The adoption of electronic communication technologies over the past decade has changed the nature of advisors' daily work. Voice mail, e-mail, and Web sites were introduced with the promise of helping us connect to our students. Judging from the flood of student contact these technologies produced, it can be said they have been successful. Most of us are drowning in incoming e-mail messages with overflowing inboxes and blinking lights on our voice mail. Responding effectively to student inquires requires an integrated managed use of these technologies.
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In these economic times, meeting the needs of so many diverse student populations can be a challenge. However I believe there are steps a college or university can take to effectively, and efficiently, provide quality services.
With the continuing development of online teaching, tutors are encouraged to take on the role of e-tutor and to provide tutoring and personal support through this mechanism. However, what works in a classroom does not always work online. With the loss of face-to-face contact and the visual impact that it brings, the question must be asked 'What makes a good e-tutor?'
Our relevance assures student engagement, and engagement assures student success. Therefore, our relevancy will ensure successful students (Prentiss, 2007). Are we, as advisors, acting irresponsibly by avoiding FacebookTM? Building on Julie Traxler’s (2007) article, Advising Without Walls: An Introduction to Facebook as an Advising Tool, which focuses on the benefits of using this social networking Web site, I hope to show that, with proper care and an eye toward maintaining relevance, Facebook could be one of our most valuable tools for student engagement.
Today’s students use technologies to explore their world in entirely new ways. With these new technologies they speak an entirely different language, one they expect us to understand... Our students look to us to incorporate these new technologies into our advising practice. .
E-portfolios are an increasingly important part of the college experience and can be a fundamental means for the documentation of advising outcomes....Academic advising should become a vital portion within the increasing number of e-portfolio programs. Recognizing that advising is teaching, NACADA members have promoted the advising syllabus as a means to identify learning outcomes students can attain through the advising process. The e-portfolio contributes to the achievement of numerous learning goals. Therefore, advisors should consider how the activities and expectations that make up advising syllabi can be connected to and facilitated by electronic portfolios. The possibilities are ripe for study and experimentation.
Incorporating technology into advising practices that are meaningful to students can be challenging. Challenges are even greater when an institution’s student population consists of non-traditional learners juggling a multitude of roles and responsibilities, whose age range spans forty years, and whose technological skills range from a minimal understanding of basic computing to coordinating corporate networks. How can advisors effectively integrate existing technology to communicate with students, build community, provide timely information, and establish a non-threatening environment for learners? Advisors should consider their institutions’ online course management systems.
NACADA Webinars are popular with NACADA members. Academic advisors have fun when they gather, and we often find great resources in discussing issues and ideas with each other. The Webinar Advisory Board has been discussing how we have “consumed” Webinars. Here are some examples of how campuses are organizing to make the most of Webinar participation.
The emergence and growth of Web 2.0 software has introduced various new methods for communication in academic advising...This article provides the reader with a general description of how some Web 2.0 tools are being utilized in academic advising.
I am interested in meeting students where they are using technologies that are meaningful to them in order to enhance our face-to-face interactions...
The blog platform allows unprecedented student access within our college community and helps us improve the continuity of the information stream to students.
Wikis can be used as informational mediums for advisor training and development, provide a location to store and maintain institutional and departmental policies and procedures, and provide a digital space where departmental and university calendars can be posted and updated on a daily basis.
The program developed by the COSUAC demonstrates that Schwenn (2010) and Pasquini (2010) were correct in suggesting that technology can play a role in advisor training and development by providing an easier and more efficient way for advisors to absorb the informational component of the job. Online informational training allows trainers to spend more time focusing on conceptual and relational aspects of advising, thus moving advisor development closer to the ideal envisioned by Brown (2008).
While developing the blog, we kept in mind two main goals: create original and relevant content, and provide a welcoming and empowering virtual space to help students academically succeed..
NACADA members who seek professional development and recognize the importance of networking with others in the field will find LI to be a valuable resource for themselves and their students.
Members of the Academic Advising Today Editorial Team have been innovative digital citizens interested in advancing NACADA’s role in the larger digital community, and the current group has been discussing what changes might be needed to keep the ePub current...
Advising 3.0 includes incorporating the lessons of face-to-face interaction with current technology to meet students’ digital expectations.
Texting has proven to be a successful correspondence tool in building trust, reliability and confidence in the advisor-student relationship. The advantages plus the simple, adaptable solutions to its short list of cons makes it a favorite form of communication among advisors and students. Texting is one of many proactive advising resources TAMUK Center for Student Success advisors offer that continue to aid in creating a student success-oriented environment with booming graduation and retention rates.
Advising records need to be updated constantly. They also need to be shared, not only between students and advisors but also with the program directors and the department chair for graduation clearance. Students need autonomy to update their own advising sheets according to their academic progress, while the accuracy and integrity of the records should be maintained. This presents a big challenge for updating and sharing.
With tightening budgets and growing technology, it is important for advisors to reflect on which technology they utilize to advise and which technology is appropriate for each advising situation.
This article examines how connectivism is useful for academic advising as a theory that links previous information to current information, incorporates technology within the realm of knowing, and guides students to look beyond their own understanding to connect information.
The authors contend that it is important to provide high quality online advising services that allow for comprehensive, face-to-face interactions with students, even when those students are off campus. With limited resources and demands on time, it is also critical to design an online advising option that is sustainable long-term.
Change is an inevitable part of higher education today, but as our students’ needs change, advisors will have to adapt to new technology platforms to provide better support. Academic advisors can be dynamic agents of change.
Only a handful of institutional-level degree completion programs currently exist responding to senior attrition. Recognizing the societal and institutional value of such initiatives, a few universities have established their own institutional programs to help students who stopped out of school to return and graduate. In this article, four programs are discussed and compared.
By accessing available student data store in institution’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, the athletics department at Nicholls State University was able to share with the coaching staff important and time sensitive information at critical and relevant points in the semester. In an effort to replicate the athletics department success, an initiative began to implement this strategy within an academic college, where data points were accessed and then reported to department chairs and faculty advisors to provide relevant data for a more intrusive advising approach with students who appear on these lists.
With the student at the center of The University of Texas at Tyler’s efforts, Persistence and Retention Teams have been implemented to streamline employee communication to diminish the silo effect and find resolutions to student issues as efficiently as possible.
The restructure of an academic advising program included three areas of focus: a review of like-online institutions, process mapping by a business analyst, and subject-matter expertise from current leadership and academic advisors.
Given the critically important role of good advising, how can universities create an advising platform where advisors can readily share their best practices and access resources? One potential solution involves an Advisor Hub.
As technological advancements continue to disrupt the education sector, institutions are in a race to employ varying technological measures to adapt accordingly.
Over the last decade, much of the technology focus in higher education has been on new technology tools, but websites still play a critical role in the college experience. Beyond serving as the virtual front door to campus, websites provide support to students throughout their entire academic journey.
As the field of academic advising evolves, it is an appropriate time to consider the future of the field. Utilizing student opinions, instructional design perspectives, current emerging trend lists, and academic advising theory, this article attempts to bring attention to four trends that can steer or influence the field as a whole in the next five to ten years.
