The QEP Development Committee is working on a draft of an advising philosophy statement for NOVA:
The purpose of Academic Advising is to provide NOVA students with diverse services which will foster the building of on-going relationships between students, faculty and counselors through assorted and engaging activities including guided discussions, the use of analytical and evaluative tools, workshops and student development courses (SDV) to ultimately help students identify and/or develop stated personal, academic and career goals. Furthermore, the purpose of advising is to help students identify their educational paths and needs in response to their academic/personal goals.
Does this fit your concept of academic advising?
Thursday, October 7, 2010
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I read this with interest because a few years ago I was told to start advising students and soon found out it actually is quite time consuming. The recent Intercom article on this subject states "In short, advising is teaching." If this is so and NOVA values advising, then I wonder if there is a possiblity to obtain more teaching credits and compensation for this duty and service provided by faculty.
ReplyDeleteNOVA's student body is too diverse in its goals for systematic advising. To adequately advise students, they must be paired with appropriate advisors which in turn means they must be enrolled in particular programs of study. Students whose goal is to earn a few credits before transferring to a 4-year institution do not enroll in A.A. or A.S. programs. Neither do students who just want to take some courses.
ReplyDeleteInstead of trying to advise all students, NOVA should focus on advising those students who enroll in A.A. or A.S. programs. We can have great success with most, or little success with all.
Thanks for your comments. Attention does need to be paid to the efforts that faculty make through advising. Equitable workload is one issue. Another issue is training. There could also be different "levels" of advising, i.e. faculty that take on more active role as mentors.
ReplyDeleteI agree that trying to advise all students is a large task. We can certainly focus on certain groups in the beginning, but it is important to make sure all our students have the tools necessary to forge their academic paths.
ReplyDeleteThanks to the participants at the Student Services Convocation and the Instructional and Student Services Committee for their input on the mission statement. Here is the revised version, which is still a draft:
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of Academic Advising is to provide NOVA students with diverse services, which will foster the building of on-going relationships between students, faculty, counselors, and staff. Academic advising includes multiple engaging activities including guided discussions, the use of analytical and evaluative tools, workshops, student development courses (SDV), the use of learning resources services, and guidance in the classroom. Furthermore, the purpose of advising is to help students identify the educational paths needed to develop and accomplish their personal, academic, and career goals.