Future learning: Next Steps
When I look back to the last 3 years of my time with my masters program, the greatest paradox for me was as I continued to finish each course, I realized that there was still so much more to learn.
More specifically, in synthesizing new theories and ideas, the many “ah-ha’s” and valuable moments were seeing where those theories show up in my professional day-to-day. Furthermore, the literature and lessons were enriched from my peers sharing their perspectives in an often different, yet related professional context. This realization is what informed my decision to list one of the titles I decided for myself on this portfolio website: lifelong learner. I genuinely believe that the way I will continue to progress towards my goals is to continue to find areas in my life where I can continue to be a reflective learner. Only through staying humble as well as open to different kinds of knowledge from the spaces I interact in will I Invite more growth. Said another way, I don’t know what I don’t know yet. This all being all said, I frame my next steps in 3 different areas of my life where I can continue my role as a student armed with my program’s knowledge: a student in my current role, a student in leadership circles, and a student in networking settings.
A student in my current role. I currently work as the Academic Personnel Analyst for the Department of Economics at UC San Diego at the time of this capstone course. My role exists in some capacity at every academic department at the university. I am very lucky to have a supportive environment of coworkers and leaders that give me the creative freedom to augment the tools in my day to day job that best work for me, while still ensuring compatibility with our operations. I heavily lean on my peers in similar roles for advice on how to do tasks more efficiently and we often learn from one another. As I already habitually create standard operating procedures, handbooks and other resources for not only my own benefit, but for my faculty; I will continue to explore ways to share my resources in a systematic way. I can only accomplish this by wearing my student hat and learning from other colleagues and understanding their unique circumstances that shape their operations. This exercise will allow me to work on establishing partnerships, working in various teams and literally build and memorialize knowledge.
A student in leadership circles. The adage goes to surround yourself with those that will lift you up. As such I must actively seek out mentors and people within my network that are willing to invest in me. What this investment looks like could be sharing their professional opinion when I run into a complex work situation; or those willing to share resources to support me and connect me to others I could further benefit from learning from. I will be reaching out to those in interesting roles in academia to conduct informational interviews with. Much like my program, I recognize that it is in my best interest to talk to people from all kinds of backgrounds as diversity of perspective is the genesis of true knowledge. And finally, I want to start investing my knowledge back into the community so I can connect with other students as a mentor. I think a good first step is to check out my mentorship.ucsd.edu and sign up as a mentor. I believe this will teach me invaluable interpersonal and coaching skills.
A student in networking settings. Finally, it is so important to still stay engaged with the active literature that are shaping the knowledge and best practices for leaders in academic settings. As such, I will make it a lifelong goal to attend a couple of annual higher education leadership conferences to stay in-tune with the latest information. For example, the Leadership in Higher Education Conference for nationwide information as well as the University of California Administrative Management Professionals for my specific university system networking and learning. These facilitated spaces will be valuable to gain new insights as well as be surrounded by diverse peers with shared interests.
In thinking about my learning objectives that I have set for myself post graduation, I realized that being a student demands that I set aside time for learning. Much like what I had to do to complete this program, I must make learning a priority and routine. Therefore to accomplish these learning goals I must dedicate time each week to review my objectives, evaluate my progress, and take actions that help me continue to be a lifelong learner.
More specifically, in synthesizing new theories and ideas, the many “ah-ha’s” and valuable moments were seeing where those theories show up in my professional day-to-day. Furthermore, the literature and lessons were enriched from my peers sharing their perspectives in an often different, yet related professional context. This realization is what informed my decision to list one of the titles I decided for myself on this portfolio website: lifelong learner. I genuinely believe that the way I will continue to progress towards my goals is to continue to find areas in my life where I can continue to be a reflective learner. Only through staying humble as well as open to different kinds of knowledge from the spaces I interact in will I Invite more growth. Said another way, I don’t know what I don’t know yet. This all being all said, I frame my next steps in 3 different areas of my life where I can continue my role as a student armed with my program’s knowledge: a student in my current role, a student in leadership circles, and a student in networking settings.
A student in my current role. I currently work as the Academic Personnel Analyst for the Department of Economics at UC San Diego at the time of this capstone course. My role exists in some capacity at every academic department at the university. I am very lucky to have a supportive environment of coworkers and leaders that give me the creative freedom to augment the tools in my day to day job that best work for me, while still ensuring compatibility with our operations. I heavily lean on my peers in similar roles for advice on how to do tasks more efficiently and we often learn from one another. As I already habitually create standard operating procedures, handbooks and other resources for not only my own benefit, but for my faculty; I will continue to explore ways to share my resources in a systematic way. I can only accomplish this by wearing my student hat and learning from other colleagues and understanding their unique circumstances that shape their operations. This exercise will allow me to work on establishing partnerships, working in various teams and literally build and memorialize knowledge.
A student in leadership circles. The adage goes to surround yourself with those that will lift you up. As such I must actively seek out mentors and people within my network that are willing to invest in me. What this investment looks like could be sharing their professional opinion when I run into a complex work situation; or those willing to share resources to support me and connect me to others I could further benefit from learning from. I will be reaching out to those in interesting roles in academia to conduct informational interviews with. Much like my program, I recognize that it is in my best interest to talk to people from all kinds of backgrounds as diversity of perspective is the genesis of true knowledge. And finally, I want to start investing my knowledge back into the community so I can connect with other students as a mentor. I think a good first step is to check out my mentorship.ucsd.edu and sign up as a mentor. I believe this will teach me invaluable interpersonal and coaching skills.
A student in networking settings. Finally, it is so important to still stay engaged with the active literature that are shaping the knowledge and best practices for leaders in academic settings. As such, I will make it a lifelong goal to attend a couple of annual higher education leadership conferences to stay in-tune with the latest information. For example, the Leadership in Higher Education Conference for nationwide information as well as the University of California Administrative Management Professionals for my specific university system networking and learning. These facilitated spaces will be valuable to gain new insights as well as be surrounded by diverse peers with shared interests.
In thinking about my learning objectives that I have set for myself post graduation, I realized that being a student demands that I set aside time for learning. Much like what I had to do to complete this program, I must make learning a priority and routine. Therefore to accomplish these learning goals I must dedicate time each week to review my objectives, evaluate my progress, and take actions that help me continue to be a lifelong learner.
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©2021 by Tracy Liu
©2021 by Tracy Liu