In last month’s post, we explored some examples of programming ideas that are both fun and educational. However, programming is only one of the many strategies that make up a residential curriculum. For those that are newer to the world of curriculum, a strategy can be thought of as any intentional effort to interact with residents, ranging from programming to social media campaigns to, yes, even the student conduct process!
Being intentional means more than going through the motions of your day-to-day work. It means asking questions about your process: Why am I doing this? What benefits do residents get out of this process? Is the way I’m conducting this strategy actually harmful to residents?
This month, we’re taking a look at some strategies that naturally lean more towards educational and exploring ways to make them a bit more fun (or at least more approachable) for our students.
Roommate Agreements
Roommate agreements are rarely one of the first things on residents’ minds as they move on campus. After all, who wants to imagine all the ways their roommate relationship could go downhill? But as professionals, we know that roommate agreements are a wonderful tool for proactive and reactive conflict management. So how do we turn this educational tool into a fun strategy?
For me, the answer is twofold: lean on other strategies and use real life examples. Use programming, social media campaigns, and intentional conversations to support the completion of agreements while drawing on timely examples in popular culture. From Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake, to Steelers vs. Ravens, to Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul, pop culture gives us an endless supply of beef and how it can be managed (or mismanaged!).
RA 1:1 Meetings
When it comes to residential curriculum, RAs often suffer from middle child syndrome. We expect them to facilitate learning with their strategies, but we often forget that they are also students who stand to benefit from our departmental outcomes. Just because we’ve hired them doesn’t mean they’ve reached the peak of their own learning and development. All this to say, don’t forget that your interactions with your RAs also fall under the umbrella of curricular strategies.
In my experience as a supervisor, 1:1s have looked different for each individual person. Some RAs love to share anything and everything going on in their personal lives while others see a 1:1 as just a requirement of their job. When working with RAs of the latter disposition, showing (appropriate) interest in other parts of their life demonstrates your investment in their whole being. Take some 1:1 time to engage with one of their hobbies, participate in an on-campus event together, or support them at an academic event.
The Student Conduct Process
As a reactive piece of education that has alleged misconduct as a prerequisite, I struggle to think of ways to make conduct “fun.” Students typically have preconceived notions of what a conduct meeting will entail based on their experiences with authority figures, horror stories from their friends, or their own fears and anxieties. As a result, the bulk of a conduct meeting for me focuses on building rapport with those students. It’s spent establishing my own humanity, addressing their negative emotions, and building trust.
Every student conduct process is different, so there aren’t any universal tips I can give you to make your students’ experiences better, but here are some questions to consider both on a personal and organizational level:
- What community building efforts are you leading in your community to become a familiar face to residents?
- What is the framework for your conduct process? Is there data that indicates whether your framework is meeting its intended goals?
- When a student walks into your office for a conduct meeting, what feelings/reactions might your office furniture and decor elicit? Is your space a reflection of you?
- How would you describe the language used in your conduct letter templates? Are your templates effective and succinct?
- Do you have some creative freedom to incorporate students’ passions into potential sanctions? If no, why not?
- How do you continue to build rapport with students after the conduct process?
- What on-campus partnerships can you build/leverage to better support students going through the conduct process?
Social Media
If your institution is like most that I have worked at, you may not have a dedicated social media manager within your department to create engaging content for residents. When social media accounts are not consistently managed, they can easily become defunct or a low-effort dropzone for programming advertisements. While it may not be in your job description to be a social media manager, when the students you advise and/or supervise show interest in using social media, it is your responsibility as a steward of your department’s curriculum to embrace the potentials of this often under-utilized strategy. Instead of limiting your social media usage to static program advertising, use it to host live online programming, interact with residents in comment sections, and promote other departmental initiatives, such as health and safety inspections, through content that is real and relatable. If you’re not sure how to do this, I’d recommend checking out the Wendy’s X page and the TSA Instagram.
Aside from not being fun, one of the biggest hesitations to embracing residential curriculum that I’ve seen is how much work it can be. Now that I’ve given you some ideas of how to make your day-to-day interactions with students more fun, I’ll leave you with one last thought: the heart and soul we put into our curriculum up front is intended to make our lives easier in the long run! When we help our residents build the skills to go about their lives in thoughtful, intentional ways, we empower them to make better decisions for themselves and their community.
