Joe Sabado – Higher Education & Technology Leadership

Reputation can be defined as people’s perceptions of a person’s character. In the realm of digital space, including social media, reputation is built on 1) the content a person produces or shares (tweets, blog posts, photos, videos, …) and their interactions with others (digital footprint) and 2) what others share about a person (digital shadow). Eric Qualman coins the terms digital footprint and digital shadow.

This post is about some of the benefits I’ve received by having an intentional digital presence through my blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads, Slideshare, and Facebook.  When I joined the social media platforms I mentioned a few years ago, I could never have imagined the folks I would meet, which led to professional collaborations and opportunities that have come my way. I’ve also developed some friendships along the way. I share the following list to illustrate how a person such as myself, who, in my opinion, is no different than most folks in my professions (student affairs, higher ed IT), can benefit from having a positive presence online.

• Elected as NASPA Technology Knowledge Community Chair (2017-2019).
• Hired as a consultant by two universities to lead an external program review team.
• Co-present sessions on social media at a couple of conferences.
• Invitation to NASPA Technology Summit in Washington, DC.
• Invitation to contribute an article to NASPA Leadership Exchange Magazine.
• Invitation to co-author a chapter on Student Affairs technology.
• Accepted as an assessor to a UC Leadership program based on my blog posts about leadership.
• Invitation to speak to student affairs grad students on digital reputation.
• Invitation to be a guest on a podcast to talk about student affairs technology.
• Opportunities to speak on digital reputation and alternative professional development for multiple groups at UCSB.

When I share my perspectives online, I’m not always sure how others receive my message. Even with the best and clear intentions, my messages are received in many ways. Given that realization, I’ve developed principles that guide how I present myself and interact with others online. Some of my main principles include:

• Be honest.

When folks, including my Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, our campus CIO, my colleagues, students, my family and friends, and other professionals I respect follow me on social media, I better be consistent and honest with what I share.

• Be kind in how you relate with others.

Even when I’ve disagreed with others, I always try to maintain respect as I would like to be treated with the same kindness. One of the limitations of social media is that one does not get the full context of what is being shared or how a person may act.

• Aim to provide value to others.

I started primarily writing about my personal and professional interests with my blog. I’ve found my blog to release my frustrations related to my experience as a person of color and share my visions of what I think student affairs and technology may hold in the future.  While I still primarily write for myself, I’ve found that others do relate to the topics I write about. I get messages from folks who tell me how a blog post prompted them to re-frame their thoughts or how they can relate to my experience, specifically about racism and discrimination.

Another way I’ve found myself to be of value is by connecting folks from different circles of my life. Just like I do in conferences or parties, it’s fun to be able to introduce friends and colleagues who may share interests and then gently step away so they can have the space to continue the conversation themselves.

I do have some missteps from time to time, and I don’t always follow my principles; I’m human, but I strive to apply the principles I mentioned above.

I hope my post has convinced you (if not already) that building/maintaining a positive digital presence does have some benefits. Please let me know if I could provide you with some ideas on getting started.

How about you? How are you managing your digital presence, and what principles do you use?

Social justice and higher education information technology (IT) are topics typically not associated with or discussed. However, given the impact and the role of information technology in the daily lives of students (as well as prospective) and the campus community, social justice as a lens on how information technology is designed and implemented should be considered more. Social justice, in the context of this post, relates to distributive and procedural. Tyler and Smith (1998) define distributive justice as the “distribution of limited goods and resources based on principles of equity, need, or equality” and procedural justice as the “influence during the decision-making process.” As information technology professionals, we must ensure the systems we implement promote access to higher education and enable students to be successful in graduating and meeting their goals in attending college. We must think beyond our privileges (race, ability, socio-economic background, education, etc.) and consider the impact the systems we provide may have on those from underrepresented and disadvantaged communities.

As I think about my experience as a first-generation college student in 1991, the process of choosing which school to attend, and how intimidating and confusing the admissions application (including financial aid) was back then, I only wonder how much more complicated the process is now for students and their families. Not only do they need to understand the application process in itself, but they must also navigate through multiple websites to get the information they need to decide on which school to attend, submit their application, apply for financial aid, reserve orientation sessions, apply for housing, and many more steps depending on their backgrounds. Even at our university, we can and need to do better in consolidating/integrating our websites (currently with different navigation, design, and information structures) so applicants should not have to access several websites during the application process. I brought up the situation above because it relates to access to higher education. How many students from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds with low digital literacy are disadvantaged by how confusing the systems are, which could lead them to give up or provide wrong information, which may lead to negative consequences in the future?

Another population that may be disadvantaged by careless design/implementation is students with disabilities. Websites that are not designed with accessibility in mind have negative impacts on these students. Imagine having a blind student complete an application form on a website that is not accessible. Not only would it be frustrating for the student, but it also would prevent them from completing the required process to be admitted to the university. In another example, what if a disabled student cannot use a website form to provide personal/medical information for accommodation (notetaking, proctoring) that may prevent them from receiving the services they need to compete and succeed academically?

About procedural justice, I cite examples of judicial affairs and financial aid information systems to highlight the importance of information systems in providing a fair process. Students accused of academic or behavioral misconduct and must go through the judicial process are in critical moments in their lives. As such, judicial affairs officers and those involved with the case must have all the required and accurate information to determine the outcome fairly. Imagine a poorly implemented judicial affairs system that incorrectly presents wrong information about the student to the judicial affairs staff. What if that incorrect information was used to determine the outcome?

I also mentioned the financial aid information system as another system that may impact procedural justice. As with the judicial affairs information system above, financial aid officers must have the required and accurate information to decide on the amount of financial aid to award to the students. Given the high cost of college attendance (tuition, room & board, books, etc.), the amount of financial aid offered may mean the difference between a student attending college or staying home. All information available to financial aid officers must be accurate and readily accessible.

The examples provided are just two of many I can cite to illustrate the impact/role of information technology in social justice. As I mentioned above, social justice and information technology are often neither discussed nor associated with them. However, as information technology professionals responsible for providing these systems, we must be aware of how these systems impact students and ensure they promote access to higher education and enable students to succeed.

As I mentioned above, social justice and information technology are often neither discussed nor associated between them. However, as information technology professionals responsible for providing these systems, we must be aware of how these systems impact students and ensure they promote access to higher education and enable students to succeed.

Reference:

Taylor, S.H. “The Impact of College on the Development of Tolerance.” NASPA Journal, 1998, 34, 281-295.

Another year of professional growth and learning. A significant amount of my time went to my MBA (IT Mgmt Specialization) course work in 2015; I could not devote as many hours to reading about other topics I enjoy, such as higher education and student affairs. Nevertheless, I still managed to enjoy reading the books below. As it was with my professional reading lists for 2013  and 2014, most of the books below are kindle books I read through my iPhone and iPad. The beauty of mobile learning. Please feel free to ask me for any recommendations.

Business & Productivity

• Authority Positioning: How to Become the Leader In Your Niche by Leonardo Habegger
• Business Research Methods, 12th edition by Donald Cooper, Pamela Schindler
• Business Statistics in Practice, 7th edition (McGraw-Hill/Irwin Series in Operations and Decision Sciences) by Bruce Bowerman, Richard O’Connell, Emilly Murphree
• Corporate Finance: Core Principles and Applications (McGraw-Hill/Irwin Series in Finance, Insurance, and Real Est) by Ross
• Finance for IT Managers Simplified: Easy step-by-step examples to master essential finance by Sribatsa Das
• Financial Accounting – 8/e by Robert Libby and Patricia Libby
• Hundred Percenters: Challenge Your Employees to Give It Their All, and They’ll Give You Even More, Second Edition by Mark Murphy
• Marketing Management by Marshall
• Project Management: A Managerial Approach, 9th Edition by Jack R. Meredith, Mantel Jr., Samuel J., Scott M. Shafer
• TED Talks Storytelling: 23 Storytelling Techniques from the Best TED Talks by Akash Karia
• The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business (J-B Lencioni Series) by Patrick M. Lencioni

Change and Innovation

• Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work by Whitney Johnson
• Disrupting Digital Business: Create an Authentic Experience in the Peer-to-Peer Economy by R Ray Wang
• Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it) by Salim Ismail, Michael S. Malone, van Ge
• How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery by Kevin Ashton
• Leading
• Meaningful: The Story of Ideas That Fly by Bernadette Jiwa
• Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking by Richard E. Nisbett
• Pure Genius: Building a Culture of Innovation and Taking 20% Time to the Next Level by Engstrom, Catherine McHugh
• Reframe: Shift the Way You Work, Innovate, and Think by Mona Patel
• Stand Out: How to Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following Around It by Dorie Clark
• Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction by Philip E. Tetlock, Dan Gardner
• The Engaged Leader: A Strategy for Your Digital Transformation by Charlene Li
• They Laughed at Galileo: How the Great Inventors Proved Their Critics Wrong by Albert Jack

Higher Education / Student Affairs

• A Guide to Becoming a Scholarly Practitioner in Student Affairs by Lisa J. Hatfield, Vicki L. Wise
• A Guide to College and University Budgeting: Foundations for Institutional Effectiveness by Larry Goldstein
• A University for the 21st Century by Duderstadt, James J.
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Building Better Universities: Strategies, Spaces, Technologies by Jos Boys
• Change Leadership in Higher Education: A Practical Guide to Academic Transformation by Jeffrey L. Buller
• College Disrupted: The Unbundling of Higher Education by Ryan Craig
• Coordinating Student Affairs Divisional Assessment: A Practical Guide (An ACPA / NASPA Joint Publication) by Yousey-Elsener, Kimberly, Bentrim, Erin, Henning, Gavin W., R
• Critical Race Theory in Higher Education: 20 Years of Theoretical and Research Innovations: ASHE Higher Education Report, Volume 41, Number 3 (J-B ASHE Higher Education Repor
• Democracy’s Education: Public Work, Citizenship, and the Future of Colleges and Universities by Boyte, Harry C.
• Designing for Learning: Creating Campus Environments for Student Success by C. Carney Strange, James H. Banning
• Designing the New American University by Michael M. Crow, William B. Dabars
• From The Beginning: Perspectives From New & Emerging Student Affairs Professionals by Alex Fields
• Future of Higher Education: Perspectives from America’s Academic Leaders by Gary A. Olson, John W. Presley
• Introducing Change from the Top in Universities and Colleges: Ten Personal Accounts (Managing Innovation and Change in Universities and Colleges) by Weil, Susan,
• Learning with ‘e’s: Educational theory and practice in the digital age by Steve Wheeler, Richard Gerver
• Locus of Authority: The Evolution of Faculty Roles in the Governance of Higher Education by William G. Bowen, Eugene M. Tobin
• Measuring Cocurricular Learning: The Role of the IR Office: New Directions for Institutional Research, Number 164 (J-B IR Single Issue Institutional Research) by Kennedy-
• New Directions for Student Services, 1997-2014: Glancing Back, Looking Forward: New Directions for Student Services, Number 151 (J-B SS Single Issue Student Services) by
• Remaking College: The Changing Ecology of Higher Education by Stevens, Mitchell, Kirst, Michael
• Research-Driven Practice in Student Affairs: Implications from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education: New Directions for Student Services, … 147 (J-B SS Singl
• The Digital Revolution in HIgher Education by Alan Shark
• The End of College: Creating the Future of Learning and the University of Everywhere by Kevin Carey
• The Missing Voices in EdTech: Bringing Diversity Into EdTech (Corwin Connected Educators Series) by Rafranz Davis
• The University Next Door: What Is a Comprehensive University, Who Does it Educate, and Can It Survive? by Mark Schneider, KC Deane
• Using Emerging Technologies to Enhance Student Engagement: New Directions for Student Services, Number 124 by Junco, Reynol
• Why Does College Cost So Much? by Robert B. Archibald, David H. Feldman

Information Technology

• 2015 Strategy Guide for the Top 10 IT Issues In Higher Education: Tools, Methodologies, and Frameworks by Shawn Davis
• Agile IT Organization Design: For Digital Transformation and Continuous Delivery by Sriram Narayan
• Designing Delivery: Rethinking IT in the Digital Service Economy by Jeff Sussna
• Implementing World Class IT Strategy: How IT Can Drive Organizational Innovation by Peter A. High
• IT Project Management Skill-sets (IT Project Management Series) by New Art Technologies
• IT Strategic Project Management SPOMP: Implementing Change Successfully: Five New Strategies to Influence Stakeholders, Sell Your Ideas, and Boost Your Career in the Informat
• IT Strategy: Issues and PracticesIssues and Practices by James D McKeen, Heather A Smith
• Leader Evolution:: From Technical Expertise to Strategic Leadership by Alan Patterson
• Practical Project EVM: The Application of Earned Value Management to Project Monitoring and Controlling by M. Jeffery Tyler
• Project Management in Practice, 5th Edition by Jack R. Meredith, Samuel J. Mantel, Scott M. Shafer, Margaret M. Sutton
• Six Protocols of IT Transformation: Managing the Transformation of IT Ecosystems with Value-Based IT by Patrick Lesandrini
• Strong Leadership Needed to Address Serious Information Technology Management Weaknesses by United States Government Accountability Office
• The Big Shift in IT Leadership: How Great CIOs Leverage the Power of Technology for Strategic Business Growth in the Customer-Centric Economy (Wiley CIO) by Hunter Muller
• The CIO’s Guide to Breakthrough Project Portfolio Performance: Applying the Best of Critical Chain, Agile, and Lean by Michael Hannan, Wolfram Müller, Hilbert RobinsonThe C-Suite CIO: Aligning Relationships with Senior Peers by Ashwin Rangan
• The Economics of Cloud Computing: An Overview For Decision Makers (Network Business) by Bill Williams
• The Essential CIO: Why The CIO Needs To Act Like The CEO by Matt Graham-Hyde
• The Levers of Embedded IT (CIO Series) by Gerry Robinson
• The New IT: How Technology Leaders are Enabling Business Strategy in the Digital Age by Jill Dyche
• The Wolf in CIO’s Clothing: A Machiavellian Strategy for Successful IT Leadership by Tina Nunno
• World Class IT: Why Businesses Succeed When IT Triumphs by Peter A. High

Management/Leadership

• Who’s Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success–and Won’t Let You Fail by Keith Ferrazzi
• Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work . . . and What Does: The New Science of Leading, Energizing, and Engaging by Susan Fowler

Technology

• Leading Digital: Turning Technology into Business Transformation by George Westerman, Didier Bonnet, Andrew McAfee
• Smart Learning: Teaching and learning with smartphones and tablets in post-compulsory education by Middleton, Andrew
• The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts by Richard Susskind, Daniel Susskind
• The SAGE Handbook of Digital Technology Research (Sage Handbooks) by Sara Price, Carey Jewitt, Barry Brown
• Thingalytics: Smart Big Data Analytics for the Internet of Things by Dr. John Bates
• Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas by Dan Zarrella

How does digital technology contribute to student success? To answer this question, one must first define what student success means. When I’ve asked higher education professionals on social media and on my campus, a singular definition seems elusive. Cuseo (n.d.) offers some commonly cited definitions, which include:

• student retention
• educational attainment
• academic achievement
• student advancement
• holistic development

The last definition, holistic development, is the idea that a student develops as a “whole person,” and they include multiple dimensions. These dimensions include development in the following areas: intellectual, emotional, social, ethical, physical, and spiritual.

Academic and co-curricular programs, student services, enrollment management services, and other administrative services offered by higher ed institutions are aimed to support and promote student learning, development, and success. Throughout the entire student life cycle from prospect to alumni stage, technology is used by staff and faculty to communicate and engage with students and for administrative operations, and technology is used by students for activities inside and outside the classroom as well.

WCET (2002) classified student services offered for online learners in the following categories:

• academic services suite
• communications suite
• administrative core
• student communities suite
• personal services suite

While technologies have changed and new ones have been introduced since 2002, the general categories described above are applicable today.

At UC Santa Barbara, digital technology has become integral to how student affairs and the campus provide effective student services in all phases of the student life cycle and the student services categories above. Just some of the online services offered at UCSB include the following:

Admissions Applicant Status Portal:

Applicants can 1) view the status of their application, including personalized messages and a checklist of the steps to enrollment, 2) submit a SIR (Statement of Intent to Register) with eCheck (ACH) payments, and a trigger to the creation of the student record, 3) update personal information, and 4) navigate to different web sites outside of Admissions (such as Statement of Legal Residence and Financial Aid Status) without having to re-authenticate.

Electronic Medical Records (EMR) System:

Counseling Center and Student Health Service use the Electronic Medical Record for client/patient scheduling, reporting, case notes, client surveys, and holistic student healthcare. The system is also used for practice management, electronic health records (EHR), medical claims processing, insurance management, and reporting.

Transfer Evaluation and Articulation System

The ‘Transfer Evaluation and Articulation System’ is part of a suite of ‘Progress to Degree and Advising applications. It is used by Admissions staff to apply UCSB transfer articulation rules to incoming coursework, to evaluate the coursework as transferable or not, to adjust or limit unit amounts, to set course indicators and attributes, such as repeats and honors, to apply courses toward General Education requirements as exceptions, and to produce a ‘New Student Profile’ audit report (using the DARS ‘Engine’ (see ‘Darwin’) behind the scene) and archive it as a snapshot of the student’s status toward General Education and University requirements completion at the time of matriculation. TEAS is most commonly known for creating New Student Profiles and Credit Memos.

Financial Aid Portal:

The My Aid Status Financial Aid Portal allows students to manage their financial aid, including viewing their FAFSA status, downloading dynamically ‐ generated documents required for processing financial aid, viewing their award letter, accepting student loans, viewing the history of disbursements from the billing office, and printing Federal work ‐ study referrals.

Graduate Education Application Review (AppReview) System:

This system is the staff/faculty counterpart to the online student application. This system is used by the academic department and Graduate Division staff to administer applications and by faculty to review and score incoming applications. Using this application, department staff can modify applications, categorize and otherwise prepare applications for review by faculty, and submit application decisions to Graduate Division. AppReview also supplies the administrative capabilities for department staff involved in financial recruitment offers. Such features include nominating applicants for the Central Recruitment Fellowship Competition, reviewing award results for the same, and reviewing NSF Extension awards. Graduate Division staff use this application to process admissions decisions, review/approve admissions exception requests, manage/reconcile application payments, and review fee waiver requests.

Gaucho Online Data (GOLD) Student Portal:

Gaucho Online Data (GOLD) is used by over 22,000 current and former UCSB students and provides them the ability to: view their schedules, important deadlines, messages, grades, and academic history; find and register for classes; manage their enrollment in course waitlists; update contact information;  view new student profile and transfer credits; perform automated progress checks and degree audits; order official and unofficial transcripts.

Student Information Systems & Technology Information Systems Portfolio provides a more comprehensive suite of information systems.

Moving forward, the effective use of digital technology in student affairs must consider the changing demographics of the students and the staff and faculty, their needs and expectations of how they use technology, and the availability of services offered by institutions. With social media, cloud, mobile, wearable computing, and the internet of things, students and staff are now expecting technology to provide them access to their information anytime and anywhere. Student affairs practitioners, higher ed staff, and faculty, in general, must develop technology competency, like the one offered by ACPA and NASPA as part of the Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators, to utilize the benefits offered by technology in ways that are ethical and secure. Senior Student Affairs Administrators and other campus administrators must play a more active role in managing and leading the use and investment of information technology. Research and scholarship which reflects the realities and possibilities of the digital world of higher education, including this dissertation by Dr. Josie Ahlquist, Developing Digital Student Leaders, must also drive and inform student affairs practice.

References:

Cuseo, J. (n.d.). South Carolina. Student Success: Definition, Outcomes, Principles, and Practices. Retrieved December 9, 2015, from https://www2.indstate.edu/studentsuccess/pdf/Defining%20Student%20Success.pdf

Shea, P., & Armitage, S. (2002). Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Retrieved December 9, 2015, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED536193.pdf

What competencies are required to be an effective student affairs technology leader at an organizational level? This is a question I pondered while reviewing the Technology Competency Area within the ACPA/NASPA Professional Competency Area for Student Affairs Educators. I specifically mentioned “at an organizational level” because managing/leading the appropriate/effective use of technology at the divisional level differs from one who is leading the efforts at the national or individual levels. There are competencies required to run effective organizations and coordinating technology use at the divisional level. So, I combined the outcomes defined within the Technology Competency Area and my experience leading a student affairs IT department and produced the mind map of what I view as competencies required to be an effective student affairs technology leader at an organizational level.

What other competencies should be included? Thanks!