Transcript Slide 1

The History and Organization
of Academic Advising
Maura Reynolds
Hope College
The Global Community
for Academic Advising
A BIG THANKS to Nancy King
The History and
Organization of Advising
1. What are they?
2. Why are they important?
3. How can we get the most from them?
Perspective on Advising
“Good advising may be
the single most underestimated
characteristic of a successful
college experience.”
Richard Light, Making the Most of College, 2001
Potential of Advising
“Academic advising is the
only structured activity on
the campus in which all students
have the opportunity for an
on-going, one-on-one interaction
with a concerned representative
of the institution.”
Wes Habley
Let’s Take
a Trip Down Memory Lane
We begin in medieval times
when a preceptor imparted his
knowledge to students
The Year Was 1636
An early brochure of Harvard College
justified its existence: "To advance
Learning and perpetuate it to Posterity;
dreading to leave an illiterate Ministry to
the Churches.“
In 1841, Kenyon College (Ohio)
uses the term “advisor”
On to the1880s,
when a system of faculty advisors was
set up at Johns Hopkins.
The Year Was 1953
“Advising is a process with a long and
dignified history in colleges and
universities . . . involving, as often does,
tedious clerical work combined with hit
and run conferences with students on
curricula. It is a most cordially hated
activity by the majority of college
teachers.”
M S. Maclean, Personnel and Guidance Journal
And in 1960 . . .
“The task of advising is
concentrated in the opening days
of registration and enrollment
and consists of aiding students in
the selection of courses.”
Asa Knowles, Handbook of College and University Administrators
1960s
While faculty advising was still the
primary delivery system for
academic advising, two new
delivery systems were introduced:
centralized advising centers
peer & professional advising.
1972
Advising is “concerned with not only
the specific personal or vocational
decision but with facilitating the
student’s rational processes,
environmental and interpersonal
interactions, behavioral awareness,
and problem-solving, decisionmaking and evaluation skills.”
Burns Crookston
In 1972, Terry O’Banion outlined five
dimensions of academic advising:
●Exploration of life goals
● Exploration of vocational goals
● Exploration of program choices
● Exploration of course choices
● Exploration of scheduling options
In 1977, over 300 people
attended a national meeting
on academic advising.
Over the next two years,
NACADA was established.
A 1984 definition
“A systematic process based on a close
student-advisor relationship intended
to aid students in achieving
educational, career, and personal
goals through the use of the full
range of institutional and community
resources.”
Winston, Miller, Ender, and Grites
In the 1970s and 80s,
developmental advising:
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Became a dominant advising paradigm
Extended advising beyond scheduling
Drew on student development theory
Emphasized individual student growth
Emphasized shared responsibility
In 1988,
“Perhaps the most urgent reform on most
campuses in improving general education
involves academic advising.
To have programs and courses become
coherent and significant to students
requires adequate advising.”
Task Force on General Education
Association of American Colleges
A new approach ~
A new focus
“An excellent advisor does the
same for the student’s entire
curriculum that the excellent
teacher does for one course.”
Marc Lowenstein, 2005
NACADA Concept of
Academic Advising
Preamble (2006)
“Academic advising is integral to
fulfilling the teaching and learning
mission of higher education.
Through academic advising, students
learn
• to become members of their higher
education community,
• to think critically about their roles
and responsibilities as students, and
• to prepare to be educated citizens of
a democratic society and a global
community.
Academic advising engages students
beyond their own world views,
while acknowledging their
individual characteristics, values,
and motivations as they enter, move
through, and exit the institution.”
Focus on the advisee as learner
What is it we want our students to
demonstrate they
• Know
• Are able to do
• Value and appreciate
as a result of academic advising?
Advising as Teaching & Learning
Through advising, we want students. . .
• To value the learning process
• To learn and use decision-making
strategies
• To put the college experience into
perspective
• To set and evaluate priorities
• To develop thinking and learning skills
NACADA Core Values
Academic Advising (like the academic curriculum)
should promote student learning and development
by encouraging experiences that lead to:
• Intellectual growth
• The ability to communicate effectively
• Leadership development
• The ability to work independently and
collaboratively
• Appropriate career choices
Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education
It’s WAY beyond rocket science
“College is more than a collection of
courses or a ticket to a trade.”
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Exploring educational and career goals
Exploring life goals
Selecting an academic direction
Selecting classes
Developing skills
Taking full advantage of opportunities
Scheduling of classes
Students are NOT customers
Students, unlike customers,
are not always right. The
role of the teacher/advisor
is to identify the “gaps”
to create “cognitive
dissonance.”
“I told you I needed
an “A” on my history exam.”
At the heart of advising is
the art of conversation
Definition:
“The art of conversation is
the ability to
create a dialogue
that others will
willingly
join.”
Knowing the language is
essential to conversation
“You cannot enter any world for which you
do not have the language.”
Wittgenstein
Three Types of Conversations Advisors
Have with Students
1. Conversations that are informational:
• University policies and procedures
• Requirements
• Important dates and deadlines
• Programs of study
Too often advising conversations stop here and do not
progress to the next two types.
2. Conversations about the individual
student
Core values
 Aptitudes/interests
 Strengths
 Areas for improvement (study skills,
time management, oral competency)
 Level of involvement in the life of
the institution
3. Conversations about the future
What do I want my future to be?
(career and personal life)
What steps do I need to make this
future a reality?
How am I changing as a result of my
education?
When you ask around. . . .
What does good advising involve?
A meaningful relationship,
a connection with
an advisor (and with
the faculty)
It also means. . . .
Making connections between advising and
students’ personal lives
“At key points in their college years, an
academic advisor asked questions, or
posed a challenge that forced students to
think about the relationship of their
academic work and to their personal
lives.”
Richard Light, 2001
It’s More than Scheduling
Advising conversations that extend
beyond course selection, scheduling, and
registration into “Bigger Ideas” are those
that students find most helpful and that
contribute to student persistence.
“Advising is viewed as a way to connect
students to the campus and help them feel
that someone is looking out for them.”
George Kuh
Student Success in College
Advisors Ask the What,
Why, and How Questions
• Why are you at this college/university?
• What are your goals for your education?
• Why do you want to major in English, in
Accounting, in Political Science?
• How can you make the most of your time in
college?
• What skills are you developing? What skills
do you need to develop, and how will you do
this?
Why Students Leave
• Academic boredom
• Personal reasons
• Academic underpreparedness
• Uncertainty about major/career
• Transition/adjustment difficulties
• Failure to connect with the institution
Advising and Retention
“Effective retention programs have come to
understand that academic advising is at
the very core of successful institutional
efforts to educate and retain students.”
Vincent Tinto
Leaving College: Rethinking the
Causes and Cures of Student Attrition
Retention Is Related to
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Excellent classroom instruction and
student interaction with faculty
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Caring attitude of faculty and staff
Students don’t care how much you know
until they know how much you care.
Retention is also related to…
• The level and quality of student
interaction with their peers through, e.g.,
learning communities, extracurricular
activities, collaborations between
academic affairs and student affairs
• Early intervention
• Assistance with external pressures, both
personal and financial
Factors that promote retention (continued)
• Students bonding with an institution
• Faculty and professional advisors having
an understanding of the principles of
human learning and development
• Advisors assisting students in developing
realistic expectations.
Advising that contributes to
student success and retention. . .
• Is a student-centered process focused on
teaching and learning
• Facilitates behavioral awareness and
problem-solving, decision-making and
evaluation skills
• Encourages both short- and long-term goal
setting
• Makes students feel they matter
• Stresses a shared responsibility with students
making decisions for themselves
Graduation Rate Outcomes Study
• No one “magic bullet” guarantees success
in retention, persistence, and graduation
rates.
• Success, instead, means carefully reading
the campus culture, aligning people and
programs and making a collective
commitment to be in it for the long haul.
AASCU, Student Success in State Colleges and Universities
“Advising should be at the core of
the institution’s educational mission
rather than layered on as a service.”
Robert Berdahl, New Directions for Teaching and Learning
How is advising organized?
There is no one best model. All are
potentially effective for the delivery
of advising services…
C. F. Pardee
2011 Survey of Advising:
817 Respondents
And the survey says…
•A "faculty only" model is more common at 4
year baccalaureate colleges (35%); and 4 year
colleges/universities who do not grant PhDs
(20%)
•"Centralized units" staffed mostly by
professional advisors or counselors are more
common at PhD-granting universities (40%);
and at 2 year colleges (33%)
• For all responding institutions, some sort of
a "shared model" was the most common
structure indicated—53%
– some students (undecided or transfer or
probation or undeclared or ??) advised in a
center with faculty advising declared majors-true for half of the respondents who indicated a
shared model
– a variety of other shared models, with
professional advisors (in a center, a department,
or a college) dividing responsibilities (in
differing ways) with faculty advisors
What else did we learn about the organization
of advising?
• 10% of the respondents use peer advisors in
some way
• At 86% of the responding colleges, at least
some faculty advise in some way
• Several struggled to describe their structures—
13% wrote in more information to try to
describe; 14% indicated 2 or more models used
Four Questions to consider
about modeling and remodeling
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4.
Who is advised?
Who advises?
Where is advising done?
How are advising responsibilities
divided?
The Organization
• Create a shared vision of student success that is
embedded in the institution’s mission and culture
• Set high standards for students inside and outside
the classroom and balance challenge with support
• Provide complementary policies, practices, and
resources to support students academically and
socially
Academic advisors should play
strategic roles in these important initiatives
The Collaboration
Advising requires coordination and
collaboration among units across campus
that provide student support/services.
“Every time you see a turtle on a fencepost,
you know it didn’t get there by itself.” Alex Haley
The Hub
Academic
departments
First-year
seminar
Career and
life planning
Academic
Advising
Registration
and records
New student
orientation
Learning
communities
Admissions
and testing
Active Outreach to Students
Advisors should be. . . .
• Available and accessible
• Proactive
• Caring and concerned
“Intrusive” or proactive advising is based on the
philosophy that we should not wait for students to get
into trouble before reaching out to them.”
Robert Glennon
What do students
want from an advisor?
Accurate information
“Do they know?”
Accessibility
“Are they there?”
Caring attitude
“Do they care?”
Accountability
Why academic advising is more important
than ever
• Rising costs of higher education
• The current state of our economy
• Changing expectations of students and
families
• Increasing pressure from states for
students to graduate in four years
Conclusions; or,
We’ve come a long way, baby
View of advising has dramatically evolved
and broadened over time
Advising is now focused on teaching and
learning
Advising assists students with career/life
planning and deals with “big” issues
Although not a magic bullet, advising is
clearly related to student persistence
Advising is the hub of the student services
wheel
Advising cannot be done in isolation—it is
a tag-team activity
Good advising involves active outreach to
students
Advising is important to institutions in
demonstrating accountability
This Week at the Summer Institute
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Advising as teaching and learning
Retention issues in student persistence
Research in advising
The administration of advising
Applying student development theories to advising
Selection and training/professional development of
professional and faculty advisors
Development of advising materials
Assessment of effectiveness (advisors and programs)
Legal and ethical issues of advising
Advising various student populations
Parting Thought One
Academic Advising is “perhaps the only
structured campus endeavor that can guarantee
interaction with a caring and concerned adult
who can help them shape a meaningful learning
experience for themselves.”
Hunter and White
Parting Thought Two
With the right approach
come the right results.
The Mental Game of Baseball