Transcript for:
Understanding Student Development Vectors

Vector one, developing competence. There's three types of competence that, uh, a student would develop in college. Intellectual, physical and manual skills, and interpersonal. So the intellectual involves the acquisition of knowledge and skills related to particular subject manner. Development of intellectual, cultural, and aesthetic sophistication would come under this, uh, subsection of vector one. Physical competence comes through athletic and recreational activities, attention to wellness and involvement in artistic and manual activities and interpersonal competence involves skills in communication, leadership, and working effectively with others. Vector two, managing emotions. In this vector a student would develop flexible controls of their emotional capacity, they'd get in touch with the full range and variety of their feelings and balance that self-assertiveness tendencies with, um, the needs of other people. Students would develop the ability to recognize and accept emotions as well as appropriately express and control them. They learn to act on feelings in a responsible manner. These feelings can include anxiety, depression, anger, shame, guilt as well as more positive emotions such as caring, optimism, and inspiration. The third vector, moving through autonomy toward interdependence. In this, it involves emotional, um, interdependence and being able to separate yourself from others in a healthy way. The aspect of development results in an increased emotional independence which is defined as freedom from continual and pressing needs for reassurance, affection, or approval from others. Students develop instrumental independence that includes self-direction, problem solving, problem solving ability and lastly they come to recognize and accept the importance of interdependence which is awareness of their interconnectedness with others. Vector four, developing mature interpersonal relationships. Experiences with relationships contribute significantly to the development of the sense of self. Both tasks listed here involve the ability to accept individuals for who they are, to respect differences, and to appreciate commonalities. Vector five, establishing identity. In this revised theory, this vector added, took on added complexity to acknowledge differences in identity development that were based on gender, ethnic background and sexual orientation. The first four vectors actually culminate in establishing identity so that, um, this is a cri-critical pivitol, uh, vector that students would-would resolve. Vector six, developing purpose. This vector consists of developmental of-of developing clear vocational goals, making meaningful commitments to specific personal interests and activities, it also includes intentionally making and staying with decisions even in the face of opposition. The establishment of a secure identity will ultimately influence ones life's purpose. An example of a student who's working on vector six, um, because it deals with developing purpose it very much aligns with career development and, um, career, uh, exploration, um, for college students they are what they major in and they feel that if they make a commitment to a major that will automatically translate into a career. That can cause a great deal of anxiety especially helping them understand that one they're probably going to be in a lot of careers over their lifetime and two you want to help them think about what sorts of things are they enjoying, where do their interests lie, where do they feel of a vocational call, uh, what-what parts of themselves can they develop apart from necessarily a major and then from there the rest will, the rest will flow. So having that sense of purpose and what will I do will can often be divorced from how will I make a living and I think that's a good way to help students move through this vector, develop their sense of who they are, um, apart from worrying so much about what their degree will be and what job they will get. And the last vector, vector seven, developing integrity. In this vectors student progress from rigid moralistic thinking to the development of a more humanized value system in which the interests of others are balanced with their own interests. Next, a personalized value system is established in which core values are consciously affirmed and beliefs of others are acknowledged and respected. And lastly values and actions become congruent and authentic as self-interest is balanced with the sense of social responsibility. Then an example of a student who's grappling with developing integrity, generally these may not be, uh, huge life altering events very often they come up in areas where the student now has to make a decision that they didn't really know they'd have to make. Maybe they're involved with friends, um, or associates that're-that're doing things that maybe they don't think are appropriate so now they have to decide do I want to be with my friend, do I want to support that person, do I want to distance myself from that? I don't want to be considered a goody-goody how do I resolve that, um, so they-they have to figure out what's true to themselves and-and manage that and-and some students really do struggle in fact some reactions to that is to just pull away. They may stop being involved so they don't need to make that decision, uh, they-they may be, uh, feeling that their friends are requiring them to pick a side and they may not be ready to, um, they-they may seek a lot of information but they might not be ready to commit to that and-and that's okay. So students struggling with this, they really are trying to figure out who they are independent of their role as a child or as a sister or a grandchild but who they are as young adults and, um, the support that we can give them with that and usually help them move through this vector successfully. What are the take- aways form this? In reviewing this one theory, uh, since there are many others it is important to remember that student are individuals so that there's-you cannot apply a theory to a student as a group or a monolithic group of students. There is no one theory that explains everything so most professionals do sample from a broad range of theories depending on the situation. It's also important that practitioners acknowledge that their own perspectives, biases, and assumptions can creep into that, uh, their decisions and so we need to be constantly mindful of-of our own positionality and how that plays into our work with students. And probably most importantly that developmental process is not linear and that even though many of these theories present stage and phase models that that is conceptual but that's not actually the way things work, uh, so it's important that we think about students moving through, uh, sort of a swirling fashion and-and not necessarily progressing in a linear way from one point to another.