Preconference Workhop Sessions

Higher education institutions are under increasing pressure from students, parents, administrators and outside constituents to do more, better and faster. Students and parents expect support services to facilitate the successful transition into and through higher education. Academic advisors serve as institutional agents helping students navigate the complexities of higher education. To meet the needs of our students in a fast paced global market academic advisors must develop their own skills and knowledge. Advising and student development theories give advisors the framework with which to hang our daily practice of advising. Theory, grounded in research, allows advisors to make meaning of our interactions with students. This interactive and engaging workshop will give advisors overviews of different theories they can use immediately in their advising practices.

This hands-on, uplifting presentation will focus on providing you with an overview of this exciting movement within the academic advising community called Appreciative Advising. We will first define the terms academic advising and Appreciative Advising and look at the important role that advising plays in student success. The six phases of Appreciative Advising – Disarm, Discover, Dream, Design, Deliver, and Don’t Settle – will be defined. Participants will not only learn what each phase means, but they will also have the opportunity to learn specific techniques for implementing each of these phases and optimizing their interactions with students.

Kezar (2000) suggests that practitioners are uniquely positioned to describe complex scenarios in education that would benefit from systematic examination and analysis. This highly interactive session will engage participants in a brainstorming and consensus-building activity to generate a list of "critical questions" in advising that leads to meaningful research across international contexts and partnerships. The resulting document will be useful to staff and faculty who desire to engage in research that will inform advising practice. Source: Kezar, A. (2000). Higher education research at the Millennium: Still trees without fruit? The Review of Higher Education, 23(4), 443-468.

Socratic Advising can be utilized by higher education professionals with almost any population of students to teach them to use critical thinking skills to develop a plan for academic success. Students engaged in the Socratic Advising approach can improve their ability to make informed decisions, cope with unexpected challenges, and solve problems. Participants will learn about the anatomy of Socratic advising (an assessment of student thinking, Socratic questioning, a proactive advising style, helping techniques, a teaching and learning approach, and a critical thinking framework) in assisting students to achieve academic success. Using case studies, participants will have the opportunity to practice the approach and will receive a rubric to use in assessing student thinking.