Running head: FRINDLES

Frindles
Derek Smith
University at Buffalo
February 2, 2015

Chapter 1
Evans, N. J., Forney, D. S., Guido-DiBrito, F. M., Patton, L. D., & Renn, K. A. (1998).
Definitions and historical roots of student development. In Student development in
college: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 5-21). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers

Student Development has always existed but in different forms.

There are two different types of arguments that scholars have concluded surrounding
student development theory.
One scholar believes that human development theory is consistent from age to age while
the other argues that student development is dependent in the era in which the students
live in. I would agree with the scholar that believes students develop based on their
environment and not based on the age to age.
Some scholars argue that student environments and conditions change that create
different circumstances and we need to take into consideration in which the student
develops within this scenario.
Again, I would side on the latter because yes, the theory may be in place, environments
on college campuses are always changing and present new challenges and information
that we need to learn and adopts to serve the student.
Student development is defined by Rodgers as the ways in which a student grows and
progresses to increase their capabilities through enrollment in higher education.
In analyzing the definition presented by Rodgers, I feel like it was too vague.
Student Development is the growth process that allows the individual to grow through
different experiences. This can be through different involvements on campus,
interactions, and experiences that a student may encounter at an institution.
Something that I was a little confused about during the readings was the difference
between development and change?
Rodgers also mentioned Student Development growth as a result of enrollment in a
higher education institution.
Student Development is also known as a philosophy and is concerned for the whole
student.
An interesting point mentioned in the text is whether student affairs professionals should
be the only ones concerned about student development on a college campus.
My thoughts on this are that I do not think that student affairs professionals should be the
only ones concerned for the whole student. Students interact with professors, faculty, and
staff that are non-student affairs personnel in classes or throughout their day in academia.
Faculty need to be able to respond to student concerns if the student feels more
comfortable speaking with a particular faculty member. It is simply not acceptable to
have a faculty member say I cannot help you out with career guidance because they are
not specific student affairs personnel. I think collectively as one-unit student affairs
administrators and academic administrators need to come together and realize the
division between the two areas but also realize the strong potential to shape the university
and the students for the better.
Student Development theory is used to encourage learning and student growth

Rodgers noted that student development categorized research as psychosocial, cognitivestructural, integrative, and social identity perspectives. This also means that student
affairs work is pulled through multiple disciplines.
There are four questions theories should respond to:
o What interpersonal and intrapersonal changes occur while the student is in
college?
o What factors leas to this development?
o What aspects of the college environment provide opportunities for growth?
o What are the developmental outcomes?
Knowledge of student development theory helps us professionals to identify and address
student needs, programs, policies, and environment that helps students grown on a
college campus.
Collaboration between student affairs professionals and faculty is the best option to
maximize student learning.
Christian moral educator was a goal in the 18th and 19th centuries
As the study of human development evolved, colleges and universities started to hire
student personnel workers
Other influences or events taking place during this time period of significant importance
was the great depression, which led workers to focus more on vocational guidance.
Frank Parsons- first to talk about a match between students and what they wanted to do
while making sure the student finds the right fit on campus.
Student Personnel Point of View 1937-1949
Representatives from 14 different institutions came together to talk about different
vocational programs student could enroll in given the end of the war and an influx in
students. Students needed a place to go and had needs to be addressed
During this time, different psychologist started researching college environments and the
different relationships between students.
Scholars such as Roy Heath mentioned individual differences affect students
development while Douglas Heath talks about the path of maturity from one student to
another.
I liked how the texted mentioned the integrative approach to theory in combining
different theories into one. Given that some theories cannot be separated due to the
complexity of the student, it is important to take into account that although not everyone
is the same, certain aspects of theory should be combined.
Racial identity theory is based on beliefs about race and is not necessarily based on
biology.
A concept from the chapter that I thought was critical was acculturation. This is a change
in ones cultural values based on interactions with other cultures. I have seen this in many
students that I have worked with or mentored in the past couple years in a positive and
negative way. Some students really explore what their heritage means while others
experience some dissonance with their culture because of interacting with a dominant
race.

Chapter 2
Evans, N. J., Forney, D. S., Guido-DiBrito, F. M., Patton, L. D., & Renn, K. A. (1998). Using
student development theory. In Student development in college: Theory, research, and practice
(pp. 22-40). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Student development theory can help us in a job setting like Jana for example. However, to
effectively use it, we must not simply just memorize definitions, models, or concepts.
What is theory? Theory comes from people trying to understand the many and large complexities
of life. It can be derived from different interactions and experiences had with individuals. What
we are most familiar in our day-to-day lives is a form of informal theory that does not
necessarily have any research to prove it.
Informal theory is partly based on past experiences that shape the way one views and makes
decisions on the future.
From what I understand, we need to use formal theory to see if whether or not our perception or
our way that we view the theory is not tainted based up any bias. We are able to see how
different factors interact with one another through formal research on different theories.
4 powerful uses of theory: description, explanation, prediction, and control.
The book mentioned that prediction was a use that very few theory uses. I feel like we use
prediction in theory more than the other three uses.
How do we know theories are useful? There are certain aspects of a theory for it to be useful to
us professionals; Comprehensiveness, clarity and explicitness, consistency, parsimony, heurism.
A good point that the book mentions is the fact that we need to take into consideration who the
theory is based after, not all participants around the theory can be used to base other conclusions
upon.
The part of the theory process that I do not understand relates to heurism. I do not understand
how the theory should be generating research ideas.
We need to carefully evaluate theory so that we are able to support the whole student and be
effective in planning programs or evaluating the level of development that a particular student
may be at. It is also important to note that each theory should be viewed through the lens of the
author.
Most student development theories have been based on research. After the theory has been
developed, then can it be modified and used amongst different environments.
Theory helps us to understand the ways in which students behave instead of making assumptions
or categorizing a certain student in a way that could be explained by understanding the student at
a developmental stage. It explains and suggest action for working with students, guiding
practice in advising, teaching, programming, and facilitating student learning both in and outside
the classroom. Student affairs practice without a theoretical base is nether effective nor
efficient. (Evans et al, 26)
Being a friendly person is great but being able to apply the theories and concepts of what is
known is what makes a great student affairs professional. Being able to connect and problem
solve given the theories is what is looked for in student affairs work.

A challenge in using theory is that it is time consuming and that individuals who use theory may
not have the most current information if they have not been keeping up. Others may discredit the
importance of theory as the basis for understanding student development.
In dealing with challenges that are associated with theory, you can avoid fluff, build alliances
with faculty and staff and making the theory as most user friendly as possible, using pilot
programs, and assessment tools that support your theory.
Using multiple theories rather than just one to explain a developmental process or a student is
more beneficial give that every student is unique. I believe a misconception of theory is that,
when used, it will guarantee the typical results. However, theory just increases the chances of the
outcome predictability. Theory needs to be practical, we need to be able to test it out and work
with the theory.
Kurt Lewin (1936) model B=f (PxE): it was noted that we need to take into account the different
variables that affect a situation. Different living and learning environments can shape the
outcome of the variables and change the output. This allows us to see where we can address
student needs and focus our attention as student affairs professionals. The environment can come
in many forms such as physical surroundings, and organizational structures. When we can
control the environment we are able to better provide the learning and ensure a healthy
development of student needs.
Environmental Factors that influence the Development
Challenge and support- Nevitt Sanford-one of the first to develop this. Readiness is the first part
of this developmental condition. Students will know when they are ready to be challenged and
support. However, too much challenge and the student can regress and too support may provide
the student with little room to develop. How does one find the perfect balance for challenge and
support? Is it through trial and error?
Involvement-Astins theory has five components surrounding students being involved on campus.
Involvement is defined as the amount of physical and psychological energy that the student
devotes. The five key ideas that were discussed in involvement were that physical and
psychological energy can vary depending on different objects. Involvement takes place on a
continuum. It can be both quantitative and qualitative, meaning that it can be measured in terms
of time and the seriousness that someone takes their involvement. Student learning is directly
proportional to student involvement. I find this is key because, the more a student involves their
self in activities or programs the more they will learn. Lastly, policy is a reflection of the ways in
which student involvement increases. Astin discusses creating opportunities for students to be
involved with to increase their student development and learning.
Marginality and Mattering
A sense of not feeling like you fit in. This typically is experienced by the acceptance of new roles
and can cause feelings such as depression or feeling irritated. Non-dominant groups can feel like
marginality is permanent. How? Individuals who feel marginal worry about whether they matter
to anyone (32). Scholossberg came up with four aspects of mattering: attention, importance,
ego-extension, dependence, and appreciation (fifth). This is all about making students feel like
they matter. Example: personally calling a student to thank them for their hard work at an event.
Validation- enabling students to act and encouraging them to increase their self esteem when they
traditionally wouldnt act on/in a situation. This can lead to giving students more confidence,
feel of self worth and can occur at different environments. It is important to validate during the
first few weeks of interacting with the student to be most effective.

Hollands Person Environment Theory- Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising,

Conventional. I think that I am realistic, investigative, and social based on the definition.
Myers-Briggs Theory-16 different combinations that bases peoples personality on their relative
interest to the world (introversion vs. extroversion).
Caution with using theoryWe need to view the students in a holistic approach and not via one overarching umbrella to
better understand the student and provide for them.

Chapter 19
Evans, N. J., Forney, D. S., Guido-DiBrito, F. M., Patton, L. D., & Renn, K. A. (1998). Using
theory in combination. In Student development in college: Theory, research, and practice (pp.
349-358). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Theory is a great tool for use in working with students, however the use of one theory can
rarely explain the complexities that students face given the multitude and complexity of
life, the environment, and mind.
Student Affairs professionals need to draw from different avenues of theory and literature
to address a certain problem or situation.
Linking theory to practice can be a challenge but different models have been developed
and set in place that allows us to more carefully and clearly understand theory. There are
two types of models; process models and procedural models. Something to note is that
process models are grounded in theory whereas procedural models are not necessarily
based in theory.
In the Pat example, we see how a complex situation involves so much theory and can
best be understood with pulling in different information and not relying on one sole.
Although certain information was not explicitly discussed in the scenario with Pat, it
shows that we need to take into consideration different facts and information that
could/may be an important factor that affects the development process. It is important to
take a look at the whole student and figure out whether there is more underlying
information that will impact the developmental process in advising for this particular
instance. Also, with realizing the complexities that come from a particular situation, we
are able to recommend services such as career guidance or understand the level of
cognitive thinking that the student exerts. Being competent at some of the theories can
give us a basis for understanding what approach to use in a particular situation as well.
Practice to theory to practice
Knefelkamp, Golec, and Wells developed an 11 step model to relate theory to practice.
Summed up in my own terms, the following are the 11 steps.
o Step 1: Look for SWOT, strengths weakness opportunities and threats
o Step 2: what do you want to get out of the desired program,
o Step 3: Given the situation what theory do you think will be most useful in the
situation based upon what you want to get out of it.
o Step 4: View the theories through the lens of the student population being
discussed/relevant.
o Step 5: analyze the environment,
o Step 6: In regards to the individual and environment, are there opportunities for
challenge and support?
o Step 7: Revisit goals and make necessary changes,
o Step 8: Intervention,
o Step 9: Implementation,
o Step 10: Asses the situation,

o Step 11: Redesign intervention

Different identities can further provoke or add to a particular situation.
Students may be dealing with some sort of dissonance, but from the readings in Student
Services, it mentioned some form of dissonance was a great thing in helping the student
to fully develop.
I think understanding and coming to terms that each individuals thinking it going to be
different and some students may value different things we can use theory and intertwine
it with other ways to solve a situation at hand with students whom we interact with.

Pope, R. L., Reynolds, A. L., & Mueller, J. A. (2004). Multicultural competence in theory and
translation. In Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs (pp.29-45). San Francisco: JosseyBass
Pope et al Chapter 2:

Diversity may be a difficult thing to tackle whether it is in the workforce or on a college

campus. In relation to student affairs practioners, we will use theory as a base
understanding of why student behave, react, develop, and grow the way the due. Theory
helps us in many ways, which include being able to provide knowledge for programs,
assessment, developmental practice, and services. Theory helps explain certain behavior
exerted by students that we work with and helps us make sense of the environment
around us.
Strange and King (1990)- mentioned the ways students on campus can be five things.
Observable, measurable, explainable, generalizable, and predictable. We can use theory
to interpret certain information, decisions, or scenarios and make predictions given the
information available to us.
McEwen (1996)- mentioned that theory could be used in six different ways as opposed to
the five that Strange and King mentioned. These are describing, explaining, predicting,
generating, influencing, and assessing. It was also noted that theory helps us make
decisions and validate different behavior exerted by students. However, we need to be
careful in taking theory into consideration and stop to think of what lens to look at the
theory through which will be discussed later on in this frindle.
As new professionals we are going to want to focus more on the end result and less time
on the explanation when using theory. It is important to think about the application of the
theory from the development to implementation of it.
Student Affairs work is a multi-disciplinary field pulling from the fields of sociology, law,
phycology, business, philosophy, and management. We need to be very critical about each
theory and ask ourselves what lens we are looking at the theory from. Theories have been
developed with a lack of multi-cultural issues. Theories that lack inclusivity of
individuals are not as strong as those who can incorporate multiple identities of students.
By using theory we can test out whether or not it may add anything to a program or staff
training development and adjust from their.
As mentioned in class, Rodgers explains the importance of understanding theory so that
we are fully capable of going above and beyond in assisting ourselves and impacting
others by being knowledgeable in such area. There are four components:
Level 1: You do not fully understand the concept, you might have heard about the theory
from someone, but have no clue as to the true meaning of it.
Level 2: You can briefly give a few facts about the theory; probably common things that
most people know about it but nothing too specific.
Level 3: You can really delve into the theory and explain it a lot more than the previous
two steps. Comprehension is a lot more specific.

Level 4: You know the ins and outs of the theory and are able to fully explain the
application of the theory in different complex situations. You are able to and know when
to apply the theory in its different capacities.
Student Affairs is a dynamic and changing field and we need to understand and take the
proactive approach to continuing to learn about theory. Given that, we must constantly
find a balance and ways to apply theory to practice to get to the fourth step.
It is also important to know that theory is not the end all be all in terms of its application;
there are limitations to using theory in different situations that may seem best fitting to
use it in. It has been that students get labeled based on the descriptive facts of a theory,
however, that should not happen.
So often, especially with linear development models, the underlying goal is to move the
students along the continuum rather than understand or support where they are (Pope et
al, 34)
I think this quote from the reading is extremely important because it recognizes the
importance that not all students are the same and that we need to really understand the
student at whatever stage of life they may be and truly understand them, rather than
trying to put everyone in a category and move them along. This reminds me of
elementary schooling where students are in classes and despite the challenges they face,
struggles had, or support needed, they are pushed/advanced to the next grade as one
unit and not dealt with as individual students.
Observation is key in understanding and applying different theories. Our social construct
can be skewed by our views in life and the way we processed and interpreted different
beliefs and ideas. One question that I had was, is the theory tainted if we change the lens
in which we view it through?
Most theories today are based on research that had been previously done on white, male,
privileged individuals. The research that was developed in the earlier years did not take
into account students of color, students with a different sexual orientation other than
being heterosexual, or students with disabilities. It was interesting to see the text mention
the fact that when looking at these theories, they are through the lens of the
characteristics mentioned above and did not address issues of cultural differences. I like
the fact that in this reading that the ideas of not including identities other than white,
male, heterosexual, and privileged should be taken into account when trying to use a
specific theory for the development of a student. I appreciate the example of two different
roommates because it shows how theory would normally be taken into account but then
we can see how that same theory can be viewed through a culturally sensitive lens.
We need to keep in mind that theory is partly based on assumptions that the creators have
and we cannot let our assumptions influence what we think about theory. We also cannot
solely rely on what we read because much of the literature does not take into account
multicultural competence issues and provide examples of effectively using it in the
workplace. We need to know ourselves and be an advocate for theory and be able to
critique what is missing ex: the inclusion of minority groups etc.
Know thy self- another reason why we truly need to understand ourselves is to
understand what we value, where we get our beliefs from and how we intend to interpret
or act upon a specific theory.

Can a theory be truly inclusive if the sample on which it is based is not diverse? I do
not think theories can be inclusive if the sample size is not. For example, if we take and
sample 100 white males, the outcome and results might have the same variable but I do
not think the results will be the same for 100 African American males. Each population
and culture has specific needs different from one another.
Something important that I got out of the literature was the importance of staying current
with different theories and understanding that theory and students are ever changing and
just because we are competent in one area, we always need to be on the look out to see if
anything has changed to be the most inclusive student affairs professional we can be.

Jones, S. R. & Abes, E. S. (2011). The nature and uses of theory. In J. H. Schuh, S. R.
Harper, & S. R. Harper (Eds.), Student services: A handbook for the profession (5th Ed.),
(pp. 149-167). Jossey-Bass: San Fransisco

As a student affairs professional we need to be cognizant of formal theories and beliefs

based upon of values and views of life, which are also known as informal theories.
Theories are socially constructed ideas that are dependent on our view of life.
A key component that I got out of the literature is that individuality is key and we need to
find the balance to think of the individual student in a complex situation when we might
tend to think about the group in the larger scope of things. We need to find the balance
and master asking questions such as why.
It is far easier to see what we know that to know what we see (151). It is important as
mentioned before that we are aware of the framework and lens that we use in analyzing
certain information and in using different theories.
Theories serve at least six different purposes which includes describe, predict, explain,
influence, assess, and generate.
Challenge and support is the theory that states how students need the right balance of
being challenged in the academic realm but also need to be and feel supported in some
way shape or form in order for development to occur. too much support and the student
is comfortable and not learning or developing, and too much challenge, the student might
give up and not learn from the experience (153). We also need to take into consideration
of what too much challenge and support means for different types of students and their
backgrounds. If looking at this theory from a multicultural lens as discussed in
Multicultural Competence, we may be able to see that different types of cultures and
people might define needing support or being challenged in different ways that we would
not expect.
Dissonance is needed for development to occur.
Psychosocial- deals with relationships, values, and identity within the different roles that
family and friends play.
Cognitive Development Theories allows the student to fully understand their environment
and make meaning out of it.
One question that the text poses is a topic of conversation that has been previously had,
whose stories do we include in the theory? We need to be aware of the interpretation of
the theory and the way it was developed.
Using a constructivism approach puts the students stories before the pre existing theories.
I think the fact that we are able to understand and not categorize a student from the
beginning helps in truly understanding their story that will ultimately help the student. If
we are constantly thinking of the student as a particular theory rather than the individual
then we will not be able to really help and develop the student.