{ SOAR } ~ versus SWOR
First week back in the Winter term and we were asked to SOAR.
SOAR is an acronym from the Corporate world that replaced SWOR and stands for:
S - Strength
O- Opportunities
A - Aspirations
R - Results
This is mandated by The Professor of the 21st Century 1. Modelling professional practice within the discipline of teaching by 1. Identifying your own learning style and how it affects your teaching; 2. Locating and using resources that support teaching practice; 3. Engaging in ongoing development to remain current in your own subject area and in the discipline of teaching; 4. Identifying the impact of your won teaching on student learning; 5. Contributing to a learning culture that encourages continous learning, reflective practice and peer support
The difference between the two is the 'W'/'O'. In the older methodology, the 'W' stood for 'weaknesses' and identifying these as a means towards growth however it was discovered that this led people to 'negative spiraling' as human nature tends to dwell too much on 'weaknesses' and a less 'balanced' perspective as the result. By opting for more of a 'positive' model where you focus on strengths and aspirations, people will be eager to explore and learn if they feel it is rewarding.
I have a confession to make. I'm pretty self-unaware it seems. I do reflect. But for whatever reason, how I perceive myself and my strengths and weaknesses frequently are at odds with the feedback I get from others. I seem haunted by those famous words written by Robert Burns:
"O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!"
We were asked to write out our 'Achievable Aspirations' and How we will be able to Account for these through measurable Results. We wrote these on a piece of paper which we mailed to ourselves. They will eventually appear in our Doorstep at the College.
Achievable Aspirations:
1. Growth: to see the Program grow in numbers; to see it grow in satisfaction to the students, Industry, and my Superiors.
2. Growth: personal and professional. I wish to get better at my craft as an artist AND now as a teacher. My focus in life has shifted from Industry/Artist slowly over time and teaching has come to dominate my self-realization. But I am still teaching in a Technical/Vocational capacity and being an artist is integral to my abilities as a teacher. I wish to reconcile these two visions so that growth in one does not necessarily eclipse the other. I also wish to reconcile how students see me with how I perceive myself - I realize through my upbringing I'm frequenly my own worst critic. I'm more likely to see or perceive my flaws or my limitations etc. - and I need to learn better self-awareness so I'm more effective in identifying when I'm effective and when I'm not in the classroom.
In Course Evaluations, I get feedback that is strange to my self-awareness or self-realization. I always felt I was a 'distant' instructor - not likely to be a 'favorite' among students - because I tried to keep a 'distance' either psychologically or in demeanor. I was loathe until recently to talk much about my personal likes/dislikes or myself as a person in the classroom. This was a 'weakness' I felt. However, I frequently am astonished to read in Course Evaluations that students perceived me as 'warm, friendly, and easy-going'. It has stopped me from really appreciating/enjoying some classes I have taught or perhaps make connections. I would like to be able to shrink that gap. I would like to have better self -awareness within the classroom and outside of the classroom as well.
Measurable results for these Aspirations will vary from the 'objective'{formal surveys and evaluations conducted at arm's-length from the Professor/coordinator} and 'subjective' {personal observations on my part; inclass surveys like Stop>Start>Continue}.
Student enrollment will of course be an easy 'objective' measure by which one can gauge how effective the program is; my teaching within; and also my role as Adminstrator {Academic Advisor, Coordinator etc.}. We have in place {many surveys from Course Evaluations already mentioned, to Key Performance Indicator questionnaires that students fill out while in the program and then six months after they have graduated, they are are asked to reflect on their program of study. Here is Padlet that addresses some of those findings. https://padlet.com/sebastf/otgc0dk6j8pl
In discussions with my Chair, Peter Larock, he noted that on the Keystone/Capstone questions the college average for student satisfaction is 70 - 75%. Our program stands at 90%. Very encouraging.
More informal feedback that backs this up are the Adminstrative meetings with the Budget Officer and Chair where our program is a very very strong 'plus/minus' rating.
Informal measurements would be something like setting up a Stop>Start>Continue activity in the class. I usually set up a Padlet and have the students offer their thoughts at the end of a Unit for instance, in order to better address what is working and what is not working when it comes to teaching that information. An example would be this Stop>Start>Continue Padlet
Reading the comments you can see the strengths and weaknesses of this method. As a diagnostic tool, I would assess the Strengths of this measurement to be highly focused versus the course evaluations which are 'generic' questions and deal with the course as a whole. The Stop Start Continue asks them to focus on a narrower set of criteria - what is working for that Unit of study; what is not working for that Unit of Study. This is perhaps more accurate in pin-pointing exactly what needs to be addressed within a specific part of a course. I would posit that another strength would be it clearly demonstrates to the students that they, like their Professor, should be constantly reflecting on their methods and unafraid to accept criticism where warranted. Students appreciate that a Professor is willing to 'listen' and the Stop>Start>Continue does that. It's anonymous through the padlet, so candidness can be achieved.
The weaknesses should be noted: it is a 'poll' if you will - like the course evaluations, many do not bother to volunteer their thoughts so it is a small pocket of reviews and therefore not definitive. It is also offered while the course is ongoing so perhaps students are still wary of being completely candid whereas a post-course evaluation does not perhaps suffer from that taint. As a sidebar, since we've gone to the online course evaluation system, course evaluation surveys have plummeted so Stop>Start>Continue adopts some of the virtues of our old method of paper and pencil filling out forms in class which yielded a higher volume of respondents. Other weaknesses to this method are obvious - some students will post silly comments and/or pictures.
Another 'informal' method of measuring the success of the program and my teaching methods would be the Program Council Meetings we hold once each semester during the midpoint of the term. Class Representatives 'poll' the students and come to these meets with feedback from the students regarding the Program/term. I place this under 'Informal' and not 'Formal' and not as 'objective' as say the other diagnostic measures like the KPI surveys because the Class Representatives are filtering various impressions from various learners then bringing these to our attention. Some Class Representatives may be 'selective' in what they hear - just like some Professors! - and 'hear what they want to hear' while perhaps minimizing contradictory impressions. Some Class Representatives sometimes act as advocates with a certain 'agenda'. Specifically, in my program, I have sat through the Program Council Meetings and the issue of 'not enough Concept Art/too much Illustration content' has been brought up. Yet the KPI surveys indicate a 90% approval. This highlights the strengths and weaknesses of these meetings: they are good for demonstrating transparency to the students but they also show that, as one Professor famously told me once: "the students don't know what they don't know." They are not in industry and their frames of reference are not fully formed. They sometimes suffer from the misconception that a Coordinator 'runs the show' without realizing that before a Diploma program is accepted at the College a costly and detailed Audit is conducted and Ministry guidelines from pre-existing programs act a checks and balances to any individual's ambitions to the contrary.
All of these diagnostics ensure that I will have handy some 'objective' measuring tools to evaluate whether I SOAR in the future.
But fundamentally, there are 'subjective' measurements: how 'happy' am I? do offer 'value' independent of what evaluations say? Put simply: do I live and die by these measuring devices? I was/am a very ambitious individual; very goal-oriented. I still find it painful sometimes to read any negative comments, no matter how innocuous they may be {my wife here, is very helpful, she rolls her eyes now and I know it's time to let it go!} but joking aside there is a truth to this. And I have self-identified as someone who has to get better at not letting the student's emotional rollercoaster ride through an admittedly strenuous program, run over my personal welfare in the process.
SOAR is an acronym from the Corporate world that replaced SWOR and stands for:
S - Strength
O- Opportunities
A - Aspirations
R - Results
This is mandated by The Professor of the 21st Century 1. Modelling professional practice within the discipline of teaching by 1. Identifying your own learning style and how it affects your teaching; 2. Locating and using resources that support teaching practice; 3. Engaging in ongoing development to remain current in your own subject area and in the discipline of teaching; 4. Identifying the impact of your won teaching on student learning; 5. Contributing to a learning culture that encourages continous learning, reflective practice and peer support
The difference between the two is the 'W'/'O'. In the older methodology, the 'W' stood for 'weaknesses' and identifying these as a means towards growth however it was discovered that this led people to 'negative spiraling' as human nature tends to dwell too much on 'weaknesses' and a less 'balanced' perspective as the result. By opting for more of a 'positive' model where you focus on strengths and aspirations, people will be eager to explore and learn if they feel it is rewarding.
I have a confession to make. I'm pretty self-unaware it seems. I do reflect. But for whatever reason, how I perceive myself and my strengths and weaknesses frequently are at odds with the feedback I get from others. I seem haunted by those famous words written by Robert Burns:
"O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!"
We were asked to write out our 'Achievable Aspirations' and How we will be able to Account for these through measurable Results. We wrote these on a piece of paper which we mailed to ourselves. They will eventually appear in our Doorstep at the College.
Achievable Aspirations:
1. Growth: to see the Program grow in numbers; to see it grow in satisfaction to the students, Industry, and my Superiors.
2. Growth: personal and professional. I wish to get better at my craft as an artist AND now as a teacher. My focus in life has shifted from Industry/Artist slowly over time and teaching has come to dominate my self-realization. But I am still teaching in a Technical/Vocational capacity and being an artist is integral to my abilities as a teacher. I wish to reconcile these two visions so that growth in one does not necessarily eclipse the other. I also wish to reconcile how students see me with how I perceive myself - I realize through my upbringing I'm frequenly my own worst critic. I'm more likely to see or perceive my flaws or my limitations etc. - and I need to learn better self-awareness so I'm more effective in identifying when I'm effective and when I'm not in the classroom.
In Course Evaluations, I get feedback that is strange to my self-awareness or self-realization. I always felt I was a 'distant' instructor - not likely to be a 'favorite' among students - because I tried to keep a 'distance' either psychologically or in demeanor. I was loathe until recently to talk much about my personal likes/dislikes or myself as a person in the classroom. This was a 'weakness' I felt. However, I frequently am astonished to read in Course Evaluations that students perceived me as 'warm, friendly, and easy-going'. It has stopped me from really appreciating/enjoying some classes I have taught or perhaps make connections. I would like to be able to shrink that gap. I would like to have better self -awareness within the classroom and outside of the classroom as well.
Measurable results for these Aspirations will vary from the 'objective'{formal surveys and evaluations conducted at arm's-length from the Professor/coordinator} and 'subjective' {personal observations on my part; inclass surveys like Stop>Start>Continue}.
Student enrollment will of course be an easy 'objective' measure by which one can gauge how effective the program is; my teaching within; and also my role as Adminstrator {Academic Advisor, Coordinator etc.}. We have in place {many surveys from Course Evaluations already mentioned, to Key Performance Indicator questionnaires that students fill out while in the program and then six months after they have graduated, they are are asked to reflect on their program of study. Here is Padlet that addresses some of those findings. https://padlet.com/sebastf/otgc0dk6j8pl
In discussions with my Chair, Peter Larock, he noted that on the Keystone/Capstone questions the college average for student satisfaction is 70 - 75%. Our program stands at 90%. Very encouraging.
More informal feedback that backs this up are the Adminstrative meetings with the Budget Officer and Chair where our program is a very very strong 'plus/minus' rating.
Informal measurements would be something like setting up a Stop>Start>Continue activity in the class. I usually set up a Padlet and have the students offer their thoughts at the end of a Unit for instance, in order to better address what is working and what is not working when it comes to teaching that information. An example would be this Stop>Start>Continue Padlet
Reading the comments you can see the strengths and weaknesses of this method. As a diagnostic tool, I would assess the Strengths of this measurement to be highly focused versus the course evaluations which are 'generic' questions and deal with the course as a whole. The Stop Start Continue asks them to focus on a narrower set of criteria - what is working for that Unit of study; what is not working for that Unit of Study. This is perhaps more accurate in pin-pointing exactly what needs to be addressed within a specific part of a course. I would posit that another strength would be it clearly demonstrates to the students that they, like their Professor, should be constantly reflecting on their methods and unafraid to accept criticism where warranted. Students appreciate that a Professor is willing to 'listen' and the Stop>Start>Continue does that. It's anonymous through the padlet, so candidness can be achieved.
The weaknesses should be noted: it is a 'poll' if you will - like the course evaluations, many do not bother to volunteer their thoughts so it is a small pocket of reviews and therefore not definitive. It is also offered while the course is ongoing so perhaps students are still wary of being completely candid whereas a post-course evaluation does not perhaps suffer from that taint. As a sidebar, since we've gone to the online course evaluation system, course evaluation surveys have plummeted so Stop>Start>Continue adopts some of the virtues of our old method of paper and pencil filling out forms in class which yielded a higher volume of respondents. Other weaknesses to this method are obvious - some students will post silly comments and/or pictures.
Another 'informal' method of measuring the success of the program and my teaching methods would be the Program Council Meetings we hold once each semester during the midpoint of the term. Class Representatives 'poll' the students and come to these meets with feedback from the students regarding the Program/term. I place this under 'Informal' and not 'Formal' and not as 'objective' as say the other diagnostic measures like the KPI surveys because the Class Representatives are filtering various impressions from various learners then bringing these to our attention. Some Class Representatives may be 'selective' in what they hear - just like some Professors! - and 'hear what they want to hear' while perhaps minimizing contradictory impressions. Some Class Representatives sometimes act as advocates with a certain 'agenda'. Specifically, in my program, I have sat through the Program Council Meetings and the issue of 'not enough Concept Art/too much Illustration content' has been brought up. Yet the KPI surveys indicate a 90% approval. This highlights the strengths and weaknesses of these meetings: they are good for demonstrating transparency to the students but they also show that, as one Professor famously told me once: "the students don't know what they don't know." They are not in industry and their frames of reference are not fully formed. They sometimes suffer from the misconception that a Coordinator 'runs the show' without realizing that before a Diploma program is accepted at the College a costly and detailed Audit is conducted and Ministry guidelines from pre-existing programs act a checks and balances to any individual's ambitions to the contrary.
All of these diagnostics ensure that I will have handy some 'objective' measuring tools to evaluate whether I SOAR in the future.
But fundamentally, there are 'subjective' measurements: how 'happy' am I? do offer 'value' independent of what evaluations say? Put simply: do I live and die by these measuring devices? I was/am a very ambitious individual; very goal-oriented. I still find it painful sometimes to read any negative comments, no matter how innocuous they may be {my wife here, is very helpful, she rolls her eyes now and I know it's time to let it go!} but joking aside there is a truth to this. And I have self-identified as someone who has to get better at not letting the student's emotional rollercoaster ride through an admittedly strenuous program, run over my personal welfare in the process.
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