ADVISING GUIDE FOR

FACULTY ADVISORS

Northern Virginia Community College

Advising Guide for Faculty Advisors Rev. 1.0 Page 2

Table of Contents

Purpose of This Handbook ........................................................ 3

QEP Overview for Faculty Advisors .......................................... 3

Resources .................................................................................... 4

Faculty Advising Managers ........................................................ 6

Coordinators of Student Success ............................................. 7

Advising Communications Templates ...................................... 7

Initial Advising Session .............................................................. 8

Timeline/Calendar ..................................................................... 10

Faculty Advising and Blackboard ........................................... 11

Background ............................................................................................ 11

Accessing the Advising Organization ..................................................... 12

Accessing Assessments and Checklists ................................................ 14

Recording the Meeting with the Faculty Advisor ..................................... 18

How to Email Your Advisees Using Blackboard ..................................... 19

Blackboard Learn 9.1 Smart Views ......................................... 20

Degree Progress Report ........................................................... 22

Advising Guide for Faculty Advisors Rev. 1.0 Page 3

Purpose of This Handbook

The purpose of the Advising Guide is to provide Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA)

faculty with a handy reference guide to information on advising QEP students, which includes:

Students attending college for the first time

Recent high school graduates

Curricular students

Rapid access to this information allows NOVA faculty to provide quality advising services to

NOVA students and subsequently enhance their success.

QEP Overview for Faculty Advisors

QEP students arriving at the Woodbridge and Loudoun campuses will be oriented and advised in

individual sessions with Advising Specialists and through SOAR (Student Orientation Advising

and Registration) sessions. They will also be given a Blackboard account through which they

will be able to complete the assessments used to track the learning outcomes identified in the

GPS for Success. Learning outcomes for QEP students include:

Developing an academic goal

Selecting a program of study, aligned with their academic goal

Identifying their faculty advisor

Meeting with their faculty advisor

Developing an academic program completion plan with their faculty advisor—organized

by semester

To measure these outcomes, various assessments have been built into Blackboard. The results of

these assessments will be available for faculty to view in Blackboard. Additionally, faculty will

be able to see the checklist of information about the students’ activities and plans. Faculty

meetings with the advisee should be documented in Blackboard also, allowing visible tracking

for the Advising Specialists and the Director of Academic Planning and Advising.

Advising Guide for Faculty Advisors Rev. 1.0 Page 4

Resources

The table below provides links to important advising resources.

Advising Resources

Student Mental Health

http://www.nvcc.edu/current-students/novacares/index.html

Transferring To Another School

http://www.nvcc.edu/current-students/transfer/contact/index.html

Incoming Transfer Credits

International Student Issues

http://www.nvcc.edu/future-students/admissions/international-students/contacts/campus-contacts.html

Military Student Issues (Active, Dependents, and Veterans)

http://www.nvcc.edu/current-students/military/index.html

Career Services

http://www.nvcc.edu/current-students/career-services/index.html

Disability Services

http://www.nvcc.edu/current-students/disability-services/index.html

Course Content Information (Complete information about courses including prerequisites)

http://www.nvcc.edu/depts/academic/coursecont.htm

Student Life

http://www.nvcc.edu/current-students/student-life/

Paying For College

http://www.nvcc.edu/current-students/paying-for-college/payment-methods/index.html

Financial Aid

http://www.nvcc.edu/current-students/paying-for-college/financial-assistance/

ELI/Online Courses (Courses and Preparedness Assessment)

http://eli.nvcc.edu/

Contact: AsktheCRO@nvcc.edu

Advanced Standing

College Credit for Prior Learning Manual

Advising Guide for Faculty Advisors Rev. 1.0 Page 5

Advising Resources

Course Substitutions

http://www.nvcc.edu/faculty-and-staff/policies--forms/course-substitution/index.html

Internships

http://www.nvcc.edu/current-students/services-to-students/cooperative-education--internships/

Program Advising Sheets

http://www.nvcc.edu/academics/programs/cat2012/

Advising Guide for Faculty Advisors Rev. 1.0 Page 6

Faculty Advising Managers

Faculty Advising Managers- Loudoun

Joe Agnich – Science Division

Jeremy Cook – Humanities Division

Deborah Naquin – Humanities Division

Faculty Advising Managers- Woodbridge

Bryan Brown – Communications and Humanities Division (until November 1)

Miriam St. Clair – Natural Science and Mathematics Division

Christal Edwards – Communications and Humanities Division (after November 1)

Al Ross – Business and Social Sciences Division

Faculty Advising Manager - Roles and Responsibilities

1. Manage the GPS for Success implementation process among designated faculty colleagues on a particular NOVA campus. This includes the following:

Working with the QEP Campus Implementation Task Force to identify campus-specific needs and to ensure consistency among campuses.

Communicating with the Coordinator of Student Success to help identify campus-specific advising needs.

Communicating in a timely fashion and keeping assigned faculty colleagues informed about advising requirements and GPS for Success policies and procedures.

Helping to identify training needs of faculty to become better advisors.

Working with the Director of Academic Planning and Advising to define and collect information that can be used to assess the effectiveness of the GPS for Success implementation and the ongoing effectiveness of advising in general.

Serving as the “go to” person (or single point of contact, SPOC) for college, campus and division administrators regarding any issues about faculty advising on their campus.

Helping the academic dean identify advising workload issues.

2. Serve as a peer advocate for issues concerning advising (and in particular, for issues related to the implementation of GPS for Success). This includes:

Serving as the SPOC for faculty advising issues on your particular campus.

Ensuring that faculty advising issues are communicated to the appropriate administrators for action or remediation.

Communicating with appropriate administrators on behalf of faculty advisors.

Serving as the SPOC for the formulation and evaluation of faculty advising questions, issues, concerns and viewpoints.

Advising college and campus administrators concerning faculty advising questions, issues, concerns and viewpoints.

Encouraging and contributing to the development and maintenance of a beneficial climate for excellence in faculty advising within a framework of academic freedom and professional responsibility and ethics.

Advising Guide for Faculty Advisors Rev. 1.0 Page 7

Coordinators of Student Success

Coordinator of Student Success – Loudoun

James Edwards

Coordinator of Student Success – Woodbridge

Tanya Ingram

Advising Communications Templates

The following templates are suggested to facilitate advising communications between faculty

and students.

Suggestion for Introductory E-mail to Students

Dear ________,

You have selected _________________ as a program of study. I will be your advisor for this major. My office hours are __________________. Please be sure to set up an appointment with me during these times by mid-semester (date specific). If you don’t set an appointment you may miss important information about registering. You can make an appointment by ______ (calling? E-mailing? Walking in?).

I’m looking forward to our meeting and want to remind you to consider a couple of things beforehand, then make some notes and bring them with you. If you don’t do this, we may need to reschedule, which could put you at risk for missing seats in courses you may want.

1. Review your progress in your courses.

Do you like them?

Are you performing well?

What are your grades in the classes thus far?

2. Review your educational goal.

Do you need to reexamine the major you want to pursue?

3. Review your curriculum, your academic plan and plan your next semester’s course work.

Think about how many classes you want to take remembering good balance with work and other concerns

Think about making progress toward your degree

4. List questions you want to ask me; actually write them out.

Think about the career field aligned with your goal.

Think about what classes you want to take; do you have questions about them?

What do you need to know from me?

This will help make good use of our time together. I’ll be able to look at your plans; we can briefly discuss them and move you toward scheduling for Spring ’13 semester!

Sincerely,

Faculty Advisor

Advising Guide for Faculty Advisors Rev. 1.0 Page 8

Reminder E-mail to Students to Set Advising Appointment

Dear _________,

Don’t forget! Advising week is quickly approaching and you’ll need to set an appointment with me to discuss your progress in classes, your academic plan and your registration. My office hours are ___________. Make sure to get an appointment so you don’t miss out on early registration.

Sincerely,

Faculty Advisor

Follow up E-mail After Advising Session

Dear__________,

It was great to meet with you and talk about your interests in ___________ (be specific to career path they want). I hope you found our conversation beneficial. I’m interested in the coursework for which you register. Please e-mail me a copy of your schedule when you have registered. Be sure to keep in mind the topics about which we spoke. Also, be sure to let me know if you have changed your academic plan.

Let me know if you have any questions. (anything that you said you would follow-up on would go here)

Best,

Faculty Advisor

Initial Advising Session

When advising QEP students, is important to quickly establish a rapport with the student and

then efficiently acquire the necessary information on student goals, likes/dislikes, academic

progress, etc. The following flowchart provides suggestions on how to conduct a student

advising session.

Advising Guide for Faculty Advisors Rev. 1.0 Page 9

Introduce yourself and your content area interest briefly

Ask about the student

What is your identified educational goal?

Do you have your academic plan in Blackboard?

What do you want to do when you graduate?

How did you come to make that decision?

How are things going in you current classes?

What grades have you received?

Are you liking your classes?

Initial Advising Session

Communication Flowchart

SUGGESTIONS: Let the first email’s content guide the conversation;

review the student’s responses to assessments prior to the meeting.

NOTE: If the student is in any content area classes, follow up specifically on those.

Do you have any questions for me?

YES NO

Address any questions the student has.

Provide positive affirmations to student

inquiries by stating “good question” to

confirm to the student that s/he is on the

right track.

If the student has no questions, inquire further.

For example:

“No questions”,... Really?”

If the student definitely has no further questions, it

might be a good time to talk about outside resourcesand networking opportunities (for example, meetingwith the transfer counselors at the institution thestudent wants to attend, meeting with someprofessionals in the area to set up a network forsuggestions of coursework, or suggesting resumebuilders that could make the student moremarketable upon graduation).

Plan the schedule, checking the student’s accuracy on requirements

(Keep in mind the student’s non-academic workload (i.e., don’t overschedule,

help ensure balance, especially if the student has a job, family, or both).

Inquire if the student needs to be a full-time student for Financial Aid purposes.

Send the student to Financial Aid if this is so.

Close the meeting with a promise of follow-up by email.

Before concluding, summarize the meeting and tell the

student you enjoyed meeting him/her and you look

forward to meeting again. You may want to have the

student’s degree progress report accessed for review.

Advising Guide for Faculty Advisors Rev. 1.0 Page 10

Timeline/Calendar

QEP Timeline/Calendar

Classes begin August 22

Add/Drop/Swap August 22-28

Late Add permission required August 29 – September 4

Labor Day Holiday for faculty, students and staff; offices closed September 3

Drops with refund August 29 – September 10

Last day to drop with tuition refund or change to audit (Census Date) September 10

Suggestion: Introductory email to students Mid-September

Last day to apply for Fall graduation October 1

Suggestion: Begin emailing reminder to set appointments End of September, beginning of October

Non-instructional days/no classes; College offices open October 8-9

Week 8 Assessment 1.3 October 17

Advising Week Suggestion: Check in with students about course performance. Inquire if they need to withdraw.

October 29-November 2

Last day to withdraw with grade October 31

FYI: Priority registration for continuing students begins November 6

Suggestion: Follow-up email to advisees November 12-16

Non-instructional days/no classes; College closes at Noon November 21

Thanksgiving holiday for faculty, students and staff; College offices closed.

November 22-23

Non-instructional days/no classes; College offices closed. November 24-25

Last week of classes December 4-10

Final exam week End of the semester

December 11-17

Classes and examinations end Spring 2013 tuition due

December 17

Advising Guide for Faculty Advisors Rev. 1.0 Page 11

Faculty Advising and Blackboard

Background

Why do I need to use Blackboard?

The use of Blackboard is essential to keep track of student learning as it pertains to the GPS for Success. It is also a tool that Faculty Advisors and Advising Specialists can use to better understand why the student is here at NOVA and what their academic plans are.

What are the requirements for the Faculty Advisor, in terms of using Blackboard?

At a minimum, the Faculty Advisor should record that the student has met with the Faculty Advisor. To help make this meeting more meaningful, you may want to access certain assessment items on Blackboard. Instructions are included below. Faculty Advisors are enrolled as “Graders” in the organization. This means that the Faculty Advisor can access students’ work.

NOTE: Faculty Advisors are not expected to add content in the Blackboard organization. If a Faculty Advisor feels that content needs to be changed, a Faculty Advising Manager should be notified.

How else can I use Blackboard to advise?

There are many tools that you can use in Blackboard to supplement your advising. Instructions are included below.

What if I need help?

Contact your division’s Faculty Advising Manager. Your Faculty Advising Manager can answer some basic questions, and inform the Director of Academic Advising and Planning that training is needed. If you are unsure of whom your Faculty Advising Manager is, ask your Academic Dean.

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Accessing the Advising Organization

IMPORTANT: For optimal use, please use Firefox as your browser. If you use Internet

Explorer, you will find that many of the instructions will not work properly.

How to log into Blackboard

Click on the My NOVA tab on the NOVA homepage (http://www.nvcc.edu/index.html).

Type in your username, which is the same username you use to log into PeopleSoft/SIS.

Click on the link for Blackboard.

Alternatively, you can go directly to learn.vccs.edu.

(NOTE: There is no “www” in this address).

If you have trouble logging in, please contact the IT Help Desk.

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How to access advising in Blackboard

Advising takes place in a Blackboard Organization, which does not have an end date (like a Blackboard course).

Click on the yellow College Connect tab.

You should see a list of organizations in which you are enrolled. You should be enrolled in one of the following:

Click on the Academic Advising Organization for your division.

NOTE: If you are not enrolled in any of the organizations above, contact your Faculty Advising

Manager.

NOTE: If you are enrolled in more than one of the organizations above, contact your Faculty Advising Manager

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Accessing Assessments and Checklists

Assessments and Checklists

Students are asked to complete three assessments:

Set Your Academic Goal

The Importance of Advising

Evaluation of Plans and Performance

Students should have completed these assessments before their meeting with the Faculty Advisor. You can use their answers to help provide better advising. Here is a suggested process:

1. The student requests an appointment with the Faculty Advisor.

2. The Faculty Advisor checks if the assessments have been completed. The Faculty Advisor reminds the student that the three assessments above should be completed before the meeting with the Faculty Advisor.

3. In the event that the student is unfamiliar with the assessments in Blackboard (i.e., the student did not attend SOAR or has not had a preliminary meeting with an Advising Specialist) or has not completed all three of the assessments, the Faculty Advisor should contact an Advising Specialist to follow up with the student.

Why are these assessments important?

The purpose of the GPS for Success is to improve students’ academic planning skills. By participating in assessments, NOVA can track and evaluate student learning. In addition, it puts the onus on the student to come to an advising session prepared.

The Advising Specialists use the checklists to track the advising activities required of the student. The Faculty Advisor will use one checklist to indicate that the student has met with the Faculty Advisor.

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How to access assessments and checklists in Blackboard

In the blue Control Panel on the left, click on Grade Center. A drop down menu will appear.

Click on Full Grade Center.

Alternately, you can create a “Smart View” in the Grade Center, so you can access your advisee’s information more quickly. See the Blackboard Learn 9.1 Smart Views instructions in

this document.

NOTE: There are several columns in the Grade Center in Blackboard. Most of these columns are

for use by the Advising Specialist.

NOTE: You will see the advising information for all students advised by faculty in your division.

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How to list my advisees

If you have not yet created a Smart View (refer to Blackboard Learn 9.1 Smart Views for instructions),

you can find those advisees that have been assigned to you:

Click on the column Faculty Advisor. This will sort the students by Faculty Advisor.

The advisees assigned to you should match the list provided to you by the Advising Specialists at the

beginning of the semester. If it does not match, contact your Faculty Advising Manager.

How to interpret symbols in the Grade Center

-- A “double dash” indicates that the student has not attempted this assessment.

A numerical score indicates that the student has completed the assessment and that the Advising Specialist has graded the assessment.

A notepad and pencil indicates that student has started, but has not yet submitted, the assessment.

An exclamation point indicates that the student has completed the assessment, and it needs to be graded by the Advising Specialist.

A green checkmark indicates that the Advising Specialist or Faculty Advisor has recorded that a particular advising activity has occurred.

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How to review a student’s entries on an assessment

Three assessments are meant to provide information that will help make advising more effective. These assessments are:

Set Your Academic Goal

The Importance of Advising

Evaluation of Plans and Performance

The Advising Specialists encourage students to take these assessments. In addition, the Advising Specialists review the assessments, and provide feedback to the student. The Faculty Advisor should review the students’ responses prior to or during the first advising session. Each of the assessments may be reviewed by following the steps below.

Use the left/right scroll bar at the bottom of the Grade Center to scroll over to the appropriate column (Set Your Academic Goal/The Importance of Advising/Evaluation of Plans and Performance).

The Faculty Advisor may access an assessment that has been completed or started, graded or not.

Place the cursor over the cell of a particular student in the desired assessment column. A double

down arrow will appear. Click on this arrow.

A small menu will appear. Click on the selection Attempt <date>. The assessment and responses will be displayed.

Click on Exit either at the top or bottom of the screen after reviewing the responses.

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Recording the Meeting with the Faculty Advisor

How to use the checklist to indicate that the student has met with the Faculty Advisor

Use the left/right scroll bar at the bottom of the Grade Center to scroll over to the last column, Meeting with Faculty Advisor.

Click on the double dash (--) in the appropriate cell.

Enter any non-zero numerical value and press ENTER. A green checkmark should appear.

NOTE: In the event of an error, you must uncheck the cell.

To uncheck a cell, click on the Green Checkmark and delete the numerical value.

Type in a single dash (-) and press ENTER. Confirm that you wish to null the grade.

Advising Guide for Faculty Advisors Rev. 1.0 Page 19

How to Email Your Advisees Using Blackboard

How to use Blackboard to send emails to advisees

You can use Blackboard to send emails to your advisees. You can use email to send an introductory letter, reminders about appointments, or other correspondence.

Click on Tools in the gray menu on the left side of the screen.

Scroll down and click on the Send Email link.

Scroll down and click on Select Users.

A list of all Users of the Blackboard Organization will be listed in the column called Available to Select.

Click on the name of the intended recipient and click on the arrow to move the name to the Selected column. Repeat these steps for all intended recipients.

Type the topic of the email in the subject line.

Type the content of the email in the message box.

Click on Submit.

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Blackboard Learn 9.1 Smart Views

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Degree Progress Report

How to view a Degree Progress Report

Click on the My NOVA tab on the NOVA homepage (http://www.nvcc.edu/index.html) and log in.

Click on VCCS SIS: Student Information System.

Select Main Menu > Records and Enrollment > Transcripts > Transcript Request

Click on Add a New Value.

On the Request Header page, enter Institution NV280 for Northern Virginia Community

College.

For Transcript Type, click on the arrow and select ADVSR.

For Output Destination, click on the arrow and select Page.

Click the Request Detail tab.

Enter Student ID or use the magnifying glass to look up the student ID.

Click Process Request.

Degree Progress Report results will be displayed.