Academic Advising in British Columbia
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Academic Advising in British Columbia Prepared by Dr. Linda Pardy, University of the Fraser Valley March 2016 Research by Academic Advising in British Columbia Prepared by Dr. Linda Pardy, University of the Fraser Valley March 2016 ©Copyright2016bytheBritishColumbiaCouncilonAdmissionsandTransfer. BCCATistheofficialmarkoftheBCCouncilonAdmissionsandTransfer, aspublishedbytheRegistrarofTrade-marksoftheCanadianIntellectualPropertyOffice. Thisreportisalsoavailableatbccat.ca/research/pubs/academicadvising.pdf BC COUNCIL ON ADMISSIONS & TRANSFER Research by 709 – 555 Seymour Street, Vancouver BC Canada V6B 3H6 bccat.ca | educationplanner.ca | bctransferguide.ca t 6044127700 | f 6046830576 | [email protected] Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 1 Literature Review .........................................................................................................2 Background..................................................................................................................2 Approaches ..................................................................................................................4 Personnel .....................................................................................................................4 Training ........................................................................................................................6 AdvisingStructures .....................................................................................................6 Technology ..................................................................................................................8 Assessment ..................................................................................................................8 Students ......................................................................................................................9 Summary .....................................................................................................................9 Academic Advising in the BC Transfer System ............................................................10 WebsiteReview .........................................................................................................10 SurveyResults ...........................................................................................................10 Personnel ...........................................................................................................................11 Structure ...........................................................................................................................12 Training .............................................................................................................................12 Delivery Models.................................................................................................................13 Technology ........................................................................................................................14 FocusGroupResults ..................................................................................................18 Future Directions and Research .................................................................................19 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 20 References .................................................................................................................. 21 Appendix One: Surveyed Institutions .........................................................................24 Appendix Two: Advisor Survey Instrument ................................................................25 Appendix Three: Focus Group Protocol & Guide Questions .......................................33 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................34 Introduction Academicadvisingplaysapivotalrolein Theterm“advising”hasbeenusedby supportingstudentretentionandsuccessat variousareaswithinpost-secondary educationinstitutionsinBritishColumbia post-secondaryinstitutionsandcontinuesto andacrossCanadatodescribeavariety adapttomeetthesenewrealities,whether ofactivitiesandtasksthatresultinpro- vidinginformationtostudents.Thepost- theneedistoservenewstudentclient secondaryeducationenvironmentinBC groupsortocommunicatenewacademic hasevolvedoverthepastnumberof frameworksandprograms. yearsandstudentadvisinghaschanged alongwithit.Post-secondaryinstitutions arecurrentlychallengedtoincrease studentengagement,improveworkplace readinessoftheirgraduates,internationalize,increase aspectsofacademicadvisingrelatedtotrade,career, retention ratesofAboriginalandnon-traditionalstu- orundergraduatedegrees.Keywordsfortheliterature dents,andpreparestudentsforsustainedparticipation search includedthefollowing:advisingmodels,best in alearningeconomy.Academicadvisingplaysapivotal practicesinadvising,advisingasteaching,21stcentury roleinsupportingstudentretentionandsuccessatpost- advising,advisingfordiversity/uniquepopulations, secondaryinstitutionsandcontinuestoadapttomeet advisinginateachingfocuseduniversity,strategicenrol- thesenewrealities,whethertheneedistoservenew mentmanagement(SEM)andadvising,advisingreten- studentclientgroupsortocommunicatenewacademic tiond an success,Aboriginalstudentadvising,advising frameworksandprograms.Thispaperexaminesthe in highereducation,studentlifecycleadvising,and currentstateofacademicadvisinginBC,referencesitto web-basedadvising.Keywordswereusedinavarietyof theliteratureonthetopic,offersexamplesofsuccessful combinationstoensureacrosssectionoftheliterature practices,andidentifiesareasforfutureresearch. wasincluded.Anopenpublicationdaterangewasfirst usedo t ensureawidesurveyoftheliteratureanda secondsearchusinga2010-2014publicationdaterange Methodology wasappliedtoensurethemostcurrentliteraturewas surveyed.Inaddition,Canadianarticleswerespecifically Thisstudyfollowedfourinquiryphases.Anenviron- searchedout. mentalscanonthetopicwasdoneusingpublishedpeer reviewed research,conferenceproceedings,websites, Thesecondphaseoftheresearchconsistedofanonline andopensourcereportsonacademicadvising.This documentanalysisofBCTransferSysteminstitutions’ documentanalysiscomparedBCadvisingpracticesto mission statements,charters,onlinedocuments,and practicesinotherareasofCanadaandinternation- websitescarriedouttoidentifyhowacademicadvising ally.Criteriaforthereviewincludedthefollowing:a) wasstructuredinBC.Theintentofthisprocesswasto thearticlesmustcomefrompeer-reviewedscholarly createatypologyofelementswithinacademicadvising journalsand/orconferencesand;b)theymustfocuson acrossBCinstitutions. Academic Advising in BC BC Council on Admissions & Transfer 1 Phasethreeconsistedofanonlinesurveytargetedat individualseitherresponsibleforordirectlyinvolvedin Literature Review advisingatBCTransferSysteminstitutions.Thesur- veyaimedatexploringtheperceptionsofadvisorson Background theemergentissuesandtrendsinadvisingpractices. Advisingasanactivitywithinpost-secondaryeduca- ThesurveywasdistributedthroughtheBCRegistrars tion hasbeenevolvingsincetheearly1900s“when Association(BCRA)andtheBCCATEducationPlanner somehigh-profileduniversitiesgeneratedconcernfor InstitutionalLiaisonContacts(EPIC).BCRAandEPIC students’academicdecisionmaking”(Schulenberg& memberswereaskedto:1)distributethesurveydirectly Lindhorst,2010,p.12).Advisingwasnotaseparate toindividualsintheirrespectiveinstitutionsthatthey department,butembeddedinthestudent’srelationship felthadexplicitadvisingresponsibilitiesandreportthe with facultyandfocusedontheacademicdevelopment totalnumberofindividualstheydistributedthesurvey ofthestudent.Atthispointadvisinghadanacademic to;or2)providetheemailaddressesforthosethat focus,wasstudentandfacultydirected,andseparate theyfeltwereinvolvedinadvisingwork.Themajorityof fromcounsellingandthestudent’soveralldevelop- institutionsprovidedindividualadvisoremailaddresses ment.Bythemid-1920’sfacultywerenotasinvolvedin andthesurveywasdistributedaccordingly.273surveys mentoringstudentstocreatetheirstudyplans,thegap weredistributedand166werereturned. between facultyandstudentswidened,andprogram planningbecamemoreofaclericalfunction-outlining Thefinalphaseconsistedofthreefocusgroupswith degreerequirementstobecheckedoff(Nutt,2003). 5-10studentsineachgroupconductedinaone-hour Thiswasthebeginningofwhatiscurrentlyknownas face-to-faceformattoassessstudents’perceptionsof “prescriptiveadvising.”Bytheearly1960scounsellors andtheirexperienceswithadvisingintheirinstitutions. wereassignedresponsibilityforstudents’personal/ Groupsfromacollege,aresearch-intensiveuniversity, careerdevelopmentandfacultyadvisorswereoften andateaching-intensiveuniversitywerefacilitatedby replacedwithstaffadvisorswithstrongclericalskills an institutionalcontactpersonresponsibleforstudent whounderstoodandcheckedoffeachstudent’spro- servicesoradvisingineachinstitution.Anumberof gramcourserequirements.Withthegrowthofstudent studentswereinvitedatrandomtoattendthefocus developmenttheory,institutionsstartedtoviewthe group.Thestudentswere19yearsofageorolder roleofadvisingasmorethanprovidinginformation. enrolledatanylevelinapost-secondaryinstitution.The Itwasincreasinglytofacilitatethepsychosocialdevel- focusgroupswereorganizedusingasemi-structured