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The University of Guelph integrates cross-disciplinary classes into the academic system. The result, is a system that focuses on opening minds.

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The trailer alone is a great watch

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For more information, please visit: http://mltsfilm.org

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I would like to welcome all of you to an inside look at what an international student adviser (ISA) does. As you will soon notice, there is not a strict demarcation between my personal and my professional life. It is a job that you need to live, in order to be successful at. As I began working on our final ED 6260-69 project I started thinking about how I would apply our course learning to my own context. This is when I realized that many of you might not know what role an ISA plays in the education system, or how the ISA can assist schools and students teach Fullan's 6 Cs, or Deep Learning Competencies.
I hope that you find the Understanding the Role of an ISA slideshow, linked to below, helpful, and that this presentation helps you see how student advisers, by focusing on the power of relationships, can help students prepare for the future by developing their character, citizenship, communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking skills (Skooler, 2018).

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Fabulous list of resources

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To better understand the "what and why" of Ashoka U and social innovation and changemaking in higher education, please see the curated list of high-quality articles, resources, videos and podcasts below.
Introduction to Changemaking and Systems Leadership
Resources for Changemaker Educators
Resources for Institutional Change in Higher Education About Ashoka

For additional insights check out our you tube playlist of Big Idea Talks from the 2019 Exchange.

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To better understand the "what and why" of Ashoka U and social innovation and changemaking in higher education, please see the curated list of high-quality articles, resources, videos and podcasts below. Introduction to Changemaking and Systems Leadership Resources for Changemaker Educators Resources for Institutional Change in Higher Education About Ashoka For additional insights check out our you tube playlist of Big Idea Talks from the 2019 Exchange.

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Fullan (2012) states that, “the interest in and ability to create new knowledge to solve new problems is the single most important skill that all students must master today” (p.24).
Helping students find their passions and feel connected to the community, has always been one of the best parts of my job. Even before I started my education courses, my experience showed me that the students who had adult mentors on campus, often had the confidence to try new things, and take on leadership roles. Stepping outside of your comfort zone is not easy, and before that first step can take place, students need to feel that they have a safe "landing place". As Wagner (2012) demonstrates, fear is the killer of innovation and creativity.
In the video by University Innovation Fellows (2018) posted below, we can see it is essential that, “Technology and pedagogy must be integrated around the roles of both student and teacher” (Fullan, 2012, p.68). In the video, you will see how the lines between student and teacher have been blurred, and at times reversed. This is the type of team atmosphere that is lacking in our traditional hierarchy- laden institutions. You will also notice that the students are engaged and passionate about their learning, because they have a say in what they are producing. The learning is engaging because as Fullan (2012) suggests, it is based on real world problem solving, is change focused, and not passive.

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Understanding the Role of the ISA: Relationships are at the Heart of Education

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Understanding the Role of the ISA: Relationships are at the Heart of Education

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As I mentioned in our group slideshow, my work takes place at the edges of the education system. Although I sometimes offer classroom workshops for students and staff, probably seventy percent of my work occurs inside the confines of an office. Here you can find me doing immigration reports, renewing study permits, advising on academic matters, or helping a student figure out their courses. This is important work, but it is not the heart of my role. Fullan (2012) calls for the teacher to be a mentor and someone who encourages others, facilitates learning and helps students, and other staff members, stretch (p.25).

As a social worker, I believe that I help students the most when I take the opportunity to get to know them both on and off campus. This involves celebrating with them and hosting events to let them shine as individuals and as a collective; it means creating small group gatherings where we have an opportunity to get to know one another; it means attending their events and helping them showcase their dreams; it means showing up for them, and it can also mean reaching out to them online; it means creating a culture that says, I care, and I am thinking about you; it can mean showing them that you believe in them, and helping them build confidence in their own leadership skills; it means connecting them to community and helping them see how they can use their skills to help others; most importantly, it means opening their eyes to the challenges existing in the world, and helping them see that they are a part of the solution; it means giving them an opportunity to learn and teach right alongside of you; it definitely means a life of continuous learning; it can mean being an ally in the face of systemic discrimination; and it also means sharing in their successes. As you can imagine, just like teaching, all of this doesn’t fit very well into a typical nine to five workday.
It is an honour to work with young people and to have an opportunity to help them grow into capable and  engaged adults. Many years from now, a student is not going to run into you and say, “thanks for teaching me about graphs”. The content you share is secondary to the relationships that you form with students. We know what we need to do; we need to hold on to our core values as we transition to online learning, and in the future, hopefully when COVID 19 has passed, we will take what we learned during the pandemic and bring it back to our in-person interactions. As Alex Usher (2020) reminds us in the Higher Education Strategy, One Thought Blog, sometimes some uncertainty is good for change, and can help educators re-engage with pedagogy.
*Please select open in new window after clicking the link.

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Wait until you see what these kids made

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I started this class thinking that I needed to focus on technology, and that it was all about getting the technology "right". I now see, that I needed to keep my focus on what I do best, developing relationships, and let the technology be a tool, just like any other, that I can use to reach students, and encourage them to become an activator. When we move our work online, beyond the confines of the physical structure of the university, we also make it easier to collaborate with a diverse network of people.

"Leaders then must foster in others the capacity to focus, to innovate, to empathize, to learn, to collaborate, to relish transparency, to shed non-essentials, and to develop leadership in themselves and others. Ultimately, everyone becomes a change agent" (Fullan, 2012, p. 70).

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The Pandemic and Online Learning with Dave Cormier

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The Pandemic and Online Learning with Dave Cormier

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Extra Resource 1 hour long, so set aside some time

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The Pandemic and Online Learning (with Dave Cormier) - HESA

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Peer to peer sharing and learning site

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Grassroots community supporting equitable, empowering peer learning in public spaces worldwide. Learning for the people, by the people!

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For older people like myself, I can sometimes forget that the internet is not just a repository of information like a book. The Internet allows learners to be producers of knowledge and not just consumers of knowledge. Furthermore, just like the background picture on this Padlet shows, knowledge creation is also inherently social. So, right now, my role is to figure out how to continue building relationships via social media and related online platforms, so that students can learn and grow together. Simply put, how can I show them I care when we are far apart? Sometimes, the answers are already in front of you. Earlier today, I saw an article about the Co-op student awards ceremony. I knew one of the students, so I shared it to our group Facebook page, and wished him my congratulations. He is now a new graduate, and after reading my post he sent me an invitation to LinkedIn so that we can continue to learn together. Sometimes, we are already on the road to making change, even before we know it. Change occurs within us as individuals and as a collective. I too need to keep building my 6C's- it is a lifelong journey.
"Another critical foundation point: all of the traits we talk about in this paper ‐ the Six Cs and E Squared ‐ are both an individual and a collective (or group) phenomenon. Moreover they are synergistic, they feed on each other within the individual and the group." (Fullan & Scott, 2014).

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Thank-you to Dr. Keith for suggesting Tony Wagner's (2012) informative book, Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People who will Change the World. Thanks to the instant magic of the internet, I was able to purchase it online on Amazon and download it to my Kindle. The Kindle book is also innovative and contains links to extra videos and related websites. In Chapter Four: Social Innovators (my passion area), Wagner interviews a young second year student from Tulane University. She comments, "I just came back from the Ashoka Changemakers' Week in Paris, and it has become very clear to me that there is a real need to identify a framework and continuum for change- maker skills and competencies that schools, companies and non-profits can use" (Wagner, 2012, p.108). This is also my dream, and I hope that we can continue to move in this direction. I know that this class has reenergized me and encouraged me to continue to seek out innovative models to try out.

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This is a proposal to be submitted to the director of the International Student Office. I hope that it helps students feel more connected, and opens up their minds to the power of digital platforms for learning and innovation. Keeping Fullan's (2012) suggestions in mind, I have kept it simple, and hopefully it will “ make their learning easier and more interesting” ( p.33).

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International Student P2P Sharing Platform

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In the majority of mainstream public schools and post-secondary institutions, subjects are still taught as stand-alone units. However, in order for us to find innovative solutions for some of our greatest global problems, we need to use a cross-disciplinary approach. Real world problems require people from diverse backgrounds to be able to work together to find solutions. It is easy to have a group of like-minded people agree on a solution; it is not as easy to have those with different worldviews do so. For the past three years, I have been advocating for our school to take part in the World's Challenge: Challenge for university students hosted by Western University. To date, I have not been able to find a sufficient number of faculty who are willing to work together to support this cross-curricular initiative. A few major systemic barriers stand in the way of this collaboration. The first, is that most professors are not used to working in a cross-disciplinary way, so they would also need to take on the role of learner. Secondly, the post-secondary education system does not adequately reward good teaching and student engagement. For professors seeking tenure and advancement, research is key. Alex Usher (2020) also makes this point in his June 16th, 2020 blog entry. Although we may find pockets of innovation, the post-secondary system needs a major overhaul. We need to reimagine how faculty are advanced, and we need to break down faculty and department silos if we want universities to prepare students for the future, and adopt what Couros (2014) refers to as the Innovator's Mindset. Finally, we need to ask ourselves the central questions,

What is education for?

How can we help students reach their goals?

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To answer this, we need to return to the heart of education.

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