Christopher D. Valentino

Student Learning and Development

 

Throughout my tenure in the CSP program I have tried to keep student learning and development at the center of both my academic coursework and my professional experiences through my internship and summer employment.  My academic coursework has provided me with a firm understanding of student development theory that has fundamentally informed my practice.  As I exit the CSP program my skills pertaining to the student learning and development competency are of an exemplary level.

 

My academic coursework has provided me with a firm understanding of student development theory and the environmental factors that influence learning and growth.  CSP 6020: Theory and Assessment of College Student Development, provided me with the ability to utilize cognitive and psychosocial theories to assess a student’s development and create an appropriate intervention to assist in the student’s growth.  The formal theory paper, the culminating assignment in CSP 6020, was the first time I interviewed students in order to assess their development in relation to a particular developmental theory.  For my paper, I interviewed three students to assess their identity development in terms of Renn’s (2004) theory of multiracial student development.  This assignment helped me develop my ability to create and ask questions to ascertain a student’s developmental perspective.  I utilize this skill throughout my internship experience in conduct meetings as well as in my supervision of resident advisors. 

 

During the summer of 2014 I was employed by San Francisco State University (SF State) in the Department of Residential Life as the Overnight Orientation Coordinator.  While I was at SF State, residential life was undergoing significant staffing turnover and wanted to take advantage of the situation to implement a new programming and community development model.  As such, I was tasked with the research and development of a new community development model for the department.  I was honored and humbled to be tasked with such an assignment, one often reserved for the most seasoned professionals.  Ultimately, the process of creating the new model allowed me to synthesize all the information that I had gained over my first year at BGSU into a coherent working document and guiding philosophy to be utilized by student and professional staff.   

 

Although I was given complete autonomy in the development of the new model, I met individually and in groups with each professional staff member in the department to gather their thoughts and opinions.  Additionally, I met with current student staff members to hear their thoughts on the previous model.  After gathering the opinions of the different stakeholders, I started developing the model by framing it in a student learning paradigm.  I utilized and adapted elements from Learning Reconsidered (NASPA & ACAP, 2004) and the Learning Partnerships Model (Baxter Magolda, 2010) to create a constructivist framework focusing on the development of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and epistemological knowledge.  From this theoretical basis I utilized Astin’s involvement theory (1984) to construct a community development model that primary focuses on promoting meaningful student interactions and reflective thought.  

  

When I presented the final document to the department, it was met with high praise and was going to be adopted in all five residential communities on campus.  Although no formal evaluation of the model has been conducted at SF State, there is general feeling among student and professional staff members that the model is promoting student learning through student engagement and reflective thought (J. Durate, personal communication, March 22, 2015).  Ultimately, the process of crafting the community development model forced me to synthesis and apply student development theory to the structural organization of an entire department.  I have included the communtiy development model below to serve as an artifact to demonstrate my exemplary rating in this competency area. I believe that the GATER Community Development Model reflects my ability to utilize student development theory to design and implement a learning-focused residential programming model. Additionally, it represents my ability to create and assess learning outcomes designed to further the mission of San Francisco State University. 

 

I have also gained significant experience in promoting student learning and development during my second year at BGSU through my internship experience in the Office of Residence Life.   In January and February 2015 I had the chance to serve on the committee tasked with rewriting the curriculum for UNIV 2100: Leading and Learning through the Residential Experience.  This course, commonly known as the RA class, is a credit bearing course designed to introduce incoming resident advisors to some of the skills and knowledge needed for success in the RA position.  In previous years issues of diversity, multiculturalism, and social justice were only discussed in one two hour class session.  Although I initially advocated for the inclusion of social justice topics throughout the syllabus, I was able to expand the lesson on diversity and multiculturalism from one to two class meetings.  I designed the two class sessions to serve as an introduction to topics of privilege, identity, and microagressions in the residential community.  By creating more space for conversations around diversity within the RA class I endeavored to better prepare students to engage in conversations around identity, and difference as well as encouraging them to conduct the introspective reflection needed to build multicultural competence skills.

 

My experiences developing the curriculum for two class meetings of the RA class allowed me to actively utilize my knowledge of student development theory in a formal classroom setting.  For example, my lesson plans utilized scaffold discussion questions designed to push students into dissonance with the hope of achieving a paradigm shift (or second-order change) in their thinking around issues of multiculturalism and diversity (Pope, Reynolds, & Mueller, 2004).

 

In the spring of 2015 I enrolled in HIED 7340: College Teaching and University Teaching which has provided me a great deal of knowledge regarding how to develop, and teach a formal credit bearing academic course.  Within this course, I learned how to structure an academic class to maximize student learning.  Most importantly, this class provided me the opportunity to clarify my philosophical approach to teaching.  Over the course of the semester, I realized that my approach to teaching and student learning is firmly rooted in a constructivist paradigm in which my role, as the instructor, is to help facilitate and guide students in the construction of their own knowledge.  I help students construct their own meaning by utilizing a modified form of the Socratic Method to force students to defend their positions and ideals utilizing appropriate evidence.  My teaching style also helps promote a relativist form of cognitive development by requiring students to utilize and evaluate evidence to support their assertions (Perry, 1981).  I was also able to put my teaching philosophy into practice by designing a complete course syllabus that I hope to teach at some point in my career. Below is a copy of my teaching statement, which summarizes my philosophical and pedagogical approach to formal classroom education. It directly reflects my ability to utilize and apply developmental theories in my work with students.  Ultimately, my time in the CSP program has provided me with a variety of experiences that have enabled me to have an exemplary level of knowledge regarding the student learning and development competency area.