Marsha Miller

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Constructing an Academic Advising Handbook

• Marsha Miller
• Kansas State University
• NACADA Assistant Director,
• Resources Services
• miller_at_ksu.edu
• With special thanks to Jerry Ford and Patricia
  Griffin

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Presentation Overview

• Types of Handbooks/Target Audience
• Objectives of the handbook
• Skills needed to produce a handbook
• Handbook Delivery
• Content of the handbook
• Samples

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Handbook Types/Audiences

• Various handbook types/audiences
• Advisor
• Student
• Orientation
• Freshman
• Transfer
• Parent

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Objectives

• What are the objectives of the handbook?

• Provide a foundation for academic advising
• Promote quality academic advising
• Educate the target audience
• Facilitate academic advisor development
• Provide resource materials and information in one
  place without duplicating catalog
• Serve as a quick and easily referenced resource

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Skills Needed to Produce a Handbook
Teamwork
Organizational Skills
Proofreading
Computer Skills
Academic Support Center Middle Tennessee State
University
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Forming Alliances
College Advisors
Administration
Support
Academic Departments/ Faculty
Team Members
Academic Support Center at Middle Tennessee
State University
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Handbook Delivery

• Consider various handbook delivery methods
• Print based
• CD
• Electronic
• Intranet
• Internet

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Handbook Delivery

• Technology Support
• Consultant or Web designer
• Server
• Need to have space for
• Graphics
• Forms
• Database
• Quizzes
• Maintain Website for current information

Academic Support Center at Middle Tennessee State
University
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Handbook Delivery

• Items to consider when selecting type of delivery
• Do not duplicate the
• college catalog
• faculty handbook
• student handbook

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Handbook Delivery

• Items to consider when selecting type of delivery
• Color code sections
• Tab sections
• Use quotations, poems, definitions to broaden
  interest
• Incorporate pictures

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Contents

• Start with mission
• Consider amount of detail needed
• Include assessment and outcomes
• Realize that handbook is always a work in
  progress
• If providing electronic access consider server
  space and
• access.

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Laying the foundation

• What are the basics?

• Institutional information
• Advising Mission
• Goals
• Definition of Advising
• NACADA Core Values
• CAS Standards
• Advisor Responsibilities
• Advisee Responsibilities
• Legal and Ethical Issues
• FERPA

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Advisor Development

• What components should be included to assist
• in facilitating advisor development?

• Three-category approach
• Conceptual components
• crucial foundation
• Relational components
• behavioral attributes
• Informational components
• substance of advising

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Conceptual What Advisors Should Understand

• Definition of advising
• Role of advising
• Relationship between advising and persistence
• Relationship between advising and support
  services

• Expectations of advisors/advisees
• Rights and responsibilities of advisors/advisees
• Career issues in advising

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RelationalWhat advisors should be able to do

• Communication skills
• Listening
• Nonverbal
• Interpersonal
• Referral Skills
• Rapport Building

• Influence
• Expertness
• Attractiveness
• Trustworthiness
• Decision Making
• Multicultural and Gender Issues

• You never get a second chance to make a first
  impression. Moms Mabley

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Relational What advisors should be able to do

• Examples
• Know the advisee
• Be a good listener
• Express genuine interest in advisee and their
  uniqueness
• Respect advisees opinion
• Provide open atmosphere
• Validates understanding
• Approachable
• Show concern for growth and development
• Sense of humor

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Informational What advisors should know

• Programs
• Policies
• Procedures
• Referral Services
• Student Information Systems
• Support Tools
• Advisor Resources

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• Sample Handbooks

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Institutional Mission Statement

• Westminster College Mission Statement
• Our purposes are to prepare students to lead
  lives of learning, accomplishment, and service
  and to help them develop skills and attributes
  critical for success in a rapidly changing world.
  We do this by offering distinctive academic
  programs that emphasize theory and practice and
  encourage active, experiential, collaborative,
  and cross-disciplinary learning. We work to
  pursue excellence while promoting inclusiveness
  and respect for differences.

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Title
Institutional Mission Statement
From Parent Handbook
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Advising Mission Statement
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Advising Goals Outcomes

• ASSESSMENT GOAL 1 All FYE students will have a
  basic understanding of General Education academic
  requirements
• Outcome Measure for Goal 1 A General Education
  Comprehension Evaluation form is used to measure
  this particular goal. This instrument is one
  that allows the advisor to measure a students
  comprehension of the General Education
  requirements based on the advisors interaction
  and intervention with the student
• Goal Criteria 80 of University Advising staff
  agree or strongly agree that reviewed
  students are able to identify Gen Ed courses
• OUTCOMES
• The General Education Comprehension Survey form
  was used by the University Advising Office staff
• Discussions with the advising staff were part of
  the development process for the assessment
  instrument for Goal 1. It was determined that
  the advisors would be in the best position to
  assess their students understanding and
  comprehension of the Gen Ed requirements.

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Advising Goals Outcomes
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Advisor Responsibilities
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Faculty Advisor Responsibilities
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Advisee Responsibilities
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Advisee Responsibilities

• The Responsible Student
• schedules appointments with his or her advisor
  and is on time for those appointments.
• owns and is familiar with the Undergraduate
  Bulletin, The Student Academic Planning Guide,
  and specific department policies.
• is prepared for the advising session (has
  identified questions or concerns, brings a list
  of proposed courses and times to an advance
  registration appointment).
• discusses long-range goals including choice of
  major and career aspirations.
• knows academic requirements for continued
  enrollment and graduation.
• asks questions about policies, procedures, or
  requirements that are not understood.
• keeps copies of relevant academic records.
• obtains, completes, and processes all necessary
  forms and signatures required for registration,
  course changes, or related affairs within
  specified deadlines.
• meets course prerequisites and selects specific
  course selections.
• consults with the advisor before making changes
  to an agreed upon schedule.
• consults with the advisor with concerns related
  to academic progress, a change in program,
  courses to be taken at another institution,
  withdrawal from courses, or withdrawal from The
  College.
• makes final decisions and is actively responsible
  for his or her academic career.

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Advisor HandbookConceptual Issues
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Advisor HandbooksConceptual Issues
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Advisor HandbookConceptual Issues
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Relational Skills
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Relational Skills
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Relational Skills
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Informational Issues
www.mtsu.edu/mtadvise Registration information
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Informational Issues

• The Department of Educations Family Educational
  Rights and Privacy (Act), Final Regulation,
  gives you the right to expect that your education
  records are kept confidential except where
  special provisions are made. You also have the
  right to suppress the disclosure of directory
  information. By making and signing this request,
  you hereby waive your rights under the law and
  authorize the University of Alabama to discuss
  your educational record with the parent(s) or
  guardian(s) indicated below. If you wish to
  revoke this release of information at anytime,
  please send a signed statement to the Office of
  Academic Records University Registrar, The
  University of Alabama, 206 Student Services
  Center, 801 Campus Drive, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401.

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Informational Issues

• Program Requirements
• Entrance-to-Major Criteria
• Currently, all Behrend College majors require a
  2.0 GPA for acceptance.
• Academic controls require that students wishing
  to enter Computer Engineering, Electrical
  Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Software
  Engineering must have successfully completed MATH
  140 and MATH 141, CHEM 12, and PHYS 211, each
  with a grade of C or better. These students also
  must have an overall grade-point average of 2.0
  or higher.
• Students moving from associate degree programs in
  Engineering Technology to baccalaureate degree
  programs in Engineering Technology also require
  review. Students moving from a two-year
  Mechanical Engineering Technology program to a
  four-year Mechanical Engineering Technology
  program require a grade-point average of at least
  2.75.
• In addition, the Medical Technology Option in
  Biology requires faculty review and approval.

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Informational Issues
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Student Handbook

• Academic Advising Syllabus
• Office of Student Services
  
• College of Biological Sciences (CBS)
• University of Minnesota
• Office 223 Snyder Hall, 1475 Gortner Avenue,
  St. Paul, MN 55108
• Phone [phone]
• Advising Hours By appointment
• CBS Advising Mission
• The mission of CBS Academic Advising is to assist
  students in the development and implementation of
  meaningful educational plans that are compatible
  with their long-term goals.
• Academic Advising Description
• Academic advising is an educational process that,
  by intention and design, facilitates students
  understanding of the meaning and purpose of
  higher education and fosters their intellectual
  and personal development toward academic success
  and lifelong learning (National Academic Advising
  Association, 2004).
• --------------------------------------------------
  --------------------------------------------------
  -------------------------
• CBS Advising Learning Outcomes for Students
• Develop communication, decision-making, and
  problem-solving skills
• Define your short-term and long-term goals after
  reflecting on your values, interests, strengths,
  and challenges
• Articulate your goals during advising sessions
• Describe the connection between your goals and
  your values, interests, strengths, and challenges
• Discuss problems you face by assessing what
  caused them, what can be done to resolve them,
  and how to avoid them in the futureng syllabus

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Student Handbook
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Student Handbook
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Student Handbook
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Student Handbook
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Parent Handbook
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Parent Handbook

• Do parents routinely receive copies of student
  grades?
• No. Grades are available on-line through Web
  Advisor. Contact the Registrars office with
  questions.
• Is class attendance mandatory?
• The College does not have a universal policy
  regarding class attendance. Each instructor may
  set
• his/her own standards for attendance.
• Can students change classes?
• Yes. Students may add classes during the first
  two weeks of each semester and may drop classes
• anytime during the first five weeks.
• How does the advising system work at Allegheny?
• All first-year students choose a First Seminar
  from the array of options offered. The professor
  for
• that course is the Faculty Advisor for each of
  the 15-16 students in the class. The First
  Seminar
• booklet comes in the mail as part of the series
  of mailings each new student receives. Each
• student writes an introductory letter to his or
  her faculty advisor prior to Orientation. During
• Orientation, students and their faculty advisor
  meet to discuss Alleghenys academic program as
• well as the individual students course schedule.
  Contact between students and advisors is built
• upon the time spent in the seminar classroom.
  Students are encouraged to initiate other
  contacts
• with their advisors. Faculty members post their
  office hours and are quite accessible for making
• special appointments. Once students declare their
  majors, they may choose their faculty advisors
• from within the department of their declared
  major.

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Parent Handbook
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Handbooks in the Clearinghouse
Clearinghouse  (left navigation bar) Search
Clearinghouse Articles  Advising Issues
Resources Advising Standards Values
 Member Produced Publications
47
Sample Handbooks

• 09 Summer Institute Handbook Topical Session
  Power Point

• Sample Handbook Library
• Red dot Student
• Blue dot Advisor

Available at Registration Table during Wednesday
afternoons Consultations