Technology (TECH)
The Technology (TECH) professional competency seeks to ensure that higher education and student affairs educators obtain necessary proficiencies in technology as the integration of technology systems have proven to be essential for both student accessibility and functionality of departments (ACPA & NASPA, 2015). Higher education and the student demographics in these institutions are constantly evolving and the necessary functions to support them require innovative strategy, such as proficiency in the TECH competency. From integrating courses into online models using software to strengthen departmental online accessibility and presence to better connect with the students in this digital age of education, this competency holds a clear advantage when an institution provides proper TECH-related training to staff and faculty. This competency is an important tool that adds functional mobility for institutions to collect feedback and engagement statistics, but it also has a broader focus on diversifying the tools used to engage students in their learning environments (ACPA & NASPA, 2015). An institution which fails to take advantage of the TECH competency benefits risk creating a gap between the institution and its student population, as technology and innovative approaches to student learning become the expectation of student affairs educators the more students will expect these proficiencies and frustration can growth across departments when these expectations are not met .
My proficiency level for the TECH competency is at the intermediate level due to my various roles and experiences utilizing and integrating technological and accessible materials in both professional and academic settings. While serving in my role as the Coordinating Officer for Marketing and Technology (COMT, pronounced “comet”) on the regional board for the Intermountain Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls (IACURH), I was responsible for cross-regional communication via websites, social media accounts, and newsletters which were used to communicate with out 25 affiliated schools totaling to around 500+ student leaders and professional staff advisors. It was a necessity and legal obligation for the work that I published to represent the IACURH region to follow in accordance with accessibility guidelines as IACURH is a regional affiliate of the National Association of College and University Residence Halls (NACURH). This experience exemplifies my proficiency of the outcome, “Generate a wide and varied array of digital strategies for enhancing educational interventions with multimedia, interactive tools, and creativity-enhancing technologies” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015).
Another experience that supports my intermediate proficiency in the TECH competency would be my website portfolio created for HEA 624 : Supervised Practice I. Within this course, I was tasked with creating a web-portfolio to demonstrate my understanding of the student affairs profession through articulation of the ACPA and NASPA competencies, blog posts on related topics, uploaded resume, and an uploaded professional development plan. To complete this assignment, I became familiar with the website WordPress. While I have a lot of experience working with website software such as Wix and Google Sites, I wanted to challenge myself to learn a new platform, so I chose WordPress as it is targeted towards more advanced website builders. I also spent a lot of time curating the layout and user-interface of my website to effectively showcase who I am as a student affairs educator while being able to easily navigate through each section. This academic project displays my proficiency in the outcome of, “Proactively cultivate a digital identity, presence, and reputation for one’s self and by students that models appropriate online behavior and positive engagement with others in virtual communities” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015).
While I have been in many learning environments that promoted the development of my TECH competency proficiency, I know that there many more opportunities that I can seek out to develop this proficiency to mastery. While I had several opportunities to run social media accounts for different organizations in my undergraduate career at the University of Arizona, I have had minimal interaction with running a social media account since beginning graduate school. To continue growing my social media literacy, it will be important for me to seek out opportunities with different on-campus organizations to connect this experience to being a student affairs practitioner. I plan to seek these opportunities specifically within my roles in residence life, as a HESAA student intern, and hopefully if I can join the Graduate Student Association, I would like to assist with their social media engagement . Additionally, I have been asked to help with the implementation of various data-storing Microsoft excel sheets and forms for residence life, this will assist my development of the outcome, “Engage in systematic practices aimed at ensuring students and professionals across all demographics have access to technological resources and are educated in their intelligent use and implementation for solving problems and enhancing learning” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015). I have a passion for creating accessible student resources to promote successful student learning and a desire to continue learning how to integrate innovative systems into the departments I serve in, so mastering the TECH competency is essential to meet my ambitions.
Artifact
Intermountain Affiliate for College and University Residence Halls (IACURH) Website
This is the IACURH website template and design that I created for the regional board to use. This was created after I began my first term on the regional board, it was requested by the regional advisors that I create an entirely new website layout to be more cohesive with the National Association for College and University Residence Halls (NACURH) digital presence.
References
American College Personnel Association & National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. (2015). ACPA/NASPA professional competency areas for student affairs educators. Washington, DC: Authors. Retrieved from: https://www.naspa.org/images/uploads/main/ACPA_NASPA_Professional_Competencies_FINAL.pdf