Blue Sky: An Opportunity to Reinvent Student Advising at Carolina Curriculum 2019 Task Force on Advising, Assessment and Amendments May 2017
Goals Provide undergraduate students with the advice and support services that they need to be successful in their academic endeavors and postgraduate pursuits. Advising will be: • Coordinated • Consistent • Convenient • Easily accessed • Efficient • Assessed for effectiveness and continuous improvement
Proposed Initiatives • Restructure student advising and support around the mission of student success. Provide a comprehensive approach to academic advising, career development, and learning support services; • Support and incentivize faculty engagement in the mission of student success; and • Improve facilities and technology infrastructure to support student success, especially in terms of course planning and degree audit.
Timeline • Fall 2015 – UNC’s Provost, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Vice Provost for Enrollment and Undergraduate Admissions, and Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education establish the Blue Sky Committee and challenge the group to imagine an entirely new approach to student advising, career development and academic support. • Summer 2016 - Blue Sky Committee presents data findings and recommendations. • Fall 2016 - Provost creates a new charge to consider the Blue Sky Committee’s recommendations, scan the current advising environment at Carolina, benchmark best practices at peer institutions* and create a plan for implementation. • Spring 2017 – Presentation to the Chancellor, a plan to reinvent student advising at UNC *UC Berkeley, Duke, Michigan, NCSU, Tulane, UVA, WFU, Wash U
Blue Sky Committee 2015-16 Summer 2016 Data Analysis & Spring 2016 Recommendations Data Collection Survey December 2015 & Focus Group Storyboard Presentation Fall 2015 Charge & Blue Sky Committee Meetings
UNC Students Are Telling Us • I want to be known by someone on campus who remembers my name and my individual story • I want to belong to a community • I want information to be accurate and easily accessible • I seek advice from my peers and social media • I want a clear path to graduation • I want easy access to advising on postgraduate opportunities
UNC Students Are Telling Us KNOWN: I want to COMMUNITY : I want be known (adults on to belong to a campus who know community. my name and story). “This is not a surface level problem – it is a deeper rooted issue. It is very simple to come to this university and never be a person – to just be a name and a number – students need to feel like people, engage in community, be known and supported .” (UNC Senior)
UNC Students Are Telling Us INFORMATION : I want information to be accurate and easily accessible. “Half of advising is tech support for ConnectCarolina – fix this so advisors have time to talk to students.” (UNC Senior)
UNC Students Are Telling Us PEERS : I seek advice from my peers and social media. “There is “advising” and there is un-official advising – the best information is unofficial – information from peers.” (UNC student)
UNC Students Are Telling Us All students are not the same. 100% Non-white are students are less 90% 77% likely than white students to: 80% 67% 70% 60% 53% - be satisfied with guidance for 49% 50% 41% specific life skills (e.g. finances 35% 40% and career advice) 30% 20% - have a personal connection to 10% UNC-Chapel Hill 0% Non-White White Non-White White Non-White White Personal Feel a part Career advice - feel a part of the community connection of the to UNC community
UNC Students Are Telling Us “The problem is that you have a lot of professors that care but they have to go out of their way and do not get any incentive for it – could hurt themselves doing this – they don’t have time to breathe.” (UNC Senior)
Benchmarking Fall 2016/Spring 2017 we engaged peer institutions to benchmark best practices: • UC Berkeley – public, 19,000 undergraduates • Duke – private, 7000 undergraduates • Michigan – public, 17,500 undergraduates • NCSU – public, 25,000 undergraduates • Tulane – private, 7000 undergraduates • UVA – public, 16,500 undergraduates • Wake Forest – private, 5000 undergraduates • Washington University – private, 7000 undergraduates
Trends & Observations • Not necessarily centralized but standardized approach to advising; expectation that all students receive the same information but in different delivery models based on their particular needs • Accessibility and convenience , both in terms of information technology and welcoming space • Focus on faculty/student interaction and engagement • Reliance on department faculty for major advising • Professional development and load balancing for advising staff are key concerns • Process alignment never ends ; no one is “there”, constant assessment, review and improvement
UC Berkeley • Case approach, students matriculate to the College and are assigned to a dean-level advisor for four years; assignments are random and not based on intended majors • Participants in 1 st and 2 nd year seminars live together in the residence halls and are assigned to the same faculty advisor, who also teaches the course • Key takeaways: o Cal utilizes its Course Leaf catalog system to provide students with career information & stats for each major o Leverages undergrad peer advisors, incentivized with meal plans
Duke • Case approach, students matriculate to the College and are assigned to a dean-level advisor for four years; assignments are based on residence halls • 300+ faculty volunteer to advise students (1/3 of all advisors) • Key takeaways: o Duke has a truly student-centered, hub approach to advising o Duke seeks to align advising with curriculum development
Michigan • Case approach, students matriculate to the College of Literature, Science and Arts and are assigned to a dean-level advisor for four years • LSA Advisor assignments are based on several designations e.g., Honors, Comprehensive Studies (includes first-generation, pell-eligible, low resourced high school), and Residential College • Key takeaways: o High demand from students for co-advising appointments with academic advisors and career counselors
NCSU • Students matriculate to one of ten undergraduate colleges, they are assigned to an advisor in their particular college • Advising structure and assignments vary across the ten colleges but the delivery, expectations and outcomes are standardized by a central Undergraduate Advising Office • Key takeaways: o All advisors (9 of the 10 colleges currently participate) must complete two-day Advisor Development Institute o Assessment of student learning outcomes are determined and standardized by the Advisor Development Institute
Tulane • All students matriculate to the Newcomb Tulane College; the College provides advising & career services to all five schools at Tulane • Had to completely rebuild after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, they reinvented their advising and career services • Tulane is the only peer institution I know of with a combined Office of Advising and Career Services • Key takeaways: o Effective use of technology; Customer Relationship Management approach allows 360 degree view of student vis-à-vis advising o Hopes and Dreams student survey
UVA • All students in the College (11,000) are assigned to an Association Dean for their four years at UVA • Assignments are based on various associations e.g., Residence halls, Student athletes, Echols Scholars, Transfer students • Key takeaways: o Although the advisor:student ratio is very high (1:800), their strategic use of technology helps tremendously. UVA has a robust information technology system that allows students to complete most transactional advising online (e.g., drop/add, pass/fail, declare a major, etc.)
Wake Forest • All students matriculate to the College and are assigned to a faculty advisor and an upper-class undergraduate peer advisor for the 1 st and 2 nd years. They have a faculty major advisor, based in the academic departments, during the 3 rd and 4 th years. • Key takeaways: o Faculty engagement is high o Office of Office of Career and Professional Development is widely known as a model approach to college career services
Post-Graduation Readiness Requirement? WFU would like to implement a Post-Graduation Readiness Requirement for all students, so that by the beginning of junior year (Nov 1?) they must have: • Approved resume • Approved LinkedIn profile • Approved Handshake profile • Approved mock interview • Watch a video on effective networking • Approved elevator pitch
Wash U • Case approach, all advising is based in the College of Arts and Sciences • Students matriculate to the College and are assigned to a dean-level advisor for four years • First-year advising assignments are based on residence hall • Students will get a major advisor during their 2 nd year • Very low advisor student ratio 1:150 • Key takeaways: o Strong emphasis on making connections and engaging with students o Extensive ongoing training for all advisors
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