Jasmine Jennings- Week 6- Office of the Registrar

Activities:

• Present on final website project to Registrar, Associate Registrar, and Assistant Registrar
• www.practicemsu.weebly.com

Reflections of Practice:

I was actually very nervous to present my draft website that I've been working on all summer. I knew what the office wanted based off of what their survey results, but I wanted it to really reflect what the office wanted versus what I interpreted what the office wanted. I even dressed up for this even to make this website more "professional."

I did make a Powerpoint for the presentation as well to explain what/how I did things, my feedback, and survey results. You can check it out here: 

After I presented my findings and the website I created, they liked every bit of it! They actually had critical conversations about the content. My supervisor even said this was the least of his expectations and that this greatly surprised him. He said that this is definitely a jumpstart to revamping their website in the upcoming months. From this experience, I think I learned that:

1. You have to be more independent as a professional
2. You have to depend on your own ideas and trust that they are good
3. You're going to overwork yourself no matter what if you really want to do a great job!

Textbook Application:

Amey and Ressor (2009) in chapter 1 reflects on being a new professionals and the experiences that we face as young professionals. I think for the first time (and I put this as my Facebook status) is that I think I had my first professional victory in practicum. To actually work on something and to see the audience's (my practicum site) reaction to my work was so satisfying. I think as a new professional, I think I was able to show my skills and show that I have experience in producing good work when called for. I felt like I was competent in what I was talking about based off of the research that I "created" for the office (especially since doing a survey was not something my office thought about) and the product of the research (the website). With little guidance from my practicum sight, I think this is the first time where supervisory styles have been minimal (Amey & Ressor, 2009). The book talks about senior SA professionals are responsible for setting the office climate for new professionals, but with my site I did not have a lot of guidance but was expected to use my autonomy (Amey & Ressor, 2009). I think they really appreciated me using my own direction but I "sensed" what they wanted based off of how my site groomed me to work within their culture.

Theory Application:

For this particular experience, I thought it would be best to use NASPA's and ACPA's Professional Competencies to address the use of technology that I used for my site and how it helped navigate my final project. Under "Human Organizational and Resources," I identified with the following:

• Use technological resources with respect to maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of one’s work; 

• Identify and allocate the technological needs of the unit; maintain a level of technical knowledge that allows one to effectively use existing technologies as well as to incorporate new emerging technologies as they may benefit one’s work (NASPA & ACPA, 2010).

I think having little guidance for this website really challenged me to create a website that was efficient to the Registrar and its audience while updating its look to make it attract the crowd that uses the website the most, students. Although I am not apart of their office, I had to figure out what would work best for the office while challenging them to look at information differently and how students are perceiving the information. I also had to keep in mind of "speeding up" the Registrar's processes by adding or subtracting items from the website while keeping in mind that I have to think like the Registrar and the office views itself on campus.

References:

ACPA & NASPA. (2010). Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Practitioners

Amey, M. J., & Reesor, L. M. (2009). Beginning your journey: A guide for new professional in student affairs. Washington, D.C.: NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education