The first day of the NASPA International Student Services Institute (NISSI) was attended by forty participants, ten of which were undergraduate students. The five male and five female undergraduates were an interesting and thought-provoking addition to the Institute. As we student affairs practitioners talked about students, these students were able to interject the student perspective as they were living it.
Dr. Courtney Stryker, student affairs administrator at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, hosted NISSI at Zayed University’s Abu Dhabi campus. Some photos of the convention center where the Institute is being held speak volumes about the AAA facility with so much space and architectural interest. The facility is impressively beautiful, comfortable and quite practically useful.
From 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Dr. Oscar Felix and I shared a sketch of student development and learning theories. I talked briefly about the evolution of student affairs, the purpose of the publication Learning Reconsidered and how the publication has redefined learning.
Dr. Felix gave an introduction to various student development theories. Participants were engaged throughout the session and had quite a bit of discussion on Sanford’s challenge and support theory.
It was interesting to see the different perspectives of students and student affairs educators on whether or not students were more challenged than supported. Baxter-Magolda’s theory on self-authorship caused several participants to recall conversations with students who were at the threshold of making the decision to take responsibility for self authorship or sacrifice their own independence for the sake of tradition and family pride.
Tomorrow as we discuss and practice using the basic skills of advising and counseling, we might explore how the helpers would guide a student who is in-between.
Gwen Dungy 