Sahzeah Babylon

As someone who worked in career services at a private college, I can say that career services done right and marketed well is a huge motivator for student retention.

I like a lot of the ideas like the professional photographer, the section of graduate highlights, the personalization of growth for each student.

I have participated in a lot of orientations at a lot of universities, but the background set up and suggestions are not always or even often things I see.  Currently, orientation is just a very long checklist of departments reviewing xyz expectations with students instead of a great bonding time.  Lots to think about. 

I am learning about all of this for the first time, I think it is interesting that the earlier involvement a prospective student has in the school can define the actual involvement a student has in their classes.  It also makes me wonder about the students who don't put the effort in and what was the disconnect for them.  Maybe this will be explained later in this module.

Listening and rephrasing/responding is so key to listening and I like the emphasis on the active listening.

I appreciated the quick and clean breakdown of the types of positive as well as negative listening - particularly the negative, it is important to understand that often negativity comes from the listeners perception not the speakers participation.

I have not heard of the metaphor question, so I appreciated the breakdown and the sample conversation.

I knew most of the information about the questions and the open and closed questions and the "why" question and the tactics, but what I appreciated about the first section was the diagram and the reminder to stay above the line and not fall into the negative space.

I appreciated the reminder that personal backgrounds and characteristics will develop leadership style, but so does the age, the generation, the culture, and the sex of the individual who is the leader.

What I have learned from the documentary on Leadership is that it was the full commitment and the deep belief of the leaders that inspired and pushed faculty and staff to invest and improve both themselves and their school communities.  It is the sacrifice of time and the demonstration of that commitment that said a lot about the women who led.