Helping College Students Find Purpose

Helping College Students Find Purpose Today's college students are demanding that their educational experiences address the core questions of meaning and purpose. . . What does it mean to be successful? How will I know what type of career is best for me? Why do I hurt so much when a relationship ends? Why do innocent people have to suffer? Faculty and administrators are in the unique position to make special contributions to their students' search for meaning, and when they work together, everyone on a college campus benefits. Helping College Students Find Purpose provides a theory-to-practice model of meaning-making that enables the entire campus community to participate in the process. Based on a practical how-to approach, the authors outline a series of concrete steps for applying the theory and practice of meaning-making to teaching, leading, administering, and advising. Filled with real-life vignettes, this guidebook includes the background knowledge and proven tools that will help faculty and administrators act as effective mentors to students. While there is no single solution that can meet everyone's needs, the authors provide a series of classroom and cross-campus strategies that are specifically designed to help students successfully navigate their diverse meaning-making activities and effectively enhance their quest for meaning.

"The approaches outlined in this volume will help expand the narrow focus on academic success to include psychological well-being for students and educators alike. It is a must-read for anyone interested in how positive outcomes such as life satisfaction, positive emotion, and meaning and purpose can be optimized in the educational settings." -- Judith Moskowitz, PhD MPH, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, USA, IPPA President 2019-2021 This open access handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the growing field of positive education, featuring a broad range of theoretical, applied, and practice-focused chapters from leading international experts. It demonstrates how positive education offers an approach to understanding learning that blends academic study with life skills such as self-awareness, emotion regulation, healthy mindsets, mindfulness, and positive habits, grounded in the science of wellbeing, to promote character development, optimal functioning, engagement in learning, and resilience. The handbook offers an in-depth understanding and critical consideration of the relevance of positive psychology to education, which encompasses its theoretical foundations, the empirical findings, and the existing educational applications and interventions. The contributors situate wellbeing science within the broader framework of education, considering its implications for teacher training, education and developmental psychology, school administration, policy making, pedagogy, and curriculum studies. This landmark collection will appeal to researchers and practitioners working in positive psychology, educational and school psychology, developmental psychology, education, counselling, social work, and public policy. Margaret (Peggy) L. Kern is Associate Professor at the Centre for Positive Psychology at the University of Melbourne's Graduate School of Education, Australia. Dr Kern is Founding Chair of the Education Division of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA). You can find out more about Dr Kern's work at www.peggykern.org. Michael L. Wehmeyer is Ross and Mariana Beach Distinguished Professor of Special Education; Chair of the Department of Special Education; and Director and Senior Scientist, Beach Center on Disability, at the University of Kansas, United States. Dr Wehmeyer is Publications Lead for the Education Division of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA). He has published more than 450 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and is an author or editor of 42 texts. .

Demonstrates how students and educators can resist narrow, utilitarian views of higher education’s purpose. While the search for meaning and purpose appears to be a constant throughout human history, there are characteristics about our current time period that make this search different from any other previous time, particularly for college students. In this book, Perry L. Glanzer, Jonathan P. Hill, and Byron R. Johnson explore college students’ search for meaning and purpose and the role that higher education plays. To shed empirical light on this complex issue, the authors draw on in-depth interviews with four hundred college students from different types of institutions across the United States. They also analyze three sets of national survey data: the National Study of Youth and Religion, College Students Beliefs and Values, and their own Gallup-conducted survey of 2,500 college students. Their research identifies important social, educational, and cultural influences that shape students’ quests and the answers they find. Arguing against a utilitarian view of education, Glanzer, Hill, and Johnson conclude that colleges and universities can and should cultivate and aid students in their journeys, and they offer suggestions for doing so.

This resource provides an action plan for understanding what a student knows and how to build from it. It shows teachers how to integrate formative assessment, student metacognition, and motivational strategies to make goal setting an integral instructional strategy. It weaves research and case studies with practical strategies to demonstrate how goal setting, with clear learning intentions and scaffolded teacher support, can lead to high learning growth and student agency.

In her new book, prominent professional developer Yvette Jackson focuses on students' strengths, rather than their weaknesses, To reinvigorate educators to inspire learning and high intellectual performance. Through the lens of educational psychology and historical reforms, Jackson responds To The faltering motivation and confidence of educators in terms of its effects on closing the achievement gap. The author seeks to "rekindle the belief in the vast capacity of underachieving urban students," and offers strategies to help educators inspire intellectual performance. Jackson proposes that a paradigm shift towards a focus on strengths will reinvigorate educators' passion for teaching and belief in their ability to raise the intellectual achievement of their students. Jackson addresses how educators can systematically support the development of motivation, reflective and cognitive skills, and high performance when standards and assessments are predisposed to non-conceptual methods. Furthermore, she examines challenges and offers strategies for dealing with cultural disconnects, The influence of new technologies, and language preferences of students.

The best value that the reader will take from this book is the knowledge, skills, and wisdom offered by the editors and 26 chapter authors. The book offers many unique features on how to create a college environment that fosters student learning, growth, development, and supports student success. The book approaches the college environment issue from a philosophical foundation and shows the reader what has made student affairs work increasingly complex. By identifying some major shifts of student affairs work in history, the text demonstrates how student affairs service providers became student affairs educators who actively shape the environment instead of being shaped or reactionary. The book provides insights and implications on how the environmental theories might inform practice and also recommends how to study campus environments. Furthermore, the text clarifies what student access is, explores the primary frameworks used to boost student success, and suggest what student affairs educators should consider when implementing student success initiatives. Additionally, the book addresses the intersection of professional competency areas through campus environment cultivation with social justice and inclusion for diverse student populations. Particularly, the book provides useful and practical examples of how faculty can work with graduate students in training to conduct an assessment of student needs and success. This book is purposely written for those who are training to become student affairs educators and those who are newer in the profession. It not only provides the reader with a theoretical framework, but also some direction on how to create a college environment that is socially justice and inclusive.

The author of Greater Expectations cites rising levels of young people who are entering adulthood without a clear sense of purpose, explaining how parents and educators can productively assist children to discover and responsibly pursue their true interests. Reprint.

In Putting Students First, the authors argue that colleges can and should invest in holistic student development by recognizing and building on the students’ search for purpose in life, intellectually, spiritually, and morally. Based on a study conducted at ten religiously-affiliated schools, the book urges all colleges to rethink their approach to teaching and advising the increasingly diverse students of today; their critical mission should be to prepare students to become ethically responsible and active contributors to society, as well as critical thinkers and skilled professionals. Putting Students First offers perspectives and recommendations in areas of holistic student development such as Understanding millennial college students The role of faculty in defining culture The design and implementation of curriculum The impact of cocurricular involvement Fostering relationships with on-campus and off-campus communities By organizing the campus environment into “4Cs”—culture, curriculum, cocurriculum, and community—the authors create a conceptual framework for faculty, student affairs staff, and administrators to discuss, plan, and create college environments that effectively support the learning and development of students. Each chapter includes an introduction, evidence and analysis, a summary, and questions to help readers consider how to develop students holistically on their own campuses.