Technology & Academic Advising

Introduction

• Academic advisors, faculty, staff and students relate and access the world through technology. Technology provides both faculty and academic advisors a tool for uncovering student data such as academic progress. Hence, technology has become the center of attention as we work to assist students achieve academic success. To effectively advise college students, it is imperative that we seek to create and engage students in a dialogue that incorporates and supports the technological resources utilized at our educational institutions.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the idea and significance of technology in advising college students.

• Explore how dialogue mediates the interface between technology and academic advisement.

• Create a learning environment which promotes an ongoing conversation on the evolving role of technology in advising.

Technology & Academic Advising

• What is technology?

• What is academic advising?

• Why is technology so important for academic advising today?

Technology

• Difficult to define and complex

• Organization and application of scientific knowledge to the achievement and practical ends of human life.

Academic Advising

• Multiple Definitions

• A collaborative and developmental process between the advisor and student aimed at helping students fulfill graduation requirements. The advising dialogue may include helping students develop and improve study and critical thinking skills and the exploration of interests, careers, and goals.

Technology and Change

• Technological Change is key to adapting modern advising practices that lead to:

• Personal and professional growth for advisors

• Enhanced student success practices

• Policies that serve the mission of the college/university and eventually provide better support for the students.

Advisors are Agents of Change

• Advisors are on the front lines and become intimately aware of the changes that need to take place to quickly incorporate and sustain the new policy or technological practice.

• Adopting newer technologies helps keep advisors aligned with their students as they embrace new ways of incorporating technologies into their lives.

Student Retention Rate

• Affected by quantity and quality of interactions with peers, faculty and staff

• Academic Advising is at the core of institutional efforts to educate and support students.

• Building meaningful relationships with students is at the heart of student success.

Increased Enrollment: Impact

• Difficult to fund face-to-face support for every student

• On average, (per NACADA), U.S. universities had an advisor-to-student ratio of 1:367.

• Challenging for one advisor to successfully see 367 students without help from technology.

How Does Technology Help?

• Identifies Students Who:

• Have not registered for the next term.

• Students who are behind on a tuition bill.

• Students whose grades have fallen below departmental standards

• Students who are close to graduation and have outstanding requirements

Technology and Outreach

• Once patterns or trends are identified, advisors can reach out by phone, in-person meeting or video-chat online

• Use of technology makes it easier to track a larger amount of students and ensure outreach campaigns are initiated.

Technology and Advising Dialogue

• Academic advising relationship and dialogue needs to be balanced with the technological resources available.

• Academic advisors expand their roles as teachers in the academic advising dialogue by introducing and guiding students on the utilization of technological resources in achieving academic success.

Conclusion? – to be continued

• Advising technologies need to be constantly assessed and improved to support student engagement and utilization of the university or college resources.

• Academic advisors are no longer mere schedule builders; instead, they are agents of change and teachers as they strive to teach students the importance of integrating institutional technologies to help meet their academic, personal and career goals.

Selected References

How Technology Compliments Academic Advising. (n.d.). Retrieved from:

http://www.nacada.ksu.edu

How to Use Technology to Improve Academic Advising. (n.d.). Retrieved from:

http://comevo.com

Redesigning Advising with the Help of Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved from:

http://www.mdrc.org

Supporting Students with Technology: Academic Advising in Higher Education.

(n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.ccetfrontiers.org

Technology and Academic Advising: A Case for Embracing Change. (n.d.).

Retrieved from: http://www.nacada.ksu.edu

Three Ways Advising Has Evolved. (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://naspa.org