Thanks to the ADL Program, I love that I am constantly observing my learning behaviors.
I recently rearranged and connected multiple monitors. I still laugh at how much of this program I completed working on my laptop monitor alone. In my household, there are three adult technology users. My husband and adult daughter are gamers of every variety (board, tabletop, console, PC), and I have dabbled in all of the above, frequently poorly. We have accumulated several longer-used devices.
This morning, my taskbar is not showing on the additional monitors. I am constantly rearranging the monitors due to recording requirements vs. writing requirements. I create homemade teleprompters for digital media presentations, though I still need to find a way to scroll the text while recording. I discovered how to scroll text, but since I’m clicking between windows to advance presentations during recordings, it stops and annoys me! The display setting changes likely resulted in an unintended change or a misfired keyboard shortcut.
Into my handy dandy search engine, I type, “can I extend the menu bar across monitors,” and while executing the search, I decide to go digging through system settings to see if I can find it myself. What do you know? Right there in Personalization > Taskbar is a toggle to do precisely that. I click back over to my results and mentally applaud my learner’s mindset that knows there is a resource I can utilize when needed. Still, I am also a solution-seeking, inquisitive learner who will go tinkering about and seek support as required.
THIS! The learners’ mindset is what I want to help learners discover: their authentic learning opportunities. I want to work with a team of advisors to channel the passions that feed their strengths and abilities. I want to help humanize the relationship of advisors and of students.
The advisors feel like robots and that what they say isn’t heard and doesn’t seem to matter to many students. TAsked to justify the behavior and decisions of students who did not follow the advising they received or failed to follow the outlined procedures. They are placed into cycles with no finish line or celebration, leading to impending dread as the subsequent avalanche falls to them to manage.
When stressed out, people are not usually the best version of themselves. Insecurity can express themselves in hurtful and accusatory ways. Learners and their parents often need clarification on rules and regulations. Because learners have yet to learn the terminology used at the university, they will talk to multiple offices and people before getting the necessary information to make timely decisions. Understaffed and overworked humans can make mistakes, which damages relationship building. If we can help learners learn how to learn, they will also seek, verify, and understand well-planned and executed learning outcomes.
The Advisor That Cares 