Joel Waters, M.A. Department of Biology - PowerPoint Presentation

Joel Waters, M.A. Department of Biology Pennsylvania State University Ensuring Students Don't Feel Deserted: Managing a Large Advising Roster

Why Do We Care (For Our Students)? Create rapport and build academic advising relationships. Plan and conduct successful advising interactions. Engage in on-going assessment and development of the advising practice. https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Pillars/CoreCompetencies.aspx Academic advisors respond to and are accessible to others in ways that challenge, support, nurture, and teach. Advisors build relationships through empathic listening and compassion for students, colleagues, and others. NACADA Core Value https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Pillars/CoreValues.aspx

“College personnel have the responsibility of giving…outstanding academic advising and a genuine caring attitude toward the student—inseparable partners in higher education.” (Ford & Ford, 2009)“Students perceive the developmental approach to advising, as described by establishing rapport and demonstrating care for and support of the student, more favorably regardless of any additional advising approaches utilized…” (Walker et al., 2017)“Students…are more apt to engage in a partnership with someone on campus who exemplifies genuine care and concern.” (Gordon-Starks, 2015)“Rapport building represents an essential component of all advising interaction and is a critical element of trust building.” (McLellan, 2014) Building rapport and trust with your students is particularly important in the initial “Disarm” phase of appreciative advising (Bloom et al., 2014) Why Do We Care (For Our Students)?

Where I Advise: Public, land-grant, research university with 97,136 students across 16 campuses University Park is the main campus, with 46,810 students I advise in the Department of Biology Most of our ~1000 undergraduate majors are pre-health (premed, PA, dental) Others pursue graduate school, environmental work, lab work, et al. Two professional advisers, four faulty advisers Still working to inculcate an advising culture

Advising would be so much easier if not for all the students…Penn State’s student population has increased 10% over the last decade https://budget.psu.edu/FactBook/StudentDynamic/HistoricalComparisonOfEnrollment.aspx?YearCode=2017&FBPlusIndc=NIn my first three years as an adviser, my advising roster went from ~50 to ~500How best to build rapport, trusting relationships, and demonstrate care for each student when there are so many of them?

Students feeling deserted? Steps toward reconnecting:Communication Invite students to advising events each semesterLimit mass emailsKeep website updated and usefulMake adviser advisee communication as efficient as possibleAdvise large groupsShow that each student is a priority, that each deserves your attention.Prepare a personalized advising approach for each appointment Respond to all student emails quickly How to you get to advisee satisfaction? Assess, assess, assess. Assessments let you know what’s working, what’s not, and generates new ideas

Keep in touch – but not too much! Don’t make it easier for students to ignore your emailsOnly send mass emails when necessary Keep emails positive Catchy subject lines Your advising webpage is only as useful as you make itAccess to all the critical information students could possibly needMaintain accuracy and organizationUpload commonly-needed advising documents

Communicate efficientlyGroup Advising Helps students with urgent issues who weren’t able to get an appointment soonerIdeally an advising roundtable Small enough to facilitate discussion, big enough for a variety of perspectivesMass AdvisingAnnual meetings with an entire year/cohort of students Mandatory, and food provided! Summary of what that class needs to know for the upcoming academic year Take attendance for later advising appointments Saves advisers work and time later onAllows later one-on-one meetings to be more personalized

Make every student feel valuedAdapt each advising appointment to each studentThe importance of advising notes Have a personalized outline of the appointment ready for each student before they walk in the doorRespond promptly to student emails (the volume of which cut back significantly after we started the mass advising meetings, within one business day)Digital communication is highly valued by this generation of college students (Gaines, 2014) Makes students feel like they are your first priority (which they are!)

Assess to progress!The importance of student feedback on their adviser evaluations from students justify (or discredit) our practices with studentsFeedback from our students over the last three years:33% average response rate (143 responses out of 425 total students per year)“My adviser seems genuinely interested in my well-being” – 96% Agree or Strongly Agree “Overall, I am satisfied with my academic adviser” – 98% Agree or Strongly AgreeGraduate admission rate – 2015-182015: 58%  2016: 76%  2017: 93%  2018: 96% National average graduate admission rate for our field is ~30% Sources: ASHA & CAPCSD

Student feedback validates our advising strategies “Whenever we have meetings, I leave feeling encouraged, excited, and ready to take on the next challenge this major has to offer.” “Quickly responding to emails does a lot to quell the minor panic attacks that may occur during a semester.”“I was unaware that you had so many students on your roster at any time because you always made time for me. ”“My emails to you were always answered almost instantaneously. This was tremendously helpful and solved many crises for me.”“I never felt like ‘just a number’ in your office, which was great, especially being at such a large university.” “I felt that when I was in your office, you truly knew me as a student and a human being.”

Advocating for more help Benchmark with other departments and institutionsTrack how far ahead available appointments are bookedMaintain future project list that could be completed if given more time Communicate advising needs with both supervisor and supervisor’s supervisor

What strategies have you used to advise a large student roster?How have you (successfully) advocated for more advising staff?Any questions?

Works CitedBloom, J. L., Hutson, B. L., & He, Y. The Appreciative Advising Revolution. Champaign, IL: Stipes, 2008, p.11.Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders & American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2018). Communication sciences and disorders (CSD) education survey national aggregate data report: 2016–2017 academic year. Retrieved from www.capcsd.org and www.asha.org.Ford, Jerry and Shelia Stoma Ford (2009) A Caring Attitude and Academic Advising. NACADA Journal: Spring, 29 (1), pp. 62-67. Gaines, Trudi (2014) Technology and Academic Advising: Student Usage and Preferences. NACADA Journal: 2014, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 43-49. Gordon-Starks, D. (2015, September). Academic advising is relationship building. Academic Advising Today, 38(3). Retrieved from https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Academic-Advising-Today/View- Articles/Academic-Advising-is-Relationship-Building.aspx McLellan, J. L. (2014) Developing Trusting Relationships in Academic Advising: A Review of the Literature with Recommendations for Practices. The Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal, 16. Retrieved from https://dus.psu.edu/mentor/2014/11/developing-trusting-relationships-academic-advising-lit-review/ NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising. (2017). NACADA academic advising core competencies model. Retrieved from https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Pillars/CoreCompetencies.aspx NACADA core values of academic advising. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Pillars/CoreValues.aspx Pennsylvania State University. (2017). Historical Fall Headcount Enrollment Since 1859. Retrieved from https://budget.psu.edu/FactBook/StudentDynamic/HistoricalComparisonOfEnrollment.aspx?YearCode=2 017&FBPlusIndc=N Walker, Ruth V., Alexandra I. Zelin , Carolyn Behrman, and Rachel Strnad (2017) Qualitative Analysis of Student Perceptions: “Some Advisors Care. Some Don't.” NACADA Journal: 2017, 37 (2), pp. 44-54.