The Joy of Assessing Technology for Advising: Someone has to do it!

NACADA 2011 Pre-Conference Workshop 6

Goals:• Address micro and macro issues

related to selecting technologies for advising and supporting student services.

• Provide a framework for making decisions about use of technology in advising.decisions at both the micro (tactical) and macro (strategic) levels

Developmental advising

“Academic advising can be understood best and more easily re-conceptualized if the process of academic advising and the scheduling of classes and registration are separated. Class scheduling should not be confused with educational planning. Developmental academic advising becomes a more realistic goal when separated from class scheduling because advising can then go on all during the academic year, not just during the few weeks prior to registration each new term.”

Winston, R. B., Miller, T. K., Ender, S. C., Grites, T. J., & Associates (1984). Developmental academic advising. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. p. 542.

Interaction and academic advising

"Academic advising is the only structured activity on the campus in which all students have the opportunity for one-to-one interaction with a concerned representative of the institution"

(Habley, 1981).

Strategic Plan for

Higher Ed

• The State of Ohio will increase its educational attainment to compete in a global economy that is fueled by knowledge and an advanced workforce.

• The Strategic Plan is a comprehensive blueprint to raise Ohio’s educational attainment, with specific strategies and measureable goals.

Graduating more

students

Keeping graduates

in Ohio

Attracting more talent

to Ohio

Goal #1 Goal #2 Goal #3

GOALS

IT is tactical – Advisors must sit at the table to help provide strategic direction to assisting

students.

CENTSS Audits

CENTSS• Audits 31 student services areas • Based on research into best practices in

student services online by WCET, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, and Seward Incorporated.

• For each audit area, provides a series of multiple choice and open text questions and compiles the responses into a confidential report.

• Groups of institutions can participate together to provide data to individual institutions and aggregate group results.

• Generation 1: Service is not provided on web site• Generation 2: Informational, internal focus on

institution• Generation 3: Informational, audience focused

(Prospective students' link, continuing students' link, etc.)

• Generation 4: Process oriented - customized community, personalized, portal

• Generation 5: Virtual mentor – process orientation, and decision making guide

Generations

Q1. Find information about my institution's academic advising services, including philosophy and roles and responsibilities:

1. Cannot find information or services on the web. 2. View general information about the institution's academic advising services, along with its general philosophy and the roles and responsibilities of students and advisors. 3. Link to the institution's description of academic advising services, including the philosophy and roles and responsibilities for the type of student I am (e.g., freshman, transfer, graduate student). 4. Log in to MyAccount and link to information about the institution's academic advising services, along with its philosophy and roles and responsibilities relevant to me. 5. Receive a welcome message introducing the institution's academic advising services, including the philosophy and roles and responsibilities relevant to me, along with a link to an online form for more information or assistance.

Example Audit

Question

• Step One: Determine Technical Goals• Step Two: Determine Resources• Step Three: Create and Edit• Step Four: Pilot the Technology• Step Five: Review and Evaluate • Step Six: Update and Develop

Adopted from Pasquini, L. (2010). Chapter 9: Emerging Digital Resources: Easy and Accessible Online Tools. Comprehensive advisor training and development: Practices that deliver, 2nd Ed. NACADA Monograph. Manhattan, KS: Kansas State University.

• Executive level sponsor • Cross-functional team (charged by sponsor) • Review your CENTSS audit results • Document current state of each service • Low hanging fruit (find an early win) • Prioritize – which services to target? • Campus wide awareness / Buy-in • Develop roadmap – current /bridge/ desired states (bridge

small steps need to transition from current to desired state) • Recommend projects based on roadmap • Implement projects

Key steps to implementation*

* Dr. Nancy Thibeault, Dean Distance Learning, Sinclair Community College

Implementation Model

• focus on activities in the bottom right quadrant

• those that are important but are not done well

Rate each service 1 – 4

How Important?4 = Most Important1 = Least Important

How well?4 = Service routinely delivered online1 = Not easily accommodated without campus visit

Prioritize - Quadrant Tool

Enrollment Steps

1/3/2008

Step New Transfer Transient Former PI/CD CurrentApplyPlacement TestingSubmit TranscriptsOrientationAcademic AdvisingDevelop ScheduleRegisterTartan CardFinancial AidBookstorePay

Campus visit, but not required of all students every quarter

Enrollment/Registration Steps

Student Type

Complete virtuallyCampus visit

OhioInstitutions

Belmont Technical College Cincinnati State Technical and

Community College Clark State Community College Columbus State Community College Cuyahoga Community College Hocking College Lakeland Community College Lorain County Community College Marion Technical College Miami University Owens Community College Sinclair Community College The University of Akron The University of Toledo University of Cincinnati Washington State Community College Zane State College

Bowling Green State University Central Ohio Technical College Central State University Cleveland State University James A. Rhodes College Kent State University North Central State College Rio Grande Community College Stark State Technical College Southern State Community

College Terra Community College Wright State University