1. Rose ASera BSI Leadership Institute June, 2010 I never think it’s my problem alone: the power of networks
2. Lessons Learned from SPECC Action research design: strengths and limitations Flexibility: make space for learning and change The balance between guidelines and creativity Fostering community
3. Why a network? The power of community : The problems we are addressing are bigger than any one person In isolation (classroom/office/campus) you can’t see the dimensions or magnitude of the problem You understand more about your context by seeing other contexts
4. Faculty leaders: a network on campus and beyond Building relationships and trust Learning from experiences Connecting the big picture and fine-grained details Knowing incentives to engage participation Identifying and mentoring potential leaders
5. Mapping your network Who (think organizations and individuals) on your campus -- Has relevant knowledge or skills? Needs to be actively involved ? Needs to be aware of what is happening? Could stop it? Could be helpful? What already exists that you could build on or extend? Where are dragons? Gaps?
6. Network beyond campus Who in the state can help you? Who in this room can help you? What questions would you ask? What stories would help you? How would you find individuals you don’t (yet) know who could be a resource?
Quote from a SPECC professor, the power of a network or community to engage with others, to access have more resources, to broaden your perspectives . And Brock’s finding in interviews with students – you don’t do math alone Quote from Chinese Chef -- not eat alone(finished the book and found out that the classic book was fictional, but liked the quote. Andrew Solomon – Noonday Demons, about depression, in Senegal, because his friend’s then-girlfriend’s sister knew someone who went to school with the daughter – everyone took the time away from the field, snag, dance, drummed, ate, contrasted that with psychologists who came after traumatic events in East Africa, took people into room alone, talked about what was wrong. So we’ll look at things we learned in SPECC, at the intentionality of building networks and the organic nature of connections for the BSI
you may be familiar with the SPECC work – it was an action research project, with 11 CA community colleges, range of locations, sizes, populations, etc. Like the design of BSI– told people whatever they were doing, do more of it, and help us learn from the experience Allow space for flexibility – a flexible system is stronger (bridge in trail, 1100 feet, moves when someone runs) local knowledge, localization, identify and draw on local strengths and expertise And we had enough sites to let us see patterns across settingLimitation, hard to see solid effects across differences, Balance autonomy and contributing to the common goodThe campuses that had the strongest sense of their own direction, story and made this part of their work made the best use of the resources and connected it to other things ( we can’t tell what’s SPECC . The campuses where this was an isolated project, fewer traces. Note that (and this was a lesson I had to learn in the classroom as well) this was a tremendous design for the campuses with the greatest capacity and experience this was the best design, for the campuses where the coordinator was new to the role, where the campus hadn’t had as many grants, where there wasn’t as much infrastructure and network across campus, the lack of guidelines was not as beneficial. Community – chance to see what others are doing,
In addition we were very intentional about bringing campus teams together so that they could learn from each other (based on experiences with other CF programs, now with the BSI , know how powerful that can be) Much as teachers are isolated in their own classrooms, Campuses are isolated, don’t know what’s happening down the road,Don’t know if they are like or unlike other campuses, and no grounds for assumptions. We were warned of localism, and in fact, from our perspective found much commonality. (but that was a lot of the reason we came out with principles rather than prescriptions) The coordinators quickly– from the first conversations-- picked up on what each other said, asked questions, We tried that on our campus, it didn’t work, what are you doing? No posturing - real questions-visited each other, to observe, and when the campus coordinator knew that an outside voice would carry weight,
the faculty coordinators were the single factor in the success of the programs– And often they were a team of two (don’t do leadership alone) – with complementary fields and styles – and were articulate about who would fit which situation and why Grew into and shaped the roles Idea champions, mobilizers, people who know how to make things move on their campus (local knowledge and connection) And the ones who had the most experience (learned a lot, made most of the mistakes possible already) and had mined those experienceshad a network on campus – ally seeking look for the mutual connections Walking across campus with Tom or Brock – would take half an hour (or more if we let it) knew everyone from entering to offices all over campus – Quote – p 9 inseparable mix Know who their colllagues are, know who their students are, Looking for mentors and looking for possible leaders
Let’s hear some of your topics, specific enough to draw a map Draw a schema/ map/ graphic of who on your campus needs to be part of this effortMyth : That English mapmakers formerly placed the phrase "here be dragons" at the edges of their known world"Here be dragons" is a phrase used to denote dangerous or unexplored territories, in imitation of the medieval practice of putting sea serpents and other mythological creatures in blank areas of maps.Take20 minutes, see where we are Find someone with a similar issue or topic, compare maps
Since I started with food quote and nutrition was my first field –