AN INTRODUCTION TO

STUDENT
DEVELOPMENT
THEORY
Presented by: Luisa Lora, M.Ed. Candidate

Who is Luisa M. Lora?

Second year masters student at
Seattle University
Born in the Dominican Republic, Raised
in Lawrence, MA
Studying Student Development
Administration, focused on Higher
Education Student Affairs
Bachelor of Arts from the College of
the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA
Graduate Residence Hall Director at
Cornish College of the Arts
Completing a 300 hour internship with
City University

What is Student Affairs?

Student affairs is a critical aspect of the higher education
experience. The work done by student affairs professionals helps
students begin a lifetime journey of growth and self-exploration.
(NASPA)
Started off as in loco parentis (in place of the parent)
which focused more on control of the student as
opposed to modern philosophy which focuses on the
development of the student as a whole
The size and organization of a student affairs division or
department may vary based on the size, type, and location of
an institution.
Terms: Student Affairs practitioners or Student Affairs
professionals, University Administration

http://www.naspa.org/about/student-affairs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_Affairs

Usually involves developing programming, advising student

organizations and student leaders and conducting research to
meet the needs of the whole student physical, emotional and
mental
Examples:
Admissions, Enrollment, Financial Aid,
Orientation

Diversity and Inclusion

International student service
Disability support
Multicultural services

Alumni and Advancement/Development

Counseling, Health, and Wellness
Sports and Recreation
Academic Services

Academic advising
Tutoring services
Assessment and research

Campus Life

Judicial Affairs
Leadership
Student Activities
Student Government

Residence Life
Residence Halls
Programming
RHA

WHAT ARE THEORIES AND

WHY DO WE STUDY THEM?

Student Development Theory refers to the body of educational

psychology that theorizes how students gain knowledge in postsecondary educational environments

Who were the original creators and samples?

As Educators we use these theories as a guideline to inform our

work and the experience of our students

Why this matters

As such, theories must be adjusted to serve the needs of individual students

To understand the backstory or current developmental

circumstances of our students

Disclaimer- I am not an expert, I am currently studying these theories and learning how to apply them.

Basic assumptions guiding the

student development movement:
Each student is a different individual with unique needs
The entire environment of the student should be taken
into account and used for education
Student has a personal responsibility for getting
educated

ROAD MAP OF OUR TIME

Two week workshop, 1 hour
July 21, 28
6 theories/models of Student Development:
Week I
Pope, MultiCultural Competence
Yosso, Community Cultural Wealth
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Week II
Kolb, EL
Sanford, Challenge and Support
Chickering, 7 Vectors of Identity
Development

MULTICULTURAL
COMPETENCE

Multicultural Competence Model

Well published scholar on multicultural
organizational development, student
affairs development, and campus
climate around diversity

Rachaelle Pope

Professional Interests
Multicultural Competence
Psychosocial Development of Students of
Color
Multicultural Organization Development
Transformative Leadership
Multicultural Competence in Student
Affairs (2004)
Written to advise and train SA
practitioners on issues around MCC and
recognizing how to be more competent

Photo credit: http://gse.buffalo.edu/about/directory/faculty/2045

The Dynamic Model of Student Affairs

Competency
Ethics and
Helping
Professional
and
Standards
Ethics and
Advising

Multicultural
Awareness,
Knowledge
and Skill

Professional
Standards
Administration
and
Administration
Multi Cultural
Management
Awareness,
and Management
Knowledge and
Skill

Helping
Helping
and
and Administration
Advising
and
Advising Management

Adopted from Pope (2004)

Assessment
and
Research
Theory and
Translation

Teaching
and
Training

What is Multicultural Competence?

Definition: an ability to interact effectively with people of
different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds
Cultural competence comprises four components:
(a) Awareness of one's own cultural worldview and Biases,
(b) Attitude towards cultural differences, (c) Knowledge of
different cultural practices and worldviews, and (d) Crosscultural skills.
Developing cultural competence results in an ability to
understand, communicate with, and effectively interact
with people across cultures.

An openness to
change, and belief
that change is
necessary and positive
A belief that cultural
differences do not
have to interfere with
effective
communication or
meaningful
relationships

Knowledge of diverse
cultures and
oppressed groups
(i.e., History,
traditions, values,
customs, resources,
issues)
Knowledge about the
ways that cultural
differences affect
verbal and nonverbal
communication
Knowledge about
within-group
differences and
understanding of
multiple identities
and multiple
oppresions

Skill

A belief that
differences are
valuable and that
learning about others
who are culturally
different is necessary
and rewarding

Knowledge

Awareness

Multicultural Competence Model

Ability to identify and
openly discuss
cultural differences
and issues
Capability to
empathize and
genuinely connect
with individuals who
are culturally
different from
themselves
Ability to incorporate
new learning and
prior learning in new
situations

Multicultural Competence
Examples
Awareness: A student affairs professional becomes aware that
she has limited knowledge and experience with a specific group
that is culturally different from hers.
A multiculturally sensitive professional seeks out additional
training, pursues peer supervision with colleagues from his own
cultural group, and begins supplemental reading.
Being able to identify our own strengths and weaknesses with
multicultural issues as well as with different populations is very
important.

(Pope, 2004, p.20)

Knowledge: A student affairs professional who is working in

student activities with diverse student groups becomes aware of
the lack of information she has about many cultural groups. She
begins to feel it is affecting her advisement and her ability to
form close and meaningful relationships with these students.
A culturally knowledgeable professional seeks out information
about diverse cultures through books, professional
development, and, most important, personal relationships with
individuals from different cultures

(Pope, 2004, p.22)

Skills: A student affairs professional is uncomfortable when

students and other professionals make stereotypical remarks
or inappropriate jokes, yet she is not comfortable confronting
their behavior. She wants to challenge the remarks but is
worried about offending the other individuals or making the
situation worse.
A culturally skilled professional practices these skills in a
supportive setting and then begins to take risks so as to
optimize the success of the intervention.

(Pope, 2004, p.25)

Where are you in your

Multicultural Competence?
Awareness
Knowledge
Skill

COMMUNITY
CULTURAL
WEALTH

Highly published on issues

around race, inclusion,
campus climate specifically
for students of color

Tara A. Yosso

Professional Interests
Educational Access & Equity
Campus Racial and Gender Climate
Critical Media Literacy
Racial and Gender Microaggressions
Community Cultural Wealth
Published article
Whose Culture has Capital? A Critical Race
Theory on Discussion of Community
Cultural Wealth
WHAT IS WEALTH?

Picture source; http://www.chicst.ucsb.edu/faculty/staff/yosso.shtml

Community Cultural Wealth, 2005

Yosso (2005)

Types of Community Cultural Wealth

Aspirational- The ability to maintain hopes and dreams for the
future despite barriers
Navigational- Skills to maneuver through social institutions
(historically created without communities of color in mind)
Linguistic- The intellectual and social skills attained through
communication experiences in more than one language
Social-Networks of people and community resources
Familial-Cultural knowledge nurtured among family and the
community that carries history, memory and cultural intuition
Resistant- Knowledge and skills fostered through oppositional
behavior that challenges inequality

Identifying Community Cultural Wealth

-Elena grew up speaking Spanish in the home and English at school, with
her peers and siblings. As the oldest of three, Elena always accompanied
her parents to translate for them at school meetings, banks, and places of
employment.

-Joaquin serves as a primary advocate at school for his younger brother,

who has a speech impediment that makes it difficult for people to
understand him. Joaquins father a migrant worker, is not home often;
while his mother limited by work rules to communicate with the school
during the day. As a result, Joaquin was asked to help with advocating with
teachers, principals and district administrators on behalf of his brother.
-Every morning, despite working two jobs, Theresa wakes up at 5 am to drive
her daughter, Emma to volleyball practice. Theresa was told that Emma has
great potential to get a scholarship to State that would help her get to
college and pay for her education. Despite never having gone to college
herself, Theresa is supportive of Emma and wants to make sure she is
successful, because she believes her daughter is capable of greatness.

MASLOW'S
HIERARCHY
OF NEEDS

Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

A theory of psychological health
predicated on fulfilling innate human
needs in priority, culminating in selfactualization
Maslow's theory was fully expressed in his
1954 book Motivation and Personality

Abraham Maslow

Picture source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Maslow

What are the needs of Humans?

Maslow states that while he originally thought the needs of humans had
strict guidelines, the "hierarchies are interrelated rather than sharply
separated
Picture source: Wikipidia, retrieved 6/30/2014

RECAP OF TODAY:
Theories:
Pope-Multicultural Competence
Yosso-Community Cultural Wealth
Maslow-Hierarchy of Needs

Share one thing you learned/ were

surprised by/ enjoyed

End of Week 1

KOLBS
EXPERIENTIAL
LEARNING

Kolbs Theory of Experiential Learning

Looking at how you learn as an
individual is a huge part in your
development of self
By knowing what you need to do to
learn it makes it easier for you as an
individual to grow as a person and work
with others
David A. Kolb

Created in 1984

Do you know your learning style?

How does knowing your preferred learning style affect your work with
students and colleagues?

Photo Credit: http://web.cortland.edu/andersmd/learning/kolb.htm

Experiential Learning
Concrete Experience
Involving the learner and the experience
Field experience, role play, interviews
Reflective Observation
Engage in activities that require you to step
back and look at the experience or get
others perspectives
Small group sessions

Experiential Learning Cont.

Abstract Conceptualization
Student using research and methods of their
discipline to develop hypotheses when
engaging instruction
Labs, Experiments
Active Experimentation
Students can apply principles or theories in
problem solving
Role play, What if situations, action
planning

CONCRETE (CE)

ACTIVE
(AE)

REFLECTIVE
(RO)

ABSTRACT (AC)
*Learners generally prefer one of the four styles above the others

Divergers
Combination of CE and RO
Usually imaginative
Produce alternative solutions to
problems
Usually people and feeling
oriented
Usually work in humanities and
liberal arts

Assimilators
Combination of AC and RO
Have the ability to create
theories
Have logical thinking skills
Focus on ideas and concepts
rather than people
Usually work in basic sciences
and mathematics

Convergers
Combination of AC and AE
Good problem solvers and
decision makers
Excel at tasks that involve the
single best answer
Often work in the physical
sciences and engineering

Accommodators

Combination of CE and AE
Action Orientated
Plan and complete tasks
Open to new experiences and
change
Comfortable with people
Usually work in practical
fields, such as business

What is your learning style? How do you work

best with others?
What are ways we can work with others with
different learning styles?
Why is this important to consider?

SANFORDS
CHALLENGE
AND SUPPORT
THEORY

Sanford examines the relationship

between a students development during
college and that which occurs during late
adolescence.
Sanford, N. (1962).The American college.
New York: Wiley.

Nevitt Sanford, PH.D

Sanford, N. (1966).Self and society:

Social change and individual
development. New York: Atherton.

Picture Source: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Nevitt+Sanford

This idea states that a college, therapist, parent, etc

should provide both challenge and support for
individuals. Too much of either is less than ideal,
developmentally.
Challenge and support does not imply that the student
will never experience failure or negative consequences,
but that when those consequences take place, there will
be individuals and processes in place to support the
student as they learn from the experience.
Three components of this theory:
Challenge- Pushes learner to acquire new growth/ knowledge
Support- An environment conducive to learning and
exploration of identity in a safe way

Readiness-Ability to meet the challenge ( Physically and

emotionally)

Challenge

W
O
GR

TH

Support
In this model, the key is balance. Too much support and the student will
not grow, too much challenge and the student may feel like quitting is the
best option, and no growth will occur.

Can you think of a time when you

were challenged and supported?
Have you challenged and supported
your students?
What happens when you do one and
not the other?

CHICKERINGS
SEVEN VECTORS OF
IDENTITY
DEVELOPMENT

The theory focuses on the overallidentity

development of college students
The theory was published in 1969,but re-visited in
1993
The theory establishes seven vectors,also known as
tasks, that deal withpsychological development

Aurthor Chickering

Idea that college students experience seven vectors

of development throughout their college experience
These vectors of development must reach
resolution for the student to achieve identity.

Truths about Identity Development

Lasting personality changes may not
occur in a blinding flash
Most core ideologies and perspectives
develop gradually and incrementally
College student will be influenced by
everything, including:
People
Events
Environments

7 Vectors of Identity Development

7. Integrity

Developing competence
Three types of competences developed in college:

Intellectual: ability to understand, analyze,

and synthesize
Manual Skills: ability to physically
accomplish tasks
Interpersonal Competence: working and
establishing relationships with others

Managing Emotions
New and returning college students are NOT
emotionless
Emotions must be managed, else they disrupt
education
How?
Identification and Acknowledgment
What are the emotions
What is the cause
Channeling Appropriately
Dealing with Fears
Heal Emotional Wounds
Students must accept that emotions, to some
degree, are normal
Finding Balance, Becoming Aware, Integrating

Autonomy to Interdependence
Students must learn to operate on their
own, and take responsibility for themselves
Emotional independence: the ability of a
student to willingly risk relationships of
those who are close to them in exchange
for pursuing their own individual interests
or convictions
Instrumental independence: the ability to
solve problems on one's own

Development of mature
interpersonal relationships
The ability to be intimate and the ability
to accept and celebrate unique differences
Intimacy refers to the ability to
establish relationships that are close
and meaningful
College students have the opportunity to
meet a wide variety of people, with a
variety of different beliefs, values, and
backgrounds. This exposure can help
students gain such tolerance of unique
differences

Establishing Identity
Dependent on previous vectors
Entails
Comfort in own skin
Comfort in gender, sexual orientation
Sense of self in culture, social contexts
Sense of self when receiving feedback
from others
Self acceptance and esteem
Ownership of personality

Developing purpose
College students begin to identify why
they are earning their degree
Establishing the purpose of getting a
job, earning a living, building skills,
but the development of purpose
moves beyond that

Developing of integrity
The establishment of integrity is the
ability for students to assemble and
practice the values that are actually
consistent with their own beliefs

In Higher Education Context

Freshman vs. Senior
A graduating senior will have resolved many of
Chickerings vectors by the time they are
ready to enter the real world
Freshmen are in a transition period where they
are starting to build a foundation of basic
college student developmental needs

How are they related?

Kolb- Learning Style
Sanford-Challenge and Support
Chickering-Identity Development

Final Recap
1.Name 2 things you remember from this training
2.What was most useful?
3.How can you see applying these theories to your work
in Mexico?
4. Final thoughts?

REFERENCES
Burciaga, R., Erbstein, N.(2012). Latino/a dropouts: Generating
community cultural wealth. Association of Mexican American Educators
Journal. 6(1), 24-33.
Evans, N. J., Forney, D. S., Guido, F., Patton, L.D., & Renn, K.A. (2010).
Student development in college: Theory, research, and practice. 2 nd
Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Maslow, A.H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological
Review, 50(4), 37096.
Yosso, T.J. (2005). Whose cultural has capital? A critical race theory
discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education,
8(1), 69-91.
Student Development Theory. Retrieved from :
http://studentdevelopmenttheory.weebly.com/chickering.html
http://gse.buffalo.edu/about/directory/faculty/2045
http://web.cortland.edu/andersmd/learning/kolb.htm

http://www.chicst.ucsb.edu/faculty/staff/yosso.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Maslow
http://imjoeboe.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/challeng
e-support/
http://www.naspa.org/about/student-affairs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_Affairs
http://www.slideshare.net/olmsgal/kolbtheory?related=1

Physiological needs
Physiological needs are the physical requirements for human survival. If these requirements
are not met, the human body cannot function properly and will ultimately fail. Physiological
needs are thought to be the most important; they should be met first.

Safety needs
With their physical needs relatively satisfied, the individual's safety needs take precedence
and dominate behavior.
Safety and Security needs include:
Personal security
Financial security
Health and well-being
Safety net against accidents/illness and their adverse impacts

Love and belonging

After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third level of human needs is
interpersonal and involves feelings of belongingness. This need is especially strong in
childhood and can override the need for safety as witnessed in children who cling to abusive
parents. Deficiencies within this level can impact the individual's ability to form and maintain
emotionally significant relationships.

According to Maslow, humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance among their
social groups, regardless if these groups are large or small. Humans need to love and be loved
both sexually and non-sexually by others. This need for belonging may overcome the
physiological and security needs, depending on the strength of the peer pressure.

Esteem
All humans have a need to feel respected; this includes the need to have self-esteem and
self-respect. Esteem presents the typical human desire to be accepted and valued by
others.
Maslow noted two versions of esteem needs: a "lower" version and a "higher" version.
The "lower" version of esteem is the need for respect from others. This may include a need
for status, recognition, fame, prestige, and attention.
The "higher" version manifests itself as the need for self-respect. For example, the person
may have a need for strength, competence, mastery, self-confidence, independence, and
freedom.

Self-actualization
This level of need refers to what a person's full potential is and the realization of that
potential. Maslow describes this level as the desire to accomplish everything that one can,
to become the most that one can be.
Maslow believed that to understand this level of need, the person must not only achieve
the previous needs, but master them.