Student Supervisor Community of Practice

Communities of Practice (CoPs) are “groups of people who share a concern or passion for something they do and learn how to do it better through regular interaction” (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015).

A CoP includes three key elements:

• Community: Members engage in discussion, support one another, and share information.

• Domain: A shared area of interest or concern.

• Practice: Shared resources, experiences, tools, and approaches to common challenges.

Members are professional staff who supervise students. They range in years of experience, and number of students supervised. Students they supervise engage in a wide range of work such as:

• Customer service and front-line roles

• Student activities and outreach

• Communications and technology

• Research

• Food service and custodial services

• Education, tutoring, and peer advising

• Anything else! Our University wouldn’t be what it is without our student employees

Topics that pertain to supervising student employees ranging from macro-level supervision philosophy to nitty-gritty employment compliance and everything in between!

Previous Community of Practice Topics Include:

• Student Employment as a High Impact Practice & WiGROW
• Supporting International Students in Campus employment
•  Managing Student Wellbeing & Resources
•  Feedback & Evaluations
• Inclusive Student Employment Practices
• Artificial Intelligence in Student Hiring & Employment
• Workday Implementation, Reflections, & Goal Setting

• Improve skills and confidence in supervising student employees
• Increase campus connections
• Improve student employee experience

To support different schedules and work modalities, the SS CoP connects through:

• A Microsoft Teams channel for ongoing communication

• A shared resource drive for tools and materials

• Alternating in-person and virtual meetings

• Small-group “pods” for focused discussion

Attend and engage as you’re able and interested. There’s a lot of value from learning with and from one another, so we also encourage supervisors to share their knowledge and expertise as they’re able. This Community of Practice is what we make of it together!