Online Academic Advising

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Online Academic Advising

• Mel Chastain, Ph.D.
• Director, Kansas Regents Educational
  Communications Center
• Interim Associate Vice Provost for Information
  Technology
• chastain_at_ksu.edu

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Kansas State University Synopsis

• K-State State of Kansas background facts
• Why academic advising?
• All academic advising is NOT the same
• Hastening the evolutionary process

• In search of common ground
• Flow diagram development
• Scenario development
• Finally a working model

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Kansas State University Brief Profile

• Land Grant Institution (founded 1863)
• 9 colleges 22,000 students 1,170 faculty
• 300 distance courses (200 with web-based
  components) offered each semester
• 5 bachelors degrees 9 masters 3 certificate
  programs
• 20,000 enrollments in off-campus credit courses
  (5,000 head count, both resident distant
  enrollees)
• 750-800 faculty use KSOL. 85 of KSOL use is for
  on-campus courses
• Most annual growth figures are 25

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Higher Education in Kansas
Board of Regents - authority over all public
higher education

• Governance over
• 3 graduate level research universities
• 3 regional 4-year universities
• 1 municipal university
• 11 vocational/technical schools

• Coordination responsibilities for
• 19 community colleges

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Academic Advising at K-State

• KSU focus for LAAP Project
• At the heart of the advising process
• Provided diversity among LAAP Partners
• Seemed to be our strength
• However, you cant isolate one type of advising
• They each relate to the other
• Decisions made in one arena affect the others

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At K-State, All Academic Advising is NOT the Same

• There are differences based upon
• Discipline
• Requirements, sequence, performance, time, etc.
• Culture
• Expectations about reliability, maturity,
  self-direction, motivation, etc.
• Advisor type
• Full-time staff or faculty/researcher/advisor

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Full-time Staff / Faculty Advisor Differences

• Full-time staff advisor
• Process oriented
• Time restricted
• More circumspect for the uncertain advisee

• Faculty/researcher/advisor
• Discipline/application oriented
• Time enhanced
• Bimodal for the uncertain advisee

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However, this project has led us to (at least)
one universal truth
There is no real difference between academic
advising for the resident student and the distant
learner, because, increasingly, there is no real
difference between the resident student and the
distant learner.
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Hastening the Evolutionary Development of Online
Services

• Partnerships
• Matriculation agreements
• Grants
• Consultants
• Deadlines

We would have done it anyway, but this put a
fuse on it.
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In Search of Solutions

• Respect the differences, but concentrate on the
  similarities
• Attack the data base fiefdoms ()
• Use pictures to describe processes
• Select a small group of diverse but respected
  advisors
• Do the work, then let them correct it

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The Flow Diagram(Academic Advising at Kansas
State University)
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Unified Modeling Language
UML helps bridge the gap between subject matter
experts (SMEs) and software/hardware computer
professionals (geeks) Burnie Blakeley, IBM,
January, 2001

• Uses three components
• Context diagrams (people/system interfaces)
• Use Case Lists
• Scenarios

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Sample Scenario
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Modeling an Approach(Creating a do-able Model)

• Find the DATA SET common to most meaningful
  advisor/student scenarios
• At K-State, its the transcript
• Model a do-able electronic transcript that
  answers 80 of the common questions posed to
  academic advisors

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A Solution by the Numbers

• Does the desired information exist?
• If so, where is it? Will those who own the data
  permit access?
• Is it in a user-friendly format?
• How much data is needed for 80 of the decisions?

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A Solution by the Numbers

• Can we agree on that 80?
• Can the programmers create the software to
  retrieve and present the desired report?
• Is the end result simple and easy enough for ALL
  to use?

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The Answers by the Numbers

• Student data exists in 17 distinct locations
  many different administrators.
• Most is in DARS (Degree Audit Reporting System)
• proprietary concerns about program access or
  modification
• extremely comprehensive, but text-only
  (DOS-appearing) format
• Administrators authorized middleware
  interrogation of data base systems to produce a
  consolidated, user-friendly report.

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The Answers by the Numbers

• Academic Advisors agreed on common core of
  information to answer 80 of the most common
  academic questions.
• K-State Online programmers created the software
  to retrieve and present the desired report.
• Were determining now if the end result simple
  and easy enough to use.

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The Common Academic Advising Data Sets

• Name, SSN, address, e-mail, home address, ACT
  scores, photo, phone
• Major/Option
• Requirements/Taken
• Electives (restricted free)

• Transfer courses accepted (that apply to degree)
• Transfer courses in limbo
• K-State GPA (by semester overall)
• University General Education Requirements

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Related Efforts

• Concentrate on the interactive PROCESS for any
  key scenario between the advisor and a distant
  learner.
• At K-State, its how the advisor and learner
  look at and discuss the transcript, deciding
  what courses to take next
• Technology solutions have as their objective the
  duplication of the face-to-face dialog.

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Summary

• Combining the common DATA SET with the desired
  PROCESS yields a do-able, measurable model with
  which to test the proof-of-concept of online
  academic advising.
• At K-State, the most widely accepted platform for
  combining the DATA SET with the desired PROCESS
  is our proprietary course management system
  K-State Online.

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Questions?

• Mel Chastain, Ph.D.
• Director, Kansas Regents Educational
  Communications Center
• Interim Associate Vice Provost for Information
  Technology
• Bob Dole Hall
• Kansas State University
• Manhattan, Kansas 66506-6902
• [phone]
• chastain_at_ksu.edu

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K-State Online and the Online Academic Advising
System

• Rob Caffey
• Director, Information Systems
• Division of Continuing Education
• Kansas State University
• Manhattan, Kansas 66506
• [phone]
• caffey_at_ksu.edu

Jennifer Bambach Multimedia Coordinator Division
of Continuing Education Kansas State
University Manhattan, Kansas 66506 [phone]
jbambach_at_ksu.edu
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Advising Using K-State Online
Please open Advising Online.ppt to see the demo