Circumventing
Transfer Shock!:
Using Schlossberg’s
Transition Theory
to ease the Transition
of Transfer Students
Craig M. McGill,
M.M., M.S.
“Good advising may be the single most
underestimated characteristic of a
successful college experience” –Light, 2001
“Human beings relate to each other not
simply externally, like two billiard balls, but
by the relations of the two worlds of
experience that come into play when two
people meet” -Laing, 1967
Impetus/Context for Project
• Proposing method of working with transfer students
in the S.T.E.M. fields based on theoretical
underpinnings from counseling psychology, positive
psychology, business, and student development
• How can advisors better understand the Transition
of Transfer Students?
– “In the review of the literature, no theory or
conceptual model surfaced to explain the
transition process experienced by transfer
students in their journey from community
college to university” (Cameron, 2005).
Outline:
• Foreground ‘Transfer Culture’
– Types of Transfer Students
– Challenges for students in S.T.E.M. areas
• Theoretical Base
– Transition Theory
– Counseling Model
– Appreciative Advising
• Pedagogical Application
– Process: combining frameworks & approaches
– Tools: Transition theory and inventories
– Evaluation and follow up
Transfer Culture
• In 2006, students aged 25 and older made up
nearly 40% of the country’s overall college
population (U.S. Department of Education, 2009)
• Almost 60% of students have attended at least
two institutions (Adelman, 2006)
• Transfer Students have a multidimensional
collegiate experience, different than the
experience of those who start and finish in one
institution.
Campus-specific Lingo:
“UNL-isms”
Blackboard (My.UNL)
TrueYou
Firefly
MyRed (Peoplesoft)
DARS
DN (Daily Nebraskan)
Tunnel Walk
College acronyms (CASNR, ASC, CEHS)
Regionalisms:
Runza
Emergency snow route
Coke/Soda/Pop
Types of Transfer Students
and Experiences
Types of Transfer Students:
1. 2-year to 4-year (2+2)
2. 4-year to 4-year (Lateral)
3. 4-year to 2-year (Reverse)
4. Multiple institutions in career (Swirler)
Types of Transfer Experiences:
1. Planned
2. Unplanned
3. Others?
The transitioning experience…
• Tinto (1993): ease of transition will depend on the
student-institutional match
– Student characteristics impacting ease of transition:
• Family background
• Individual attributes
• Pre-college schooling
– Student characteristics influence student’s
commitment to education/persistence to graduate
– Interaction with members of the institution will
facilitate academic and social integration, which
increases commitment to institution/academic
goals--> Persistence to graduate
Challenges for Transfer Students
• Lack of Articulation Agreements
• Lost Costs
– $7 billion/yr in credits not helping students move
toward degree requirements (Smith, 2010)
• Transfer Shock/Culture Shock
– Transfer Coma (Whitfield, 2005)
•
•
•
•
Lack of information from receiving institution
Time Management/ Balancing Work
Connecting to Faculty Members
Lack of Social Involvement
Reconfiguring Identities:
“Students transferring…must negotiate new
roles and relationships to become fully
integrated into the new institution. The
period of negotiation is commonly referred to
as a transition period—a period of uncertainty
in which students alter their routines and
relationships and adapt to a new
environment.” -Cameron, 2005
Complications in S.T.E.M. fields
• Rigorous curriculums
• Sequential curriculums
• Lack of equivalent coursework
– Complications with accrediting bodies
– Lacking laboratory experiences at prior
institution
Theoretical Underpinnings:
Transition Theory
Counseling Model
Appreciative Advising
Schlossberg’s
Transition Theory (1984)
• First developed in the late 1970s
• Been revised several times with input from
other contributors
– Considered a strength of her model
• Psychosocial Theory
• Counterpoint to age and stage perspectives
Transition Defined
“Any event, or non-event, that results in
changed relationships, routines,
assumptions and roles” (Schlossberg,
1984)
Assisting Clients in Transition
• Type of Transition
• Individual’s Perception of Transition
• Context in which it took place
• Impact upon the Individual
Anticipated Transitions
• Occur predictably, as expected
• Examples include:
– going to college
– getting married
– changing majors
Unanticipated Transitions:
• Are not predictable
– Examples include:
•sudden death of a loved one
•winning the lottery
•education interrupted by partner’s
unanticipated career change
“Non-Events”
• Transitions that are expected, but do
not occur
• Examples Includes:
– Not gaining admittance into medical
school
• An ‘event’ must be likely to happen in
order to qualify as a ‘non-event’ when
it fails to occur
The Role of Perception
• Is Key in the Transition Process
• Involves two levels of Appraisals
– Primary: How the individual feels
about the transition in general
– Secondary: How individual feels
about their resources in dealing with
the Transition?
Transition Process
Process involves Three phases:
“Moving In”
“Moving Through”
“Moving Out”
Coping with Transition: 4 S’s
A person’s ability to cope with a transition is
reliant on their resources in 4 areas:
• Situation: ability to assess what has
happened
• Self: personal/demographic/psychological
characteristics
• Support: who is there to help
• Strategies: how they handle it
4 S’s
-from Goodman et al, (2006) pg. 56
Cormier and Hackney’s
Counseling Model (1993)
Relationship Building
Assessment
Goal Setting
Interventions
Termination/Follow-up
Appreciative Advising
• Approaches life as a series of opportunities,
rather than a series of problems
• Social-constructivist
• Reciprocal process
• Rooted in Positive Psychology
• Adapted from Appreciative Inquiry
(Cooperrider, Sorenson, Whitney, &
Yeager, 2000)
Appreciative Advising Stages
Disarm
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
Don’t Settle
Application:
1.) Process: Combining frameworks and
approaches
2.) Tools: Schlossberg’s Theory and
conducting inventories
Process: overlap of 2 models
DISARM
DISCOVER
relationship-building
assessment
DREAM
goal-setting
DESIGN
DELIVER
DON’T SETTLE
interventions
termination/follow-up
Combining 3 Models
DISARM
DISCOVER
DREAM
DESIGN
DELIVER
DON’T
SETTLE
-adapted from Goodman et al, (2006) pg. 184
DISARM:
relationship-building
•
•
•
•
•
Warm welcome
Safe and comfortable environment
Appropriate self-disclosure
Appropriate nonverbal behavior
Have a Personal Advising Philosophy
In relationship-building, advisors use basic
listening skills to build rapport with students.
DISCOVER:
assessment
Through the use of inventories and discussion:
• Effective open-ended questioning
• Attending behavior and active listening:
– Visual-eye contact
– Vocal qualities-tone and rate of speech
– Verbal tracking—sticking to the subject
– Body language—authenticity
• Strength-based story reconstruction
In assessment, advisors can assess the individual’s
environment (situation), internal resources (self),
external resources (support), and current coping
skills (strategies).
DREAM:
goal-setting
In working with students through their
transition, help generate goals/dreams by:
• Providing conducive environment for
dreaming
• Making connections between the
Discover and Dream phases: Are dreams
in line with pieces from the assessment?
In goal-setting, advisors help students to set
goals related to each of the 4 S’s.
DESIGN:
(goal-setting)
In designing a plan of action:
•Brainstorm options
•Backward designing (start from the
goal)
•Teach students how to make decisions
•Provide positive feedback
•Be aware of the curse of knowledge
•Make effective referrals
•Graphic organizers
DELIVER:
interventions
In helping students to carry out their goals/plan,
•
•
•
•
Energizing students to be their best
Illustrate academic hope (more than one road)
End conversation/session well
Engage in Proactive Advising
• Keeping students connected (socially, culturally,
institutionally): Transfer Fraternity, weekly email from
Transfer Coordinator, etc.
In interventions, advisors can help students with
reframing, changing the student’s perception of the
transfer; conducting an assessment of the individual’s
assets (self); referral to a support group (support); and
generating problem-solving strategies (strategies).
DON’T SETTLE:
termination and follow-up
For students to feel supported, it’s important to
follow-up:
• Continue to challenge and support
• Raise the bar
• Virtuous/positive cycle
• Encourage students to write letter to new
transfer student (in the guise of writing to
themselves before they transitioned)
In termination and follow-up, advisor can aid the
transfer student in reviewing what has happened
thus far and planning next steps.
Pedagogical Application
• Schlossberg’s theory Answers:
– Why different people react differently to the same
type of transition
– Why the same person reacts differently at
different times
• Applying theory:
– Helping students approach transitions requires
knowledge of the transition framework
– Help students evaluate their resources in the 4 S’s
– Help strengthen those assets
Situation
• Triggers
• Control (planned or unplanned transfer?)
• Role Change
• Duration
• Previous experiences with similar
transition
• Concurrent Stress
• Assessment
Self: Personal/Demographic
Characteristics
• Socioeconomic Status
• Gender
• Age/Stage of Life
• State of health
• Ethnicity/Culture
Self: Psychosocial Resources
• Ego Development
• Outlook (Optimism and Self-Efficacy)
• Commitment and Values
• Spirituality and Resiliency
Support Needs
• Acceptance
• Self-Esteem
• Love and Physical Intimacy
• Personal and Work Connection
• Stimulation and Challenge
• Role Models
• Guidance
• Comfort and Assistance
Types/Functions of Support
Types:
• Intimate Relationships
• Family Units
• Networks of Friends
• Institutions/Communities (i.e. Advisors!)
• Convoy of Social Support (Kahn)
Functions:
• Affect
• Affirmation
• Aid
• Honest Feedback
Strategies
• What strategies is the student using that is
impacting the transition?
• How effective are current strategies in helping
them cope with transition?
– 3 ways of coping:
1) Modifying the situation (hope and
optimism)
2) Controlling the meaning (reframing)
3) Managing stress after transition (selective
denial)
• Challenging the absolutes
– Victim/ Creator Language
Inventories:
• A.) Transfer Student Inventory
• B.) Appreciative Advising Inventory
Future
• Continue to develop Transfer Inventory
• Qualitative Research Study to see if Transfer
Students experience the transfer experience in
this way
Craig McGill, M.M., M.S.
Academic Advisor
Forensic Science, Biochemistry
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
cmcgill2@unl.edu
Tony Lazarowicz, M.A.
Assistant Academic Program CoordinatorWilliam H. Thompson Learning Community/ OASIS
Ph.D. student in Higher Education Administration
tonylaz@huskers.unl.edu
©2007 The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. All rights reserved.