Learning Assistance Center Management SIG Pre Conference Seminar
College Reading and Learning Association 47 th Annual Conference
November 5, 2014

Strategic Thinking and Planning – Jon Mladic, Rasmussen College, Rockford IL
Emotional Intelligence – Kellie Smith, Central Oregon Community College, Bend OR
Transformation and Innovation – Melissa Thomas and Kellie Smith
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution – Melissa Thomas, College of Charleston, Charleston SC
Team Creation and Development – Tina Kondopoulos, Northeastern University, Boston MA

Jon Mladic
Associate Dean of Learning Center
Rasmussen College, Rockford IL

JOB STRESS AMONG LEARNING CENTER MANAGERS
Severity of Stress Frequency of Stress
Inadequate support by supervisor
Lack participation in decisions
Frequent interruptions
Working overtime
Fellow workers not doing their jobs
Meeting deadlines
Insufficient personnel
Critical, on-the-spot decisions
“
Job Stress Among Learning Center Managers”
Jan Norton
TLAR, 2002

JOB STRESS AMONG LEARNING CENTER MANAGERS
Severity of Stress
Inadequate support by supervisor
Lack participation in decisions
Fellow workers not doing their jobs
Insufficient personnel
“It’s not what they’re not doing or should be doing that’s the issue. The issue is your own chosen response to the situation and what you should be doing. If you start to think the problem is “out there,” stop yourself. That thought is the problem.” (93)

 “Coherence suggests there is harmony, unity, and integrity between your vision and mission, your roles and goals, your priorities and plans, and your desires and discipline”
 Create space for your roles and both short and long-term goals in your planner
Mission statement
Roles Goals Long-term organizing
Weekly organizing
Roles Goals Plans
Schedule
Delegate

Scarcity Mindset (zero-sum game)
“There is only one pie.
If someone were to get a big piece of the pie, it would mean less for everybody else”
“Difficult time sharing recognition and credit”
“Very hard time being genuinely happy for the successes of other people”
“Look on differences as signs of insubordination and disloyalty”
Abundance Mindset (win-win mentality)
“There is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody”
“Sharing of prestige, recognition, profits, decision making”
“Opens possibilities, options, alternatives, and creativity”

BUILDING A CULTURE OF INTERDEPENDENCE
Mission and vision statements
Why bother?
Who should be involved in this process?
The basics
Built-In Interdependence
Get buy in in planning stages
Celebrate wins together
Create shared, crossdepartmental goals
Formalized processes (such as a Learning
Center advisory board)

Administration
Financial
Aid
Accommodations
LACM
Students
Advising
Faculty
Library

“What is the biggest obstacle to creativity?
Attachment to outcome. As soon as you become attached to a specific outcome, you feel compelled to control and manipulate what you're doing and in the process you shut at is the yourself off to other possibilities. Creativity is not just about succeeding. It's about experimenting and discovering.”
Orbiting the Giant Hairball
Gordon MacKenzie

“A schema is like a mental map of concepts that hang together by association…. Cognitive science suggests that as schemata develop, the parameters for what information can be included tighten”
Subjects
(Math,
English)
Content from textbooks; lecture from a Professor
A “typical” classroom
“Your brain is not natively tuned to challenge the system. Going head-tohead with established conventions causes disruptions in stability and consistency – and that triggers alarms.”
A schema of college
What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do The Opposite
David DiSalvo

Kellie Smith
Director of Tutoring and Testing Center
Central Oregon Community College, Bend OR

The main task of leaders is to create “a reservoir of positivity that frees the best in people.”
Primal Leadership : Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence , by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, Annie
McKee (2002)

 self-awareness – includes self-confidence, reading and recognizing one's own emotions
 self-management – knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses
 social awareness – race, class, gender, religion, ethnicity, politic, acumen
 relationship management – ability to partner, recognize essential stakeholders

RESONANT LEADERSHIP: FIVE DISCOVERIES
Define the ideal vision for oneself
Recognize the real self with strengths and gaps
Develop a learning agenda
Experiment with and practice new behaviors, thoughts and feelings
Develop relationships

 Myers-Briggs all-around – talk type
Personality is hardwired. Work with it.
(handout and interaction)
 The 2 nd Agreement of Toltec Wisdom - take nothing personally.
 Carol Dweck – Growth Mindset leading through process. Rubric everything.
( http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about )

 Give yourself permission to sit quietly and read at work
 Do e-mail related work at a set time during the day
 Spend 10 minutes looking at something not man-made during each work day
 Find your guru (Water the Bamboo by Greg Bellnewsletter@waterthebamboo.com
)

 Sit down, spread out, look confused.
We can help!
 Everyone - Get in the boat!
Destination: Graduation
 Always be Kind, Have a Good Attitude, Never Give Up (Walter Swan)
Life does not come with a remote. Get up and change it yourself.

Kellie Smith, Central Oregon Community College, Bend OR
And
Melissa Thomas, J.D., College of Charleston, Charleston SC

CRLA WHITE PAPER
ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS:
SUPPORTING PROFESSIONALS IN THE FIELD
 Challenges
 Choices:
 Quantitative
 Qualitative
 Criterion-Referenced Assessment
 CAS Standards
 Certifications (NADE, CRLA, NCLCA, ATP)
Norton & Agee (2014)

1.
Mission
2.
Program
3.
Organization and leadership
4.
Human resources
5.
Ethics
6.
Law, policy, and governance
7.
Diversity, equity, and access
8.
Internal and external relations
9.
Financial resources
10. Technology
11. Facilities and equipment
12. Assessment and evaluation
CAS (2014)

Part
Number
10
Part
Technology
Discrepancies Strengths Needed Improvements

10.5 Needs to integrates technology that facilitates learning and development

10.7 Does not have accessible workstations to all students

10.3 Uses current technology to provide updated information

10.6.1, 10.6.2, 10.11 Maintains systems that secure student information

10.6.3 Develop plans for replacing and updating existing hardware and software

10.4 Enhance delivery of programs to distance and external constituencies
Plans are underway to assess current lifecycles of existing hardware and software and develop a replacement plan. The Center also needs to enhance the delivery of programs to distance and external constituencies and are currently working with the North Campus to do so through several portals such as the Adult Success Coach.org network and an online database through the library (Testing Education Resource Center).

 Adult Success Coach
 Testing Education Resource Center
 Learning Express
 Accelerated MBA Writing Study
 9 papers (from 9 faculty in 9 different courses)
 3 different asynchronous writing tutoring modalities (3 papers per modality)
 Jing, Reviewer comments in word, (VoiceThread?)
 Survey students and faculty at the end about which modality they preferred and which gave them richer feedback

•
Track data and do not keep it in a silo in your area (TutorTrac, home grown Access program – know your institutional research office)
•
Online tutoring (keep choices close to CRLA requirements)
•
Skype for tutors in multi-campus tutoring centers
•
Podcasts/You Tube/Facebook…

•
NetTutor
•
SmartThink
•
Tutor.com
•
Western eTutoring Consortium
• Best practice to consider within CRLA guidelines…


What works?

Is it transferrable to your college?

Consider the uniqueness of your audience
SI
Drop-in
Embed (SLA)
Ferris St Univ. model

 Hay model for HR
 Rubric for evaluation of anything pulled from FALDOs
 Myers-Briggs to determine fit for team

•
TedTalks
•
Stress Management
•
Tutor/Student charettes for Visioning
•
Partners in Community
•
No need to reinvent materials that are working
(Khan/MIT/Purple Math)

Melissa Thomas, J.D.
Certified Mediator
College of Charleston, Charleston SC

CONFLICT

 Please select a stressball animal that represents your conflict management style.
 Share, if need be.
 And be prepared to tell us why you picked a certain animal!
Training Wheels website

Concern for
Others
Accommodating
Compromising
Collaborating
Avoiding Competing
Concern for
Self
Based on Blake & Mutton (1970)

Style
Competition
Avoidance
Accommodation
Compromise
Collaboration
+
Useful when…
There is a physical threat or when a principle is much more important than the relationship
Consequences
Power play;
Probable loss of a long-term relationship
-
There is a danger to safety or a job
The other person’s needs are greater
There is limited time and an obvious possible solution is present
Hurt;
Misunderstanding
Enabling behavior;
Possible resentment;
No solution
Possible anger after the short-term solution runs out
There is time and both parties desire a long-term solution.
Not finding a satisfactory long-term solution
Based on Blake & Mutton (1970)

Problem
(what happened)
Collaboration
BUT-- Fisher and Ury’s Getting to YES suggest an Interest-Based Model for the use of Problem-Solving
Approach. Interest-Based Model focus on separating the person
(positional) from the problems
(resolution) and then concentrate on the resolution. This lets each party attain its goals in a distributive way.
Hmmmm….
People
(feelings)
Process
(identity)
Beer & Steif, 1997; Furlong, 2005

 “What Happened”:
 My problem
 Their problem
 Feelings:
 My feelings (what makes sense to share)
 Their feelings
 Identity:
 My self-image
 What do I fear this situation says about me?
 What’s true about this? What’s not?
 Their self-image
 What may the situation say about them that would be upsetting to them?
 Choosing my purpose:
 What do I hope to accomplish in this conversation?
 Circle the purposes that are:
 In your control. And
 Helpful to you.
 Opening line:
Stone, Patton, Heen, & Fisher 2000

 Centering is the abandonment of strategy in favor of allowing the appropriate choice to emerge.
 We all experience the physical sensation of “fight or flight.” Centering is channeling that energy into a third choice.
 Let’s practice basic centering…
Withers & Lewis (2003)

 Volunteer?
 I am going to gently push you on your chest with my fingers. Your job is to prevent me from pushing you backwards without using your hands or moving your feet.
 Fight or flight reaction
 Practice...
 Distraction reaction
 Team up and practice on your own
Withers & Lewis (2003)

Tina Kondopoulos
Director, Peer Tutoring Program
Northeastern University, Boston MA

Aristotle

1. How do you get students to JOIN?
2. How do you get tutors to STAY?
3. How do you help tutors to GROW?

 Recruiting
• Job Posting vs Faculty Involvement
 Applying
 Interviewing
• Formal vs Informal
 Selecting
• Objective vs Subjective
 Hiring

WHAT IS AT THE CORR OF EVERY
Shared C ontrol
 Accountability
 Assessment
Shared O wnership
 Legitimacy
 Integration into the curriculum
 Extension of the classroom experience
Shared R esponsibility
 Quality
 Reliability
 Accuracy
 Commitment
Shared R ewards
 Student Success
 Student Satisfaction
?

 Enculturating
 Building a Mindful vs a Mindless Team
 Training (CRLA L1-L3)
 Networking & Bonding (activity)
 Coaching & Mentoring
 Leading

Enculturation is the process where individuals learn their group’s culture, through experience, observation, and instruction.

BUILDING A MINDFUL TEAM VS A MINDLESS TEAM
Ellen Langer in her book The Power of Mindful Learning (1997)makes a distinction between being mindful and being mindless.
Mindful is when you put a lot of thought to your actions.
Mindless is when you put no thought to your actions because they have become second nature.

BUILDING A MINDFUL TEAM VS A MINDLESS TEAM
Deliberate
Thoughtful
Open Minded
Aware
Flexible
Proactive
Passionate
Confident
Mindful Mindless
Instinctive
Thoughtless
Closed Minded
Unaware
Inflexible
Reactive
Passive
Cocky

 Guest Speakers
 Webinars
 Relevant Publications
 Conferences

N
E
P
T
A

Thank you for attending!!

Jon Mladic
Jon.Mladic@Rasmussen.edu
Kellie Smith ksmith@cocc.edu
Melissa Thomas
Thomasmm1@cofc.edu
Tina Kondopoulos t.kondopoulos@neu.edu
Be sure to check out the conference schedule for many other Learning
Assistance Center Management sessions!!!!

SOURCES
THE LACM AS A STRATEGIC THINKER AND PLANNER
Altbach, Philip G., Berdahl, Robert O., & Gumport, Patricia J. (Eds.).
(2005). American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century: Social, Political and
Economic Challenges (2nd Ed.). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
(ISBN 08018-8034-1)
Bresciani, M.J., Gardner, M.M., Hickmott, J. (2009). Case Studies for Implementing
Assessment in Student Affairs. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
DiSalvo, D. (2011). What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do The
Opposite. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.
Eadie, D. C. (1997). Changing by Design: A practical approach to leading innovation in
nonprofit organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
MacKenzie, G. (1998). Orbiting the giant hairball : a corporate fool's guide to surviving
with grace. New York : Viking, 1998, c1996.

SOURCES
THE LACM AS A STRATEGIC THINKER AND PLANNER
Norton, J. (2002). Job Stress Among Learning Center Managers. The Learning
Assistance Review, 7(1), 22-36.
Rowley, D. J. & Sherman, H. (2004). Academic planning: The heart and soul of
the Academic Strategic Plan. New York: University Press of America, Inc.
Rowley, D.J., Lujan, H.D., Dolence, M.G. (1997).Strategic Change in Colleges
and Universities: Planning to survive and prosper. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Publishers.
Rowley, D. J. & Sherman, H. (2001).From Strategy to Change: Implementing
the plan in higher education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers
Whittington, R (1993). What is strategy and does it matter? London:
Routledge: London

 Bell, Greg. Water the Bamboo: Unleashing the Potential of Teams and Individuals. (Portland,
OR, 2009)
 Dweck, Carol. Self-theories: their role in motivation, personality, and
development.(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Psychology Press, 1999).
 Gergen, Kenneth. The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life. (New
York, New York: Basic Books, 2000)
 Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence (New York: Bantam Books, 1995).
 Goleman, Daniel; Boyatzis, Richard; McKee, Annie. Primal Leadership : Realizing the
Power of Emotional Intelligence (Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School
Press, 2002).
 Ruiz, Don Miguel. The Fifth Agreement. (San Rafael, California: Amber Allen Publishing,
2010)

Greg Bell, Water the Bamboo: Unleashing the Potential of Teams & Individuals
( http://www.waterthebamboo.com/whats-inside-water-the-bamboo )
James Kaufman & Robert Sternberg, The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity (New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University
Press, 2010
Michael Michalko, Creative Thinkering: Putting Your Imagination to Work (Novato, CA: New World Library, 2011)
CAS Standards for Learning Centers

Covey, Stephen R. (1989) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, New York, NY: Free Press
Langer, Ellen J. (1997) The Power of Mindful Learning, Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press