Student Advising

If we are really looking to impact student academic engagement, retention and educational outcomes it seems to me we should shift the focus from articulating advising programs purpose to empowering students to articulate their fundamental purpose. And when it comes to consistency of messaging how about anchoring all messages within the context of each student’s human uniqueness? At the risk of appearing to be self-serving, I invite interested readers to log onto www.myguidewirecollege.com where they can very cost efficiently leverage technology to accomplish more with less through Internet Empowered Advising.

Neil Heyse, Executive Director at Guidewire Systems Inc., at 8:55 am EDT on July 27, 2006

“Problem is, many campuses have advisers whoare embedded in academic departments.”

Funny...I always thought having faculty advise students was a good thing.

math prof, at 9:35 am EDT on July 27, 2006

Advising-Communicatng Advisor Availability

I believe another useful communication tool would be an advising web page viewable by students, faculty, and other academic areas where advisors can edit their contact information, their office hours, available hours of advising, and other additional comments that would allow others to quickly identify who and when advisors are available. Many times students and prospective students must make several attempts before they can finally track down an advisor. As mentioned in the article, advising offices are usually spread all over campuses. Some advisors are off for the summer and teaching schedules for faculty advisors constantly change. I believe it would be nice to have one place to look that would give a complete picture of who, when, where, and how students can reach their advisors.

David Penna, Director of Operations & Programs, Cont. Ed. at Southwest Tennessee Community College, at 10:15 am EDT on July 27, 2006

Advising web pages and consistency

We are fortunate at our institution to have an Academic Advising Council which includes advisors across the Colleges and the “First Year Advising” office. As well, each of us have an academic advising webpage unique to our college. All of these measures and more allow for a consistent message and information exchange, beneficial to all.

Anne Young, Academic Advisor, at 3:00 pm EDT on July 27, 2006

Let’s Work Together

Last time I checked, Faculty are one of the highest reasons that students select an institution. However, given the nature of class sizes, teaching loads, and the lack of emphasis on advising in the role of a faculty member, advising often takes a back seat. Nonetheless, wouldn’t an increase in interaction with faculty seem to meet student expectations and lead to increased retention. Unfortunately, this would require a radical shift in the role (and reward structure) of faculty at most institutions.

I am not so naïve to assume that additional faculty interaction would solve the problem. Most faculty know only their departmental curricula (or their own courses, more likely) and are not prepared to advise outside their expertice. This is where professional advisers can provide a solution.

It would appear that the best option is to work together as a team—faculty providing vocational/professional direction and relationships with students and professional advisers providing degree progress advice. Unfortuntely, what often appears to happen is an all-or-nothing approach at either end of the spectrum.

In addition, if our goal is to produce competent graduate (who ideally are lifelong learners themselves) it would seem most appropriate to assist them in the process of making their own decisions. Where most schools fail students in this respect is hindering sufficient information on which students can make their own decisions. Providing adequate resources to students would take time to develop and implement but it seems a much more effective solution for those institutions that have (virtually) no system in place and no resources to establish a full-blown advising center with professional staff.

Reid Kisling, Registrar at George Fox University, at 4:20 pm EDT on July 27, 2006

A poster above claims that a big reason for long completion times (5-6 years) is that advising is so poor, and that students are told to register for the wrong courses.

Another poster above made a great distinction between what we call prescriptive advising and developmental advising.

On the first point: Advisors can tell students what to register for that works for the major they present. If a student alters her or his major at a point after the advising, this is not the advisor’s error. Many issues in time-to-degree and advising “errors” have to do with the student changing the plan, not the advisor fouling up. I will admit that mistakes sometimes happen, but claiming that this is a large problem without evidence is shoddy work, my friend.

On the second point: Most of the faculty I know view professional advisors (and they are professionals, most educated at the Masters level or higher) as those who simply fill in bubble sheets and check off courses. This is not the case with well-run advising units. I’m speaking here of units that are intended for 1st and 2nd year students. Advising is not prescriptive (as in a prescription, take these 4 classes and get out of the office), but developmental. It’s perfectly within the realm of a generalist advisor to:

Ask about non-class activities, like work, family. Encourage professional and occupational development in the form of internships, practica, and the like.Assign the student homework, like talking with a professor about an issue, dealing with a housing problem, etc.

Honestly, I am not sure that the job of a professional advisor can be done well by the a faculty member. Many are not trained in these matters, know precious little about university procedures and policies, and (as another poster mentioned) do not get rewarded for excellent advising.

Until this last point about rewards is altered, it seems to me better to leave the advising to professionals and the mentoring of students in academics to faculty.

Joshua Morrison, Advisors as cause of time-to-degree, at 9:40 pm EDT on July 27, 2006

Academic Advising

“There is no greater joy than to make a difference in someone’s life” Joe Ancona Academic Advisor/Adjunct Professor Webster University

Joe Ancona, Graduate Academic Advisor at Webster University, at 5:50 am EDT on August 23, 2006