Advisor Training for Faculty

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Advisor Training for Faculty
Marsha Miller NACADA Assistant Director,
Resources Services miller_at_ksu.edu

• With thanks to Kathy Stockwell
• Fox Valley Technical College

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• Perhaps the most important need in academic
  advising today is effective training.
• Jeffrey L. McClellan
• Content Components for Advisor Training
  Revisited

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• Topics you would like to see addressed in advisor
  training on your campus

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• Faculty advisor training or development should
  grow out of the expectations of a particular
  institution and be unique to that campus. The
  program should be based on the needs of faculty.
  The most well-structured training program
  possible will still not be successful if it does
  not provide the information or skills that
  advisors need to do their job well.
• Faye Vowell and Phillip Farren
• in Faculty Advising Examined

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Start with support from the top!
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Identifying Training Needs

• New Faculty Members
• Faculty Members in Different Disciplines
• Mid-Career Faculty Members
• Experienced Faculty Members

ASK!!!
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Training Formats

• One or Two Full Day
• Several One Hour
• Online
• Conference/Seminar Attendance

• Staff Development Day
• Webinars
• Panel Discussions
• Advising listserve or chat room
• Advising Newsletter
• Monographs, journals, handbooks
• Case Studies
• Advising Handbook
• Mentoring

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Training Components

• Training must be connected to
• Mission for faculty advising
• Goals for faculty advising
• Advisor outcomes for faculty advising
• Student learning outcomes for faculty advising
• Resources available to faculty advisors

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What to Include in Training

• Three components of quality advising
• Informational
• What advisors need to know includes internal and
  external environment, student needs, advisor
  self knowledge.
• Relational
• The skills advisors need to possess in order to
  do their jobs effectively
• Conceptual
• What advisors must understand

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Informational

• The substantive information that academic
  advisors need to know falls into four groups
• the internal environment
• the external environment
• student needs
• advisor self-knowledge.
• L.C. Higginson
• A Framework for Training Program Content

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Higginson believes advisor training must include
the following topics

• Students within the institution
• Student Characteristics
• Gender and racial composition
• Test scores
• Number of students on financial aid
• Attrition and retention patterns
• Educational and personal needs
• Characteristics of special populations
• Adult learners, student athletes, honors
  students, international students, racial and
  ethnic minorities, part-times students, etc.

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• Role of advising within the institution
• Importance of advising for students and the
  college
• Institutions definition of advising
• Advisor and advisee responsibilities
• The internal environment
• Academic integrity
• On-line resources
• Policies and procedures
• Referral services
• Transfer options
• Etc.

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• External environment
• Knowledge of the higher education community, the
  local communities, and the job markethelps
  advisors link education with the real world the
  students will be entering
• Service learning experiences
• Job outlook projections
• Professional associations
• Networking opportunities
• Continuing education

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• Student needs
• Problem solving
• Decision making
• Evaluation of options
• Connection between major and career
• Test preparation students
• Time management
• Special population issues

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• Advisor self-knowledge
• What do I as an advisor bring to the advising
  setting?
• Attitudes
• Beliefs
• Knowledge

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Topics to Include

• Introduction to advising roles and tasks
• Skills and techniques
• Student development
• Advising as teaching
• Using resources and making referrals
• Legal and ethical issues
• Relational skills
• Advising special populations
• Advising delivery strategies

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Important Topics for Faculty

• Advising as teaching
• Emphasize that this is a learning experience for
  advisees
• establish student learning outcomes for advising
• use an advising syllabus
• Legal and ethical issues
• FERPA
• Due process
• Resources and referrals

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Training Techniques

• Presentation
• Large group and small group discussion
• Case studies
• Role playing
• Intranet

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Communication (Relational)

• A good advisor development program stresses
  communication skills, the essence of effective
  advising.
• Listening
• Paraphrasing
• Questioning
• Supportive/encouragement
• strategies

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• Be concise in your writing and talking,
  especially when giving instructions to others.
• Epictetus, 50-120
• Greek stoic philosopher

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• Think like a wise man, but communicate in the
  language of people.
• William Butler Yeats, 1865-1939

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Relational

• Conversations that are informational
• institutional policies and procedures
• graduation requirements
• important dates and deadlines
• programs of study
• Drake, Hemwall Stockwell (2009)
• Faculty Advising Pocket Guide

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Relational

• Conversations about the student
• core values
• aptitudes/interests
• strengths
• areas for improvement (study skills, time
  management, etc.)
• involvement in extracurricular activities
• Drake, Hemwall Stockwell (2009)
• Faculty Advising Pocket Guide

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Relational

• Conversations that are about the futuregoal
  setting and posing questions for reflection
• What do you want your future to be (career and
  personal life)?
• What steps do you need to take to make this
  future a reality?
• How are these steps related to the academic goals
  of our institution?
• How are you changing as a result of your
  education?
• Drake, Hemwall Stockwell (2009)
• Faculty Advising Pocket Guide

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Relational

• Questions fall into three categories
• Involvement
• Draw students into the conversation Why are you
  in college?
• Clarifying
• Follow-up questions to find out more
• Continuing
• Questions that will help student expand on a
  point
• Drake, Hemwall Stockwell (2009)
• Faculty Advising Pocket Guide

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• The most important thing in communication is
  hearing what isnt said.
• Peter F. Drucker
• American management guru

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• Treat people as if they were what they should
  be, and you help them become what they are
  capable of becoming.
• Johann von Goethe

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Relational

• Decision-making skills
• Rapport building
• Interview skills
• Referral skills
• One-on-One communication skills

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Conceptual

• Definition of advising
• Relationship between advising and student
  retention
• Rights and responsibilities of both advisor and
  advisee
• Role of advising in student development
• Student expectations of the advising relationship

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Resources

• Scenes for Learning and Reflection
• An Academic Advising Professional Development DVD

DVD scenes Scene 1 Adult learner returning to
college Scene 2 Lack of progress Scene 3
Upset transfer student Scene 4 Advisor error
Scene 5 First-generation student Scene 6
Student complaint Scene 7 Student with personal
issues Scene 8 Advising a student athlete
Scene 9 Faculty advisor FERPA privacy issues
Scene 10  Proactive parenting
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Initial Training is CompleteNow What?

• Lunch n Learns/Brown Bag lunches
• Newsletters
• Web page
• Book clubs
• Weekly advising tips posted on electronic
  bulletin board
• 1-2 hour workshops during staff development days

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Initial Training is CompleteNow What?

• Refresher training sessions for seasoned
  advisors
• State, regional, and national conferences
• Webcasts
• NACADA resources

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Evaluating the Program

• Should be considered at the beginning of the
  planning process
• Should be related to goals of the training
  program
• Can focus on
• a single session
• a single activity
• the entire experience
• participant satisfaction
• what participants learned

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Recognition and Reward

• Making advising important
• Support from administration
• Part of tenure and promotion
• Use both intrinsic and
• extrinsic motivators
• Rewards that work

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2008 Survey Results

• Rewards recognition important to faculty
• Professional support (NACADA)
• Promotion tenure
• Merit
• Cash award
• Secretarial support
• Thank you letter/certificate
• Awards reception
• Preferential parking
• Plaque
• Drake, 2008 NACADA survey
• Academic Advising A comprehensive handbook
  (2008)