How do you know which problems/topics you shouldn't help a student with.
Good question, John. Does your school have any guidelines? What areas do you feel should be off limits?
By identifying the objectives of a plan, one must concentrate in satisfying it with the student through informational delivery. If a problem pops up as presented by the student, by referring back to the list of objectives, and after identifying that it is not essential or important to resolve, that is a guide to know when a presented issue is not to be resolved .
What plan are you referring to, Paul? How do you deal with a student who has a non-classroom problem that might result in his withdrawal if unaddressed?
I think this is an interesting question. I work as a student affairs advisor but I am not a licensed counselor. After I find out what the student issue really is, I decide on whether I can offer assistance or refer them to someone else. For academic issues, time management issues and other related areas I can offer some options to consider and also refer them to read more online for tips on how to better handle their classes. When personal issues come up such as family problems, domestic abuse, mental health and physical problems and other personal financial or legal issues arise, I offer suggestions to seek professional services to assist them. Our college has contracted with a third party counseling and resource service that we can refer students to. This is a confidential service for students and I don't hear back about whether they contacted them. Many students have responded to me after using this service and have found it helpful. Before we contracted this service, it was sometimes tempting to try to assist with personal issues, but I have found it is better for the student, myself and the institution not to but offer as much support and encouragement to them to solve their problems with outside assistance. I encourage the student to follow up with me to let me know hwo things are going. I feel it is important to let them we care about them and want them to be succesful.
Sounds like a solid system, Gail. How often do you have to refer students? How do you make students aware of the services that are available?
Thanks for your reply. I refer students to the resources whenever I hear about personal issues from their phone calls and emails to me. I also promote the services available in the following ways: 1) Postings on Online Student News on classroom website. 2)Postings in Electronic Newsletter - made available on classroom website.
3) Postings in Student Affairs organization area on college website. 4)Email messages to students who I follow up with on lack of attendance and mid-term academic progress. 5) Our Student Success Skills Seminar instructors include information about resources in this required seminar for first year students.
Gail, does your Student Success Skills Seminar include any profiling of students? Things like temperament, communication style, or learning modality preference?
Thanks for your reply. Our Student Success Skills class includes a survey on self-directed learning and also on different learning styles. Our final project consists of a Personal Action Plan where students need to outline their past education and personal history, identify strenghths and weaknesses to work on, and list short and long term goals. This assignment is very revealing about the student and helps us know where they are. We don't have any other assessments currently. I know one of our campuses tried using Gradmax, but the student response was very small and not worth the money so it was cut.
We try to refer them to an appropriate outside resource and support and encourage them along the way.
Milissa, how do you identify the people who need help initially? Who makes the referrals? Does the school pay for required counseling or services?
I feel this is an issue that has a great deal to do with what is in the job title description. This would be an issue of boundaries. At our school, if the situation is serious enough, we assist the students to seek outside references. Keeping in perspective that if this is an emergency like the student is planning on hurting themselves or others, to be on the safe side for everyone involved, I would notify the proper authority.
I always try to use the example, "What is in the best interest of the student". Listening is a major factor in having students solve their issues.
I agree that listening is very important. Sometimes it just helps the student to say it out loud. They can usually figure things out once they have expressed themselves.
I agree that students should feel like they can come and speak with their instructors about any issues they may have. But it is our responsability as instructors to know where to send them for assistance.
I am in agreement that listening is often the best and safest thing we can do if there is no physical danger. It is important as an instuctor to be aproachable and make myself availible to students who have issues. I amke a point of using reflective listiening techniques to make sure I convay that i care. But it is important to remember that we can not nor should not try to "solve" every problem. In some cases we are just not trained to porperly help and in others, learning to solve the porlbem themselves is a key part to future sucess. but we can alway offer support and encouagment by listening and refering them to other sources when needed.
Christine, would you tell other Forum participants what you mean by reflective listening techniques? Is there a resource that others might use to get more information about this process?
Thanks.
