PERRYS MODEL AND ADVISING MEET Kevin Curry DO NOW! With those - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

PIGTAIL THEORY: WHERE PERRY’S MODEL AND ADVISING MEET Kevin Curry

DO NOW! With those around you, try to determine which year (Fr, So, Jr, Sr) the following students are just by their question: • Isra: Should I major in Psychology, Biology, or Chemistry? • Matthew: Is my schedule correct? • Devon: Should I complete a minor/associate’s degree?

• Understand the difference in student cognitive development using Perry's Scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development (1968) • Identify examples of students at each phase of cognitive development from the questions they ask • Adjust one's advising style given the location of the students on Perry's cognitive development continuum • Recognize how the model may be used with different types of students and within different institution types • Utilize campus resources to aid in nurturing and advancing student cognitive development • One Big Revelation!!!

PIG BIG IDEA • By identifying where a student is on Perry’s Scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development (1968), advisors can better understand the way in which information will be best received by the student they are advising. • Advisors can then adjust their communication to better connect to the student’s needs. • Advisors can use questioning techniques to help students progress in their development.

TWO CONTINUUMS • Perry’s Model • Advising Practices

UNDERSTANDING PERRY’S MODEL • Consists of four stages • Dualism • Multiplicity • Contextual Relativism • Commitment to Contextual Relativism • Concerns veracity of source and information

STAGE 1 DUALISM • Black vs. White • Things are either right or wrong; There is one definitive answer • Dependence on authority for confirmation • My advisor undeniably knows what is best for me • At Orientation: “I just want to make sure my schedule is good.”

STAGE 2 MULTIPLICITY • First indication that ambiguity exists • Growing uncertainty but still strong belief in one absolute answer • Assumption that the authority figure is working to find that one truth • Sophomore Year: “I want to get a job when I graduate but don’t know what to major in”

STAGE 3 CONTEXTUAL RELATIVISM • Change from right/wrong to Good, Better, Best • All ideas are equal but some are more equal than others • Decisions can and should be situational; are made by students • “My whole family are doctors but I am not sure if that’s what I want” • “ I think I would like to study abroad but am not sure what my next steps are.”

STAGE 4 COMMITMENT TO CONTEXTUAL RELATIVISM • 50 Shades of Gray • No one right answer but instead depends on personal beliefs/situation • Acceptance of differing opinions • Willingness to learn/change views • Difficult for a student to reach AND stay at this point by graduation. “I’m going to work for the PeaceCorps after graduation to learn more about Latin America issues so that I’ll be better prepared for graduate school.”

HOW PERRY’S MODEL APPLIES TO ADVISING • Realistically, student will only reach the Commitment stage in areas they have a sustained interest in (which usually isn’t advising). • Goal: Get student to Contextual Relativism in as many areas as possible. • Example : Discussing the differences between major and degree.

ADVISING CONTINUUM • Prescriptive vs Holistic (Developmental) • See worksheet for examples on the differences between the two styles. • Other styles (Appreciative Advising, Advising as Teaching, etc.) but Prescriptive and Holistic are the most directly oppositional and most closely related to Perry’s Model.

PRESCRIPTIVE ADVISING • Academic advisor tells the student what to do, and the student does it. • Most of the responsibility on advisor, not the student. • The advisor is required to have the answers. • Generally acceptable in STEM and Pre-Health Advising • Coursework is rigid and sequential

HOLISTIC (DEVELOPMENTAL) ADVISING • Academic advisor and advisee are partners in educational discovery • Assists students in the clarification of their life/career goals and in the development of educational plans for the realization of these goals. • Responsibility is shared between the participants. • Arguably, most useful technique in building student-advisor relationships

THINK, PAIR, SHARE Place yourself along the advising continuum based on your ‘typical’ advising conversations. Towards which extreme would you like to move towards? Pair up with someone near you Discuss how you may be able to adjust your style

CONSTRUCTING THE PIGTAIL GRAPH

CONSTRUCTING YOUR OWN PIGTAIL GRAPH On your handout, take time to reflect on the growth typical students experience at your institutions. Plot your own pigtail curve. • Include questions which may come up at each step either on or directly next to your graph. • Share with others around you.

APPLYING PIGTAIL THEORY TO ADVISING • Use stereotypes as a starting point ONLY • Adjust questioning based on students current developmental stage • Use questioning to help them grow but be sure to address their question • Making dualistic questions more open-ended could cause confusion

EXAMPLE: FACILITATING GROWTH Topic: I am not sure what to major in (usually freshman or sophomore) Four questions Exercise: Have students answer honestly • T/F I want to study something I enjoy. • T/F I want to work in a field I am interested in. • T/F The major I pick and the career I pursue can be the same thing. • T/F The major I pick and the career I pursue MUST be the same thing. Result: Students confirm in their own words the difference between major and career and are typically less stressed out.

PIGTAIL DIFFERENCES AT DIFFERENT INSTITUTION TYPES Community College: • Less time for students to develop • Fluid participation in advising Urban vs Rural: • External partners/resources • Growth opportunities

PIGTAIL THEORY COLLABORATION • Career services • Helps students realize potential, multiple opportunities • Allows student to establish their own life path • Faculty • Able to challenge students beliefs and knowledge directly • Pivotal in shifting responsibility from ‘authorities’ of institutions to students • Others?

STUDENT CHALLENGES • Misidentifying a students place on the pigtail can result in frustration, being overwhelmed, or wasting student’s energy/time. • Social and cultural capital can dramatically shift students in one direction or another (first-gen vs legacy). • Differences between advisor/institution beliefs and student beliefs.

GROUPSHARE • With the Pigtail Theory in mind, how in the past have you adjusted your advising style or approach during an advising session? • How can you use the Pigtail Theory to adjust your advising philosophy over the long-term? • What institutional resources can help students to develop along the pigtail?

ONE BIG REVELATION Students are not the only dualistic thinkers… advisors are too! Think back to when you first started your job (Is it good to challenge my supervisor or not?) Think about how you train new advisors (Show them just one way to do something) Think about how you explain your job to acquaintances (I help students pick classes, figure out their lives, pick majors) Truth is that even when students graduate they begin their development all over again but in a narrower sense.

FINAL QUESTIONS?

PICTURE CREDIT Stated along with pictures, but also thanks to: Blugo34 via adventuretime.wikia.com • • Wildbrick142 via wildones.wikia.com Domenic Capozzolo via pinterest.com • • http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/the-three-little-pigs/milton-keynes-theatre/ Twitter.com • Cornprone via adventuretime.wikia.com • • Anke Van Wyk via dreamstime.com Alejna via collectingtokens.wordpress.com • • Dpaf via tumblr.com • Jinsmartblue via photobucket.com

SOURCES • http://www.mind-development.eu/understanding.html • https://studentdevelopmenttheory.wordpress.com/thinking-knowing/ • https://www.minotstateu.edu/advising/pdf/PrescriptivevsDevelopmentalAdvising.p df • https://www.missouristate.edu/policy/Op3_26_4_AdvisingTheories.htm

CONTACT INFORMATION Kevin Curry kcurry.pa@gmail.com kcurry@binghamton.edu Please send me any open positions for which you believe I might be qualified for as I am currently job hunting.