Working in student affairs is a great experience for professional development because there is so much of it. There a dozens of professional associations for the different functional areas that intentionally think of ways to engage their membership in discussions of current events and developments within the field.
Mostly, Student Affairs Educators think of conferences as the major way to gain professional development and I think conferences are fantastic! I always connect with the field in a way that energizes me and teaches me something new about how I can further my work. I also think that it’s hard to stay connected to the material that you learn because you come back to catch-up work at the office. It’s also expensive to travel to conferences. So, #sachat is an easy way to stay connected to the field and the knowledge that is being developed in an exciting way.
#sachat is held every Thursday at both 1 PM eastern time and 7 PM eastern time. There are also a few splinter groups for doctoral students (#sadoc) and masters students (#sagrad).
These conversations are always awesome because of the knowledge, both scholarly and practical, that people bring to the conversation. It’s also a great way to network across the field to understand how different institutions function. While I’m not the most active person in these chats, I’m definitely a lurker, I always get something out of them because of the knowledge that the conversation revolves around.
#sachat is a great alternative to staying connected to the field and learning in-between conferences and as an free alternative to conferences. So I suggest them to anyone who is looking for little something extra in their own development. And you can learn more at thesabloggers.org
P.S. They also celebrated their 1st anniversary a few weeks ago.