Student Technology Consultants

Checking in with the STCs: April 2021

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 20:39:25 +0000

Checking in with the STCs: April 2021 Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/20/2021 - 14:39

Since February, the Student Technology Consultants have been hard at work implementing our student-centered projects, like the STC book club and media content, and faculty-centered projects, like direct consultations and media content. Our new members have really been hitting their stride, and I’m so proud of all this team has been able to accomplish this semester despite the continued strain of pandemic living.

On April 19th, we wrapped the third installment of the STC student book club! MingMing and Cameron led discussions about the implications of Range by David Epstein. Brittney Banaei published the final video in her [Re]defining Success series, a collaboration with Dr. Leslie Blood. MingMing Sun is continuing the Student Survival Guide series with an episode on work triggers, Bookstores, and FutureMe.org. Cameron Fragoso is producing her own content on our podcast feed, Pedagogy Now!, where she interviewed students about how their technology use has shifted due to remote learning and what they’ve done to compensate.

I’ve been providing support for the Innovation Incubator’s Emerge podcast series, which you can listen to on our Pedagogy Now! feed. Brittney and I have also been in the midst of a student writing project consultation, and Sindhu Sadineni has been working on a guide for how faculty members can use Discord to generate more student engagement in the remote classroom.

Now that many of you will be returning to the classroom in the fall, please reach out to us if you have a technology or innovative teaching practice that you’d like to pursue. We are happy to help you through the Technology Integration Program by providing assistance to both you AND your students during the adoption process! Here you can find a list of different technologies that we’ve supported in the past.

I would also love to celebrate several STCs who will be leaving at the end of the semester! Brittney is taking on a new position at the Renée Crown Wellness Institute, where she will be able to help others find wellness resources for themselves and for their relationships. Cameron Fragoso is graduating with her BA in Philosophy and Classics with a minor in Anthropology in May, and Sindhu will be graduating with her BS in Applied Mathematics and a minor in Engineering Management over the summer. Congratulations to these three, and MingMing and I will miss you!

On that note, if you have any students who might be interested in working with our team, please encourage them to reach out to Jacie at Jacie.Moriyama@colorado.edu. The ideal student for this has strong critical thinking skills, can learn new technologies quickly, and feels comfortable working on projects with their peers, with faculty, or on their own. Having experience writing articles, video editing, and/or podcasting is an added bonus.

We hope you have a wonderful summer and look forward to checking in again this fall!

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Join Student Book Club in Reading RANGE by David Epstein

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 21:24:32 +0000

Join Student Book Club in Reading RANGE by David Epstein Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 02/17/2021 - 14:24

No matter what kinds of progress you’ve made, you probably feel behind in some capacity. When there are people your age already starting businesses or writing best-selling books, it’s easy to lament your lack of specialization.

ASSETT’s Student Technology Consultants are running an interactive book club on Range, by David Epstein. We’ll address the myth of the early head start and the benefits of a “sampling period,” where one tries new things and builds range. Learn how this mindset can be more successful (and less stressful) than early specialization! We hope to provide a community for undergraduates in the College of Arts & Sciences to discuss their career and future mindsets.

All four meetings will be held Monday nights, 7-8 p.m. MST, on Zoom. ASSETT will provide Kindle copies of Range to all participants, and the book club will meet for the following schedule:

March 15: This is our introductory virtual meeting. We will distribute the e-books, make brief introductions, and watch a relevant TED talk.
March 22: This will be our first content discussion, focusing on the first third of the book.
April 5: This will be our second content discussion, focusing on the second third of the book.
April 19: This will be our final meeting, where we’ll discuss the final section of the book and overall takeaways.

Interested participants should fill out this form: https://forms.gle/Uu2J4v1QUkYQ8QpW7
E-book codes are limited to twelve participants, all of whom must be a student of or enrolled in a course in the College of Arts & Sciences.

�鶹��Ժ who miss the first meeting are still encouraged to reach out, since there may still be space!

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Catching Up with the STCs: Fall 2020

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 20:16:26 +0000

Catching Up with the STCs: Fall 2020 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/13/2020 - 13:16

Matara Hitchcock

Over the fall semester, the Student Technology Consultants have been continuing to adapt our mission to the remote classroom landscape. What does it mean to help educators and students harness classroom technologies when everything is so virtual? How can we maximize the benefit we provide to students in the College of Arts & Sciences?

One of the ways we did that was through a continuation of our book club. This fall, the STCs led a second book club to help students think about kick-starting their careers and personal lives as young adults. Based on The Defining Decade: Why Your 20’s Matter—And How to Make the Most of Them Now by psychologist Meg Jay, the book club created a virtual space for students to discuss common experiences and anxieties facing young adults. The space to connect with peers was, as many participants emphasized, particularly important during the pandemic when many CU students have limited social contact with others. Read more about the fall student book club.

We’ve also created content that instructors can share or students can engage with on their own. Clara Geoghegan launched the final article, What To Do When Life Doesn’t Go As Planned, in our three-part student success series. (Previous articles include Where Are You Now? and Your Many Futures.) Ming Ming Sun produced the first in our Student Survival Guide video series. These quirky, tongue-in-cheek episodes will go over technology tools and techniques to help students hack their remote learning experience. We recently set up a feed for Pedagogy Now, where you'll be able to find our existing and future podcast content. Take a listen to our intro episode!

The Student Technology Consultants have also been hard at work on upcoming projects like a [re]defining success video series and a digital syllabus system. If you are (or know of) a grad student involved in the educational process who would be interested in sharing about how COVID-19 has affected their academic landscape, ask them to contribute by submitting this form. Undergraduates interested in user experience testing for the digital syllabus project can volunteer to participate by submitting this Google Form.

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Book Club Guides �鶹��Ժ to Make the Most of Their Twenties

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 22:43:15 +0000

Book Club Guides �鶹��Ժ to Make the Most of Their Twenties Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 11/11/2020 - 15:43

Clara Geoghegan

In fall 2020, ASSETT’s Student Technology Consultants led a book club to help students think about kick-starting their careers and personal lives as young adults. Based on The Defining Decade: Why Your 20’s Matter—And How to Make the Most of Them Nowby psychologist Meg Jay, the book club created a virtual space for students to discuss common experiences and anxieties facing young adults. The space to connect with peers was, as many participants emphasized, particularly important during the pandemic when many CU students have limited social contact with others.

The book cites a study of life-span development in which researchers from Boston University and the University of Michigan found that 80 percent of life’s most significant events happen by age 35 and that the most life-defining moments are concentrated during an individual's twenties. As Jay puts it, “as thirty-somethings and beyond we largely either continue with, or correct for, the moves we made during our twenty-something years.” The main takeaways of the book are to not put off important decisions using a “thirty is the new twenty” mentality while also understanding that building a meaningful life and career takes time and will not happen overnight or immediately after graduating college.

The students who participated in the book club were a mix of lower-division undergraduate students and near-graduates with diverse reasons for signing up. As one student explained, she was in a “quarter-life crisis” after changing majors and re-thinking her post-graduation career and education plans. As two others expressed, they were nearing graduation and were unsure how to begin a career or even what professional fields might interest them. Two sophomore students aged eighteen and nineteen said they signed up in order to feel prepared for their twenties.

Book club meetings were minimally structured conversations where participants were able to freely discuss themes of the book that resonated with them or connected to experiences in their personal lives. As multiple students expressed, the book club was a place to connect with peers in the face of the pandemic, which has uprooted the social settings of CU. In an exit survey, participants said that although they had thought about their futures frequently prior to the book club (these are students who signed up for an extracurricular self-help book club—they’re go-getters) the book and discussions were helpful in thinking about their young adult lives moving forward.

The Defining Decade is the second book club led by ASSETT’s Student Technology Consultants. In the spring 2020 semester, the STCs led another student-support book club based on Designing Your Life.

Image: "Books HD" by Abee5 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

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Welcome, Matara Hitchcock!

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 18:08:59 +0000

Welcome, Matara Hitchcock! Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/12/2020 - 12:08

Jacie Moriyama

Please welcome Matara Hitchcock to ASSETT. She’s the manager for the Student Technology Consultants, previously held by Sam Kindick. Sam is still around, but has taken a step back to focus on teaching and scholarship. Matara is currently pursuing an MA/MBA in CU's Department of Theatre & Dance and the Leeds School of Business, with the intention of using informed operational and structural change to create a theatre model focused on longevity, social sustainability, and community engagement. You’ll be able to see her in the leading role of CU’s production of She Kills Monsters, which streams next month!

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What To Do When Life Doesn’t Go As Planned

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 17:33:27 +0000

What To Do When Life Doesn’t Go As Planned Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/01/2020 - 11:33

Clara Geoghegan

How to move forward when the world throws a wrench in your plans

This is the last of a series of three articles written by ASSETT’s Student Technology Consultants to support CU students, especially in uncertain times. Check out our past articles that help you understand where you are now, and thinking about and planning for your many futures.

We can plan for the future as much as we want, but inevitably life will turn in a direction we never could have envisioned.

Maybe you realize that you would hate medical school even though you’re on a pre-med track. Or, you have a bad semester and your grade point average (GPA) drops, affecting your academic career. OR, maybe a global pandemic closes down the campus, shifting classes to online, canceling plans you were excited for, and dramatically changing what your next year will look like. Lots of hypotheticals here.

When a disruptive life event will impact your future, and you need to adjust your goals and plans in response to it, the event can take an even greater emotional toll. The feelings of anxiety and fear of the unknown can often be overwhelming, but being caught in those feelings can make the emotions so intense that they prevent you from moving on and towards a future you are excited for. This is a surface level guide to progressing past disrupting events. There is no right way to continue after a disrupting event, but here are somes steps we suggest; reframing it, learning from it, and incorporating it into your future as a place to start.

Naming how you feel about the situation

When something doesn’t go according to plan in your life, it usually comes with a cloud of emotions that can make understanding the situation difficult.

Begin by sitting with your feelings about the event and naming them. Clearly understanding and accepting how you feel about the situation will make thinking about the next steps easier.

Ask yourself: Are you feeling upset at yourself? Do you feel upset at the world? Are you excited about this change? Are you nervous about the future? Do you feel apathetic? Note that you may feel multiple ways and that your feelings may change over time as well, so checking in with yourself regularly is important.

Take the time to understand your feelings and don’t rush through this important step. It will inform your actions.

Living with extreme emotions is exhausting and can quickly take over your life. If a de-stabilizing life event is causing extreme distress and symptoms, seeking professional psychological help is your best option. These symptoms can include, but are not limited to, changes in sleep, appetite, motivation and declining interest in activities you previously enjoyed.

FYI: CU students are entitled to free counseling sessions (no cap on the number of free sessions during the pandemic) with the Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS). They offer specialized workshops and psychology counselors depending on your need. Currently, most are done virtually. Links and more information on CAPS are included at the end of this article.

Understanding and reframing the situation

The initial feelings we get when life is disrupted often affect our perceptions of what happened. The first step, understanding how you feel emotionally about the disruption, helps you understand how your feelings have affected what reality looks like.

Detangling your feelings from your perception will help you accurately understand what has happened and in some cases make it easier to reframe a situation to prompt action.

For example, if you feel ashamed about a disruption (receiving poor grades, for example), you may not want to seek help from others or you may believe that you are better off addressing the situation on your own. Being ashamed makes neither of those true, but it certainly affects your understanding of what happened and will affect the actions you take in the future.

Or, if you feel overwhelmed by uncertainty (e.g., global pandemic), you may not want to make decisions, since it’s difficult to imagine how the world will look in the future and since your decisions may not pan out.

Once you understand how you feel about a disrupting event, the next step will be reframing the event in a way that allows you to think critically and accurately about what happened. Do not confuse critical thinking with criticism and self-judgment. When we think about negative experiences or failures, it is easy to get into a spiral of self-judgment that is difficult to move on from and produces a skewed understanding of the event.

Start by asking yourself what you learned from the experience about yourself, about others, and about the circumstances surrounding the disruption. Try to think what factors came into play with the disrupting event, and categorize them into factors that you could have changed and those that you could not have changed.

What factors played into having a low GPA semester? Was it affected by the course difficulty, something that you couldn’t have changed? What about your non-academic life, something you could have influenced? Did multiple factors feed into each other?

Now, reframe the situation in a way that allows you to move on. Use what you learned from the event to inform how you envision the future. Some things you can not change, but you can use your new understanding to inform how you approach them next time.

Do you need to change your study techniques next semester, or prioritize school work more? Do you want to explore a new major or career path?

Even if something hasn’t worked out the way you envisioned, knowing more about yourself and the subject is a positive outcome and you can use it to better inform future directions.

In our previous article, we discussed how you have many futures in front of you. See if you can incorporate this change into one of these futures, or see how this change might make a new one.

Taking action that incorporates what you learned from the life disruption and that moves you forward is the best outcome. You don’t need to go through this process entirely alone, and outside input might bring support thinking about the situation and moving on from it. That brings us to a final tip.

Use the resources available to you

The wonderful thing about being at the University of Colorado is the vast amount of resources available to students. When a disrupting event has changed some aspect of your life, getting support or outside input can be incredibly helpful. We’ve put together a list of resources available to CU students that might help you in your academic and career paths, support you personally, and provide a space to pursue new interests and communities.

Academic supports

Writing Center: The writing center is free to all students and gives advice on all things writing. You can schedule a one-on-one appointment with a writing coach, get advice in a drop in writing workshop and learn about grammar, style and composition. If you’re struggling with a written assignment for a class, come here.

Student Academic Success Center (SASC): SASC supports low income and first-generation college students with tutoring programs, specialized courses, academic resources and scholarships.

Academic Success & Achievement Program (ASAP): If you are living on campus (in the dorms) ASAP is included in your room and board fee. They offer small tutoring sessions in a variety of subjects and are currently in digital webinar form.

Internships and post-grad job support

Career Services: Looking to get an internship or land a job to kick-start your career? Career Services offer a variety of services to CU students and alumni, meaning you can still get support free of charge after you graduate. It may feel awkward (or like something your parent would pressure you to do), but getting support from seasoned experts on interviews, vague job positions, and applications really gives you a leg up.

Community and mental health support

Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS): CU’s mental health hub. They offer one-on-one counseling sessions in addition to general workshops to help students manage anxiety, teach healthy habits, and even diffuse COVID-19 specific feelings. Subsets of CAPS offer more specific support for learning disabilities, trauma and substance abuse.

Center for Inclusion and Social Change: The Center offers an inclusive and supportive space for students exploring their identities with community building programs, educational resources, and opportunities to be an involved and informed citizen with many cultures. The Center has offices specific for students of color and first generation college students, women and gender resources and an office for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, and allied students.

International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS): ISSS provides support and resources to international students and researchers, including academic support and scholarship support.

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash.com

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Student Book Club to Explore the "Defining Decade"

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 17:44:47 +0000

Student Book Club to Explore the "Defining Decade" Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/23/2020 - 11:44

Your twenties are often as exciting as they are paralyzing. With your whole life ahead of you, it can be difficult to decide what you want and how to get there. Join ASSETT’s Student Technology Consultants for an interactive book club to help you navigate and make the most of your twenties.

Based around the book The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter -- And How to Make the Most of Them Now by Meg Jay, ASSETT will lead a series of discussions and activities covering common themes in twenty-somethings’ careers, relationships, and mental and physical health. We hope to provide community, connection, and a framework for undergraduates thinking about making the most of their lives and careers during and after college.

All four meetings will be held Wednesday nights from 7-8:30 p.m. on Zoom. The schedule is as follows:

Sept. 16: Virtual orientation meeting to distribute ebooks and exchange brief introductions
Sept. 30: First meeting, covering work, identity capital, the strength of weak ties, social media perceptions, and the customized life
Oct. 14: Second meeting, covering love, picking your family, the cohabitation effect, and being "in like"
Oct. 28: Third and final meeting, covering the brain and body, mental health, physical health, and how good habits will get you ahead

Interested participants should contact Sam Kindick (Samuel.Kindick@colorado.edu). Free ebook codes are available for up to 12 participants. Interested students who may have missed previous meetings are encouraged to reach out as spaces may be still available or other accommodations may be made to include them in the book club.

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Your Many Futures

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 21:19:52 +0000

Your Many Futures Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 07/17/2020 - 15:19

Clara Geoghegan

This article is part of a series written by ASSETT’s Student Technology Consultants to support CU students, especially in uncertain times. Your Many Futures is a follow-up to our previous article, Where Are You Now?

In 2000, psychologists at Stanford and Columbia universities conducted a study on how the number of choices impacts one’s actions. In one experiment, researchers presented shoppers with a display of a limited (6) and extensive (24) display of jam samples in a grocery store to compare how the number of choices impacted a shopper’s purchasing decision. Psychologists found that when faced with more choices, people are less likely to make a decision. With a sample display of six jams, shoppers were more likely to make a purchase than with 24 sample options. Thus - more isn’t always better.

CU undergraduates have a large degree of freedom when it comes to life decisions. We’re told that we can do anything and be anyone. With so many options this freedom is in some ways great and paralyzing at the same time. What if I choose the wrong path? What if I hate what I am doing? What if I never make it in the career I was thinking of? When these thoughts linger in the back of your mind, making any kind of decision becomes incredibly difficult.

But that’s okay. We want to help you break down that thinking.

Treading water

The book The Defining Decade equates this state of decision making paralysis to treading water in the middle of the ocean. When you have infinite options ahead of you, making any decision can feel like being in the middle of the ocean, no land in sight, and having to pick a direction to swim without knowing if you will hit land. But if you don’t pick a direction, you will be stuck where you are, treading water, not moving out of fear of going the wrong way.

Spoiler alert: There is no right direction, but treading water and not making a decision will not work in the long run.

Treading water, or, doing what is comfortable, but not what you want to be doing, in the long run, will not work permanently. For me, treading water was waitressing. I knew I could do it and that it would cover my bills, but I didn’t want to be doing it in ten years.

So how do you start swimming? How do you pick a direction when there are so many possibilities? It’s like the jam sample experiment. You narrow the number of decisions down.

Narrowing down the jam jars

There is no one right answer to what you want to do in life. The average person switches career directions 5-7 times. So get it out of your head that the direction you choose will be the only one available to you. You can try a new flavor of jam if you don’t like the one you chose.

Let’s think about all the possible careers and lives you’ve wanted. Do you want to go to medical school and become a doctor? Great! Write it down. Did you also think it would be fun to open a coffee shop with a cute deli? Also great! You can have wildly different ideas about things you might want to do. There is no one right direction. Try to be open-minded and diverse in your thinking.

Consider non-career ideas that you’ve thought might be fun and make you happy. Do you want to get chickens one day? Or join an amateur soccer team? Get into photography? When planning out your future, incorporate these ideas alongside your career ideas.

Now that you have these possible directions, pick three, and think about what the next five years approaching each idea might look like. Write down what each of the five years could look like for each possible direction. What small actions help you get to the larger goal?

Even though you have multiple five-year plans written out, none of them will likely happen as you planned them out. That is okay. This exercise isn’t an exact recipe, rather, it’s a way to test the waters for all the possible directions you might want to go.

Making moves

Now that you have some ideas about the directions you might want to go, it’s time to take actionable steps.

What small steps get you in the direction you would like to go, these will also give you an informed decision about if these ideas are something you would like to do. If you have thought about pursuing a career in media or public relations, you could take some freelance writing gigs to make connections and get experience. If you thought that you might want to go to vet school after college, you could volunteer at an animal shelter or ask to shadow a veterinarian for a day.

Chances are that these steps won’t pay the bills, and you may need to do these in addition to whatever job keeps you financially stable, but they will inform you about what directions you will be interested in pursuing.

As we discussed earlier, things don’t always go as planned. Maybe you find out the direction you chose is not the one you want to go with in the future. Maybe a global pandemic canceled your internship. When things don’t go as planned, it’s okay. You made a decision, and you are closer to land than if you had only been treading water in place.

If you’d like to start thinking about how to make the best of your future now, the ASSETT book club will be reading Meg Jay’s The Defining Decade. For more information or to sign up, please email Sam Kindick at Kindick@colorado.edu.

Photos by: Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash, Thanti Nguyen on Unsplash, Malgorzata Bujalska on Unsplash, Michal Vrba on Unsplash

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Where Are You Now?

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jul 2020 15:31:26 +0000

Where Are You Now? Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 07/09/2020 - 09:31

Clara Geoghegan

How taking an honest look at your life now can get to the life you want.

This is the first in a series of three articles written by ASSETT’s Student Technology Consultants to support CU students, especially in uncertain times. Look for our future articles, which will explore different ways of thinking about your future(s) and how to move forward when life doesn’t go as planned.

Where are you now? It’s a simple question with an equally simple answer. But when the question changes to "Where are you now, in life?" the answer becomes far more complicated.

Looking at our lives and really assessing where we are right now is tough. An honest, critical, and non-judgmental look, especially if you’re not where you want to be, can be an emotional and overwhelming experience. So much so that it’s often easier to focus on something else.

But, understanding what parts of your life you are happy with and what parts of your life you want to change is the first step in better understanding where you want to be down the road and how to get there.

So, where are you now?

How to start

What all goes into a life on a day-to-day and long-term basis?

In the spring of 2020, ASSETT led a student book club around the book Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. These life categories pulled from both Designing Your Life examples are drawn from ASSETT’s experience working with undergraduates in the book club.

There is work: paid and volunteer, activities that you do because you need to. Love: reciprocal relationships that bring/give joy, strength, and care. Health: Your definition of what is physical and mental well-being. Finally, there is fun: activities which you do, just because they bring you enjoyment.

Start by thinking about each of these categories in your life. Make a list for each category including activities and people you spend time with. If you need help getting started, refer to the image. If something could go into multiple categories, list them in each, and make a note of it.

What is your balance?

Now that you have categorized what parts of your life are work, love, health, and fun, think about how fulfilled you feel with each of these. Self-help books, blogs, and the annoyingly peppy influencer you follow on Instagram all talk about these pieces that go into a life differently and have their own philosophies about them. But these opinions boil down to the same thing—balance.

When any one of these spheres are dominating, or not present enough, it can throw off other aspects of life. This can make you feel overwhelmed, bored, or unhappy. And chances are, if you are in a place right now that you are unhappy with, one of these spheres of life might be out of balance. Taking steps to bring you to a place where you are happy requires that you look at each of these areas separately and together. Be honest with and try not to judge yourself. This step gives you an idea of exactly where you are now, even if it is not where you want to be in the long run. This is the very first step to getting there.

Reflection

There is no one-size-fits-all definition for being overwhelmed or underwhelmed in each of these areas. The best advice for figuring out where you are now is to think about how you feel when you look at those lists in each category. Has work been feeling overwhelming lately? Has it been taking up a lot of mental energy and time? Do you feel like you have been indulging in your hobbies too much, or not enough? Have you felt like you have enough time for your loved ones lately? How is your mental health? How about your physical health?

So where are you now? Does your life feel balanced? Does one area of your life get less attention, or too much?

Checking in later

Where do you want to be? That is also a very difficult question, that has more than one answer. And don’t worry, we’re gonna get into it, just not here. This exercise, centering yourself to understand what your life looks like now, is not a one-and-done step. Checking in with yourself every few months as your life changes is an essential step for thinking about the life you have, the life you want, and what will make you happy. Keep an eye out for ASSETT’s next article which encourages you to picture your future—a future in which there are multiple directions you can go.

Photo by Garrett Sears on Unsplash

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Book Club Supports Undergraduates, Helps Them to ‘Design Their Lives’

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 21:14:28 +0000

Book Club Supports Undergraduates, Helps Them to ‘Design Their Lives’ Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 06/04/2020 - 15:14

Clara Geoghegan

In a book club led by ASSETT Student Technology Consultants, undergraduate students looked toward their futures while at CU and beyond. The program, which was piloted in the spring semester of 2020, was based on Designing Your Life by Stanford professors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. The authors guide readers through a number of exercises designed to craft what they want their future careers, life, love, and fun to look like. Their rounded approach and encouragement to consider your "many lives" (the many possible directions your life could go) promotes creative thinking about one’s future.

“Even if I don't figure out what exactly I want to do, I would like to walk away with a mindset that I can use when approaching new opportunities. I want to know which questions to ask for job or internship positions and how to feel confident in my choices,” explained one participant about why he joined the book club.

Undergraduate students participated in this book club for a variety of reasons. Many wanted a game plan for after graduation, or at least a better idea of what they would like to do. Some wanted the group setting of a book club, to hold them accountable and help them better develop their own ideas about their futures. Some went in without expectations and an open mind.

Originally, the book club consisted of four in-person meetings, with independent reading and exercises. The first meeting was held in person, but after COVID-19 precautions taken by CU Boulder, the following three meetings were held over Zoom.

After the rapid shift to virtual sessions, not all of the original attendees could make the following meetings. For some, classes going virtual meant their commitments had changed and for others, uncertainty with COVID-19 made thinking about the future more taxing. For the remaining participants, however, the independent reading, the exercises to get them thinking about their future, and the group discussions were predominantly helpful. For students, the group setting, feedback from peers, and exercises to facilitate open-minded thinking for the future was helpful for better approaching their futures at CU and beyond.

“It was a good environment to keep me accountable to keep reading and doing the activities, and a good resource to share my findings and reflect on the feedback.”
“Awesome book club! I really enjoyed it and learned a lot of valuable skills. I gave the book to my mom and she’s reading it now.”

ASSETT and the Student Technology Consultants plan to facilitate another student-focused book club in the fall of 2020. The book is still to be determined, but they want to bring back the peer setting, group conversation, and self-reflection for students.

For more information on future book clubs, reach out to Jacie Moriyama, Student Services Portfolio Manager.

Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

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