Academic Advising: Student Perspective

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Academic Advising Student Perspective
Strategic Study Group

• June 6, 2007

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Strategic Study Group

• Members
• Ms. Denise Dobos Dr. Patricia Flach
• Ms. Kimberly Kennedy Dr. Rhonda Matthews, Chair
• Dr. Michael Paulus Dr. Allan Turner
• Guidance Team Quality Advisor
• Ms. Patricia Hillman Dr. Erinn Lake
• Dr. Denise Ohler
• Mr. Bruce Skolnick

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Issue Statement

• SSG Advising Team A Improving the quality,
  depth, and consistency in advising (first year
  through graduation) focusing on student
  satisfaction with advising.

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Improvement Statement

• To increase the students knowledge of their
  roles, responsibilities, and participation in the
  academic advising process.

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Baseline Data

• Advising Handbooks, Websites, Formats, Forms
• Senate Subcommittee Survey - Spring 2006
• Faculty Advisor Survey
• Student Evaluation Instrument of Academic
  Advisement
• Defining academic advising and advising roles and
  responsibilities Background information for the
  SSG on faculty perspectives on advising
• First Year Experience Program Form

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Baseline Data cont

• Evaluation of Student Academic Advisement
  Responsibilities B. Skolnick
• Academic Advising Inventory - Winstons, R.B
  Sandor, J.
• Advising Evaluation Instrument - Tynin, J.F.
  Schrader, B.A. (2002)

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Methods/Process

• Reviewed resulting data from University Senate
  Enrollment and Management committee form
  2005-2006
• Examined advisement roles and responsibilities of
  students developed by N.A.C.A.D.A. (National
  ACademic ADvising Association)
• Committee members assigned tasked with
  developing several items related to N.A.C.A.D.A.
  roles and responsibilities.

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Methods/Process

• Committee reviewed and modified items developed
  by committee members.
• The committee compiled a survey, with assistance
  of UPIRCI, and distributed the survey to all
  degree seeking undergraduate students during the
  week of April 23, 2007.
• The response rate of this survey was 10 (536
  respondents out of 5,515 messages sent out via
  email.)

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Survey Results and Findings

• The survey addressed the following advising
  issues
• Ultimate Responsibility for Progress and Success
• Learns the Identity of the Advisor
• Learns Advisor Office Hours and Visits
• Works to Establish Goals
• Alerts Advisor to Accommodation Needs
• Learns Curricular Requirements University
  Policies Regarding Academic Progress
• Updates Advisor on Factors that May Impact
  Academic Progress
• Maintains Personal Copies of Important Records
• Presents Ideas and/or Requests Assistance Before
  Requesting Alternate PIN
• Learns to Use S.C.O.T.S. and its Functions

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• Ultimate Responsibility for Progress and Success
• Overall, approximately 75 suggested that they
  were very or completely responsible for the
  effectiveness of the advising sessions, while
  another 20 were only somewhat responsible for
  this.

• Learns the Identity of the Advisor
• When asked about what information they had
  regarding their advisor following the
  orientation, 34.3 indicated that they hadnt
  attended an orientation.

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• Learns Advisor Office Hours and Visits
• Asked to rate how important an awareness of
  his/her advisors office hours was, more than 70
  rated this as at least very important.
• 82 considered it very important that they, the
  students, initiated contact with the advisor, 75
  believed it to be very important to have
  face-to-face contact, and 78 considered it to
  very important to have email contact, yet only
  38 saw telephone contact to be important.

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• Works to Establish Goals
• Nearly 33 of the students were not comfortable
  seeking out their advisor for career information.

• Alerts Advisor of Accommodation Needs
• 38 of the students felt it was important to
  notify their academic advisor of employment
  accommodation needs, while 32 feel it is
  important to notify their advisor of financial
  accommodation needs.

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• Learns Curricular Requirements University
  Policies Regarding Academic Progress
• Over 67 of the students use their Webmail
  frequently, though only 54 of students know to
  use email forwarding from Webmail.
• Over 75 report they have received an
  Undergraduate Catalog and 88 use the catalog.

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• Updates Advisor on Factors that May Impact
  Academic Progress
• 27 of the students did not communicate personal
  issues impacting academic progress to their
  advisor.
• 33 of the students did not communicate with
  their advisor if they fail to achieve their
  optimal GPA to discuss academic support.

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• Maintains Personal Copies of Important Records
• Slightly more than half of the students did not
  copy official forms before their submission.

• Presents Ideas and/or Requests Assistance Before
  Requesting Alternate PIN
• Slightly more than half of the students did not
  copy official forms before their submission.

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• Presents Ideas and/or Requests Assistance Before
  Requesting Alternate PIN
• 64 of the students prepare a tentative course
  schedule when planning to meet with their
  advisor.
• 60 keep an updated course of study sheet.

• Learns to Use S.C.O.T.S. and its Functions
• Students are not aware of Intent to Schedule
  (51) and What-If-Analysis (45.7) functions.

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Recommendations

• Balance the contribution to advising between
  student and advisor.
• Increase orientation participation rates with
  consideration of on-line orientation component.
• Expand communication methods for linkages between
  student and advisor.

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Recommendations

• Clarify ambiguity between career information and
  career goals for students.
• Orient students to resources which address
  barriers to learning.
• Link well used informational resources with
  underused informational resources.

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Recommendations

• Create a uniform system for disseminating contact
  information to students.

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Questions?
Thank you.