Integrating Advising into the Curriculum

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Integrating Advising into the Curriculum

• The First Year Advisor and
• the First Year Student
• Discovering Together

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Presenters

• Stephanie Smith
• Director of Academic Advising
• College of Liberal Arts
• Owen Schugsta
• Academic Advisor
• College of Liberal Arts

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Session Introduction

• Discovering the Liberal Arts
• Advisor training and professional development
• Previous presentation on Discovery Series

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Problem

• Concerns of the curriculum committee
• Over 1,000 undecided students in the College
• Resources available for helping students choose
  majors
• Career services
• Individual advising sessions

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Possibilities

• Develop a course that would
• Enable students to research majors and potential
  job opportunities
• Support academic progress
• Increase in student satisfaction
• Improve graduation rate

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The Discovery Series is born
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Defined Essential Elements

• Academic component
• Introduction to the tools, methods, and language
  of the disciplines
• Career component
• Exploration of career paths
• Advising component
• Development of individualized academic plans

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Models

• Pre-Professional
• Discipline-specific
• Interdisciplinary

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Pre-Professional Model

• Designed as an interdisciplinary course for
  students with a particular career interest
• Helps students prepare for admission to
  professional schools
• Educates students about the realities of a
  particular profession

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Discipline Specific Model

• Focuses on answering the question Why pursue
  this major?
• Sub-specialties and tracks
• Faculty and research interests of the department
• Internships and career paths
• Curriculum planning
• Acquaints students with the resources of the
  department and the field

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Interdisciplinary Model

• Presents a sweeping overview of the liberal arts
• Focuses on a central theme and incorporates the
  intellectual perspective of a variety of
  disciplines
• Developed courses on a variety of
  themes Discovering the Liberal Arts through Pop
  Culture
• Discovering the Liberal Arts through Philadelphia

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Interdisciplinary Example

• Discovering the
• Liberal Arts
• through
• Pop Culture

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Value of the Experience

• View Advising as legitimate part of the
  educational experience
• University class system
• Cultivate relationships
• Development of teaching skills
• Gain knowledge of College and University

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Reflections of a First Year Advisor
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Challenges

• Daunting task of learning about all the
  departments and majors within the College
• Discovery course seemed like a great
  opportunity to deepen my understanding of College
  and needs of the students
• Collaborative learning process where students and
  I would Discover together

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Course Preparation

• Make experience as interactive as possible
• Dynamic presenters
• Experiential learning
• Pragmatic element
• Prepare for the weekly presentations
• Review curricular requirements
• Create a balanced tone for the course

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Course Presentation

• Class format
• First 30 minutes
• Students feedback on previous weeks
  presentation
• Examining the curriculum for this weeks
  highlighted major or majors
• Next hour
• Guest faculty presenter
• Last 30 minutes
• Feedback from students and setting the stage for
  the following weeks presentation

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Weekly assignments objectives

• Weekly response papers
• Reflect on major and material presented and draw
  something meaningful from the presentation
• Final project
• Have students begin to think seriously about a
  major and their short and long term plans

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Feedback

• Students response papers
• Course evaluations
• Did you learn a great deal in the course?
• 33 strongly agreed
• 56 agreed
• 11 were neutral
• Did the course have value?
• 44 strongly agreed
• 45 agreed
• 11 neutral

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Feedback
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Professional Development Training

• Knowledge of curriculum
• Better understanding of departments and
  university
• Bridge gap between students and departments
• Make numerous contacts within the departments
• Build relationships with faculty members as peer
  advisors

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Professional Development Training, cont.

• Learning experience for both students and advisor
  about the integral part advising plays in the
  educational process
• Better understanding of the advising needs of
  students, especially undeclared and first
  semester freshmen
• Present at a NACADA national conference

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Personal Benefits

• Build relationships with students
• Build a reputation among faculty students
• Experience teaching on the college level
• Learn more about the city and local community

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Future Directions

• Continue to use as a tool for advisor training
  and professional development
• Work with other Schools/Colleges within the
  University in developing Discovery courses for
  their advisors to teach

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For Further Information

• Stephanie Smith
• advisor_at_temple.edu
• Owen Schugsta
• schugsta_at_temple.edu
• www.temple.edu/cla/advising
• Special thanks to Jane Stringer for making
  this presentation possible