WOU

GROW^®

Guided Reflection on Work

Western Oregon University

Introductions

Please share your:

• name and pronouns
• department
• student employee supervision
• what you are hoping to gain from today’s session.

Agenda

• Enhancing student success through employment and the key role of supervisors

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• Overview of WOU GROW^® initiative and outcomes

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• WOU GROW^® conversation tips and resources

Goals of WOU GROW^®

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• To make student employment a high-impact activity by providing structured opportunities for students to reflect on and integrate what they are learning

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• To help students better articulate what they have learned from their job�
• Originally from University of IOWA - over 150 participating institutions.

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Guided Reflection on Work

• WOU GROW^® uses brief, structured conversations between student employees and their supervisors to help make the learning that is occurring through student employment more “visible” to the students.

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• The conversations focus on 4 key questions about what students are learning and how they are applying their learning.
1. How is this job fitting in with your academics?
2. What are you learning here that’s helping you in school?
3. What are you learning in class that you can apply here at work?
4. Can you give me a couple of examples of things you’ve learned here that you think you’ll use in your chosen profession?

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What does WOU GROW® involve?

• One brief, structured conversations per term
• Guided by the 4 questions. We offer additional questions you can use over time.
• Conversations can be 1:1 or small group (as many as 8 students)
• An average conversation takes 5-10 minutes

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“Not only does GROW illustrate the power of simple reflective practices, but it also underscores how small interventions can have significant outcomes for the undergraduate experience.”

-Felten, et al (2016)

What is high-impact?

• Kuh: Students are most successful in “seamless environments” where they can make connections between classroom and out of classroom experiences

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• High-impact activities are those that allow students to apply learning to real-life, to make connections, to reflect and to integrate learning.

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• Campus jobs can be high-impact for our students with some additional structure from us (supervisors).

Making employment �high-impact

• Identified outcomes (what we want them to know or be able to do)

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• Deliberate reflection

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• “Scaffolding” — using prompts that encourage students to connect previous knowledge and experience to new experiences and knowledge

Specialists in student employment

• Typically, student affairs and academic student services are the largest employers of students. We can be leaders in high-impact student employment.

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• To do this, we must reframe student employment from transactional to transformational, from supervision to mentoring, from cost to investment.

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Supervisors’ role

• Supervisors are educators.

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• As supervisors, you help students learn real-world skills.

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• Many supervisors are already having conversations with their student employees.

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• Through WOU GROW^® supervisors can help make even deeper connections between work and academics.

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WOU GROW^® Outcomes

• Survey is conducted every spring.

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• WOU GROW ^® participants were determined based on their answer to the following question:
• “How often during the school year have you had conversations with your supervisor about connections between your job and your academics? Your supervisor may refer to these as WOU GROW ^® conversations”�

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�WOU GROW^® participants were significantly more likely (p<.01) to agree/strongly agree that their job was helping them attain the following 10 outcomes of student employment:�

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WOU GROW ^® Outcomes vs. WOU Learning Outcomes

WOU GROW ^® Outcomes

• Writing
• Communication skills
• Diversity
• Time management skills
• Conflict negotiation
• Critical thinking
• Prepare for full-time employment
• Learn about career options
• Connections between work and life
• Connections between job and academics 

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WOU’s Undergraduate Learning Outcomes (ULO’s)

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Aligned

• Written Communication 
• Integrative Learning (essence of WOU GROW ^®)
• Diversity
• Inquiry & Analysis  (Critical Thinking)

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Not Aligned

Quantitative Literacy 

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NACE Career Readiness Competencies

• Moving to Career Readiness Competencies used by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)
• https://www.naceweb.org/career-readiness/competencies/career-readiness-defined/
• https://wou.edu/student/files/2022/10/nace-career-readiness-competencies-apr-2021-poster.jpg

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Assessing and Teaching Career Readiness with �Career Readiness + Inventory

Three year license for formative assessment of Career Readiness using Career Readiness Inventory+ (CRI+)

1. National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Career Readiness Competencies
2. Intentional Social Capital
3. Career Mobility Best Practices
4. Life Design Mindsets

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Career Readiness + Inventory - Adry’s Report

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Inventory Intake Form - fill out to request access links to share with students - this gives you access to their responses.

• Use in reflections 1:1 or in group
• Address common lower scores in trainings or professional development

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Please describe one specific way your work as a student employee has positively influenced�your experience at the WOU:

• I have gotten to know more of my peers and makes me feel more connected as part of the WOU community.�
• I have gotten to know my department much more intensely and made connections with staff�
• My work as a student employee has positively influenced my experience at WOU because it's made me feel welcomed, connected, and now belong to a group/organization on campus that I can be proud of and benefit from.

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Please describe one specific skill you have learned as a student employee that contributes to�your success as a WOU student:

• I am good at researching stuff now�
• I have definitely improved my writing and communication skills with others. With my job I have to write emails quite often and it definitely requires me to be an effective communicator as well as have proper grammar and spelling, which are important things when it comes to sending professor emails and writing papers.

Student Employment as �a Retention Strategy

Kuh: Ultimately, retention is relational work. It’s about our relationship with students, their relationships with each other, and their relationship with the institution.

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• Retention: Students employed on campus are retained at higher rates.
• Graduation (4-year & 6-year): Students employed on campus graduate at higher rates. �

NASPA

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Benefits for Supervisors

• When students make connections to the workplace, they are more invested.

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• Invested employees do better work and feel more committed and responsible to you.

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• These conversations also open the line of communication between you and your employees.

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Benefits for Supervisors

“The conversations gave me instant feedback on how the students were coping with balancing both work duties and classes and gave me valuable information on how to help students with any issues they were having. I also found it helpful to see how the students were learning their jobs and relating to other employees in the workplace.”

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Experiences from current WOU GROW supervisors in the room?

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Benefits for Supervisors

“WOU GROW ^® provides a [medium] for developing a deeper relationship with students beyond the workplace. It allows for supervisors to gain an insight into the difficulties and enjoyments that an average student has as part of the college experience.”

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Before the conversation

• Think about what you want your student employees to gain from their work.

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• “By May, I hope the students I supervise are able to….” (do more, do better, know more, know better).

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Discussion

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• What skills/competencies would you like your student employees to gain from their work?

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Before the conversation

• Decide on one-on-one or group conversations.

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• Send out questions about a week ahead of time and let students know you will discuss their responses at your meeting. (I’ll send out WOU GROW reminders)

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• Think about how you can integrate your conversation into any check-ins or one-on-ones with students.

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Having the conversation

• Remind students this is a WOU GROW^® conversation and restate the purpose.

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• Use the four questions to guide the conversation.

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• Take notes to refer to during the next conversation.

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• Familiarize yourself with resources, listed on the website, in case students need referrals.

Conversation tips

• Put the questions into your own words.

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• Weave the questions into your conversation.

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• Use your notes to revisit topics of interest in later conversations.

Example conversation

Iowa GROW: Individual Conversation #1 - YouTube

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https://studentlife.uiowa.edu/initiatives/iowa-grow%C2%AE/implementation/

Continuing the conversation

• Prompt students regarding the skills you have determined they should be learning.

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• Incorporate other questions in addition to the four.

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• Ask students to reflect on their experiences since your last conversation.

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• Mention at the end of the conversation that you will be discussing this again later in the term.

Facilitating group meetings

• Keep groups at eight students or fewer so that everyone has a chance to speak.

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• Make sure to provide questions beforehand so that students come ready to discuss.

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• Encourage students to share with a partner what they are learning at work and how it connects with academics.

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• After partners have shared, have them report back to the group on what they talked about.

Making Referrals

• When a student confides in you about a personal concern, this means they trust you.

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• As a supervisor, you don’t have to solve the problem for them, but just listen and connect them to a resource that can help.

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• Familiarize yourself with resources on the VP of Student Affairs Website Home - Division of Student Affairs (wou.edu)

Anticipating challenges

• What challenges do you anticipate with incorporating WOU GROW^® into your work?

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• What strategies might you use to overcome these challenges?

Practice with a partner

• Conversation Introduction�
• 4 Guiding Questions
• How is this job fitting in with your academics?
• What are you learning here that’s helping you in school?
• What are you learning in class that you can apply here at work?
• Can you give me a couple of examples of things you’ve learned here that you think you’ll use in your chosen profession?�
• Conversation Closing

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Make the role play realistic - feel free to use prompts in handout as a starting point

A “learning-centric” environment

• Use learning language in position listings.
• You will have opportunities to develop . . .
• Add learning-based interview questions
• In what area would you like to grow in this position.
• Talk about learning and WOU GROW^® during onboarding.
• Remind students about the purpose of WOU GROW^® during each conversation.
• Ask students to set a learning goal each term.

Resources

• Supervisor folders
• WOU GROW^® website: http://www.wou.edu/student/wougrow/

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Adry Clark, Director, CPP clarka@wou.edu

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WOU

GROW^®

Guided Reflection on Work

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Welcome to the WOU GROW^® Community!

We will have a check-in meeting in Winter term, to share experiences and learn from each other.

Western Oregon University