Photo Credit: www.cefns.nau.edu
Sniglets
Practice sniglets to become familiar with the concept:
Eyecepa (I se pa) – Swollen, red condition of the eyes as a result of wiping tears away after cutting an onion.
Runtoe (ruhn toh) - The bruising (or blistering) of the second toe as a result of the foot hitting the front of a running shoe, when engaged in physical activity.
Sniglets related to my everyday experiences:
Chronoaccesia (kro no ah sey cea) – The inability to access multiple different website links and receiving the same error (or image) as a result of the error.
Notimora (no tai mor ah) - the technical difficulties encountered during the first one to ten minutes during a meeting, resulting in a delay of the meeting start time.
Auxiliuminor (auk zil ee uhm ee nor) - the phenomena that occurs when a customer’s help request is sent between various support teams without a status update, leaving the previous support team unaware of what action, if any, was taken.
Eyecepa (I se pa) – Swollen, red condition of the eyes as a result of wiping tears away after cutting an onion.
Runtoe (ruhn toh) - The bruising (or blistering) of the second toe as a result of the foot hitting the front of a running shoe, when engaged in physical activity.
Sniglets related to my everyday experiences:
Chronoaccesia (kro no ah sey cea) – The inability to access multiple different website links and receiving the same error (or image) as a result of the error.
Notimora (no tai mor ah) - the technical difficulties encountered during the first one to ten minutes during a meeting, resulting in a delay of the meeting start time.
Auxiliuminor (auk zil ee uhm ee nor) - the phenomena that occurs when a customer’s help request is sent between various support teams without a status update, leaving the previous support team unaware of what action, if any, was taken.
Reframing Ways' Requirements
Background: Stanford’s fairly new general education requirements are labeled the ‘Ways’ (short for Ways of Thinking, Ways of Doing) – a more flexible approach to encourages students to explore and shape their own educational paths and interests when pursuing the University’s general education requirements. Matriculated students must complete 11 Ways courses, in 8 Ways subject areas as one of the requirements for graduation. The Ways eligible courses are determined by the Breath Governance Board (BGB) after faculty members submit their courses for general education approval.
Identifying the current problem: Each year Stanford admits a small population of transfer students who must also complete these Ways requirements prior to graduation. As students are admitted in the Autumn quarter, students are admitted as sophomore transfers (after completing one year at a previous institution) or junior transfers (after completing two years at a previous institution(s)). As these students have on average 2-3 years at Stanford (vs. 4 years for freshmen matriculated students) they must fulfill their Ways requirements in a shorter time period, so they are often requesting courses taken elsewhere to be equivalent to a Stanford Ways requirement. Transfer students may complete all 11 Ways courses in transfer, if deemed equivalent by the BGB. As the BGB reviews all Ways course requests (both submitted by Stanford faculty and transfer students for Ways equivalent on courses taken elsewhere), the BGB can review thousands of courses for approval in a given year. Considering these board members are also Stanford faculty members, these individuals do not have the time or resources to review so many transfer courses for Ways equivalency. Each transfer student usually submits 10-15 courses taken in transfer for Ways approval, in which a course description, syllabus and any additional supporting information is required for the board to review.
As transfer students are admitted in May, this creates a logjam of transfer course requests for Ways equivalency during Spring quarter (also right before graduation when staff resources are already peaked at capacity). Students are anxious to see how many Ways courses they will fulfill in transfer before accepting the offer of admission, and faculty are frantically review Ways transfer courses, while also continuing to teach and engage in their research during Spring quarter.
Reframing the problem: In reviewing the current problem, there are four main issues that stem from the situation above:
1. Time and resources available to review transfer courses for Ways equivalency, in conflict with other faculty assignments
2. Time-sensitive response to pending transfer admitted students who are waiting to see how many general education requirements will be fulfilled at Stanford with coursework taken elsewhere
3. No active database to collect course syllabi/descriptions to assist the BGB in review of these courses
4. Manual entry of Ways transfer courses onto the student record by the Registrar’s Office, after approval
In considering the narrow timelines, lack of staff/faculty resources, and the waiting game for transfer admits, we must consider the purpose of accepting Ways transfer courses. Rather than trying to determine Ways equivalency for courses taken elsewhere, we must get back to the purpose of the Ways of Thinking, Ways of Doing as a unique Stanford experience. The Ways general education requirements simply cannot be fulfilled elsewhere, as this experience is unique to Stanford University. Students design their own exploratory paths in fulfilling their general education requirements, finding courses that are unique to their interests and possible major(s). Rather than placing resources on this massive transfer equivalency effort, we should implement a set of Ways transfer requirements, as follows:
· If you enter Stanford as a sophomore transfer, you must complete 8 Ways courses (one course in each Ways area) by the time you graduate.
· If you enter Stanford as a junior transfer, you must complete 5 Ways courses by the time you graduate.
The ideas above would allow Stanford transfer students to still experience the Ways courses at Stanford, albeit in a few less courses. Stanford faculty and staff would not be in a time crunch to review Ways transfer courses, and can focus all of their energy on reviewing Stanford Ways courses submitted by faculty. Transfer students would not be waiting on their results, but rather know how many Ways courses they must take upon arrival to campus. Out of the transfer student Ways chaos, comes a simple solution to identify Ways requirements for future transfer student cohorts. In brief review, I believe taking a step back from the issue at hand, and identifying the key piece of the Ways implementation (creating a unique Stanford experience through general education requirements), allows us to reframe the problem and address the situation in a much easier, simpler manner. Sometime we all have our blinders on, and forget about the original purpose of a project. It is easy to go down the rabbit hole and then realize that we are at a dead end, similar to the maze example in the Module 3 readings. I believe this is a perfect example of failure to recognize the problem until a year after the Ways implementation. Rather than continue down the rabbit hole, we have identified the issue and more importantly related back to the purpose of ways to reframe and redesign the problem at hand. The back and forth of transfer equivalency created a paper avalanche and increased stress levels on all parties. Focusing back on the original intention of Ways, allows transfer students to engage in this unique experience and limits the time/resources required on behalf of the BGB.
Identifying the current problem: Each year Stanford admits a small population of transfer students who must also complete these Ways requirements prior to graduation. As students are admitted in the Autumn quarter, students are admitted as sophomore transfers (after completing one year at a previous institution) or junior transfers (after completing two years at a previous institution(s)). As these students have on average 2-3 years at Stanford (vs. 4 years for freshmen matriculated students) they must fulfill their Ways requirements in a shorter time period, so they are often requesting courses taken elsewhere to be equivalent to a Stanford Ways requirement. Transfer students may complete all 11 Ways courses in transfer, if deemed equivalent by the BGB. As the BGB reviews all Ways course requests (both submitted by Stanford faculty and transfer students for Ways equivalent on courses taken elsewhere), the BGB can review thousands of courses for approval in a given year. Considering these board members are also Stanford faculty members, these individuals do not have the time or resources to review so many transfer courses for Ways equivalency. Each transfer student usually submits 10-15 courses taken in transfer for Ways approval, in which a course description, syllabus and any additional supporting information is required for the board to review.
As transfer students are admitted in May, this creates a logjam of transfer course requests for Ways equivalency during Spring quarter (also right before graduation when staff resources are already peaked at capacity). Students are anxious to see how many Ways courses they will fulfill in transfer before accepting the offer of admission, and faculty are frantically review Ways transfer courses, while also continuing to teach and engage in their research during Spring quarter.
Reframing the problem: In reviewing the current problem, there are four main issues that stem from the situation above:
1. Time and resources available to review transfer courses for Ways equivalency, in conflict with other faculty assignments
2. Time-sensitive response to pending transfer admitted students who are waiting to see how many general education requirements will be fulfilled at Stanford with coursework taken elsewhere
3. No active database to collect course syllabi/descriptions to assist the BGB in review of these courses
4. Manual entry of Ways transfer courses onto the student record by the Registrar’s Office, after approval
In considering the narrow timelines, lack of staff/faculty resources, and the waiting game for transfer admits, we must consider the purpose of accepting Ways transfer courses. Rather than trying to determine Ways equivalency for courses taken elsewhere, we must get back to the purpose of the Ways of Thinking, Ways of Doing as a unique Stanford experience. The Ways general education requirements simply cannot be fulfilled elsewhere, as this experience is unique to Stanford University. Students design their own exploratory paths in fulfilling their general education requirements, finding courses that are unique to their interests and possible major(s). Rather than placing resources on this massive transfer equivalency effort, we should implement a set of Ways transfer requirements, as follows:
· If you enter Stanford as a sophomore transfer, you must complete 8 Ways courses (one course in each Ways area) by the time you graduate.
· If you enter Stanford as a junior transfer, you must complete 5 Ways courses by the time you graduate.
The ideas above would allow Stanford transfer students to still experience the Ways courses at Stanford, albeit in a few less courses. Stanford faculty and staff would not be in a time crunch to review Ways transfer courses, and can focus all of their energy on reviewing Stanford Ways courses submitted by faculty. Transfer students would not be waiting on their results, but rather know how many Ways courses they must take upon arrival to campus. Out of the transfer student Ways chaos, comes a simple solution to identify Ways requirements for future transfer student cohorts. In brief review, I believe taking a step back from the issue at hand, and identifying the key piece of the Ways implementation (creating a unique Stanford experience through general education requirements), allows us to reframe the problem and address the situation in a much easier, simpler manner. Sometime we all have our blinders on, and forget about the original purpose of a project. It is easy to go down the rabbit hole and then realize that we are at a dead end, similar to the maze example in the Module 3 readings. I believe this is a perfect example of failure to recognize the problem until a year after the Ways implementation. Rather than continue down the rabbit hole, we have identified the issue and more importantly related back to the purpose of ways to reframe and redesign the problem at hand. The back and forth of transfer equivalency created a paper avalanche and increased stress levels on all parties. Focusing back on the original intention of Ways, allows transfer students to engage in this unique experience and limits the time/resources required on behalf of the BGB.