SLD Reflection

The student learning and development (SLD) competency is an important competency area outlined by the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). The goal of the SLD competency is for student affairs practitioners to know and use student development theories in their work (ACPA & NASPA, 2016, p. 30). The use of theories can lead to the “holistic” development of students (ACPA & NASPA, 2016, p. 30), and provide practitioners with a research backed way to work with students. This competency area also includes understanding how different theories relate to and influence student development (ACPA & NASPA, 2016, p. 30). In addition, it is important to realize that our own personal experiences of our development can “bias” our perceptions and we need to consider this when working with students (ACPA & NASPA, 2016, p. 30). Also, the SLD competency involves having the skills to think “abstractly” about one’s lived experiences, and to reflect on one’s “identity, learning, and practice” (ACPA & NASPA, 2016, p. 30). By doing this, a student affairs practitioner can more successfully help students while they are in college.

I am assessing my proficiency in the SLD competency at the foundational level, moving towards the intermediate level since I have experience and knowledge related to multiple intermediate outcomes as well. Some of the foundational outcomes for this competency include conveying theories and models that describe college students’ development (ACPA & NASPA, 2016, p. 30). I have taken the course Student Development and Learning, in which I learned about student development theories and reflected on my own development during college in relation to some of these theories. Reflecting on my own experiences offered me the opportunity to apply some of these theories to my own development during college and effectively “articulate one’s own developmental journey in relation to formal theories” (ACPA & NASPA, 2016, p. 30).

Through my work with students in both my undergraduate and graduate-level experiences, I have been able to observe some methods for working with students that work better than others. Having these opportunities to work with students allowed me to try different methods and see which work better, and then adjust my approach over time based on my observations. Additionally, after taking the Student Development and Learning course mentioned above, I was able to see how some of my observations and methods for working with students were backed by theory and could better identify these associations, achieving the foundational outcome of recognizing one’s informal theories of student development and “how they are informed by formal theories” (ACPA & NASPA, 2016, p. 30). Another foundational outcome is to create learning outcomes for “both daily practice as well as teaching and training activities” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 32). During my first semester in my graduate assistant position at Hilbert College, I created pre-recorded workshops on multiple career development topics. As part of posting these videos, my supervisor tasked me with creating learning outcomes for these videos. By working on this project, I learned how to write these statements and was able to articulate what students could learn from the workshops.

One last foundational outcome for this competency area is to recognize the “dominant perspectives” in student development theories and to look for the “strengths and limitations in applying theories and models to varying student demographic groups” (ACPA & NASPA, 2016, p. 30). One thing that we learned in Student Development and Learning is that we should look at theories through a critical lens and look at the context around which a theory was created. Many early student development theories came from research on groups of white male students and it is important to realize that some of these theories may not apply to students with different identities.

An intermediate outcome for the SLD competency area is to design programs that encourage student learning using student development theories (ACPA & NASPA, 2015). In the Supervised Practice II course, we learned about intentional program planning which included basing part/all of a program on a relevant student development theory. Another intermediate outcome is to use “theory-to-practice models to inform individual or unit practice” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 32). In the Student Development and Learning course, our final assignment was a theory-to-practice paper. In this paper, I described multiple student development theories and discussed different ways I could apply these in my current and future work with students. In this course, we learned about so many theories and this paper allowed me to think of ways I could use theories in practice, which helped me to see these theories as more approachable.

An intermediate proficiency outcome I can work on developing is constructing “effective programs, lesson plans, and syllabi” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 32). While I have had the opportunity to learn how to do this and collaborate with others to develop programs, I can work to further develop this skill by working on larger projects in the future. I can also work to develop my skills in assessing learning outcomes (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 32) since I have had experience developing learning outcomes but not with assessing their effectiveness. To develop this skill, I can look for opportunities in my work to assess the learning outcomes I develop, by asking students questions to gauge their level of understanding.

To further develop my proficiency and be on the way to reaching the advanced proficiency for the SLD competency, I can “Translate theory to diverse audiences… and use it effectively to enhance understanding of the work of student affairs” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 32). By doing this I will be able to effectively use theories and their models with diverse groups of students and others, including colleagues, faculty, parents, and policymakers (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 32). Also, to reach the advanced proficiency level I will need to develop my skills in using student development theories to “inform divisional and institutional policy and practice” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 32). Policies and practices informed by theory will be more likely to serve students and promote their learning and development. To gain proficiency in this skill I can seek out projects to work on that involve developing institutional policy and can work to incorporate theories into the work of my institution ACPA & NASPA, 2015).

The student development and learning competency is arguably one of the most important competency areas outlined by the ACPA and NASPA since it involves incorporating theories of student development and learning into one’s work with students (ACPA & NASPA, 2015). Informing programs with theory is necessary to ensure, to the best of your ability, that the program will have the desired outcomes you intend. As a student affairs practitioner, utilizing theories in my work will be important since they offer an intentional way to support students through their development and the challenges they may face. My assessment of my skills at the foundational proficiency level moving towards the intermediate level will provide me a strong basis in the SLD competency area and room to continue to learn and grow.