No More

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No More Nobody Told Me!
Using Technology to Create a
Student-Centered Advising System

• Ruby Singh Stephanie Smith
• Director of Student Services Director of
  Academic Advising
• College of Science Technology College
  of Liberal Arts
• Kristen diNovi
• Academic Advisor
• Division of University Studies

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Temple University

• Public research university in Philadelphia, PA
  with more than 34,000 students
• 8 campuses and sites in Pennsylvania,
  international campuses in Rome, Tokyo, and London
• Urban setting diverse student population

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Systems

• Administrative registration system
• ISIS (mainframe) / OWLink (web-based)
• Student information and registration system
  OWLnet (web-based)
• Advising support system
• Academic Advising Database
• (Microsoft Access)

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Advising Climate in Fall 2004

• Decentralized advising located within the
• schools colleges
• Increasing enrollment
• up 85 since the mid 1990s
• 25 in the last 5 years
• Millennial kids 1
• Sense of entitlement Hand-holding expected
• Strong dependency on parents
• Technology-savvy

1Letting Up and Letting Go, Cynthia Sarver
(2003), Academic Advising Today - Quarterly
Newsletter 26 (2).
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Advising Challenges

• Advising the increasing student population with
  no increase in advising staff
• Student response Nobody Told Me!
• No written record of advising sessions that
  students could access

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Result

• Advising Session Reports
• A student centered program that
• connects the Advising Database
• and students OWLnet accounts

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Features

• Administrative vs. Session Report notes
• Data dump
• Deletions vs. Addendum contact types
• Pasting emails

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Implementation Phase I

• Piloted in the College of Liberal Arts and the
  Division of University Studies
• Informing students
• Listserv messages
• Temple Times article
• Stats analysis student surveys
• Advisors communication techniques

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Communication with students
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Quantitative Data
Month Show Advising Sessions
Totals 3042
September 05 791
August 05 948
July 05 569
June 05 267
May 05 318
April 05 149
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Qualitative Data
It helps to remind me of the decisions I have
made, and goals I plan each time that I have a
meeting.

• Survey says

I found it very useful to see a written report
of my advising session. I like the option of
being able to see exactly what was discussed,
when I otherwise may have forgotten. I predict
that I'll be reading over my advising reports in
the future, as they are a good gauge of what my
years at Temple, academically speaking, are like.
There are certainly enough things to keep track
of in this busy life. Anything that helps to
reduce what I have to carry around in my head
helps me tremendously. Thank you for creating
features that are student friendly!
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Qualitative Data

• Survey says

I have reviewed my Advising Session Report on
Owlnet and found it to be inaccurate. I most
definitely did not appreciate the advisors
comments, especially as they were not said to me,
nor the implication that the drop/add policy was
discussed, it was not. Student came in to add
Rel 240 - a course she thought she'd registered
for but didn't. Student should keep in close
contact with Ms. Smith in regard to her progress
in this major. ---Discussed drop/add policy---
What, if anything, can be done to correct this
information in my Advising Session Report?
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Implementation Phase II and beyond

• Rollout to all advising centers throughout the
  university
• Science and Technology in training
• Marketing campaign to increase student awareness
• Formalized assessment process have the session
  reports made an impact on quantity/quality of
  advising contacts? Do we hear Nobody Told Me
  as often?

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Questions, Comments, and Contact Information

• Ruby Singh
• ruby.singh_at_temple.edu
• Stephanie Smith
• advisor_at_temple.edu
• Kristen diNovi
• dinovi_at_temple.edu

We are greatly indebted to the work of Cindy
Konecko, Jane Stringer, Jayne Drake, and Annette
McMenamin-Bakley, all of whom were crucial to the
development of the Advising Database and have
presented on the subject at various
NACADA conferences in the past.