A Stronger Advising Program

From SPSU Wiki

Dear Colleagues,

At yesterdays Academic Leadership Council meeting (that's the Deans and the Department Chairs), one of the topics we discussed was advising at SPSU. In exit surveys with our students, advising is the one area of their interaction with faculty that students do not rate as "excellent" or "very good". One of the things that came up several times is that not all faculty do advising ("Some faculty are better advisors than others")and that we don't evaluate faculty relative to advising in some programs. So--here we go with another Wiki discussion.

I'd like to share my vision of what I'd consider a great advising model. I'd love to hear your views on this (Hey--you're the ones who would be doing it if we implemented something like this!) and also about how we should evaluate advising.

I think advising should be much more than just talking to students about what they need to take next term (though that's where it should begin). A great advisor is also a mentor--a guide who helps a student shape his/her thinking about the future--goals, challenges, strengths, weaknesses, hopes, fears and dreams. Someone who really gets to know the student, so that when the roadblocks occur (and they do for everyone), is there to help the student work through them.

As Georgia's Technology University, I think that we should use technology to help us in our advising. I'd love to see each student develop an electronic portfolio, which we would use for several purposes. The process would begin in Freshman Composition, where the student would get a copy of the portfolio shell, and start to add to it such things as a personal profile, self-reflection on goals and future directions, an initial "map" or plan of how they hoped to reach those goals. The student would also begin to collect examples of their best work in the courses they took, and of their co-curricular work. Things like that great essay in ENGL 1101, or a strong lab report, or a fine mid-term paper in an SIS class, or pictures from the SGA event they helped organize and so on.

Students would be expected (required?) to meet with their advisors on a regular basis in their freshman year--say 3 to 5 times, on a variety of subjects. One would certainly be their upcoming schedule, but others would be on their adjustment to college life, on their level of engagement, on whether they were making friends and having fun, whether their level of academic preparation was sufficient for their courses, about time management and study skills, etc. The student would email (or bring) a copy of the portfolio to the advisor before certain meetings, which could serve as part of the basis for discussion. The advisor would make suggestions and offer advice and encouragement. Advisors would be budgeted "pizza money" so that they could take their advisees out once a semester or once a year.

As students progressed, they would be expected (required?) to meet with their advisors less regularly, but still at least once or twice a semester, and encouraged to meet more often. The discussion would turn more and more to graduation planning, networking, resume writing, job searching, success building. The student would continue to reflect and plan within the portfolio, and to collect examples of strong work.

In the senior capstone course, the portfolio would undergo its final transformation into a presentation portfolio, which the student would use to "market" himself or herself to prospective employees. The course instructor and advisor would help the student make this transformation.

OK--that's the vision. I know that some departments have larger numbers of students than others, and would have unwieldly numbers of advisees. What do we do about that? Part of the answer is increased resources--maybe we pay part-timers in those departments a bit more, but expect them to also advise. Maybe we hire "professional advisors" to take some of the load. Maybe something else.

Should every faculty member advise? What if they're not good at it? My personal view--we don't ask that question about teaching. Isn't advising important enough that every faculty member needs to be good at it? Obviously, we'd also have to supply training and support for those who need it or want it.

Finally, on evaluating it. Should we have an advising form (like a short SIRS), which students would fill out about their advisor? Questions like:

• I met with my advisor (not at all) (once) (2-3 times) (more than 3 times) in the past semester
• My advisor and I discussed (Check all that apply) topic 1, topic 2, topic 3...

Please post your opinions or email them to me.

Thanks, Zszafran