“Around the Compass”
One of the events that this admission offices does annually is called Make It Miami. It’s for accepted students – we invite them on campus for an exclusive day of informative learning about the university to “seal the deal.” Our office is very data driven. We conduct surveys after each event to see what our participants liked/disliked and what can be improved. When compiling information to plan next year’s Make It Miami, the Compass Points can be extremely helpful. Given this strategy’s emphasis on decision making it makes for a good “checklist” in event planning. This is a process – not a recipe – to get to the end goal. This process happens every January as we prepare for the 10 Make It Miami events that span from February to April.
“Lesson Plan #1” for adding elements to this event using the Compass Strategy
Activity: adding bus route as an option to see campus
- E – what excites you about this idea? Ability to offer an option to students/family members with disabilities to see the whole campus; option for participants who want to see the whole campus but are tired from a full day of events
- W – what do you find worrisome about this idea? The buses break regularly and are not reliable. Will people even be interested? Is this investment unnecessary? What do we need to cut or reduce to make room in the budget for this?
- N – what else do we need to know? How many people can ride on the bus? What times will be offered? Where will the bus go?
- S – what should the next step in evaluation be? Suggestions? Stance? Given historical data and information received from comment card it seems like a great idea. We can try it for one or two events and see how it is received by the participants
- This strategy allow colleagues the opportunity to discuss the proposal
- Great tool for event planning meetings – explore the pros and cons. Go all around the compass to ensure you’ve researched all the possible outcomes and asked yourself all the necessary questions.
- It’s important to include this MTV strategy because it allows you to keep moving forward. When documenting this process you 1. See the progress you’ve made and it’s encouraging and 2. Knowing the positive and negatives allows you to not fall back in learning/planning
- There is also something to say about the process of writing things down – whether you’re in a classroom or work setting. It’s really easy to forget things floating around in your head. Even the simple task of writing something down can help your brain remember it. I know for myself, I have to write down all my appointments on my paper calendar or I will forget. Usually the simple act of writing helps me remember – I don’t even have to refer back to the calendar. Similarly, with this technique I think there’s something to be said about actually writing down your excitements and concerns. It really does make thinking visible. If it has any impact like the simple act of writing down my appointments in paper form, then MVP will make a huge difference. Not only is there a visual representation of thinking, BUT your brain remembers it too.
- In terms of promoting equity in a work setting, this particular strategy encourages group thinking especially if used in a meeting. The series of questions allows the office to come together to answer them all and devise an event plan together
“Lesson Plan #2” – Explanation Game
- In a weird kind of reverse way, I encourage students who are prospective students to utilize the Explanation Game strategy when completing their application to university. I also use this technique while reading applications.
- The main situation whereas I would use this technique as well as encourage a student to use it on an application would be in situations where the student had extenuating circumstances and it affected their high school performance
- Example: Student suffered from depression and anxiety during their sophomore year *this is a made up scenario*
- Name It – diagnosed with mental illness
- Explain It – treatment caused student to miss multiple classes and fall behind in academics therefore GPA is suffering; student feels though they recovered physically their academics did not fully recover, etc.
- Give reasons – parents got divorced and dog died all in one year; switched schools
- Generate alternatives – student was overwhelmed with high school rigor and couldn’t keep up
- This is a generic example but you get the overall idea
- I also try to use this approach while reading applications to understand where students are coming from (within the context of their school/background)
- Name what has caused this difference in their application
- Explain it with the other information I am given
- Give reason to why they stand out
- Generate alternatives which ultimately leads me to a decision of “admit or deny”
- “The explanation game works well with content that has various parts and features that seem to call out for closer examination, requiring students to make interpretations, and reason with evidence” (Making Things Visible, 102)
- I love this quote because I think this is exactly what we look for in applications especially if it’s similar to the example I gave above. Maybe there’s a discrepancy with the application, but what have you learned from it and are you ready then for a rigorous university like Miami?
- MTV is important because it allows you to see ALL sides of your progress and it holds you accountable to see things from all perspectives
- In promoting equity with this particular situation, it allows me to continue to be a fair application reader
