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The Wordle:A lens on community expectations
The Wordle:A lens on community expectations
A Mosaic of Community Expectations
Learning Outcomes for the Session
Know what a Wordle is and how to create one.
Be able to use the Wordle as a lens through which to discuss community expectations.
www.wordle.net
What is a Wordle???Wordle is a tool for generating word clouds from
text that you provide.
In a word cloud each individual word from the provided text is represented once in the word cloud.
Words are made larger in the word cloud according to the number of times with which they appear in the provided text.
In a Wordle you may tweak your word clouds by adjusting and choosing different fonts, layouts, and color schemes.
www.wordle.net
What did we do with Wordles?“We want you to think of your residence hall
as the neighborhood that you live in, and your hallway is like the street that you live on. The people that surround you are the neighbors that make up your community. We want this to be a place where everyone can live together as you go through your time in college here. To that end we want to know what you expect of this community. In the space below please provide four to five descriptive words that tell us what you want your neighborhood to be like.”
The EOU Hall WordlesAlikut Hall
Daugherty Hall
Hunt Hall
North Hall
The EOU Hall Wordles
How is this a Student Affairs tool?Peers are a prevalent force influencing behavior of college
student’s. In students there exist a compelling drive to “recruit another’s invested regard… who comes into a person’s life maybe be the single greatest factor of influence to what that life becomes.” (Keegan,1982)
The “ability to author one’s thinking, feeling, and social relating is inherent in successful functioning in adult life.” (Baxter Magolda & King, 2007)
First-year college students typically exist between pre-reflective and quasi-reflective thinking. They are just beginning to be open to the concept that “knowledge claims [may be] idiosyncratic to the individual since situational variables dictate that knowing always involves an element of ambiguity.” (King & Kitchener, 1994)
How is this a Student Affairs tool?
◦Community Standards Model as created by Terry Piper at UNLV
◦Similarities Shared creation of standards/self authorship Accountability
◦Differences Power relations “Talk” vs. conversations
Eastern Oregon UniversitySmall, public, 4-year institutionVery rural locationOn-campus student population of
1900Residential population of 470Very high % of first-gen students
What are we doing with them?
Community Guidance
One on Ones (RA Interviews)
Conduct Sanctioning
What results have we seen?
One on Ones:◦ Residents identify the positive aspects of their
experience with what they are seeing in the hall community:
“Social and Interesting pop out to me. I think zero floor in Hunt is a very social place full of interesting people.”
“I like that Alikut is Quiet. I think it’s geared towards upperclassmen who have to study more.”
◦ Residents negatively identify with things in the community expectations they are not seeing in the hall community:
“I don’t see much interaction in Alikut, I wish it was more Friendly.”
“Clean, because the laundry room in Daugherty isn’t clean.”
What results have we seen?Conduct Sanctions:
◦ Reflection over the Wordle was used when the behavior of residents was a disruption of the residence hall community and in violation of the themes expressed as community expectations
“I feel like reflecting over the Wordle gave me a better idea of what others wanted from me, and when I sat down and really looked at it I wanted those things too.”
“It matters to me what others want from me because no one wants to be hated. When I really understood what other people wanted it allowed me to be more social.”
“This helped to me to think about my behavior and understand what others wanted my behavior to be like.”
The limitations and pitfallsWhims of college students-
◦ Can I put “kegger” on there?
Misinterpretations ◦ I was having “fun” when I was doing it.
Missing “teeth”◦ Anyone can say anything when they’re in trouble.
Contradictions ◦ Noisy and Quiet
RA to ResidentQuestions: What concepts did
you contribute?
What word(s) catch your eye? What does this word(s)
mean to you? Do you like or dislike
this/these concept(s)? Agree or disagree with this/these concept(s)?
What connections do you see? Are there any words that go together to form bigger ideas?
Do you see these concepts being lived out in our community? How or how not?
RD to RA Questions: What are the main
themes your residents are looking for?
What are some initiatives you can take or programs you can host to make these concepts play out in the hall?
What problems or contradictions might we see based on the expectations of the residents in your hall?
How do the concepts that you see support the policies we already have in place?
Conduct HearingQuestions: What are the main
themes that you see others in the hall desiring when you look at the Wordle?
Do you think it’s fair of your peers to expect these things?
Are there any contradictions between your behavior and their expectations?
Is the opinion of your peers something that’s important to you? Why or why not?
How to have a Wordle conversation?
Identifying themes
Combining words into concepts
Reflection and evaluation
Role Play
Pair up with someone else in the room and role play a Wordle conversation:
One person be a resident and one person an RA.
One person be a student involved in a conduct incident and one person be a hearings officer.
One person be an RA and one person be a supervisor (RD).
Q & A
