How to Use ACPA’s Developments in Work and Class | Boettcher & Luna

In the past few years, we have worked to rebuild Developments as a unique outlet for information and resources for student affairs students, practitioners, and faculty. As a result, we have actively engaged with practitioners and students to prioritize their stories, reflections, programs, initiatives, and work. While we continue to publish some traditional research-based scholarship, Developments is an outlet where other ways of knowing and wisdom are valued and celebrated.

With our push for more practice-oriented writing, we thought it might be helpful to provide some suggestions on how to use Developments in your work and learning. This is a non-comprehensive list of ways to bring this important scholarship into your work. Our hope is that this article will give you some ideas about things to share based on work you have done, your own reflections, and coursework you assign as a faculty member or have completed as a student.

Using Developments Articles

Here are some articles you may find useful in graduate student support, program development, staff development/training, personal reflection, supervision, and teaching.

Graduate Student Support

 As student affairs, academic affairs, and higher education in general have changed and will continue to evolve, graduate students are as important as ever. Supporting them as emerging professionals is important. Equally essential is supporting graduate students as human beings. Here are a few recent articles you might find helpful in your experience as a graduate student or your work supporting graduate students on your campus.

 Program Development

While you may not be looking to replicate each of the programmatic efforts in the following articles, reading about how others introduced new ideas and navigated challenges along the way may be useful. Each of these might be helpful as reflective resources when planning new programs or as a reminder along the way that challenges always come up as we seek to create positive change. Consider:

Staff Development and Training

If you are looking for a short, manageable, but thought-provoking common reading to use with your staff team, a case study may be used to provoke conversation around a particular topic, or a media review to use in connection with additional text, again Developments can help. There are a number of articles throughout the publication related to staff changes and evolutions informed by the COVID-19 pandemic (the June 2020 issue articles are all related to the pandemic). Here are some specific articles you may want to consider:

Articles

Most any Developments article is relevant to staff training and development and could be used in a variety of contexts. Of course, if you are doing something innovative related to staff development, Developments (see what we did there?) would be a great way to share your  practices. However, if you are looking for a few recent examples you might use with your team, here are a few to get you started.

Case Studies

The December 2022 issue of Developments introduced our new annual case study edition. Last year we published 31 cases on topics including academics, activism, activities/programs, campus culture, conflict, graduate students, organizations, politics, and well-being. Written by practitioners, students, and faculty, these cases are valuable across the work and learning of higher education, particularly for those in student-facing positions.

Media Reviews and Guides

We welcome media reviews – books, movies/shows, podcasts, and other resources. Let us know what you are reading, watching, and listening to so we can spread the word. A couple of examples from Developments you might want to consider are:

Reflective Essays

 These articles are some of our favorites. Storytelling is a powerful way to strengthen our connections to one another while making meaning of our experiences. In recent years, we have been honored to have so many of you share your stories and experiences as a way to highlight who we are both individually and communally.

Personal Essays

The stories we tell about who we are, where we come from, and the lessons we have learned are truly gifts we give to one another when we are courageous enough to share. These articles showcase the importance of reflective practice well beyond our graduate school experiences. These pieces are inspirational, provocative, and highly-engaging. A few recent examples include:

ACPA Reflections

Particularly as we approach 100 years of ACPA, reflecting on the organization and our places in it is valuable. The ways we come together in community to celebrate (and sometimes commiserate), (re)connect, and inspire one another is at the heart of ACPA.

And we cannot forget the contribution ACPA Executive Director Chris Moody makes to each issue. A few examples of his insights, provocations, and challenges for us to consider include:

Supervision

Supervision is a crucial element in the work of student affairs practitioners. Again, many of the articles in Developments can be used to guide supervisory conversation and professional development goal-setting. Additionally, there are some articles that speak specifically to supervision practice and staff support. A few of those articles include:

 Teaching

The audience for Developments is primarily graduate students, new professionals, student-facing practitioners, supervisors, and faculty. Almost any article can fit in some course in the student affairs curriculum. Many may also be useful in doctoral programs, as well.

Consider the following examples:

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Articles for Faculty

Graduate Student Transitions

Changing Expectations in Higher Education

Law, Policy, and Ethics

Have Graduate Students Read About Themselves

Writing for Developments

Faculty: Use Writing for Developments as an Assignment

We welcome your suggestions, as well. If you have used an article or articles in your work and learning, email us so that we can share other possible ways of using the Developments publication.

Assignment: Write a case study

We have recently decided to make the Dec/Jan issue of Developments each year a case study issue. After a wonderful first year (we published more than 30 cases by students, staff, and faculty), we are looking to continue the work.

Having students write case studies is a great way to have them incorporate class content, the complexity of the current era of higher education, and engage the larger field of student affairs in wrestling with difficult topics and challenging issues. The guidelines for submitting a case study can be incorporated into the assignment so students can easily take their course assignment and submit it for publication.

Consider using our publication guidelines for the assignment.

  • Include: Title, abstract (100 words), Characters (names, position, pronouns, other relevant identity/position information), Context and Case (1,500 words).
  • Three to five discussion questions related to the issues your case surfaces.
  • References and Resources (if applicable)
  • 1,750 word limit (abstract, characters, context and case)

Here are some sample cases from last year:

Assignment: Explore a Key Issue in Higher Education

As students explore issues in their assistantships, field experiences, and full-time jobs, they are uniquely positioned to identify important issues and how those issues affect different aspects of their work. Assignments that require students to immerse themselves in different topics can often be recrafted as important and engaging articles for Developments.

Dissertation or Thesis: Practice and Policy Implications

Developments can be an accessible place to publish dissertation or thesis results and findings. With a focus on practice, students can share their work with staff across a variety of functional areas, geographical locations, and institutional types. By providing questions, prompts, or considerations in the article, scholars can guide their readers on how to make the most out of the scholarship produced by thesis and dissertation studies.

Collaborations

Another great way to write for Developments is for students, staff, and faculty to submit collaborative work for publication. Bridging knowledge between students, practitioners, and faculty helps to tell a more complete story of what is happening in higher education. These partnerships produce dynamic ideas and provocative points of reflection in connection with their work. Some examples include:

Practitioner and Faculty Collaborations

Student and Faculty Collaborations

Conclusion

We are incredibly proud of the work Developments authors have put into their articles. There is truly a wealth of information and a variety of ways to use that information in our work, professional development, and learning. We hope you find ways to incorporate this information in what you do.

Of course, there are topics that have not been touched in Developments and new issues emerge every day. As you find gaps or identify resources you wish we had in the publication, please consider writing and submitting to continue to build resources and support student and academic affairs professionals. We are happy to partner with you in developing an outline and article for your work.

We welcome your suggestions for how to use Developments, as well. If you have used an article or articles in your work and learning, email us ([email protected]) so that we can share other possible ways of using the publication.

Finally, thanks to all the authors, to those who work with ACPA publications, and to the ACPA leadership who support this publication. A special thanks to Bethany Tognocchi Lyst who is an outstanding partner in our work with the publication, and she brings Developments to you each month through the website.

Keep reading. Keep (or start) writing. Let us know how we can help.

Michelle L. Boettcher (she, her) is an Associate Professor at Clemson University. She studies how higher education practice intersects with law, ethics, and policy particularly in the contexts of career decision-making, DEIAB, popular culture, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and work environments.

Reyes Luna (he, him) is an Executive Director of University Housing Services at Cal Poly Pomona. He is exploring the generational divided in the workplace and in particular the impact on Higher Education. Other areas of interest are Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, First-generation students, Housing, and Support Services. He is always looking for ways to apply theory to practice and assisting with dissertations.