Rethinking advising

2014

Graduation and retention is a major concern for all universities. Faculty members, in spite of their teaching, research and service loads, are being asked to pay more attention to students’ advisement. The quality of faculty advisement is also being monitored at the highest level. Although most universities have implement student advisement systems through ERP systems, these advisement systems do not provide the desired support to faculty for advisement. This is more evident where a university has implemented an out-of-the-box solution from a vendor without major customization. This paper describes an Advisement System designed to mitigate the issues of an outof-the-box implementation at a southeastern university to help improve retention and graduation.

2018

Graduation rates remain at low levels along with low retention rates and diminishing rates of students feeling connected to their school, which continue to be a major challenge for universities across the nation. This study will investigate the link to these factors and student sense of belonging as it relates to advisement at a university in southwest Louisiana with a student population of roughly 10,000 students. In many instances, advising has become-it-yourself” advising process that has plagued advising for some time for schools across the nation. When students are permitted to set up their own class schedule, several problems quickly emerge, which range from them selecting the wrong courses to selecting courses to fit time, not degree programs. The proliferation of online platforms creates a greater opportunity for students into a selfchecklist process, which increases problems related to self-advising, choppy advising and a greater potential for a disconnected student. The am...

2018

The economy of the early twenty-first century endured the Great Recession, demanded an increasingly skilled workforce, and saw technological advancements that enabled new levels of scrutiny and accountability. Within this environment, institutions of higher education felt the impacts of recession and recovery, changing workforce demands, and heightened scrutiny. For community colleges, student demographics shifted and challenges grew as they admitted high numbers of students who faced obstacles to attaining their academic goals, such as a lack of preparation for college level work, low socioeconomic status, unclear goals, and first-generation status. With little ability to control these factors and mounting pressure to ensure positive student outcomes, higher education administrators began to rely on advising to help shepherd students through unfamiliar academic territory and build students’ institutional integration. During that time, a system of community colleges in the northeast...

1989

This paper discusses how a holistic, collaborative approach to advising can be developed and what important pieces are needed to implement an effective advising system for the 1990s at Ferris State University (FSU). These actions/policies are recommended: (1) see advising as a university-wide responsibility with collaboration on the delivery of advising services; (2) define information that is readily available to all persons interested in the advising process and eliminate redundancy cf information; (3) develop a personal advising system; (4) break advising skills up into the areas of information giving, communication process, and helping skills and work to enhance each area; (5) recognize the special needs of special populations at FSU, such as the needs of nontraditional students, women, minority students, undecided students and underprepared students; and (6) clarify the responsibilities of being an advisor. The paper concludes that there are several areas of the advising process at FSU that could be improved with little or no cost to the institution. It is claimed that these changes would help bring about a more collaborative and holistic system of advising. It is recommended that FSU examine alternative advising systems that would have new cost but would help the institution keep competitive through the 1990s. (ABL)

The main objective of this research is to study the problems of the current student advising process and to investigate the feasibility of developing an Internet-based advising system for advising undergraduate students on course selection in the College of Business. The data gathered in this research shows that students are highly unsatisfied with the current process. The results also reveal a high likelihood that students will use an Internet-based advising system, if one is available.

2020

In 2015, 26 two- and four-year institutions received three-year grants to implement reforms consistent with the Integrated Planning and Advising for Student Success (iPASS) initiative. Grantees committed to launching or enhancing existing technologies and undertake related organizational changes that would enable them to provide more effective advising and support to all students. CCRC was engaged as a research partner to document the iPASS colleges' implementation efforts and outcomes. CCRC analyzed key performance indicators (KPIs)—including student retention from the first to the second semester and first-term grade point average—using administrative data collected from all 26 participating institutions. This report describes trends in KPIs, aggregated by college sector and cohort, in the participating colleges from 2011 to 2017—from the period before the initiative started until about two years after the grants were awarded. Because iPASS reforms cannot easily be isolated fr...

2019

Community colleges have served as open-door institutionsas the Ellis Islands of America's higher education systemfor decades, providing access for all to a better quality of life. This manifestation of the American Dream is the founding mission of community colleges. However, an enhanced focus on student success and completion has shifted its role. Academicians, policy makers, and leading foundations continue to evaluate institutional best practices that propel the nation's completion agenda. As community colleges continue to work toward doubling the number of students who complete one-year certificates or associates degrees and transfer to universities, academic advising continues to prove as key to student success. Edited by Terry U. O'Banion, Academic Advising in the Community College, provides a model for 21 st century academic advising while emphasizing the importance of innovation in designing and redesigning advising programs. O'Banion, a pioneer of community college academic advising models, published an academic advising model that first appeared in the Junior College Journal in 1972. The model consisted of five crucial steps in the advising process: exploration of life goals, exploration of vocational goals, program choice, course choice, and scheduling courses. This model was later recognized in 1994 as one of two classic models by the National Academic Advising Association and was labeled by the American College Testing as the "O'Banion Model of Academic Advising". O'Banion, in Academic advising in the community college, presents a present-day version of the 1972 model, concluding that academic advising should be the prelude to the central activity of colleges. O'Banion brought together 16 authors of seven chapters who represent two national organizations, Community College Survey for Student Engagement (CCSSE) and the Community College Research Center (CCRC), and 10 leading practitioners in the student development field. These researchers and practitioners continue to play major roles in advancing the academic advising profession. The research and advising models presented provide new insights on the power and reform frameworks of advising. Concomitantly, building guided pathways and engendering a culture of completion are described as crucial elements of student success. Developmental advising is also practiced through the creation of a personalized "LifeMap", laying the foundation from which students achieve academic and career goals. The combination of the results of national research and institutional best practices makes Academic advising in the community college an invaluable tool for practitioners working in the field, policy makers, and scholars researching the American community college and the completion agenda. In addition, the book is a must read for anyone interested in the vital role student success and completion plays in the enhancement of the economy for the nation at large. Some may speculate whether the academic advising process is transformational for students. O'Banion posits, in Chapter 1, that academic advising is the second most important function in the community college with the first being instruction. Furthermore, O'Banion describes the link between effective and efficient advising and instruction as inextricable. O'Banion's 21 st century model for academic advising is an institution wide, team approach that relies on the competencies of counselors, instructors, and advising specialists. Counselors are responsible for student exploration of life and vocational goals, and instructors assist students with the selection of programs or courses. O'Banion recommends that trained students can help students with step 5, course scheduling. Many colleges employ full-time baccalaureate degree credentialed advising specialists whose roles are to ensure students effectively complete the 1972 five step advising process; guide the development of academic and career pathways; and refer to faculty and staff as needed for their

NACADA Journal, 2013

Education Sciences, 2020

Academic advising is time-consuming work. At the same time, it needs to be efficient and productive in assisting the students to choose appropriate academic courses towards the completion of their selected programs in a beneficial manner. In addition, both private and public educational institutions are, currently, operating in an extremely competitive market and are, thus, faced with various challenges. Among these are the twin challenges of student retention and the rate of success in completion of their chosen academic courses. The mentioned challenges have a direct bearing on the quality of academic advising and services provided to the students, by the individual academic institution. A number of research studies have been carried out suggesting various online academic advising systems for undergraduate and graduate programs. In this context, we develop and present, here, an academic advising system which differs from and improves upon previously suggested methodologies with th...