The History and Organization of Academic Advising

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The History and Organization of Academic
Advising

• Dr. Nancy King
• Kennesaw State University
• The Global Community for
  Academic Advising

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The History and Organization of Advising

• 1. What are they?
• 2. Why are they important?
• 3. What must we do to get the most out of them?

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Perspective on Advising
Good advising may be the single most
underestimated characteristic of a successful
college experience. Richard Light, Making
the Most of College, 2001
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Potential of Advising

• Academic advising is the
• only structured activity on
• the campus in which all students
• have the opportunity for an
• on-going, one-on-one interaction
• with a concerned representative
• of the institution.
• Wes Habley

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Lets Take a Trip Down Memory Lane
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We begin in medieval times when a preceptor
imparted his knowledge to students
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The Year Was 1636

• An early brochure of Harvard College justified
  its existence "To advance Learning and
  perpetuate it to Posterity dreading to leave an
  illiterate Ministry to the Churches.

Although many of its early graduates became
ministers in Puritan congregations throughout New
England, the College was never formally
affiliated with a specific religious denomination.
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It is now the1880sand the first formal
advising program is established at Johns
Hopkins
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The Year Was 1953

• Advising is a process with a long and
  dignified history in colleges and universities .
  . . involving, as often does, tedious clerical
  work combined with hit and run conferences with
  students on curricula. It is a most cordially
  hated activity by the majority of college
  teachers.
• M S. Maclean, Personnel and Guidance Journal

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And in 1960 . . .Prescriptive advising

• The task of advising is concentrated in the
  opening days of registration and enrollment and
  consists of aiding students in the selection of
  courses.
• Asa Knowles, Handbook of College and University
  Administrators

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The 1970s and Developmental Advising

• Advising is concerned with not only the
  specific personal or vocational decision but with
  facilitating the students rational processes,
  environmental and interpersonal interactions,
  behavioral awareness, and problem-solving,
  decision-making and evaluation skills.
• Burns Crookston

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Or try this 1984 definition

• A systematic process based on a close
  student-advisor relationship intended to aid
  students in achieving educational, career, and
  personal goals through the use of the full range
  of institutional and community resources.
• Winston, Miller, Ender, and Grites

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In the 1970s and 80s, Developmental Advising

• Became a dominant advising paradigm
• Extended advising beyond mere scheduling
• Drew on student development theory
• Emphasized individual student growth
• Emphasized shared responsibility

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A new approach A new focus
An excellent advisor does the same for the
students entire curriculum that the excellent
teacher does for one course.
Marc Lowenstein, 2005
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NACADA Definition of Advising

• http//www.nacada.ksu.edu/definitions.htm
• Multi-dimensional and intentional
• Grounded in teaching and learning
• Has its own purpose and content
• Has specified outcomes for student learning

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• Focus on the advisee as learner
• What is it we want our students to
  demonstrate they
• Know
• Are able to do
• Value and appreciate
• As a result of academic advising?

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Advising as Teaching and Learning

• We want students. . .
• To value the learning process
• To apply decision-making strategies
• To put the college experience into perspective
• To set priorities and evaluate events
• To develop thinking and learning skills
• To make choices
• 
  NACADA Core Values

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Academic Advising (as with the academic
curriculum) should promote student learning and
development by encouraging experiences that lead
to

• Intellectual growth
• The ability to communicate effectively
• Leadership development
• The ability to work independently and
  collaboratively
• Appropriate career choices
• Council for the Advancement of Standards in
  Higher Education

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Its WAY beyond rocket science
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College is more than a collection of courses or
a ticket to a trade.

• Exploration of educational and career goals
• Exploration of life goals
• Selection of an academic direction
• Selection of classes
• Scheduling of classes

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Students are NOT customers!

• Students, unlike customers,
• are not always right. The
• role of the teacher/advisor
• is to produce benign disruption
• or cognitive dissonance.
• I told you I needed an A on my history exam.
• 
  
  

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At the heart of advising isthe art of
conversation

• Definition
• The art of conversation is
• the ability to
• create a dialogue
• that others will
• willingly
• join.

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Knowing the language is essential to conversation

• You cannot enter any world for which you do not
  have the language.
• 
  Wittgenstein

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Three Basic Types of Conversations Advisors Have
with Students

• Conversations that are informational
• University policies and procedures
• Requirements
• Important dates and deadlines
• Programs of study
• All too often advising conversations stop here
  and do not progress to the next two types.

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• Conversations about the individual student
• Core values
• Aptitudes/interests
• Strengths
• Areas for improvement (study skills, time
  managements, e.g.)
• Level of involvement in the life of the
  institution

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• Conversations about the future
• Goal setting and helping them answer questions
• What do I want my future to be?
• (career and personal life)
• What steps do I need to make this future a
  reality?
• How am I changing as a result of my education?

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When you ask around. . . .

• What does good advising involve?
• The power of relationships
• with the advisor and with
• the faculty (get to know
• a faculty member
• reasonably well)

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It also means. . . .

• Making connections between advising and students
  personal lives
• At key points in their college years, an
  academic advisor asked questions, or posed a
  challenge that forced students to think about the
  relationship of their academic work and to their
  personal lives.
• 
  Richard Light, 2001

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Its More than Scheduling

• Advising conversations that extend beyond
  course selection, scheduling, and registration
  into Bigger Ideas are those that students find
  most helpful and that contribute to student
  persistence.

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• Advising is viewed as a way to connect students
  to the campus and help them feel that someone is
  looking out for them.
• George Kuh
• Student Success in College

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Ask the What, Why and How Questions

• Why are you at this college/university?
• What exactly do you mean by a great education?
• Why do you want to major in English, in
  Accounting, in Political Science?
• How could joining a campus organization help you
  meet your personal and career goals?
• What kinds of electives would be a good
  supplement to your education?

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Why Students Leave

• Academic boredom
• Personal reasons
• Academic under-
• preparedness
• Uncertainty about major/career
• Transition/adjustment difficulties
• Failure to connect with the institution

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Advising and Retention

• Effective retention programs have come to
  understand that academic advising is at the very
  core of successful institutional efforts to
  educate and retain students.
• 
  Vincent Tinto
• 
  Leaving College Rethinking the
• Causes and
  Cures of Student Attrition

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Retention Is Related to

• Excellent classroom instruction and student
  interaction with faculty
• Caring attitude of faculty and staff
• 
  Students dont care how much you know
• 
  until they know how much you care.

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And. . . .

• The level and quality of student interaction with
  their peers through, e.g., learning communities,
  extracurricular activities, collaborations
  between academic affairs and student affairs
• Early intervention
• Assistance with external pressures both personal
  and financial

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• Students bonding with an institution
• Faculty and professional advisors having an
  understanding of the principles of human learning
  and development
• Advisors assisting students in developing
  realistic expectations.

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Wes Habley once famously said

• Academic advising provides assistance in
  mediating the dissonance between student
  expectations and the realities of the educational
  experience.

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Advising that contributes to student success and
retention. . .

• Is a student-centered process focused on teaching
  and learning
• Facilitates behavioral awareness and
  problem-solving, decision-making and evaluation
  skills
• Encourages both short- and long-term goal setting
• Makes students feel they matter
• Stresses a shared responsibility with students
  making decisions for themselves

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Graduation Rate Outcomes Study

• No one magic bullet guarantees success in
  retention, persistence, and graduation rates.
• Success, instead, means carefully reading the
  campus culture, aligning people and programs and
  making a collective commitment to be in it for
  the long haul.
• AASCU, Student Success in State Colleges and
  Universities

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The Premises

• Academic Advising is central to the delivery
  of services to students
• Advising should be at the core of the
  institutions educational mission rather than
  layered on as a service.
• Robert Berdahl, New Directions for Teaching and
  Learning

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The Models

• Congruence between the mission and the
  organization of advising is key to the successful
  delivery of advising services.
• There is no one best model. All are potentially
  effective for the delivery of advising services,
  depending on the organizational context.
• 
  C. F. Pardee

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Organizational Models for Academic Advising

• Decentralized
• Centralized
• Shared

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DecentralizedFaculty Only Model

• Student Faculty

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DecentralizedSatellite Model

• Student A Academic Sub-unit
• Advising Office
• Student B Academic Sub-unit
• Advising office

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CentralizedSelf-Contained Model

• Student A
• Advising
• Student B Office

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SharedSupplementary Model

• 
  Advising
  Office
• Student
• Faculty

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SharedSplit Model

• Student A Advising
  Academic
• 
  Office Sub-unit
• Student B Academic Sub-unit

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SharedDual Model

• Faculty
• Advising Office

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SharedTotal Intake Model

• Student Advising Office
  Academic Sub-Unit

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Summary of all Organizational Models

• Split 27
• Faculty only 25
• Supplementary 17
• Self-contained 14
• Satellite 7
• Total intake 6
• Dual 5
• From ACTs 6th National Survey of Advising

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The Organization

• Create a shared vision of student success that is
  embedded in the institutions mission and culture
• Set high standards for students inside and
  outside the classroom and balance challenge with
  support
• Provide complementary policies, practices, and
  resources to support students academically and
  socially
• Academic advisors should play
• strategic roles in these important initiatives

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The Collaboration

• Advising requires coordination and collaboration
  among units across campus that provide student
  support/services.
• Every time you see a turtle on a fencepost,
• you know it didnt get there by itself. Alex
  Haley

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The Hub
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Active Outreach to Students

• Advisors should be. . . .
• Available and accessible
• Proactive
• Caring and concerned
• Intrusive or proactive advising is based on the
  philosophy that we should not wait for students
  to get into trouble before reaching out to them.
• 
  Robert Glennon

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What do students really want from an advisor?

• Accurate information Do they know?
• Accessibility Are they there?
• Caring attitude Do they care?

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Accountability

• Why academic advising is more important than ever
• Rising costs of higher education
• The current state of our economy
• Changing expectations of students and families
• Increasing pressure from states for students to
  graduate in four years

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Conclusions or,Weve come a long way, baby

• View of advising has dramatically evolved and
  broadened over time
• Advising is now focused on teaching and learning
• Advising assists students with career/life
  planning and deals with big issues
• Although not a magic bullet, advising is clearly
  related to student persistence

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• Advising is the hub of the student services wheel
• Advising cannot be done in isolation
• Advising must involve active outreach to students
• Advising is important to institutions in
  demonstrating accountability to various
  constituencies

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This Week at the Summer Institute

• Advising as teaching and learning
• Retention issues in student persistence
• Research in advising
• The administration of advising
• Applying student development theories to advising
• Selection and training/professional development
  of professional and faculty advisors
• Development of advising materials
• Assessment of effectiveness (advisors and
  programs)
• Legal and ethical issues of advising
• Advising various student populations

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Parting Thought One

• Academic Advising is perhaps the only
  structured campus endeavor that can guarantee
  interaction with a caring and concerned adult who
  can help them shape a meaningful learning
  experience for themselves. Hunter
  and White

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Parting Thought Two

• With the right approach
• come the right results.
• The Mental Game of Baseball