Why Connected Advising Matters in Higher Ed

The Future of Advising: Why Connected Advising

Matters

Laura A. Pasquini, Ph.D.

@laurapasquini@UNTCOI // @RoyalRoads

Western Oregon University:

Student Success Lecture Series

about.me/laurapasquini @LauraPasquini

Learning OutcomesAt the end of this lecture, I hope you will be able to: •Identify key trends in higher education that are impacting their advising practice.•Find resources and outlets to build a connected community for your advising practice.•Outline critical resources they can use to connect your campus for advising, for a holistic advising approach.

Resource http://bit.ly/connectacadv

Key Trends & Issues for Advising in Higher Ed

Reduced financial support to higher education

Linking funding to retention and completion

Higher education officials think too many of our decisions are not data driven

Meeting the needs of a changing, evolving & multi-dimensional student population

For higher education learning outcomes we need “to identify effective and robust strategies

that institutions can adopt to boost student motivation.”

(Liu, Bridgeman, & Adler, 2012)

US implementing outcomes based funding

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/29/complete-college-america-report-tracks-state-approaches-performance-based-fundingInside Higher Education, 10/29/13

“The degree students truly can’t afford is the one they don’t complete, or that employers

don’t value.” ~ Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education (July 2015)

Are we being truly innovative to meet the needs of our learners with design and delivery

of higher education?

Six Design Principles for Student Success: Survey of Entering Student

Engagement

http://www.ccsse.org/sense/survey/survey.cfm

http://www.youtube.com/user/CCCSEVideo

Center for Community

College Student

Engagement

National Survey Student Engagement 2013

“In fact, only 40 percent of students identified an adviser as their primary source of academic advice; others turned to friends, family and professors. This is “concerning,” the report says, given the importance of advising in student success.” [U.S. Example]

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/14/nsse-2013-measure-student-engagement-and-learning-outcomes#ixzz2kdHFYeq4 Inside Higher Ed

Listens to concerns

Available when needed

Helps understand academic policiesInforms about academic support

Helps with special opportunitiesDiscusses career interests post grad plans

“Next Killer App”Optimizing student success is the “killer app” for analytics in higher education. Intelligent investments in optimizing student success garner wide support and have a strong, justifiable return on investment (ROI). Moreover, improving performance, productivity, and institutional effectiveness are the new gold standards for institutional leadership in the 21st century. Enhanced analytics is critical to both optimizing student success and achieving institutional effectiveness.Building Organization Capacity for Analytics

EDUCAUSEDonald M. Norris and Linda L. Baer http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/building-organizational-capacity-analytics

Impact to Academic Advising in Higher Ed

Culture of change in our institutions

Leadership vision for learning & support

To align technology with campus strategic plans and goals

Reduction in resources & increase need for support

Interest in holistic advising models across depts/units

Push to move online/blended advising model

The Reality

“Students experience an increasing need for connectivity and digital access to excel beyond the higher education learning environment.  They must access and interact with information, learning materials, and colleagues from around the globe.”

Implications for use of technology in advising 2011 NACADA National Survey

What expectations do our learners have for advising?

Innovation in Higher Ed

What will the future of academic

advising look like?

Questions for the future of advising…• What is the role of the advisor in higher

education?

• What will advising look like in 10 years?

• What kind of advising profession do I want to participate in?

• How will I contribute to the change and development of how advising is organized?

A Vision, Not a Prediction

The future of academic advising will have both impact and relevance to how higher education evolves:

1.Advisor Interaction with Learners

2.Advisor Influence at their Own Institutions

3.Advisors Integrated into Academia

(Lowenstein, 2013)

Advisor Interaction with Learners: Collaboration

• Relationship and Roles

• Locus of Learning

• Connect to Meaning

“I just need help picking a few classes for next

semester”

Self-authorship is a strong basis to advance

learning outcomes, prepare our students,

and include reflection for our learning experience.

(Baxter Magolda, 2004)

Larry Johnson, NMC

Tell Me About It

30

#ugstSTORY

31

Live Tweets to take Notes

32

Critical Thinking

Flickr photo c/o furiousgeorge81

• Administrative support

• Evaluation the advising “workflow”

• On-going training & development

• Mentoring initiatives

• Holistic advising on campus

• Advisor learning networks

Practical Applications

Advisor Influence at Your Own Institution:

Involvement

• Relationship and Roles

• Locus of Learning

• Connect to Meaning

Flickr photo c/o dsearls

The Advising Profession

Communities of Practice (Wenger, 1999)

Mentoring

@catspyjamasnz

What is a hashtag good for?

Give & Get Support

Develop a Community

Practical Applications• Taking on Leadership

Roles

• Evaluation of Academics

• Life-Long & Continuous Learning

• Student Success is Recognized

Advisor Integrated Into Academia:Advising as a

Discipline

• Teaching Scholarship

• Research Scholarship

• Service Scholarship

How is Academic Advising Viewed on

Campus?• Student Experience & Commentary

• Unit Involvement & Collaboration on Campus

• Program Evaluation

• Self-Assessment of Advising

• Administrative Expectation

Advising is Not a Service

(Hemwall & Trachte, 2005)

Cox & Richlin, 2004

Advising & Faculty Integration

Advising as a “faculty position” would encourage:

• Innovative Thinking

• Research Development

• Contributing the Canon

• Interdisciplinary Studies

• Idea Generation & Debates About Practice

Advising & Research

• Advising Learning Outcomes

• Student Portfolios & Artifacts

• Students are Partners in Advising Assessment

Assessment for Applied Research

For Academic Advising…

“Assessment is the process through which we gather evidence about the claims we are making with regard to student learning and the process/delivery of academic advising in order to inform and support improvement”

(Campbell, 2008)

Advising Assessment Reflection

Establishing Goals for Assessment•What do you know?•What do you want to know?•Who can help you assess?•Who are your institutional stakeholders?•How does this connect to your:

• Advising goals/outcomes?• Institutional Strategic Plan?

Desired Attributes for Technology in Advising

2013 Technology in Advising Use in Higher

Education

What is your “ideal

technology in advising practice”?

Integrative Systems for Advising

“An integrated system that includes advising notes, degree audits, appointment scheduling, a communication system with students that also documents those communications in the student's advising file, and incorporates all records regarding students' academic status (e.g. good standing, probation, etc.).”

“Streamlined technology usage.  Right now, there are at least 4 systems we use daily (E-mail, PeopleSoft, DegreeWorks, Blackboard) and have three different log ins.  A "one stop shop" where we can log in once and see/use all of our required systems would be wonderful.”

360 View of Our Learners

“System that integrates academic information, student records, and student connections”

“A tool that allows for students to develop an academic, career and financial plan that also integrates the degree evaluation tool.”

Additional Benefits to Technology & Advising Solutions

Accessible from multiple locations

Advising models vary

Paperless and sustainable models of advising

Electronic workflows

Special functionality for

student information, tracking, scheduling, early alerts, online forms, shared notes, and data.

Communication Goals

“Additionally, it would be beneficial to have a social media hub to manage and ensure that our message is being uniformly pushed on each platform in ways that are unique to that platform.”

“I would like for technology to play a larger role in my advising practice. I would love to be able to utilize Facebook and Twitter to connect as an individual advisor to my students.”

Ideal Technology & Advising Practice

“seamless integration of technology with advising, where students no matter their campus location had equal ability to access me when they needed me. Right now students at our home campus have a distinct advantage over their counterparts at distant locations”

“I think face-to-face interaction is ideal, but technology is especially useful when doing distance advising, especially video conferencing/Skype.”

Value of Advising in Academia

• Advisors as Faculty (ALL)

• Advising Syllabus

• Academic Advising for Credit

Practical Applications• Review of advising qualifications

• Service, teaching & research scholarship

• Contribute to the community of practice

• Hybrid & dynamic advising positions

The Direction for Technology in Advising

• -Share experiences for effective digital advising delivery• -Get involved & contribute to technology in advising• -Review some key digital/online advising resources • -Introduce online advising projects & examplers• -Connect you to some savvy online academic advisors

NACADA’s Technology in

Advising Commission

The purpose of NACADA's Technology in Advising Commission is to help academic advisors and advising administrators to understand the impact that technologies such as:•Online communication & virtual advising•Degree audits & web registration•Student information systems & electronic advising notes  •Social and connected spaces for innovative staff/faculty resources•Understand the ideas and trends of how technology is being utilized in higher education

http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Community/Commission-Interest-Groups.aspx

EDUCAUSE http://www.educause.edu/ • EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association

whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology.

• Advising Systems - 30 Resources

• Teaching and Learning o - 924 Resourceso Applying Technology to Academic

Advising: A Vision Statemento ECAR Study

National Survey of Student Engagement NSSE

http://nsse.iub.edu/ About NSSE

What is student engagement?

Student engagement represents two critical features of collegiate quality. The first is the amount of time and effort students put into their studies and other educationally purposeful activities. The second is how the institution deploys its resources and organizes the curriculum and other learning opportunities to get students to participate in activities that decades of research studies show are linked to student learning.

What are your next steps?

(Kotter, 2007)

“Why are we on

screen so much?”

Culture vs.

Strategy and

Change

“But we’ve always done it

this way…”

Connect advising tech to

the campus strategy.

Find champions at your campus!

Be Transparent about change

1. Make it an open project – from beginning to end of assessment and implementation

2. Solicit opinions, feedback, and input from all stakeholders on campus

3. Establish baseline communication plan for your advising unit/campus advisors

4. Vividly describe the end goal of this change and provide rationale for it.

5. Create a roll-out plan for changes (in phases)

Questions? Thoughts?

Thank You!Laura A. Pasquini, Ph.D.

Laura.Pasquini@unt.edu@LauraPasquini

about.me/laurapasquini

http://bit.ly/connectacadv