarRez)
12:10 pm – 12.55 pm
Address: Geoff Dennis, Deputy Director, Properties and Facilities, Uni of Qld Former President TEFMA
1:00 pm – 1:55 pm
Lunch Break in Trade Display areas Sponsored by Star-Tech LEADERSHIP FOR THE FUTURE
GREENING YOUR OPERATION
2:00 pm – 3:10 pm
Sarah Leberman Tom Mitchell Steve Fole
Geoff Dennis Kurt Neville Peter Bell
3:10pm – 3:30pm
Light Afternoon Tea in Trade Exhibition area (Grand Windsor Ballroom)
3:30pm – 3:40pm
Speaker Spot – Gold Sponsor—Access Plus
Conference Program Wednesday 7 April 2010 (continued) 3:45pm – 4:45pm
Workshop—Brett Rutledge Closing the communication gap
4:45 pm – 4:55 pm
Speaker Spot – Gold Sponsor— Salto
4:55 pm – 5:15 pm
Andy Gourlay, Red Frogs
5:15 pm – 6:30 pm
Free time
6:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Buses to The Women’s College Opening Dinner at The Women’s College
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Sponsored by the Gold Sponsors (ABC Commercial Living, Access Plus, Salto) MC: Brett Rutledge
10:00 pm – 10:30 pm
Buses leave The Women’s College
10:30 pm – 12:00 pm
Nightcap Networking: KG Bar, Sebel Citigate
Conference 2010 AACUHO
FUTURE FOCUSED: Shifting to 21st Century Thinking
Thursday 8 April 2010 6:30 am –7:30 am 8:00 am –8:30 am
River walk Coffee in Trade Exhibition, Grand Windsor Ballroom Trade Exhibition open
8:30 am – 8:40 am
Housekeeping: MC—Tom Mitchell
8:40 am – 8:50 am
Presentation: Shayne Herriott, President NAAUC
8:50 am – 9:45 am
Keynote Address: Mohamad Assoum “Breaking down the stereotypes”
9:45 am – 9:55 am
Speaker Spot – Gold Sponsor—ABC Commercial Living
9:55 am – 10:30 am
Morning Tea in Exhibition Hall
10:30 am – 11:10 am
Keynote Address: John Lin, Ethan Group “Focusing on future technology”
11:15 am - 12:15 pm
EFFECTING CULTURAL CHANGE
TECHNOLOGY IN COLLEGES
Mohamad Assoum Matthew Sheahan Colin Marshall Wayne Kollegger
John Lin Dave Segal Chris Morahan
12:15 pm – 12.45 pm
Lunch on the go AFTERNOON ACTIVITIES
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
5:30 pm
Café Crawl with Andy Gourlay XXXX Brewery Tour Sirromet Winery Golf (Pacific Golf Club) Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art Buses Leave for mystery destination
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Dinner and Show on Gold Coast
10:30 pm – 12:00 pm
Nightcap Networking: KG Bar, Sebel Citigate
Friday 9 April 2010 6:30 am –7:30 am
Morning activities
8:50 am – 9:00 am
Housekeeping : MC
9:00 am – 10:00 am
Keynote Address: Rachael Harris “Asperger’s Syndrome: an Insider’s Perspective”
10:00 am – 10:30 am
Morning Tea – Exhibition Hall Sponsored by VingCard
10:30 am - 11:15 pm
Address: Asset Management—TBA TACKLING MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES
11:15 am - 12:15 pm
12:15 pm – 1:10 pm
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Rachael Harris Kasia Quail Anni Wood
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT IN THE 21st CENTURY Ashwin Bhutani Alex Poulsen Eugene Spanti
Networking Lunch (Sponsored by Scolarest)– Exhibition Hall
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Conference Program Friday 9 April 2010 (continued) 1:15 pm – 2:00 pm
Keynote Address: Paul Stanley : “One punch can kill” www.matthewstanleyfoundation.com.au
2:00 pm – 2:45 pm
Presentation: Adair Donaldson “Putting youth in the picture” Panel session: “Creating better living environments for a better future”
2:45 pm – 3:45 pm
3:45 pm – 4:00 pm
Chair: Simon Scott Paul Stanley | Adair Donaldson | Andy Gourlay Conference Wrap-Up Tom Mitchell | Simon Scott
4:00 pm – 4:30 pm
AACUHO AGM
4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
AACUHO Committee meeting
4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Free time The StarNet/StarRez Conference Dinner
7:00 pm – 11:30 pm
Roosevelt and Kennedy Rooms MC: Simon Scott Entertainment by Indigo Band—Jess Lean vocalist
10:30 pm – 12:00 pm
Nightcap Networking: KG Bar, Sebel Citigate
Can Colleges Change? Dr. Philip DUTTON
U
niversity residential colleges may have changed in recent times but it remains a heady cocktail. Each year they fill with around 40,000 residents. Close to half are young 18 year olds with wide eyed expectations and dreams, living suddenly with around 200 other young adults who are just warming up for their new or very first academic year. They are ready to go, ready for anything and especially ready for new experiences. To what extent are colleges places of freedom and/or constraint? Here lie the clues to why our halls and colleges remain so enigmatic and contradictory in their influence upon those who experience them and why they are so intrinsic to a full university experience in all the great universities of the world.
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Residential colleges have been resolutely moored to the wharves of Australian universities for over 150 years with the establishment at Sydney University of St Pauls in 1856 and then St Johns alongside a year or so later. Over the next 100 years a further 33 would be built and anchored close to the handful of institutions in the state capitals that were for nearly 100 years our only universities. The first two colleges were established by the Church of England and the Catholic Church respectively and created the model for most others since. Could it be from their very introit that we never got it quite right? Alexis Carey’s personal experiences in recent years in College were expressed in the Sydney Morning Herald in September and sought to expose the ingrained culture of sexism that she insists www.adbourne.com
has not changed in colleges since Germaine Greer’s days. The view that colleges have not changed or more disturbingly have not been forced to change, and have clung to anachronistic cultural, sexist and pseudo Oxbridge influences needs closer examination. It is true that old habits die hard and evidence of male hierarchical culture can still be observed in some places. Michael Douglas, who has presided in recent years over NAAUC, the association of university residential students, admits that drinking remains a big issue in college life but also notes that more and more colleges are addressing problems of alcohol in their orientation programs. “Alcohol remains the big divisive issue between college heads and their student leaders,’ according to Michael recently, ‘especially during Orientation but gradually issues of duty of care, responsible service of alcohol and properly organised events have filtered down to student organisers.” The fact remains that students still stay up late at night in groups, in their rooms, and drink and carry on. But, as Bruce Harvey, a planning colleague and former resident of Queens College, puts it: “Where else can architecture students talk in small groups about their study and the world in general till 3am if not in college?” This is the rub. It may be that the enigma of academic carousing goes back even further than the competitive sectarian interests around which our first colleges were established. The first university colleges at Oxford (Merton College in 1260AD) simply brought scholars together under one roof to live and learn together. There was no separation between college and university. By 1955 our university numbers had grown but still there were only 35 residential colleges that were predominantly male, hierarchical, selective and, by today’s standards, closed and elitist communities serving their own feeder schools, churches and interests. This long period of languid development of colleges around our older universities still resonates in our current experience. In the years from 1955 to 1974 a further 50 more colleges were built in quick succession. In 1969 alone, no less than eight residential halls were opened at universities like ANU, UNE and UNSW. The majority of the newer ones were completely secular and were university owned and managed. Established for the most part on the campus perimeter, the speed of construction left little time for innovative planning or strategic change. Nonetheless there is clear evidence over the past 30 years and probably longer that the established university colleges of Australia continue to create leaders in the professions and public life. The original college, St Paul’s, has educated at least two Prime Ministers and has an enviable list of Rhodes Scholars as long as one’s arm. When I visited there a few years ago to ask students about the way they seek academic support, they proved to be the most mutually supportive residents of any of the 20 colleges sampled in the same year. My own college includes amongst its alumni the current Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and Thérèse Rein as well as Senator Nick Minchin, Peter Garrett and a host of other luminaries despite its relatively short history. We have had a couple of Rhodes Scholars and this year four out of five of our residents The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal
proceeded to state level and two have proceeded to the national round of the Rhodes selection process. And so it is across the broad experience of all university colleges. Since 1974, universities have gone it alone and managed somehow to continue to find accommodation for their growing populations. As a result there have been very few new fully collegiate style residences built. Universities have preferred the less costly but less collegiate self catered options of villas and apartments in more recent years. A fully catered dining room, so vital to community and collegiate life, seems no longer required in this concept of residential life. Ironically, it has been the investment in university accommodation by universities themselves that has resulted in an opening of the doors to broader cultural and community contact. Universities now see their own residences as able to attract greater numbers of international students and more postgraduate students. For example, in my college, postgraduate wings have added greater academic support as well as diversity in community life. There are international nights, food fairs and festivals celebrating any number of international groups and cultures that were hard to find 30 years ago. The older Melbourne University colleges around College Crescent, Parkville have let down their drawbridges in the name of broader community contact. Ormond College has a programme where residents attend the Debney Park High School and work as individual tutors with secondary students who require assistance. Queens College residents, for their part, tutor children at the Carlton Primary School and engage in a number of fundraising activities. Trinity College has shown the way in initiatives for indigenous access to higher education. John XXIII College, our ANU neighbour, has raised money annually to assist with the building of schools in the Solomon Islands and is now turning its supportive attention to East Timor. My own college has established a vibrant community partnership with the Doomadgee people of the north-west cape over the past few years and my own residents conduct activities that support every major charity including the 40 hour famine, Red Cross, the Cancer Council and others, usually through the typical student medium of fun activities. What is the genesis of this tide of socially responsible initiatives? Firstly, it is simply a very powerful time and place in the lives of 18 to 22 year olds. Secondly, it is an opportunity to experience life on one’s own terms in a community where equality and peer diversity prevail within a structured and caring pastoral environment and administration. An inevitable bi-product of this is the potential for independent sub-cultures, both healthy and unhealthy, to occur. Thirdly, more emphasis can be placed on cooperation and less placed on competition. Fourthly, the opportunity to move from dependence to independence in life may be given the even greater experience of growing interdependence in college. Lastly, there are so many opportunities to take part in college and university life; to initiate projects, to have a role in governance and have a real say and above all to help others and share your learning. This is a heritage handed down from Merton College six centuries before the establishment of our universities. >
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< But it is important to reflect where students begin in this experience. Students potentially find themselves isolated without their familiar support networks. Points of vulnerability act as emotional adrenalin in initial university experiences where the need for security, friendship and support demands thirsty reassurance. It also coincides with other rites of passage for the eighteen-yearold in Australia who has now reached the legal age to drink, vote and drive. Many are seasoned travellers and workers in retail or hospitality and quite often arrive at university with their savings or perhaps the comfort of a scholarship. Orientation week includes nightly social events in and around the campus, the local pubs and nightspots and inevitably conclude in the colleges amongst new and returning residents and visiting friends simply because college is the place to meet people. Often until near dawn, students cluster in each other’s rooms to share experiences, to get to know people, to set personal rules and engage in uni culture. Amidst the fun, laughter, drinking and singing, they are making friends and creating the beginnings of a social support network based on mutual interest and an interdependence befitting their new context and lifestyle. Research confirms the importance of genuine offers of true friendship and understanding amongst individual residents as the highest priority of first year students in this new environment. It remains the main ingredient in the formation of so many lifelong
friendships, partnerships and leaderships arising from college life. There have been steady and remarkable developments in the inner corridors and common rooms of colleges which have been totally student initiated – in itself an insight into the incubation of leadership therein. The higher common factors of collegiate life, of service, support and friendship have gained a greater foothold and changed the culture although the lower common denominators of alcohol abuse, initiations and unequal residential status based on year level still surface. It is indisputable that change has come to colleges over the past 30 years from within through the agencies of growth, diversity in residential mix, cultural diversity, volunteerism and deepening environmental activism. It is equally the case, however, that university colleges remain undervalued as a potential and outstanding source of leadership for the future direction of Australia. In seeking the best model of university residential life, it is important to be independent and to move away from a compulsion too emulate or simply look like an Oxbridge model that was not designed for the Australian context. n Dr Philip Dutton is the Principal of Burgmann College at the Australian National University. He first lived in Farrer Hall, Monash University, in 1975 and has spent approximately 30 years in university residential leadership. He was Dean of Students at UWS Hawkesbury in its metamorphosis from Agricultural College status and was the foundation Head of Weerona College at the University of Wollongong from 1990 until 2003.
Compass Weekend University of Ballarat
COLIN MARSHALL Director, Accommodation and Hospitality Services, University Of Ballarat
Manager of Residential Life Andrew Renfree jumping for joy over the success of the Compass program
T
he University of Ballarat’s Accommodation Services welcomed over 450 new first year residents during our Compass weekend held from 19th – 22nd February - A “not to be missed” component of our orientation to University Life program. After weeks of training and preparation, our Residential Life team were ready and eager to put their newly acquired skills to the test. What better way for them to do this than play a supporting role for hundreds of apprehensive, nervous, but mostly excited new residents over what is likely to be a life changing weekend. > The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal
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We described to new residents how they could expect to live and learn along with a number of guiding principals (using Boyer’s framework below). We encourage our Halls and Residences to be:
• • • •
Resident Support team members – Liz Doyle, Nic Coots, Emma Brewer
•
< The Compass program has been uniquely designed to mark the beginning of our residents University life as they begin to collectively create open and caring communities across all residences. Ensuring residents feel at ease in their new environment as soon as possible enables them to contribute to the building process. The details are important, from name tags on doors before arrival along with a phone call to each new resident before attending; all contribute to positive first impressions. The weekend is strategically structured so that each participant firstly receives a personalised Residential Advisor welcome before progressing to meeting other unit members, their hall and finally the entire residential community.
•
New friendships and bonds are formed, and the tone set for the year ahead. We ask that our residents not consume alcohol on campus during Compass, so as to promote an environment where introductions and connections are made based on authentic interactions – without the use of alcohol as the social lubricant (the alcohol free period extends throughout Orientation Week in our residences, which has proved effective in creating environments where expectations are clearly understood and our students set to succeed). Our Resident Advisors and new residents are able to get to know each other via a number of key opportunities, which in part are provided to discuss and make clear expectations the Accommodation Services team have, with Residential Advisor information sessions and GTKY activities the perfect platform for this to take place. After a low key – time to settle / unpack Friday afternoon and evening unit dinner, Saturday afternoon featured a formal welcome precession in Founders Hall where all new residents were welcomed and the entire Residential Support team (some 35) introduced. It was made clear to our new residents that our Halls and Residences are first and foremost places of study and that we should all aim to keep one another safe, healthy, engaged in study and progressing through University.
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Purposeful places where faculty and students share academic goals and work together to strengthen teaching and learning. Open places where freedom of expression is uncompromisingly protected and where civility is powerfully affirmed. Just places where the sacredness of the person is honoured and where diversity is actively pursued. Disciplined places where individuals accept their obligations to the group and where well-defined governance procedure guide behaviours for the common good. Caring places where the well being of everyone is sensitively supported and where service to each other is encouraged. Celebrative places where the heritage of the institution is remembered and where rituals affirming both tradition and change are widely shared.
New residents are reminded that they are most fortunate to have been offered a place within our halls and residences (where many had missed out) – so were encouraged to make the most of this opportunity, to make the year count, serve their community well and get involved with every aspect of ‘Res Life’, be it academic, sporting, social or cultural pursuits. The formal presentation was followed by a dinner for 500, and the evening capped off with a hilarious ‘presentation’ by UniSmart, which was tailored specifically for our audience and uniquely summarises what the entire weekend is about (in an easy to digest format). Sunday games have to be seen to be believed and posed a significant logistical challenge for Residential Life Activities Officer Matt Cane (a challenge I am pleased to say he manages to meet!) Coordinating a round robin type activities morning, followed by a ‘build your own burger’ lunch (off campus), before shuffling everyone off to the movies and a tour of Ballarat… phew! You get the idea. The Compass weekend provided a perfect prelude to the University’s Orientation week program, in which our Residential Support team also play a leading role. The process of review for Compass has just been completed and as ever, we will incorporate the feedback from all who participated. Confidence is high that we have struck on a winning formula which affirms that the entire Accommodation Services team across our Halls and Residences are creating unique environments for student success. n Reference Boyer, E.L. (1990) Campus life: in search of community. San Francisco, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
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Meeting the needs of students from remote areas JOE MASSINGHAM
P
erhaps one of the most neglected aspects of student housing in Australia today is the social education of students, particularly those from remote areas. Early universities were places of holistic learning but the gradual onset of large urban areas changed that. It was clearly more efficient in many ways to establish new universities in these large conurbations, thus providing easy access to the greatest number. Because of the ease of physical access many-later, most- students lived at home and got their non-intellectual education from there. Newer universities, noting this, provided only limited accommodation, sufficient to meet the needs of students coming from a distance to study. ‘Needs’ in this instance focused on basic physical needs; a room, a bed, three square meals a day, opportunities for exercise and companionship. More fundamental but less obvious needs such as spiritual guidance, social skill development, financial and appropriate behavioural guidance were simply not considered or were dismissed as ‘not our problem’. In Australia, a newly settled country by the dominant European standards of the last four centuries, there weren’t even any old universities to carry on the older traditions. The earliest universities, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, tried to establish some provision for these needs by encouraging and assisting the building of residential colleges that were a shadow of their exemplars but even these did not flourish for long. The universalisation of state
education and the emphasis on large city provision soon meant that the commuter life style guided and determined the provision of non-intellectual services. Even today in Australia rural and regional students are greatly disadvantaged in the provision of ‘not strictly educational’ guidance and learning. If you live on a property in Far West New South Wales the nearest township can be more than hour’s drive away and, even when you get there, there’s no significant age or gender cohort for you to associate with. If the family can afford it a (perhaps, the) solution is to send the kids off to boarding school, but not everyone can afford that and, in any case, it only provides a solution appropriate for the teenage cohort. Just when help is most
The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal
needed, in those critical young adult years, obvious support disappears. The sorts of skills that ‘country kids’ are unlikely to acquire to the same degree as their urban counterparts include interpersonal and inter-gender relationships; an awareness of the importance of group contribution, an awareness of the physical and emotional needs of others in their community, an understanding of civic responsibility and behaviour, group organisation and support skills, teamwork, compassion and self-denial. When I say they are unlikely to acquire skills in these areas that is not to impute any failure on their part; it is simply to point out that they are unlikely to have opportunities to learn and practice these skills in their remote >
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Meeting the needs of students from remote areas (continued) < locations. And these skills and understandings are at the heart of good citizenship, something the state should be at pains to foster and encourage. The solution to this dilemma is, I suggest, to insist that educational and training institutions that cater for rural students, however organised, must include provision of residential services which include specific focus on the development of those skills which these students are likely to be lacking. I don’t mean that they should live in segregated residences, clearly branded as ‘different’ from their urban colleagues, but all residences should be required to make provision for them to learn necessary skills in a safe environment.
One area in which this may cause some short term difficulty is in those universities ( a majority , by now, I suspect) that have simply handed over the provision of bed and board to private companies and happily moved on to an ‘out of sight out of mind’ environment. There will have to be negotiation between the parties as to who actually provides the services and who accepts responsibility for overseeing that provision. The governments, Federal and State, that fund tertiary institutions, will also need to consider and define their role in this activity. The alternative is to do nothing and finish up as we have with Aboriginal education, with an ‘us and them’ system which fails to provide appropriate services and leaves a trail of unnecessarily disappointed and disaffected young citizens. That will not be good for the nation but since it’s a problem tat will only reveal itself more starkly at some time in the future I am not sanguine that much will change without considerable prompting from those already involved in student housing. n
Dr Joe Massingham is the former head of Wright College at the University of New England, and the founder of AACUHO in Australia.
International survey of Principals on health and wellbeing Main findings from the 2008 ICP-Intercamhs survey.
SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDINGS 1 THE LINK BETWEEN WELLBEING AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
I
n 2008, the International Confederation of Principals (ICP), in partnership with the International Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Schools (Intercamhs), surveyed 1200 Principals across the globe about their perceptions on emotional and mental health and wellbeing of students and staff, including:
•
The link between emotional and mental health and academic acheivement
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Major emotional and mental health issues facing staff and students
•
Types of professional development, education and training materials and other resources, and national policies that might be most supportive and useful to them in addressing these issues.
Intercamhs and ICP believe a strengthened response to emotional and mental health in schools is necessary not only to enhance human development, but also to recognise and address the critical link between emotional and mental wellbeing, learning and academic performance. A more detailed report of the international findings of the ICP-Intercamhs survey, and a country report for Australia, are now available on AHISA’s website, www.ahisa.edu.au n
More than 80 per cent of Principals international ly and 94 per cent of Australian Principals believe that emotionallmental health and wellbeing are ‘very important’ for academic achievement. Responses are consistent, regardless of Principals’ estimate of the student diversity and family income in their communities, or of their reported years of experience. Principals estimate that approximately 20 per cent of their students need prevention or intervention services. 2 MAJOR STUDENT ISSUES Among students, Principals identify bullying and harassment, impulse control and anger management as the top three emotionallmental health and wellbeing issues, followed by family dysfunction, behaviour problems, anxiety, and stress. Australian Principals identify family dysfunction as the top issue. In their work with students Principals identify the most important issues they face are how to increase their awareness of issues, identify those in need of services and gain access to services. 3 MAJOR STAFF ISSUES Principals report that stress, anxiety, and depreSSion are the major emotionallmental health and wellbeing issues among staff, followed by loss and grief and bullying and harassment. They cite the importance of building an environment where staff members can assist other staff and children to feel safe and supported. In both the global data and Australian sample, Principals consistently report staff issues to be of lower concern to them than student issues. 4 GOVERNMENT POLICIES Principals see a need to increase and strengthen government policies with regard to both student and teacher emotionallmental health and wel lbeing through schools. Australian Principals report the existence of more government policies for student and teacher general health and mental health than identified in the global sample, and also ranked the need for educational materials for students and staff higher than the global sample. 5 IMPACT OF STUDENT FAMILY INCOME Principals of schools with lower student family incomes report poorer emotionallmental health and wellbeing among students and staff across a range of issues and generally express a greater desire or need for materials and resources. Principals of schools with high student family income offer higher ratings than their peers when considering the importance of educational materials, training and other resources for addressing several specific emotionallmental health and wellbeing issues. 6 NEED FOR RESOURCES Principals identify that training programs and materials for their staff, especially in the form of DVDs, videos and web-based courses, as well as exchange with other Principals and experts, would be most useful. Principals want resources, training and materials to address nine critical areas of a whole-school approach, including support to students and families in distress, effective prevention and promotion strategies, and teaching emotional and social learning skills.
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The Internet is running out of space!
And how a new technological leap is going to save us. Stefan Nikolic Customer Relations for AccessPlus, Weary Student
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oday I woke to an email on my mobile phone telling me I have a flight. My car GPS guides me to the airport. I am 36,000 feet in the air and finish this article. I send it as I land to the publisher. Not many people flinch at the thought of this. It has become as day-to-day as buying the milk. However, with the rapid advancement of internet being available on small devices, there are road blocks heading our way. The internet is starting to run out of space. Not literally but in the form of IPv4 address space. Remember, these are the numbers that look like 192.168.1.1 that you use to set up your home network. ICAAN, the organisation that regulates global internet addresses has predicted that in 580 days there won’t be any more of these. This is why the global internet infrastructure needs to convert to a newer address protocol called IPv6. Familiar analogies for this can be found in the future Digital TV transition and the addition of area codes to the phone network a while ago.
So why is this such a big deal? All those internet devices in my above example use a standard addressing system to be able to work on the internet. This addressing system is called IPv4 or most commonly known as your IP address. Think of it as your letter box. Just like your letter box the device needs an accurate address to assure delivery. The problem now is that there are too many people wanting IP addresses and they are in short supply. This issue has been a serious bottleneck in internet services and hardware for many years. It is now set to disappear with the new standard, IPv6. IPV6 will eliminate the current cumbersome processes now required to send data and opens addressing to an inconceivable number of destinations (devices). To give you a better perspective on how many addresses, here are the exact numbers of addresses available with IPv4 and IPv6: IPv4: 4,294,967,296 addresses. IPv6: 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 addresses. More technically, the IPv4 address has 32 bits, allowing today’s Internet to connect up to around four billion devices. By contrast, IPv6 has an address of 128 bits. Because each additional bit doubles the size of the address space, an extra 96 bits increases the theoretical size of the address space by many trillions of times. For comparison, if IPv4 were represented as a golf ball, then IPv6 would be approaching the size of the Sun. You can see now why IPv6 would be much more useful for the adoption of mobile devices. There are trillions upon trillions of addresses for every human on the planet. Every device we use in our daily lives can be connected directly to the internet with its own unique global address.
Source: Arstechinca.com The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal
Another benefit of IPv6 is the new security and configuration features. That is, IPv6 hardware we require almost no advanced
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The Internet is running out of space!
And how a new technological leap is going to save us.
configuring on the users part. Since the devices have their own permanent addresses, your typical home ADSL modem/ router won’t need any specific settings to enable the device to communicate with the internet. It will be a direct line out in a sense. But let’s talk about real-world applications and more specifically, IPv6 at student residences. The potential of IPv6 is already being realised. In Yokohama, for example, hundreds of public vehicles are connected via a citywide IPv6 network. Each of those cabs, trucks and buses carries sensors that relay back the status of the windshield wipers. If the wipers are on, the assumption is that it is raining. By aggregating all of the wiper statuses around the city, a current rain weather map can be generated that is far more accurate than a radar map. Household appliances can now be connected to the internet directly by having their own address. This allows for massive improvements in residential management. You will be able to remotely control and monitor any appliance directly over the internet without complicated network configurations. Considering the pool of IPv6 addresses, the space is almost infinite which allows for this sort of broad networking to work. One real world example is Toshiba Corp.’s “Smart Kitchen”. The concept is to connect all home appliances to the network. The company demonstrated a prototype IPv6 refrigerator and showed what household devices can do when each of them has an individual IP address. With such a refrigerator, a resident can decide what to buy at the supermarket by looking at the refrigerator’s contents remotely using a cell phone connected to the Internet, according to the company. Each device, such as a microwave or an air conditioner, has a separate set of potential applications. When a device (refrigerator for example) requires maintenance, residential managers can detect what is wrong with a product via the Internet. If the fault is minor, it may even be possible to correct it over the Internet, removing the need for a call out from a specialist. I’ll bring out our favourite student, Shandy, to illustrate an example of what this may be like in a student residence in the very near future. “My fridge sends me an email when it’s empty!” Thanks, Shandy. The point is, with all the addresses available over IPv6, any electrical device can become globally connected. This can be used in many positive ways. Student accommodations can have all their appliances interact with the residents and managers over the internet, sending out information about the contents inside the fridge and any malfunctions that need repairing. When concepts such as these become more mainstream, it will be the era of IPv6.
A concept model for an IPv6 enabled fridge. Source: Toshiba Corp.
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Moving from a resident’s kitchen to their study and consequently, their computer, we can see further advancements on the horizon. The Internet Engineering Task Force or IETF is currently working www.adbourne.com
on mobility and multihoming extensions to IPv6. Mobility means moving from one network to another while keeping the same IP address. So a student can start a VoIP call on their room connection, continue over a mobile service and then finish at the university network, saving them hassle and money. Multihoming means connecting to more than one ISP at the same time, so that when one fails, the internet feed can automatically move over to the other, reducing downtime for students and managers dramatically. So how will we prepare for the inevitable crossover from IPv4 to IPv6? Well considering we only have about a year and a half until we run out of IPv4 addresses, ISPs around the globe have begun upgrading their hardware to be IPv6 compliant. For end users, most modern operating systems such as Windows Vista or 7 and Mac OSX have IPv6 capabilities. Most of it will be done behind the scenes and you might not even notice in most cases. We are accustomed to connecting desktops to the Internet. Now we will see embedded systems taking advantage of the Internet in innovative ways. So as a tired and weary student ends their day responding to emails on their phone and talking to their family over the internet
all of a sudden they are interrupted with a message – Hi Shandy, it’s your fridge. I just wanted you to know that this is the third day you’ve forgotten to buy me milk. n
AccessPlus has more than a decade of experience as the foremost provider of managed internet for student accommodations around Australia. Meet us at the AACUHO conference in Brisbane to learn more about how our services help managers and students.
A New Framework of Governance David Bartlett FCA BEc MEd GradDipCS Cert Gov JP Partner, Resolve Consulting
The task of governing a University or other Not for Profit organisation is becoming increasingly complex. Council members are sometimes difficult to find, hard to get committed to doing good governance, and are often juggling multiple roles and responsibilities outside their voluntary governance position.
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s a result, most Not for Profits are being governed like a social club, run like a business, or operate somewhere in between. We often find that most Board members end up confused about their role and how they should be governing their organisation effectively. In this article we are going to present the idea of a new framework for looking at governance
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of Not for Profits – a Community Governance Framework that centres on the key roles and relationships contained within that community. Central to the Community Governance Framework are relationships, as it is our belief that quality healthy relationships are critical to growing healthy organisations. In other words, it’s all about people. Whilst there are many similarities and familiar elements used in the Community Governance Framework to other governance frameworks, the unique difference is that the Community Governance framework seeks to put all the pieces of the governance puzzle together in one place to show in effect what a healthy Not for Profit organisation actually looks like. The framework has been developed through our firm’s practical experience working with the Boards of hundreds of Not for Profits. The following diagram summarises the components of the framework and the interrelationships that exist within an organisation:
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Values, Core Purpose and Vision A healthy Not for Profit organisation has a clear understanding of their reason for being both over the longer term (Core Purpose) and within the current generation (Vision), and a clear understanding of the foundations and principles under which all aspects of the organisation are aligned (Values). Simple, clear values, core purpose and vision statements that are held centrally to all that is done in the organisation helps keep everyone focused on the same course. Having clear statements minimises the risk of competing visions or factionalism entering the organisation, and allows for clarity and organisational energy to be focused for maximum impact for the resources utilised. One of the Board’s key roles is to keep the organisation accountable to its values, core purpose and vision. In ensuring that the relational linkages between the Board, Personnel, Beneficiaries and Moral Owners are strong and healthy, the Board is continually seeking to focus all four groups towards the Values, Core Purpose and Vision of the organisation. By keeping everyone’s focus on the bigger picture in this way, the Board can maximise its governance effectiveness, as well as build personal ownership or “buy in” from all the stakeholder groups in the organisation through continually keeping the values and vision central to the organisation and how it operates.
Community All organisations operate within community. This statement sounds obvious, but in the Community Governance Framework we make a distinction between three types of community that organisations operate within, and note some of the issues that can arise when, in making key governance and management decisions, we blur these distinctions. Active, healthy relational community is critical to a healthy Not for Profit organisation, and understanding the interplay between the three types of community described in the Community Governance Framework will help an understanding of how unhealthy community can compromise it. The Contact Community will have casual and sometimes no buy in to the core purpose, core values and vision of the organisation, the Connected Community will be aligned to them, and the Core Community of the organisation itself sold out to them. Understanding this distinction can aid in making decisions relating to leadership appointments within the organisation and its Board
Governance vs Management In the framework you will notice a dashed horizontal dividing line that separates the top two member groups of the Core Community (Personnel and Beneficiaries) from the bottom two groups (Moral Owners and Board). This represents a different emphasis in the leadership style of these two groups. In a healthy organisation the Personnel and Beneficiaries are accountable for and concern themselves primarily with Management, whilst the Moral Owners and Board are accountable for and concern themselves with Governance. Recognising this distinction in roles will help the organisation implement good governance. Part of building a The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal
healthy successful organisation is training CEO’s and Board members to be able to distinguish between the two roles of the CEO, and facilitating rather than frustrating movement between these two roles by establishing good, clear Board policies!
Moral Owners – Board relationship The relationship between the Moral Owners and the Board is strengthened by a number of key documents, legislation and events. These are referred to collectively as WHO sustainers as they help sustain a healthy relationship between the Moral Owners and the Board of the organisation. Similarly, relational linkages are strengthened in the other three sectors of the framework through the use of other key tools, policies, processes and practices. In our experience, unhealthy Not for Profit organisations often have some of the following keys problems with linkages between the Moral Owners and Board:
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The Moral Owners are the Board – there is not a sufficient depth to draw from long term in the organisation to allow for growth of and changes in Board Members, new input from fresh thinking etc because the membership is too small. Alternatively, a key Moral Owner is also on the Board as a Director but frequently uses their position of Moral Owner to veto or control Board actions.
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The Moral Owners are asleep and the Board is very happy with this malaise from the membership. Whilst this appears to be a positive for Boards who are allowed to get on with governing without a potentially interfering membership, the problem that often happens in this situation is that a crisis occurs in the organisation, a member finds out, and the “sleeping bear” is awoken angry and unprepared. The sleeping members, if allowed to remain ignorant and uninformed can, once awoken, turn on the Board, often armed with only partial facts or rumour.
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The Moral Owners micromanage the Board and the organisation – in effect they become the real governors of the organisation which usually results in painfully slow and often uninformed decision making as the Moral Owners have no official link with the Personnel and day to day operations of the organisation.
Board – Personnel relationship The two key groups that we spend most of our time working with in governance are the Board and Personnel. The WHAT sustainers, or relational linkages between the Board and Personnel have been the priority of most authors, conference speakers, and advisors to Boards on good governance for many years now. Increasingly Boards that have adopted some form of governance approach have tended to delegate varying degrees of authority to their CEO’s to manage the day to day operations of the organisation, while they attempt to focus on governing the organisation (with varying degrees of success). Under the Community Governance Framework, this style of governance
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A New Framework of Governance
relationship between the CEO and board is only one of a number of tools necessary for a healthy relationship between the board and their personnel. One of the major reasons that Resolve has seen the need to develop the Community Governance Framework is an over reliance of many Boards on their CEO. This arises for a number of reasons including the Board’s lack of experience with governance, a misunderstanding of other governance frameworks such as Carver’s Policy Governance model, or simply because many Boards are made up of good natured people who are happy to let the “professional” CEO and staff run the organisation. There has been a growing number of organisations that we have worked with where Board’s have actually abdicated rather than delegated their governance responsibilities to their CEO. This is a disturbing trend. There is a need for Boards to strengthen the relational linkages between themselves and their CEO in appropriate ways to allow them to govern their organisations in a healthy way that respects the authority of CEO, but maintains the clear leadership and authority of governance within the Board. Regardless of the model of leadership you have in your organisation, you should examine what sustainers you are actively using to strengthen the relational linkages between your Board and Personnel.
(continued)
Personnel – Beneficiaries relationship Day to day management of a Not for Profit organisation rests with the Personnel of the organisation. They manage the organisation in relationship with and to the Beneficiaries who receive the services and/or goods of that organisation. A healthy organisation will develop strong HOW sustainers; relational linkages between Personnel and Beneficiaries - linkages that not only focus of strengthening the management issues associated with operating the organisation, but that also focus both groups toward the Vision, Core Purpose and Values of the organisation.
Beneficiaries – Moral Owners relationship The fourth relational linkage is that between Beneficiaries and Moral Owners, the WHY sustainers. This linkage is quite restricted, noting that Beneficiaries typically move to become Moral Owners through a process of membership application and approval (usually by the Board) to the company or association. During the formation stage of a new organisation, the Moral Owners respond to the “WHY” question, establishing the organisation in response to an identified need for services or products. This core purpose and Vision need to remain connected and sustained, able to bend and respond to changes in Mission (the things we do in response to our Vision) and even adopting a new vision as time progresses in the life of an organisation. The Board, having been delegated governance responsibility to act on behalf of the Moral Owners for their interests as per the objects in the organisations constitutional documents, should be planning the long term sustainability of the membership of the Moral Owners group. In some organisations this is taken care of through provision
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of a Moral Ownership that are members of a particular predefined group (such as a Church denomination that runs a related charity), or have a passive Moral Ownership by virtue of their formation historically by an Act of Parliament or by the government directly. In these cases there are still Moral Owners to be identified, and the Boards role is to make sure that they remain connected to the core purpose, core values and vision of the organisation and can see the benefits of the organisation to the community. The decline in the numbers or involvement of Moral Owners must be of serious concern to any Not for Profit organisation for its long term survival for a number of reasons:
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The Moral Owners usually provide the source of current and future Board Members, therefore a reduced membership reduces the pool of prospective and suitably qualified potential Board Members. The result long term is that the Board actually runs out of either quality membership or even actual members.
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Moral Owners provide overall input into the Vision and direction of an organisation. Without input from them it is easier for an organisation to “lose its way” and become disconnected from the Purpose, Vision and Values of the organisation.
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A declining Moral Owner base could also pose significant financial risks for an organisation if the Moral Owners are also the dominant providers of finance to the organisation. As the number of Moral Owners decline, financial support dwindles and ultimately the organisation will close.
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A New Framework of Governance (continued) Conclusion Over time, referring to the Community Governance framework can help the Board determine its areas of weakness or exposure, and provide priority areas to be worked on in a strategic planning context. The framework also provides an ongoing easy tool to perform a health check for the Board, to make sure that the organisations vision and mission are not being compromised over time. It also helps to minimize distractions and keep a strong focus on what is truly an important part of organisational community – relationships! Whatever approach your Board works through, healthy community governance organisations ensure that there is a well informed, interested and strong membership base that understand their governance duties and the role of the Board that are acting on their behalf. n
David Bartlett FCA BEc MEd GradDipCS Cert Gov JP is a founding partner of Resolve Consulting Group - a consulting business specialising in governance, leadership and financial management services. David has worked with hundreds of organisations across the not-for-profit and government sectors facilitating governance training and evaluation, governance process, policy and charter development, strategic plan formulation, business development processes and systems reviews, capital and financial master planning, CEO mentoring, mediation and organisational management issues. He has previously managed an Independent / non government school as well as worked in a BIG 4 Chartered Accounting firm. David has co authored the book Community Governance, and authored a number of practical papers, articles, programs and training curriculum dealing with business management and governance issues. David is a presenter with Chartered Secretaries Australia, conducting governance education programs and seminars and has also presented widely as keynote speaker at numerous industry conferences across the not for profit sector. David has undertaken national and international consulting projects, is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and has several tertiary business and training qualifications. He has experience as a Director, Company Secretary, Chairman and Public Officer of a number of organisations.
Ever wanted to know the WHY, WHO, WHAT and HOW of governance and management of a healthy Nonprofit organisation? Have you ever come across terms like vision, mission, strategic planning, policy governance, core values, core purpose, accountability, management and governance and wondered not just what they are but how they fit together? If you are involved as a leader in a Nonprofit this book is for you. The Resolve Consulting Group Community Governance framework puts together the pieces of the healthy Nonprofit organisational governance puzzle in an easy to use visual framework that is designed for your organisation. Paul Campey and David Bartlett have more than 30 years combined experience in the governance and management of Nonprofits in Australia and internationally. They have responded to the call for a practical, hands on guide for Board members, management and leaders of Nonprofits and provided a framework that describes the key characteristics of a healthy Nonprofit organisation. The Community Governance framework is not a model of governance, rather it is a teaching tool that focuses on the key ingredient for effective, healthy Nonprofit organisations - relationships!
Order copies online for your Board at www.resolveconsulting.net
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Reputation Management and Universities DR. STEPHEN HOLMES
Dr Stephen Holmes, a founding partner of The Knowledge Partnership, a specialist higher education research based consultancy operating across Australia, NZ, UK and Europe, reviews key points in reputation management as universities seek to enhance distinctive in the face of increasingly crowded and standardized markets.
the core reasons (benefits sought) why students would want to live in university residences.
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The simple truth is that there is more and deeper proof of difference to deploy in universities and their halls of residences. In a human service such as education, brand values tend to be transmitted most strongly through human interaction and behaviour rather than via managed corporate marketing and communications.
Reputation management implies taking a deeper look for valued attributes that are distinctive, sustainable and communicable attributes, Curiously, at the same time that universities are economically pressured to distinguish from the crowd, they seem amidst a political agenda of heightened standardised controls – common performance indicators, and national quality testing. Reputation management inevitably becomes more complex where greater standardisation is enforced.
Reputation- a lens for differentiation
recall during last years global financial crisis one headline–‘Maintaining a good reputation is crucial in tough times’. It’s good advice. However, building and maintaining reputation should be central to in the strategy of university residences at all times.
Reputation and the marketing mix It is my experience that reputation is rarely managed formally and strategically in universities. There are now almost without exception substantial marketing and communications departments underpinning activities in universities including student residences, but most thinking and activity remain discrete from serious planning, analysis and decision making processes or functions that could fairly be said to hold overall reputation responsibility. There’s a world of difference between engaging in tactical marketing practices and managing reputation in universities. Universities typically place over reliance on visual branding and imagery (logo, tag lines and the like) as the main manifestation of reputation rather than on deeper attributes (standards, behaviours and service benefits) that are harder for competitors to replicate. Efforts to position (with differentiation) have been weak and often not linked to
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What I continue to hear out in the marketplace is that many universities do indeed look, sound and feel very similar. Other than location little differentiates them at a corporate level. The more established universities can to a greater extent call upon history, alumni networks, established achievement profiles and real estate (campus, ancient, red brick and so on) as means of differentiating themselves.
A focus on reputation can be of enormous benefit to universities in their quest for more authentic differentiation. First, reputation makes universities consider cumulative activity – what we do, not just what we say. It is actual ‘runs on the board’. That is, reputation is defined not by what you say about yourself (spin and promotion), but by opinions of third parties. This is how students evaluate universities and hence where hence universities should primarily invest their reputation management focus. Research has demonstrated that word-of-mouth consistently rises to the top in terms of the most powerful medium for reputation management. Second, reputation takes ‘universities under the skin’ and invites them to consider their cultural fabric. Reputation management is more than clever slogans and can’t be managed simply by being embedded in marketing or communication materials. Reputation management involves well thought out strategies based on market analysis and research with all key interest holders (in the case of university residences- prospective, current and past students). Third, reputation is conceptually closely associated with the culture of people-focused, intangible professional services such as education. It is therefore more easily embraced and applied by everyone in a university than other concepts like ‘branding’ www.adbourne.com
or ‘customer satisfaction’, which are primarily associated with products and the commercial sector. In simple terms in halls of residences, it is the people (staff) who become the tangible proof of whether any branding is lived out (authenticated) or not.
Building reputation capital Reputation is derived from and manageable via two sources: information and experience. For students in halls of residence, direct experience is the key factor shaping their perception of reputation. For the external community that may have no direct experience of the halls of residence, information counts more.
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Satisfaction, development, progression of students
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Reputable connections, such as domestic and international partnerships and affiliations
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Media profile, in terms of editorial not advertising
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Candidate profile – what sort of student goes there (like minded).
The position relative to other well regarded universities – who the university is thought to be like
Loyalty of students and parents, measurable via referrals which can be discerned through enrolment patterns
In seeking to analyse their current reputation management practices universities must examine what is offered in terms of experience and how and to whom it is communicated. Set out in the accompanying text box are examples of opportunities for halls of residence, to look ‘under the skin’ as they seek to build their reputation capital. Many of these areas are largely untapped. Staffing, in particular, is rarely recognised or managed as a strategic marketing asset.
Broadly there are three key elements to be managed to build reputation:
To tease out the potential of each of the levers identified below for reputation building and maintenance, market analysis has a fundamental role to play. It provides the essential basis for development and evaluation of strategic initiatives on reputation over time.
Internal and external levers for building reputation • •
Employee motivation and commitment levels
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Quality of candidates when recruiting employees
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Contemporary processes including parent feedback and reporting, student progress monitoring, and parent interface
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Volume of student applicants for a place, to identify demand and geographic reach
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How easy or difficult it is to apply for a place at the halls of residence
Employee team work and good practice sharing and development Staff profile, including previous employment history, ex-staff now employed in high places
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Credentials – Developing valued attributes that ideally can be interlinked in some way to form a compelling package of benefits.
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Desired (future ambition) – The best reputation is one that not only proves you are in a good space but provides strong evidence that you are going to an even better one.
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Perception – Recognition that credentials and ambition must be professionally communicated if desired meaning is to be received, especially but not only to audiences without direct experience of the institution.
Authenticity is essential in any attempt to build and maintain reputation. Reputation therefore requires formal management- this means managing alignment between motivations and expectations, the halls of residence promises or propositions, and the living out internally of those promises. n
The Knowledge Partnership is a specialist strategy, market analysis, communications and reputation management research based consultancy for the higher education sector operating in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Canada. In Australia, we operate offices in Southport, Queensland and Melbourne, Victoria (St Kilda Road). It has developed a reputation evaluation and benchmarking process specifically for universities. With a PhD in the marketing of universities, Dr Stephen Holmes is one of three founding partners of The Knowledge Partnership. His client list includes universities in every Australian state, across New Zealand, the UK and Canada. For contact details visit www.theknowledgepartnership.com. Feedback welcomed at s.holmes@theknowledgepartnership.com
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ADVERTORIAL
The Case for Competitive Internet Supply JEAN MOREL, Division General Manager, Star-Tech Communications
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hen you choose a product or service for private use, does a third party dictate who you must choose? When you chose your private mobile phone, did you choose your preferred handset and service supplier, or did you have someone else’s preferred model forced on you? These are the issues you must ponder as a provider of residential services to tertiary students. If you live in a residential complex of any description, don’t you get a choice
of telephone supplier and broadband internet supplier? To compound this issue, is the internet provider at your facility profiteering because the service has no competition? What do your residents think of this? Don’t we live in a healthy capitalist society, where competition is essential? So why the monopolisation of internet supply into residential halls and colleges? The Australian Telecommunications Act 1999 has provisions to permit entry for competing telecommunications services, which does not allow for exclusivity of internet to your residents. Broadband internet services can be delivered using a range of technologies including wireless, data or phone cabling, and even over power lines (conditions apply). Multiple wireless networks can happily co-exist. If a supplier is willing and able to supply a competing service and they’re willing to make the investment, then why not? The residents will benefit because they
will have a choice, and the suppliers will constantly compete for their business on price and quality of service, therefore making your residents very happy. Your residents will appreciate the freedom they get from the choices that you’re giving them. If you have only one internet supplier, there is nothing stopping you from welcoming competitors. If your current supplier objects, typically it will be because they know they are not competitive! A genuinely competitive, quality internet service provider will have nothing to fear. There’s really not much to think about now is there... Please feel free to come and see us for a chat at booth 15 at the AACUHO Conference! n
The Opposite Sex or the Adjacent Sex? IVAN HEAD
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here is no blank slate at an O Week, no blank page on which a College can imprint from zero. This included the gender page and we all inherit and live with a ‘social or socialized body’. Students enter Colleges significantly formed by prior schooling. For the Sydney fresher this may be independent schooling in a single sex school. A significant number of entrants join Colleges from an education demarcated along gender lines. For some it remains a determinative and unchanging experience of ‘the best’ and this is now continued in College. Others are glad to move into a mixed co-residential environment. The Sydney campus has shifted significantly over the last 10 years with two formerly men’s College refounding via the admission of women and St Paul’s remaining the sole College for men. Single sex secondary education is strongly advocated in Sydney and its systemic structures are visible both in state based secular, religious, denominational, and independent secular Grammar Schools. Considerable educational theory is utilized in underpinning and articulating ‘why this is so’. The momentum of tradition is formidable. The topic can inculcate seismic shock when Head Masters or Councils have urged co-education on educational or rational grounds though sometimes mergers or ‘reform’ are financially driven. Independent School literature often asserts that education for boys and education for girls in separate institutions is not only good by tradition but has the best educational research to vindicate it. But is this so? The superiority of single sex education in general is challengeable. Some Schools may be better as single sex schools if the wider foundations on which distinction and difference were built were articulated and acknowledged and some new strategies considered. There of course many reasons why a School is as it is and the imposition of change purely in response to theory may be read as an indefensible commitment to revolution. If it is so that co-education or forms there-of are as educationally effective, or more effective than the model of single-sex schooling,
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then this should not be camouflaged. The converse should also be candidly considered. How are young women and men best to learn about each other if they are formed in educational isolation from each other? Will they not this learn the strongest null- curriculum lesson of all, that of ‘the alien other’ who must be educated ‘elsewhere’ because they are more different than the same? Thus ‘opposite sex’ and not ‘adjacent sex’ embeds a difference in the social body, in the very way we think, in our ordinary vocabulary. One form of limited co-education could simply mean the regular co-teaching of young women and young men in the same class room or laboratory, and this might lead to such radical activities as eating lunch together or discussing a film that they have seen together. It might mean teaching a mixed-cohort with more than one teaching and learning method running at the same time; and it might mean a simple acknowledgement that even where a testmeasure indicates some difference in mean difference between women and men at that age, at most this will mean in some sets, there will be an overlapping of performances between women and men in that learning cohort. Some men will be ahead of some women and some behind, or vice versa. Perhaps that experience has to wait until one arrives at University? Even if it is shown that different parts of the cortex ‘light up’ in male and female students of identical and comparable IQs across a measure of performances in which they measure as equal, this should be an unsurprising and on-contentious point – perhaps no more significant than the fact that you can use a Mac or a PC for computing. Conceptually, and after the philosophical thought of Julius Kovesi (Moral Notions), it could be called a difference in materiality, rather than in form or formal element. In conversations at Harvard, I spoke with Dr Sandra Naddaff, Director of Freshman Seminars and House Master of Mather House we discussed a class where the text in discussion was One Thousand and One Nights, and where despite the sole male student in the group asserting his comfort in participation in group discussion, it became apparent that a different discussion ensued www.adbourne.com
Assumptions about Single Sex Education
amongst the women members of the seminar when the male student was absent. The educationalist will note this and reflect on it, and might then assume that this difference should be valued and explored, both in same-sex and mixed groups; perhaps with the teacher facilitating a discussion about the dimension of difference. It is at least as much an argument for mixed education as it is to value the difference that will exist amongst women and amongst men. R.W. Connell’s (Professor of Education at the University of Sydney) work provides an astute perspective on gender studies and education and evaluates diverse approaches, schools of inquiry, assumptions, prejudices and conclusions about alleged difference in sexual and gender identity. Remarkably, his conclusion is that in many respects unacknowledged samenesses or shared qualities are far more important than alleged markers of real difference between women and men. So the overwhelming conclusion from one hundred years of ‘sex difference’ research is that men and women are not very different at all, across a wide range of traits examined in psychology and related social sciences. To put it more positively, the main finding is that women and men are psychologically very similar, as groups. We should long ago have been calling this field ‘sex similarity’ research. . . . The psychological similarity of men and women might be regarded, on the volume of evidence supporting it, as one of the best established generalizations in all the human sciences.’ (R.W. Connell Gender, Polity/Blackwell 2002, p. 43). Connell notes that this fact is in fact widely disbelieved in the face of a very strong ‘dichotomous gender symbolism’ in Western culture. People just ‘see’ difference rather than similarity. He notes this in the face of a small number of traits where sex differences did exist (according to the research of Maccoby and Jacklin’s 1970s research which he cites) which have then become heavily and unnecessarily overemphasized. There are four specific traits in this group. Verbal ability, visual-spatial ability, mathematical ability and aggressiveness – and in these four traits have filtered into popular educational discourse and schools-marketing. The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal
The ‘just seeing difference’ claim explains why some may place the topic in the ‘that which cannot be discussed basket’. It is primal to identity. Just before I left Sydney for New York and Harvard, an ABC news item reported that a brawl had broken out on a Rugby League sports field involving young boys. On this occasion, the issue was that the brawl, from the prior season, had been filmed and was now posted on You Tube with a threatening message added to it about the forthcoming season. The report was accompanied by a response from a female child psychologist who offered as stock fact that boys tended to be less verbal than girls and need to be encouraged to better express themselves verbally than in this onfield physical aggression. No one seemed to remark on the fact that that the issue was now as much about the boys use of technology, plus their voice over was now verbal intimidation, as much as the actual incident of a season ago. No one drew the slightest parallel between this event and the allegations surrounding an adult, female member of Parliament who was under investigation and intense media scrutiny over allegations of on-field assault in a women’s soccer match. That was ‘not seen’. Notwithstanding various ‘meta-analyses’ that have revisited and analyzed these four areas, Connell concludes, most importantly Across a wide range of the traits and characteristics measured by psychology, sharp gender differences are rare. Small differences, or no differences, are common. The concept of character dichotomy, as a basis of gender, is decisively refuted. Broad similarity between women and men is the main pattern. (Gender, p. 46) All involved in education would do well to reflect on this. n
Ivan Head is the Warden of St Paul’s College, University of Sydney. He completed the MA Prelim in Philosophy from Melbourne University, holds a BA from UWA, and a PhD from Glasgow University. He heads a NHMRC regulated Human Reserch Ethics Committee and has been Warden of St Paul’s since 1995 and was Warden of Christ College prior to that.
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Recipe to a Damage Billing Process CHRIS KNOTH
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Conducting regular building tours with facilities staff can be helpful in distinguishing vandalized items from items that are damaged due to wear and tear. 3) Third cup - Stir occasionally and save for staff meetings or one on one’s. Including damage billing as an agenda item during staff one on one’ s or meetings can be helpful in discussing the underlying issues that are causing the damages. Frontline staff have a vested interest in knowing when acts of vandalism occur and its impact on their student community. The timeliness of these discussions can vary a great deal depending on the size of the staff. Ultimately what you want to avoid is waiting until a semester is over to address damage concerns that had occurred weeks earlier.
received this recipe from a seasoned housing operations professional who was tired of the same old meat and potatoes approach to damage billing. I have placed the ingredients in order of priority to achieving a well-balanced damage billing process. Serve this to you students and staff as a main course to evaluating or reinvigorating your student damage billing process. Bon appetite!
INGREDIENT THREE - 2 cups of STUDENT PARTICIPATION
INGREDIENT ONE - 2 pounds of PROCESS (mix carefully into students and staff)
INGREDIENT FOUR - 2 slices of DOCUMENTATION
Defining and documenting your process is the main ingredient to a smooth and efficient damage billing process. Here are some questions to consider when evaluating your process and procedures:
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Are your damage procedures carefully documented?
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Are your damage procedures included as part of your staff training program?
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Can any student at your college explain how the damage billing process works?
Are your damage procedures included in your staff manual or student handbook?
Are students not held accountable because your damage process is too cumbersome?
INGREDIENT TWO - 3 cups of COMMUNICATION 1) First cup - Mix very well and pour it throughout student community. Communication is critical to responding to acts of community vandalism in a proactive manner. One of the easiest approaches is to post damages on floor/hall bulletin boards as they occur. You might also consider including damage billing information in hall newsletter or hall closing information. Maintaining a damage billing log in a central location or office is also helpful for students and staff that have questions.
Include building damages or acts of vandalism as an agenda item for your hall government or RHA meetings. Student leaders can have an important voice when discussing hall damage concerns and proposing solutions. Involve student leaders in building tours, floor meetings or damage inspections whenever possible.
Limit your check in and room condition to one or two forms at most. Having forms that are annually updated and easy to use makes processes easier for students and front line staff. Consider using carbon copy forms to allow students to receive a copy of their room condition after check out. Let students know at their point of check out if they will be charged for room damages. This can help eliminate phone calls when a student receives a damage bill from your institution.
INGREDIENT FIVE - 2 tablespoons of TECHNOLOGY Do you make your staff shuffle through reams of damage charge forms and invoices to bill students? You might want to consider using email or spreadsheet software to report and process damage billings. There is also housing software systems designed to do everything from damage billing to housing assignments. Use information technology to help make your damage billing process easier and efficient.
INGREDIENT SIX - A dash of RECOGNITION Damage billing processes are often punitive by nature. Have you also considered offering rewards for community’s where damages and vandalism are minimal? Rewards such as organizing a floor picnic, special dinners, floor amenity upgrades such as televisions and recreational equipment, are all ways of recognizing a community’s positive behavior over the negative. Ideally the best rewards are those that can benefit all students in a designated community. n
2) Second cup - Mix well with housekeeping and service staff. Communicating damages with housekeepers and facilities staff can be very helpful in identifying problem areas as they occur.
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Chris Knoth has worked in the housing profession for 12 years. He has worked in various capacities as a resident director, assistant director and associate director.
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Making a Commitment to Assessment: A Professional Call-To-Arms Ali Martin Scoufield
Student Affairs professional’s main objective, but having qualitative and quantitative results available only helps the cause. Beyond legitimizing the profession, assessment is crucial to determining success. However the degree of success is concluded, assessment allows for practitioners to highlight the successes and short-comings of programs, initiatives, changes in protocol, etc. Measuring success is important, obviously, for budget planning, resource allocation, time management, and participant satisfaction. If an initiative is judged as unsuccessful, why continue to repeat it? Resources in Higher Education are stretched tightly enough without committing to programs that do not achieve intended results.
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any Student Affairs professionals agree that assessing our work is necessary in order to justify and improve our practice. There are, however, countless ways to begin and carry-out the assessment process. As with most endeavors in Student Affairs, the responsibility of completing assessments should not rest solely on the shoulders of one individual or even one department. Assessments are most beneficial and comprehensive when adopted as a mission for a Division of Student Affairs. With everyone working together, the possibilities are limitless.
Assessment in Higher Education Assessment is important to the Student Affairs profession because it helps connect our co-curricular focus to our academic roots. We cannot merely espouse that we are educators; we have to provide data that supports our argument. Assessing programmatic learning outcomes, perhaps through a longitudinal study, is just one way to demonstrate that learning happens as a direct result of a Student Affairs directive. Indeed, substantiating our reason for being is not a
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Additionally, Assessment is important for student buy-in. Just as assessment allows us a means of proving ourselves to our academic partners, it also allows us a means of connecting to our constituents; most often the students. Assessment allows for students to take an active role in their co-curricular education. Students are able to voice their opinions as well as offer suggestions for improvement.
Building a Campus Culture of Assessment There are numerous other reasons, such as accreditation, to endorse the active, on-going use of assessment in Student Affairs practice. Unfortunately, getting started is often a major obstacle. Questions like: who should be involved, what method should be used, what methodology is best, and who are the participants, plague every researcher. However, if a Division of Student Affairs makes the commitment to integrate assessment into the fabric of its practice, gradually the obstacle may seem less daunting. Two common adages apply well to building assessment confidence. The first, ‘practice makes perfect’ demonstrates you do not need to be an expert statistician in order to master assessment. You do need to prioritize assessment as a valid and valuable component of your daily – yes, I wrote daily – responsibilities. Set aside time to truly focus on assessment, whether that be reading www.adbourne.com
articles, attending a webinar, writing survey questions or tallying responses. You will quickly transition beyond a novice researcher. The second phrase, ‘many hands make light work’ is one of the most important points of this article. Not only do I believe large groups working on assessment projects do the most thorough job, but I also believe every cog in a Student Affairs machine has to be geared towards assessment. From Development to Residential Life to Student Activities – it is important that assessment be embedded in the campus culture. It is not difficult to recognize the Student Affairs Divisions attempting to integrate assessment into their culture. Often, these Divisions post mission statements and learning outcomes on their home page, have full-time positions created to focus on assessment, and offer professional development opportunities such as committee work in assessment. Money for assessment is a staple line-item in budgets, the Institutional Review Board (IRB) website posts links to assessment results, and employees from those institutions can speak about the benefits of assessment in professional settings. The overall assessment settings changes from burden to shared responsibility.
The Unique Role of Assessment in Residential Life While every department should be expected to critique its work, Residential Life has the unique reality of 24-hour student access. While occasionally this access is a burden, say during a 2am lockout, it is truly a benefit for assessment purposes. Residential Life can serve as a liaison between other Student Affairs offices and students. One example of the liaise relationship is found in the Educational Benchmarking, Inc. (EBI) College and University Housing surveys that often include questions concerning Dining Services, Diversity Education, and Student Activities. Housing offices may include these specialty areas within their organizational structure. It is especially common for a Housing Department to encompass Dining Services, but they are not always assigned this responsibility. The inclusion of these categories enables Housing Departments to share information with the individuals who directly supervise and oversee such specialty functional areas. By doing this, Housing can partner with Dining, for instance, to discuss how their responsibilities overlap and what steps can be taken to improve the output in each area. Besides building relationships through EBI, Housing Departments can use their resident accessibility to assist other campus offices with specific assessment projects. If an office is looking to get a high student attendance rate at a focus group, the office might want to publicize through the residential communities or even hold the focus groups in residential lounges. Housing officers can assist in selecting student participants for such focus groups since live-in staff potentially has the opportunity to interact with students more often than a live-off staff member. Finally, Residential Life staff members are uniquely able to complete assessments with their residents because of the accessibility of The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal
the students who live in on-campus housing. Residential Life staff should be able to access satisfaction of the living arrangement, gauge commitment to a Living Learning Community, and monitor program attendance. That is three types of very easy assessments all made possible because the students are literally at the staff members’ fingertips. Flyers for interviews are easily distributed at floor meetings and links to on-line surveys can be posted on community newsletters. The possibilities for assessment are seemingly endless if the staff is able to build positive relationships with residential community members.
Assessment: Where to Begin Assessment begins with questions. What do you want to know or study? Do you wonder if a programming series on the transition from high school to college has any effect on the performance of athletes? Do you wonder how many students on campus consider themselves spiritual? Whatever the question is, there are assessments that can help find results. It is important for the question to be very specific and not leading in anyway. Asking a student why she hates programs on volunteering is not a properly worded question. It already assumes the student hates volunteering when that might not be her particular experience. After a question is developed, consider who would be the best to answer the question and what would be the best way to collect answers. This step can be time-consuming because of the amount of information to take into consideration: what’s the population, how are the questions conveyed, what is the answer key, how is the population decided on, qualitative or quantitative or both. Do you want a mixed methodology and do you have time to commit to a complex research project? Regardless of what is decided, collect the responses in an organized way. Keep good records so you can repeat the process again if applicable, as in a pre and post test. Implementation is the final step. What do the answers mean? Did you get the responses you expected? What changes need to happen in order for the program to be more successful or in order to meet the desired learning outcomes? Can the implementation occur right away or are the changes large enough to require supervisory approval, budget allocation, or committee formation? It is possible to lose site of the end goal during this final step, so make sure the implementation design correlates with the results collected in an ‘if this, then that’ relationship. Take it slow, do not stress, and share your assessment project with as many people as possible! Finally, inspire others to complete their own projects. Anyone can design and complete assessment projects with the proper support and guidance. Here are a few tips and things to consider when doing assessment:
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The Institutional Review Board (IRB) at your college or university is the perfect place to start formulating assessments. The IRB experts can explain all the details associated with human subject approval, publishing data, and the office is likely to have access to helpful research databases. >
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Making a Commitment to Assessment: (continued) •
There are many helpful tools for assessment such as on-line questionnaire templates and reading materials. Do not be intimidated by the amount of resources available, just find what is most accessible for you.
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Assessment does not have to be elaborate but it does have to be consistent. Start with something basic and build more complicated projects after you feel more comfortable with the whole process.
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Assessment is, in its simplest form, a three-step process: Ask questions. Compile and share results. Adapt and implement based on findings. Result-based implementation should be the goal of every assessment.
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While implementation is the third leg of the assessment tri-pod, implementation does not have to occur after every single survey, focus group, or interview. Longitudinal studies, for example, might require several years before clear patterns emerge.
This article discusses the what, why, how, and who of assessment. The when is now! Every Student Affairs Practitioner has a responsibility to our profession, to push towards greatness and pull in the direction of the ‘new’ and the ‘better’. We have a common goal to educate, and assessment can aid in this process. We owe it to the students to commit ourselves fully and do what we must to help them along their life’s journey. Assessment starts with a simple question, but the end result could be nothing short of amazing. n
Ali Martin Scoufield is the Assistant Director for Residential Life & Assessment at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas. Ali’s professional passions include Social Justice and Diversity Education, Assessment, and Service-Learning. Reprinted with kind permission of Reslife.net www.reslife.net
The why and how of rebranding MICHELLE DUNN
Michele Dunn, Chief Executive Officer of ADAPE Australasia explains rebranding, why some schools and universities are doing it and how they have set about it.
may have been watered down, and at times not moved ahead with the university’s development and progress.
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Your brand
ore and more often I hear from universities, ‘We’re going through a rebranding’. What’s this all about?
It has only been fairly recently that universities and student residences have started to think of themselves in the wider marketing context, rather than in the narrower education sphere, and in so doing have come to realise the importance of their ‘core brand’. Once universities appreciate that they do indeed have a brand, the next step is to ask whether the brand that may have served them for many, many years is still relevant today.
Marketing context Universities and student residences do not operate in a vacuum. Parents and students are inundated every minute with savvy marketing and advertising and have become discerning consumers. Expectations of quality communications do not stop outside the gates and with increasing competition for staff, students, donations and community support, universities and student residences need to project a brand that instils the same level of confidence as those of the corporate giants.
To complicate matters further, in many institutions there hasn’t really been anyone who could police the brand and the use of its elements. This is now changing as universities recognise the need for dedicated, professional marketing staff.
A brand is much more than a logo or tag line. A brand may – and usually does – include a visual representation such as words and letters, colours and symbols that are recognisable as belonging to your institution. A brand is also a means of positioning your institution and highlighting your point of difference. Intrinsic in your brand are market/community perceptions and reputation. A ‘corporate identity’ or brand is a unified image that an entity presents to the outside world. Your brand means the way you are perceived by both the external community and your internal stakeholders. Your brand should easily explain what you are, what you do and where you are heading, in a genuine, authentic way. It is a promise of what the university stands for and will deliver. A brand campaign based on unrealistic notions that does not deliver on its promises is certain to cause great damage to your reputation, so it is important that your brand is honest and deliverable at all times. >
If we take a look at some of the leading world brands it’s easy to see their marketing position: iPod is cool and innovative, Volvo is safe and reliable, McDonald’s is fast and cheap. Importantly, the intrinsic marketing position that surrounds these brands is supported by a consistency in their image and messages, a central brand idea and visual integrity that is expressed through all manner of applications, from workplace environments and uniforms to advertising and corporate communications. This has not often been the case with universities and student residences, where years of usage and a variety of users means that corporate identity may have been reinterpreted and evolved without any conscious decision. As a result, the overall impact of the brand The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal
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Outcomes universities should aim to achieve from a branding review Development of a unifying set of brand principles The brand should be portrayed and be applicable in isolation as well as in a number of different applications The rules regarding application of the brand need to be dearly communicated and understood throughout the university Development of a style guide, in both hard and soft copy, to help all staff apply the brand properly Templates are placed electronically on computers throughout the university to help with letters, PowerPoint presentations, faxes, newsletters and any other forms of communication Control of the brand is vested in one person only, to ensure that variations do not creep in Once the core elements of the brand are created, the room for creativity must be limited; the brand must be applied consistently
Brand assessment < Testing the perception of your university through focus groups and market research is best practice for commencing a brand review. The samples should include staff, alumni, current parents, current students, prospective students/parents and those who are members of your general community. For example, if your university is on a train line, perhaps include some train travellers in your research, as your brand will certainly have made an impression on them. One interesting way to think about your brand is to consider how your university ‘brands’ its students. Ask a few simple questions like, ‘How are your students perceived in the wider world?’ or ‘What are the generalised beliefs about your students that are held by the local community?’ and then consider whether this is a true reflection of what you are doing and where you are heading. If not, the need to rebrand and move perceptions is fairly clear cut. Even if community perceptions are fairly accurate, are you gaining all the enrolments you possibly can? Are your alumni returning for events? Do you have growing donations to your annual programs, scholarships or capital campaigns? There is always a need to ensure that your brand is capturing the emotions of your market, be it to realign perceptions, capture new markets or build greater brand loyalty for fundraising. A visual audit is another means to assess your brand. Take a walk around the grounds and focus on the various ways that your institution’s name, crest or motto are used on signs, uniforms and stationery. Is it identical in every aspect? Gather together examples of communications you use regularly. What are the key messages in your branding/tag lines, your prospectus, website, mailings, emails, magazines? Are they consistent? Are they accurate? Do they reflect the reality? Importantly, are they aligned with your strategic plan?
Timing and essence To be effective, any brand must be aligned to and reflect an organization’s strategic plan. Where this isn’t the reality, the need to rebrand is imperative. Rebranding should not be seen as a ‘quick fix’. Time needs to be spent on the development process, time needs to be spent to ensure the need for the new rules is understood and accepted, time needs to be spent on launching the brand and rolling out its components. Setting a realistic time frame for a rebranding will lead to an end result that will genuinely capture the essence of your residence and have much greater impact and longevity. n
ADAPE (Association of Development and Alumni Professionals in Education) Australasia is the peak organisation representing advancement professionals in the education sector. For more information visit www.adape.org.au. First published in Independence magazine.
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Emotional Intelligence in educational settings DR. KAREN HANSEN
Dr Karen Hansen, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Brain Sciences Institute, Swinburne University of Technology, explains how emotional intelligence research is helping students, teachers and Principals in Australian schools.
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motional intelligence (EI) is a set of skills that represent how effectively we deal with emotion and emotion-related information. These skills include being able to recognise and describe emotion; understand the emotions of others; incorporate emotions into decisionmaking; and manage and control emotions. Swinburne has been involved in research on EI in Australia for more than a decade. Our early research started with gaining a better understanding of how EI could be measured within an Australian workplace context. This research led to the development of the
Swinburne University Emotional intelligence Test (SUEIT; Palmer & Stough 2001) which has been used in numerous organisational settings to demonstrate links between EI and important workplace criteria. More recently, the SUEIT has been used as part of our teacher stress inoculation program (Hansen, Gardner & Stough 2007). While EI has been a popular and very useful construct in the workplace for a number of years, there is also accumulating evidence that EI is related to important educational outcomes. Many educators have intuitively believed that enhancing the social and emotional competencies of students will result in desirable outcomes not just for the student but also the school community. Recent research in the area of EI now provides empirical support for this notion. Research has found links between EI and connectedness to school; effort and initiative in class; reduced aggressive and rule-breaking behaviours; lower levels of depression and anxiety; fewer social and attention problems; fewer unauthorised absences and suspensions; better coping strategies; and improved academic achievement. >
Definition and example item for each of the four subscales in the Adolescent Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test Emotional Recognition and Expression The ability to identify one’s own feelings and emotional states and the ability to express those inner feelings to others
‘I can tell others how I feel about things’
Understanding Emotions The ability to identify and understand the emotions of others
‘I can tell how others are feeling’
Emotions Direct Cognition The extent to which emotions and emotional knowledge are incorporated in decision making and/or problem solving
‘When I try to solve problems I keep my feelings out of it’
Emotional Management and Control The ability to manage positive and negative emotions both within oneself and others and control strong emotional states
‘I find it hard to calm people down when they are worried or stressed’
Figure 1. A-SUEIT subscales. The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal
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Emotional Intelligence in educational settings (continued)
Adolescent EI research Collaborative research between Swinburne University and a number of schools from around Australia, using the A-SUEIT, has shown that adolescent EI is related to a range of important educational variables including scholastic success; problem behaviours (externalised and internalised); coping strategies; Year 12 achievement; and school participation (effort and initiative). Our research indicates that adolescents who report low EI are more likely to engage in aggressive and rule-breaking behaviour; are more likely to experience symptoms of anxiety, depression, withdrawal, attention and social problems; are less likely to reach their academic potential; and are more likely to engage in maladaptive coping strategies. Conversely, students who report high EI report a greater sense of personal belonging to their school; will put in more effort and demonstrate greater initiative in class; are more likely to engage in adaptive coping strategies; demonstrate pro-social behaviour; and are more likely to achieve their academic potential. Swinburne’s research is consistent with research from other Australian and international research centres linking adolescent EI to academic performance (Lam & Kirby 2002); social support and satisfaction with social support (Ciarrochi et al 2001); student retention (Parker et al 2004); depression; anxiety; unauthorised school absences; and school suspensions (Petrides 2004).
How we use EI in schools
Measuring EI in adolescents Over five years ago, Swinburne University began development of an adolescent measure of EI and since that time has collaborated with a number of schools to examine how EI relates to important educational criteria. A modification of the original SUEIT, the Adolescent Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test (A-SUEIT; Luebbers, Downey & Stough, 2007) is a self-report questionnaire comprising 57 items that correspond to four subscales: Emotional Recognition and Expression, Understanding Others’ Emotions, Emotions Direct Cognition and Emotional Management and Control (see Figure 1). Adolescents use a five-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 for ‘very seldom’ to 5 being ‘very often’, to indicate how frequently they demonstrate a range of emotionally intelligent behaviours. Our reliability studies indicate that the dimensions are highly reliable in both Australian (N=950) and Irish (N=900) school samples while our validity data has indicated that adolescent EI is related to a number of important educational and life criteria.
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Swinburne’s EI assessment and development tools are being applied in various ways in a range of schools across Australia and internationally. Currently we are using EI with schools to minimise stress and enhance resilience in teachers, to enhance teacher leadership effectiveness, to identify students ‘at-risk’ for academic underachievement (as well as poor psychological health), to personalise curriculum and help students understand their own learning journey, to provide students with EI reports alongside their traditional academic achievement reports, to develop Social and Emotional Learning curriculum and to longitudinally track the EI development of students.
Identifying at-risk adolescents As a result of research showing that low EI is predictive of academic underachievement, one of our partner schools is currently using the adolescent SUEIT to collect EI data to assist with the identification of students who may be at-risk for academic underachievement. All students in Years 7 to 12 at the school complete the SUEIT every two years and this data is available alongside the student’s standardised test scores (ACER) and their school based achievement scores. The EI data has been a useful tool in assisting teachers, students and parents to better understand why the school based achievement of some students is not commensurate with their cognitive ability. In most cases students who are underachieving report having difficulty identifying and describing their own emotions and understanding the emotions of others. Additionally, many www.adbourne.com
underachieving students also report finding it difficult to manage and control their emotions. The school is also using this EI data to track the development of emotional competencies in their students and this is reported parents alongside academic achievement results.
Personalised Learning Another of our partner schools is using EI data alongside personality and learning style data to support teachers and students in creating a personalised learning environment. Each year in Semester 2, Year 9 students at the school complete assessments measuring EI, personality, learning style, general intelligence and school connectedness. Prior to commencing subject selection in Year 10, students are provided with their individual profiles to assist with subject and course selection and to increase the quality of the dialogue between teacher, student and parent in support of the personalised learning of the student.
Stress minimisation One of the more common applications of our EI research in schools is in the area of teacher stress and building resilience. Swinburne has developed a structured EI development program specifically aimed at reducing occupational stress and building resilience in teachers. It has been used successfully by a number of our partner schools and is also currently being trialled in schools in Canada. The program is comprised of five sessions (90 minutes each) which cover an introduction to understanding occupational stress, understanding individual EI profiles, developing emotional selfawareness, emotional expression, and emotional awareness of others, developing emotional management and control and developing a plan for moving forward. Each participant also completes an EI self-assessment and is provided with a personalised feedback report. This personalised EI profile provides the foundation for developing an individual plan for enhancing a specific area of EI which in turn facilitates the development of effective stress management strategies.
Leadership One of the most replicated findings in EI research is the link between EI skills and leadership effectiveness. The attributes of effective leaders – authentic communication, instilling trust in others, building teams, effective mentoring, developing quality relationships, motivating others, managing stress, conflict resolution, fostering positive attitudes and creative and lateral decision making – rely on the demonstration of emotionally intelligent behaviours. Swinburne has worked with numerous schools using EI development as a tool for enhancing leadership effectiveness in classroom teachers, leading teachers and Principals. Our leadership development programs typically involve a 360-degree EI assessment (involving self-ratings as well as observer ratings), individual EI feedback sessions, individual coaching and/or group workshops. The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal
New research directions Swinburne has developed relationships with many schools across Australia in the area of teacher and adolescent EI assessment and development and is always interested in exploring new ways of applying our research in educational settings. We are currently developing an EI development program specifically for adolescents and would be interested in working with a range of schools during the evaluation phase. Swinburne has also developed a new primary school measure of EI. Clearly emotional intelligence is learnt over time and it is essential that teachers (and parents) are able to model emotionally intelligent behaviours for children at early stages of their lives. This in turn requires teachers to develop their own emotional intelligence, which is at times difficult given the stressors of their occupation. There is as yet very little research on EI and primary-aged children and we are seeking schools wishing to work with us with on our new measure. Swinburne is also extending its research interests to the postsecondary education sector investigating the link between EI and achievement in University students and the relationship between EI and employability skills in the TAFE sector. It is the aim of Swinburne to provide educational settings with all of the tools necessary to maximise the social and emotional functioning of teachers and students to ensure the best possible outcomes for everyone involved in the school community. Organisations interested in working with Swinburne University in their EI research can contact Dr Hansen at khansen@swin.edu.au. n References Ciarrochi, J.V., Chan, A.Y.C. and Bajgar, J. (2001) Measuring emotional intelligence in adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 1105– 1119. Hansen, K., Gardner, L. and Stough, C. (2007) Improving occupational stress through emotional intelligence development. Organizations and People, 14(2), 70-75. Lam, L.T. and Kirby, S.L. (2002) Is emotional intelligence an advantage? An explorationof the impact of emotional and general intelligence on individual performance. Journal of Social Psychology, 142, 133–145. Luebbers, S., Downey, L.A. and Stough, C. (2007) The development of an adolescent measure of EI. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 999–1009. Palmer, B. and Stough, C. (2001) SUEIT: Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test: Interim technical manual. Swinburne University Organizational Psychology Research Unit, Melbourne, Australia. Parker, J.D.A., Hogan, M.J., Eastabrook, J.M., Oke, A. and Wood, L.M. (2004) Emotional intelligence and student retention: Predicting the successful transition from high school to university. Personality and Individual Differences, 41 (7), 13291336 Petrides, K.V., Frederickson, N. and Furnham, A. (2004) The role of trait emotional intelligence in academic performance and deviant behaviour at school. Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 277–293.
First published in Independence magazine
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AACUHO
Online Social Networking:
Training Our Staff as Role Models TIM SHAAL
S
ocial Network Theory talks about nodes and ties. The idea is that nodes are groups or individuals. The ties represent relationships between the groups or individuals. A small network has tight ties often formed through regular interaction or close interpersonal relationships. We might think of these nodes and ties as friends. A larger network often has weak ties. These nodes and weak ties might be thought of as acquaintances. While these ties are weak, due to the potential lack of close relationships, they can be beneficial for personal development due to a potentially wider knowledge base. Today we see social networking taking place online. Services like AOL Instant Messenger, MySpace, Facebook, Xanga, and others are creating conversations among student affairs professionals across the country. These conversations revolve around how to address the way students interact online. Articles have been written about the implications for student affairs practice. We have heard about the dangers these services have for stalking, identity theft, roommate conflicts, discipline, and hiring practices by future employers. Some professionals fear the services because potential arising from these sites lie on the edge of the unknown. Concerns sometimes deal with how to address the problems in a developmental way that will not infringe upon student rights. What do you do with that Facebook picture that shows an underage student playing what appears to be beer pong? How do you address the Resident Advisor who is pictured with his or her residents, all of whom are holding red cups? Is there any proof of what exists in the cups? Is an admission by a student or staff member enough to hold them accountable when physical proof doesn’t exist? It is hard to say if there are clear developmental, legal, or ethical answers to the above questions. This is a new topic that we will continue to explore as technology changes and advances. However, there are some important things to consider in terms of online social networking. Our students are looking for ways to connect with one another. Online Social Networking provides The Australasian Student Residences Management Journal
them an opportunity to do this. In her book Big Questions, Worthy Dreams, Sharon Dalloz Parks talks about the concept of the Commons. The commons is an idea that people in a community share in their development in terms of the way they interact. Often times a centralized location plays a role in these interactions. These interactions in this centralized location shape our development. Parks acknowledges that the commons has both positive and negative elements by saying, The commons is not a pristine romantic image. Whether in the form of Main Street or the wharf; the church, synagogue, or mosque; the bodega or the stoops of the brownstones; the city square or the ball field, the practice of the commons is always a mix of sins and graces. But wherever there is consciousness of participation in a commons, there is an anchored sense of shared life within a manageable frame. (pg. 10) It is important to consider for one moment that online social networks may be taking the place, in some way, of the formal brick and mortar commons. Many positive things may come out of this
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Online Social Networking (continued) < if students feel that they matter in their community. No longer does a student feel marginalized socially because they have interacted with Suzy or Tommy on MySpace, making them more comfortable approaching Suzy or Tommy in the bathroom. At the same time, as the Internet takes on the role of the commons, challenges or sins will arise. The question is in what way do we address these challenges? In his article, Addressing Online Behaviors, Dan Oltersdorf talks about five things we can do to address how our students interact online. The very first point he makes is that we must “proactively educate staff members and students. This includes discussing what is or is not appropriate to post online, and what implications there are for staff members who do post information that could undermine their position or even result in disciplinary action. (p. 15)” As residence life professionals prepare for training or look for topics to discuss as staff development, consider discussing online social networking. These training and staff development sessions provide an excellent opportunity to discuss the importance of role modeling as a responsibility or expectation for resident advisor staff. Consider making online social networking a part of your training by relating it to role modeling and ethics. If you decide to make online social networking a topic of your training, here are a few considerations.
Expectations of Resident Advisor Staff Discuss the expectations your office has in place for resident advisor staff regarding role modeling and ethical behavior. Often times these expectations are set forth in a contract or work agreement that the resident advisor signs. These expectations usually include the importance of role modeling and the need to uphold university policy as well as state and federal laws. Discuss the outcomes and implications of not abiding by these expectations.
Discuss Student Perception Talk with your resident advisor staff about student perception. While a picture may show you holding a red cup, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are breaking policy. As a staff member, you may have actually been holding a cup of Kool-Aid. The question here is about perception. When a resident sees the infamous red cup, what perception do they have of the action depicted by the picture. This can be a tricky topic for discussion, especially with resident advisors who are of legal drinking age. Again, discuss how students might interpret such pictures. Remember that role modeling doesn’t just include issues related to alcohol and drugs. It can also include behavior on the floor such as pranks, the way your treat others, or how you communicate. If students perceive that you are breaking policy as a staff member, it might mean you lose credibility with residents living in your community.
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Discuss How You or Your Office Approach Online Social Networking If you are on the cutting edge of this issue, you may already have a policy or expectation about online social networking. If so, explain this policy to your resident advisor staff. If you don’t have a policy, talk about ways that you or the office utilize services like Facebook or Xanga in terms of job action. Be upfront with your staff and tell them if you have an account with one of these services. Explain that you may occasionally look at their profiles, especially if they are listed as a buddy or friend. Set out expectations about your view on acceptable online behavior. Many professional staff won’t post a picture or information on their Facebook account. This can appear “shady” to staff and residents. Be upfront with your staff. Create a basic account with limited information and explain how you utilize your account. Talk with your staff about ways you can utilize the account to build community as a hall director or senior staff member. Take the time to role model appropriate online behavior for staff and residents by using your own account.
Discuss Community Building Using Online Social Networking Online social networking can provide opportunities for staff to address developmental issues with residents. Residents might post a comment that doesn’t consider diverse people or backgrounds. This could create an issue for residents of the floor who read the comment and take offense. How would you expect a staff member to utilize that comment as a learning experience for residents? What are other ways that staff can utilize these services in building community? Discuss with staff how they can promote their programming efforts online. Can they post pictures of floor programs or create groups for the residents of a floor to join, communicate, and monitor? Explain that they can leave messages for residents saying tonight there will be a program in the lounge at 7:30pm. In his article, Dan Oltersdorf’s fourth point is “If you can’t beat them, join ‘em.” (p.15) Dan talks about hall directors who are currently utilizing these services in effective ways. It’s true that these services will continue to develop and advance as evidenced with the addition of photo albums to Facebook. Please recognize that “there are certainly opportunities to use this technology in positive ways, but be aware of possible pitfalls.” (Oltersdorf, 2005, p.15) We must continue to train our staff on these pitfalls. At the same time we must train them how to utilize these services to assist in the development of our students and communities. n References Oltersdorf, D. (2005). Addressing online behaviors. Talking stick, 23, pp 14-15, 44 Parks, S.D. (2000). Big questions: Worthy dreams. San Francisco: JosseyBass
Tim Shaal is currently a full time hall director at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. Reprinted with kind permission of Reslife.net www.reslife.net
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