Enhancing Student Learning Outcomes Through Academic Advising

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Enhancing Student Learning Outcomes Through
Academic Advising

• The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
• David L. Carr, Provost
• Peter Hagen, Director, Center for Academic
  Advising
• Marc Lowenstein, Associate Provost
• Paula Dollarhide, Associate Director, Center for
  Academic Advising
• Thomas J. Grites, Assistant to the Provost

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The Changing Nature of Advising

• The Concept of Academic Advising
• Approved by NACADA in 2006
• Curriculum, pedagogy, learning outcomes
• Expansion of advising theory
• Creation of Theory/Philosophy Commission, 1999
• Fall 2005 issue of NACADA Journal

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The Changing Nature of Advising (continued)

• Expansion of advising research
• No longer limited to scholarship of discovery
• Scholarly Inquiry in Academic Advising 2010
• Advising at Stockton
• Advising as teaching
• Reward structure
• Culture shift!

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Advising as Teaching

• Students task is to create, not get, an
  education.
• Some characteristics of good teaching.
• Some characteristics of good advising.
• Implications for the advisers role.
• Implications for institutions
• Who should advise
• How they should be educated and trained
• Role and status on campus

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If advising is teaching

• It is integral to the teaching and learning
  mission of the institution
• It naturally follows that it has a curriculum
• It has a pedagogy
• It must have clearly articulated student learning
  outcomes

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Efforts at Stockton

• Goal To have everyone who is advising on our
  campus understand that Advising is Teaching
• Why? Excellent advising aids in retention and
  equips students for a lifetime of learning
• Faculty advisor training
• Series of advising colloquia throughout the year
• Working with first-year faculty
• Development of an advising council on campus
• Working on creating the first Provosts
  Excellence in Advising Award

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Advising Syllabus

• A syllabus can frame the advising relationship
  you want to establish
• Lays out expectations for the advising experience
• Gives a sense of shared responsibility
• Student has a stake in the process

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A syllabus should include

• All contact information including email, phone,
  office hours
• Advisors philosophy of advising/mission
  statement
• Advisors responsibilities and student
  responsibilities
• Learning outcomes
• Should be relevant to the discipline (psychology,
  sociology, history, etc.)

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Learning Outcomes

• What do you expect students to be able to
• Do
• Know
• Value and Appreciate?
• as a result of the advising experience?

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Assess progress

• Through your advising, you will be able to assess
  whether the student
• Understands connections between courses
• Is making appropriate decisions/using resources
• Understands and appreciates the discipline the
  student is studying
• Is progressing on some sort of timeline towards
  graduation, future careers

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Online examples of syllabi

• http//www.nacada.ksu.edu/Clearinghouse/Links/syll
  abi.htm

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Evolution of the Transfer Student Seminar at
Stockton

• Fall 2002 Contemporary American Education was
  offered as a freshman seminar  (not successful)
• Fall 2003  Planned for student-athletes (not
  needed)
• Aha! Why not apply the freshman seminar concept
  to transfer students?                    

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• Transfer students
• are also
• first-time students
• at their new institutions

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Some Differences

• Campus geography
• Vocabulary
• Academic policies and procedures
• Academic standards
• Faculty expectations
• Peer groups
• Advising structures
• Computer systems
• Course scheduling procedures
• Culture and traditions

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Classes taught as Transfer Seminars since 2003

• Contemporary American Education
• Introduction to Music
• Legal/Social/Ethical Environment of Business
• Health Psychology
• Perceptions and Perspectives
• Cyberethics/Cyberculture
• The Global Community

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More titles

• The Global Community
• Memoirs of Mental Illness
• World Perspectives on Health
• Research Design and Methods in Criminal Justice
• Argument and Persuasion (writing class)
• Writing in the Movies
• Documentary Making Art of Facts
• Developmental Psychology Childhood and
  Adolescence
• Historys Mysteries

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Seminar Anecdotes

• I felt intimidated in my other classes.
• I thought this was just going to be another
  classI learned much more than I expected.
• Our group stopped being just classmates and
  started to become friends.
• I thought I was just going to sit in class,
  learn, and leave just as I did at my community
  college. I never thought I would actually become
  involved in school.
• I would never have attended anything if it had
  not been for this class.

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Other Seminar Examples

• Rutgers University 1 credit course for all new
  transfers required
• Baruch College (CUNY) four week non-credit
  seminar optional
• Pima CC 1 credit course for students
  transferring to the University of Arizona
  optional
• University of Southern Mississippi 2 credit
  transition course optional
• UMBC 1 credit, P/F Transfer Success Seminar,
  linked to a major course (pilot Fall 2008)