Important Adult Education Organizations

Erin Commented on Group 1 and 3

Petra commented on Group 1 and 5

Petra: Introduction and Roles and Responsibilities of Educational Orgnaizations

Erin: Discussion, summary table, and references

Important Adult Education Organizations

Petra Davison and Erin Rusher, Ball State University

Introduction

There are professional organizations, or learning organizations, for nearly every profession or area of interest. A professional organization is a synergistic group, meaning that the effect of a collection of people is greater than just one person. A learning organization, as defined by Watkins and Marsick (1994), is one that learns continuously and can "transform" itself as it empowers the people, encourages collaboration and team learning, promotes open dialogue, and acknowledges the interdependence of individuals and the organization. Watkins and Marsick (1993; 1996) identified core practices of a learning organization at the individual, group, and organizational levels: (1) creating continuous learning opportunities; (2) promoting inquiry and dialogue; (3) encouraging collaboration and team learning; (4) creating systems to capture and share learning; (5) empowering people toward a collective vision; (6) connecting the organization to its environment; and (7) providing strategic leadership for learning.

            Senge (1990) argues that a learning organization possesses not only an adaptive capacity but also “generativity”—that is, the ability to create alternative futures. Senge identifies the five disciplines that a learning organization should possess: 1) team learning—emphasis on the learning activities of the group rather than on the development of a team process; 2) shared visions—ability to unearth shared “pictures of the future” that foster genuine commitment and enrollment rather than compliance; 3) mental models—deeply held internal images of how the world works; 4) personal mastery—continually clarifying and deepening personal vision, focusing energies, developing patience, and seeing reality objectively; and 5) system thinking—ability to see interrelationships rather than linear cause-effect chains (1990).

Pedler, Burgoyne, and Boydell (1991) state that an organization that facilitates the learning of all of its members and continuously transforms itself in order to meet its strategic goals.  Senge (1990) echoes this sentiment: an organization's commitment to and capacity for learning can be no greater than that of its members. Building an organization that can truly learn cannot be accomplished without developing a learning culture where people can learn and think. Learning is a continuous, strategically used process, integrated with and running parallel to work. Learning is built into work planning, career paths, and performance awards (Watkins & Marsick, 1995). Within a learning culture, critical reflection can provide a foundation for dialogue which, when developed, can teach employees at all levels to go beyond their understanding of their assumptions and gain insight to a "larger pool" of meaning for inquiry and feedback (Marsick, 1994). People share their learning with others through networked structures and teams and they are empowered to make decisions that affect their jobs. This paper is going to look at two professional organizations, or learning organizations, that not only support but have greatly impacted the development of adult education: American College Personnel Association (ACPA) and the National Association of Student Personnel Administration (NASPA).

 American College Personnel Association (ACPA) is headquartered in Washington, D.C. at the National Center for Higher Education. It is the leading comprehensive student affairs association that advances student affairs and engages students for a lifetime of learning and discovery (ACPA, 2014). ACPA, founded in 1924 by May L. Cheney, has nearly 7,500 members representing 1,200 private and public institutions from across the U.S. and around the world. ACPA members include graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in student affairs/higher education administration programs, faculty, and student affairs educators, from entry level to senior student affairs officers, and organizations and companies that are engaged in the campus marketplace (ACPA, 2014). 

Vision: ACPA leads the student affairs profession and the higher education community in providing outreach, advocacy, research, and professional development to foster college student learning (ACPA,, 2014).

Mission: ACPA supports and fosters college student learning through the generation and dissemination of knowledge, which informs policies, practices and programs for student affairs professionals and the higher education community (ACPA, 2014). The mission of ACPA is founded on, and implements, the following core values of the Association:

•         Education and development of the total student;

•         Diversity, multicultural competence and human dignity;

•         Inclusiveness in and access to association-wide involvement and decision-making;

•         Free and open exchange of ideas in a context of mutual respect;

•         Advancement and dissemination of knowledge relevant to college students and their learning, and the effectiveness of student affairs and student services professionals and their institutions;

•         Continuous professional development and personal growth of student affairs and student services professionals that includes the development of effective administrative leadership and management skills;

•         Outreach and advocacy on issues of concern to students, student affairs and services professionals and the higher and tertiary education community, including affirmative action and other policy issues.

            The National Association of Student Personnel Administration (NASPA) was founded 95 years ago by six men at the University of Wisconsin. What would eventually become known as NASPA was originally dreamt up by Dean Robert Rienow and Dean Thomas Arkle Clark in December 1918 and founded in January 1919 as the “Conference of Deans and Advisers of Men” (NASPA, 2014). NASPA’s first president, Dean Scott Goodman, hosted the inaugural meeting at the University of Wisconsin in the fall of 1918 to discuss establishing a group to support student personnel at colleges and universities. NASPA has since grown to become a diverse international organization with over 13,000 members in all 50 states, 25 countries, and in 8 US territories.

            In 1951, NASPA decided to broaden its borders and actively began seeking new members.  The purpose of the expanded association was “to discuss and study the most effective methods of aiding students in their intellectual, social, moral, and personal development” (NASPA, 2014). Over the next 60 years, NASPA became the organization that it is today. The concept of the Regions was formalized in the 1960s to create a local way for members to meet, network and support their roles on campus. In 1976, Alice Manicur was elected as the first female president, followed by the first minority president, Bob E. Leach, in 1985. The first permanent national office was established at Portland State University, moved from Oregon to Ohio, and finally arrived in Washington, DC.  In 2000, the NASPA Networks evolved into Knowledge Communities in order to create and disseminate knowledge to student affairs professionals throughout the world (NASPA, 2014).

Mission: To be the principal source of leadership, scholarship, professional development, and advocacy for student affairs.

Vision: NASPA is the leading voice for the student affairs profession worldwide. They follow four guiding principles: 1) Integrity – committed to high moral principles exhibiting authentic, honest, just, and ethical behavior; 2) Innovation – continuously seeking improvement through new and creative approaches; 3) Inclusion – seeking ways to ensure access, voice, acknowledgement, opportunity, and participation at all levels; and 4) Inquiry – supporting research and scholarship to add to the knowledge base of the profession and ensure that data informs practice.

Roles and Responsibilities

            ACPA has continued to grow and develop as an organization. The past six years have been transformational for the organization. With the expansion of the state and international divisions within the Association, ACPA added a tagline to better reflect its purpose and membership to ACPA - College Student Educators International. Additionally, the international office staffing has grown to meet the expanding needs of members. With new membership types (undergraduate and graduate), commissions, standing committees, state divisions, and international divisions, ACPA continues to serve student affairs educators around the world (ACPA, 2014).

            In addition to the growth of staff and in membership, ACPA entered the 21^st century with cutting-edge technology and outstanding new professional development resources. In partnership with NASPA, ACPA published Learning Reconsidered and Learning Reconsidered 2 as resources for campuses developing learning outcomes. Assessment Skills and Knowledge (ASK) Standards were published in 2007 and the Professional Competencies in 2009. Furthermore, ACPA’s commitment to educators is evident with the success of many new professional development opportunities such as; the Mid-Level Management Institute, Residence Curriculum Institute, the Leadership Educators Institute, the Institute on Sustainability, the conference on Multiracial and Multiple Identities, and the Senior Student Affairs Officers Symposium (ACPA, 2014).

ACPA’s role is to foster college student learning by working with student affairs professionals and the higher education community by generating and disseminating knowledge, informs members of policy, practices and programs through conferences, webinars, symposiums, publications, books and media, research, on-line community, and networking (ACPA, 2014).  Student affairs professionals who are ACPA members have the following responsibilities: 1) professional responsibility and competencies; 2) student learning and development; 3) responsibility to the institution; and 4) responsibility to society.

NASPA is the leading association for the advancement, health, and sustainability of the student affairs profession. They serve a full range of professionals who provide programs, experiences, and services that cultivate student learning and success in concert with the mission of our colleges and universities. Through high-quality professional development, strong policy advocacy, and substantive research to inform practice, NASPA meets the diverse needs and invests in realizing the potential of all its members under four guiding principles: 1) build the capacity to create knowledge and use data to provide evidence that will support excellence in practice; 2) lead advocacy efforts that shape the changing landscape of higher education; 3) launch an initiative to collaborate with student affairs worldwide; and 4) strengthen NASPA by making it a more responsive, vital, and sustainable organization.  NASPA members serve a variety of functions and roles, including the vice president and dean for student life, as well as professionals working within housing and residence life, student unions, student activities, counseling, career development, orientation, enrollment management, racial and ethnic minority support services, and retention and assessment (NASPA, 2014).

NASPA’s strategic plan, which was approved in 2011, is the product of feedback from member surveys, their communities, and other constituent groups. It is both aspirational and sustainable with a long-term strategic view and relevant goals to achieve over a three year timeframe.  By 2013, NASPA will have firmly established itself as the leading student affairs association thanks to the variety of programs and offerings, professional staff, and, most importantly, the continued support of its leadership and members (NASPA, 2014). NASPA recognizes and appreciates diversity in relation to, and across the intersections of, race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, veteran status, age, socioeconomic status, and disability. Believing in inclusive environments, they emphasize the importance of understanding, approaching, and owning diversity and equity from a personal, interpersonal, institutional, and global level (NASPA, 2014).

Discussion

            ACPA and NASPA are organizations that were created to support and foster student affairs within secondary education institutions. They partnered together to create a practical guide to implementing a campus-wide focus on the student experience called Learning Reconsidered, Volumes I & II. Introduced at the NASPA and ACPA annual conferences in March 2004, Learning Reconsidered: A Campus-Wide Focus on the Student Experience elicited an enthusiastic response that has been sustained through more than two years of discussion, debate, conference presentations, and professional workshops. Volume II was written to create the blueprint for the dialogue, tools, and materials that educators can utilize with their students (Keeling, 2006).  Learning Reconsidered, Volume II contains a “map” of a campus as a learning system. The student is at the center of the system as a person who engages in behavior, makes meaning of experiences and new information, and uses cognition and affect to engage the environment.  Meaning-making processes are critical for transformative learning. An educator’s understanding of learning needs and processes must deepen as new methods of helping people learn are designed (Keeling, 2006). In fact, in the United States Department of Education’s Strategic Plan for 2011 – 2014, sub-goal 1.2 is quality: foster institutional quality, accountability, and transparency to ensure that postsecondary education credentials represent effective preparation for students to excel in a global society and a changing economy. This sub-goal includes the continuation of supporting teacher preparation initiatives on the state-level in order to transform how we recruit and prepare teachers. Under this plan, teacher preparation programs will be held to a clear standard of quality that includes, but is not limited to, their record of preparing and placing teachers who deliver results for students. To obtain the results we want as a society, we must make sure our educators are trained and providing current, reliable, and relatable information to our student force(s).

            A core value of both the ACPA and the NASPA is honoring diversity, multicultural competence and human dignity. The concepts of diversity include being aware of personal bias, valuing the differences in human interaction, and fostering inclusiveness (NASPA, 2014). Merriam and Brockett (1997) discuss diversity by applying it into the context of opportunity. Whether or not an adult has access to learning opportunities is also shaped by what Cropley (1989) calls “framework conditions”, which “are largely a function of the circumstances in which people live, especially of factors such as the values, attitudes, habits, priorities and the like of the social groups to which they belong, the economic structure of their society, even features of the education system itself”. As a result of these conditions, some individuals are more equal than others in the choices available to them. How to intervene effectively to counteract this divisive process is one of the major policy issues for the coming decade (Merriam & Brockett, 1997). Organizations such as ACPA and NASPA provide the base for such advocacy.

Summary Table

	ACPA	NASPA
YEAR IT WAS FOUNDED	1924	1919
MISSION AND GOALS	ACPA supports and fosters college student learning through the generation and dissemination of knowledge, which informs policies, practices and programs for student affairs professionals and the higher education community. The mission of ACPA is founded on, and implements, the following core values of the Association: -          Education and development of the total student; -          Diversity, multicultural competence and human dignity; -          Inclusiveness in and access to association-wide involvement and decision-making; -          Free and open exchange of ideas in a context of mutual respect; -          Advancement and dissemination of knowledge relevant to college students and their learning, and the effectiveness of student affairs and student services professionals and their institutions; -          Continuous professional development and personal growth of student affairs and student services professionals that includes the development of effective administrative leadership and management skills; -          Outreach and advocacy on issues of concern to students, student affairs and services professionals and the higher and tertiary education community, including affirmative action and other policy issues.	To be the principal source of leadership, scholarship, professional development, and advocacy for student affairs. They follow four guiding principles: 1) Integrity – committed to high moral principles exhibiting authentic, honest, just, and ethical behavior; 2) Innovation – continuously seeking improvement through new and creative approaches; 3) Inclusion – seeking ways to ensure access, voice, acknowledgement, opportunity, and participation at all levels; and 4) Inquiry – supporting research and scholarship to add to the knowledge base of the profession and ensure that data informs practice.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES	ACPA’s role is to foster college student learning by working with student affairs professionals and the higher education community by generating and disseminating knowledge, informs members of policy, practices and programs through conferences, webinars, symposiums, publications, books and media, research, on-line community, and networking.  Student affairs professionals who are ACPA members have the following responsibilities: 1) professional responsibility and competencies; 2) student learning and development; 3) responsibility to the institution; and 4) responsibility to society.	NASPA meets the diverse needs and invests in realizing the potential of all its members under four guiding principles: 1) build the capacity to create knowledge and use data to provide evidence that will support excellence in practice; 2) lead advocacy efforts that shape the changing landscape of higher education; 3) launch an initiative to collaborate with student affairs worldwide; and 4) strengthen NASPA by making it a more responsive, vital, and sustainable organization.  NASPA members serve a variety of functions and roles, including the vice president and dean for student life, as well as professionals working within housing and residence life, student unions, student activities, counseling, career development, orientation, enrollment management, racial and ethnic minority support services, and retention and assessment.
IMPACT	ACPA entered the 21st century with cutting-edge technology and outstanding new professional development resources. In partnership with NASPA, ACPA published Learning Reconsidered and Learning Reconsidered 2 as resources for campuses developing learning outcomes. Assessment Skills and Knowledge (ASK) Standards were published in 2007 and the Professional Competencies in 2009. Furthermore, ACPA’s commitment to educators is evident with the success of many new professional development opportunities such as; the Mid-Level Management Institute, Residence Curriculum Institute, the Leadership Educators Institute, the Institute on Sustainability, the conference on Multiracial and Multiple Identities, and the Senior Student Affairs Officers Symposium.	By 2013, NASPA will have firmly established itself as the leading student affairs association thanks to the variety of programs and offerings, professional staff, and, most importantly, the continued support of its leadership and members. NASPA recognizes and appreciates diversity in relation to, and across the intersections of, race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, veteran status, age, socioeconomic status, and disability. Believing in inclusive environments, they emphasize the importance of understanding, approaching, and owning diversity and equity from a personal, interpersonal, institutional, and global level.
IMPLICATIONS	Introduced at the NASPA and ACPA annual conferences in March 2004, Learning Reconsidered: A Campus-Wide Focus on the Student Experience elicited an enthusiastic response that has been sustained through more than two years of discussion, debate, conference presentations, and professional workshops. Volume II was written to create the blueprint for the dialogue, tools, and materials that educators can utilize with their students.  Learning Reconsidered, Volume II contains a “map” of a campus as a learning system. The student is at the center of the system as a person who engages in behavior, makes meaning of experiences and new information, and uses cognition and affect to engage the environment.  Meaning-making processes are critical for transformative learning. An educator’s understanding of learning needs and processes must deepen as new methods of helping people learn are designed.	A core value of both the ACPA and the NASPA is honoring diversity, multicultural competence and human dignity. The concepts of diversity include being aware of personal bias, valuing the differences in human interaction, and fostering inclusiveness. These organizations provide a solid base for advocating diversity.

References

ACPA – College Student Educators International (2014). Who we are. Retrieved from http://www.acpa.nche.edu

Cropley, A. J. (1989). Factors in participation. New York: Pergamon Press.

Keeling, R. (2006). Learning reconsidered 2: Implementing a campus-wide focus on the student experience. Washington, DC: authors. Available at www.naspa.org and www.acpa.nche.edu

Marsick, V. (1990). Fostering critical reflection in adulthood. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Marsick, V. and Watkins, K. (1994). The learning organization: An integrative vision for HRD. Human Resource Quarterly, 5, 353-360.

Merriam, S. B., & Brockett, R. G. (1997). The profession and practice of adult education. San Franciso: Jossey-Bass.

NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (2014). The leading voice for the student affairs profession worldwide. Retrieved from http://www.naspa.org

Pedler, M., Burgoyne, J., & Boydell, T. (1991). The learning company: A strategy for sustainable development. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Random House.

United States Department of Education (2012). United States Department of Education strategic plan for fiscal years 2011 – 2014. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/reports/strat/index.html?src=ln

Watkins, K. E., & Marsick, V. J. (1993). Sculpting the learning organization: Lessons in the art and science of systemic change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Watkins, K. E., & Marsick, V. J. (1996). In action: Creating the learning organization. Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development.