Preconference Workshops

Monday, March 17, 2025

You can sign up for Preconference Workshops while registering for the conference. If you have already registered for the conference and would like to add a Preconference Workshop or the First-Timers Orientation and Luncheon, you can log back in and add it to your registration. Please follow these steps.

 

P1: Developing Core Skills and Knowledge for Advising Leadership

8-11 a.m. | Cost: $70
David Spight | Univeristy of California-Irvine 

To be effective institutional change-makers, advising administrators need training and development in areas different than those required of the advising teams they manage and lead. The NACADA Core Competencies model has served as an integral framework for training and developing advisors, but training and development for advising leadership lacks a similar framework. This session will utilize a competencies structure for advising leadership to explore seven theme areas of knowledge, skills, and abilities individuals need in order to be effective leaders. Participants will then work to identify tools for self-evaluation, as well as brainstorm specific ways of gaining knowledge and skills in areas that have yet to be explored. Participants will leave this pre-conference session with a practical and detailed plan to develop skills and knowledge that will benefit the leader, their staff, and the institution where they work.

P2: Incorporating Career Development Theories to Expand Your Advising Toolbox

8-11 a.m. | Cost: $70
Matt Eng | University of Hawaii at Manoa

Academic advisors implement career development strategies on a daily basis. Academic advising approaches and career development theories share a common psychosocial foundation and can produce successful student outcomes when used to collaboratively reinforce each other. From guiding exploratory students through program decisions to discussing alternative occupational pathways with graduating seniors, you facilitate career exploration and promote professional skill building. Confident integration of academic and career advising theories will benefit interactions with both students and colleagues.

Learn about the history of the major career development theories employed today (such as Holland's Vocational Person-Environment Fit [RIASEC], Super's Developmental Self-Concept Theory, Planned Happenstance, Chaos Theory of Career, etc.), explore the shared heritage between academic and career advising, participate in active demonstrations that will illustrate the major career theories in action, and build your confidence in integrating academic and career advising.

Through interactive case studies, role-plays, and group problem-solving, participants will learn simple yet powerful ways to infuse career theory into their everyday practice. Advisors will share and build on their experiences, leaving the workshop with renewed enthusiasm for helping students explore majors and careers.

Participants will walk away with an action plan for integrating career development theories into their current advising framework or expanding their knowledge of theories that best suit their unique student populations. Using a guided self-reflective exercise, participants will develop tailored strategies that can be immediately implemented on their home campuses to boost student engagement and success.

P3: Developing Critical Thinkers: Teaching Higher-Order Thinking Skills via Academic Advising

9-11 a.m. | Cost: $50
Caroline Futamura | University of California Santa Cruz

As academic advisors, we serve as educators outside of the classroom who empower students to become autonomous lifelong learners and informed global citizens. The book, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, by Benjamin Bloom et al., published in 1956, and the revised 2001 publication, A Taxonomy for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, by David Krathwol and Lorin Anderson, have provided a foundational framework for classifying cognitive skills and levels in order to help teachers more clearly articulate learning outcomes. Using this teaching/learning model, this workshop will draw on Bloom's Taxonomy to identify practices that advisors may already have in place to strategically foster their students' analytical, evaluative, and creative thinking skills. Through interactive small group reflections and discussions (e.g., post-it notes group reflection, human spectrogram, four corners), the participants in this workshop will exchange best practices, identify institutionally specific challenges, and suggest corresponding solutions to more effectively promote higher-order thinking skills among their students. This pre-conference session will therefore be of interest to new and seasoned advisors alike.

P4: Maximize Your NACADA Membership and Your Conference Experience

11 a.m.-noon | Cost: free, registration required

All participants are invited to discover the opportunities to maximize their membership experience. Through activity and discussion, attendees will learn more about the resources and leadership opportunities available within NACADA and the divisions that make up the association's structure.

In this session, participants will acquire ideas for making the most of their conference experience. NACADA leaders will help guide the conversation to inform all participants of the numerous pathways available to take full advantage of their NACADA membership. Join the discussion to discover how you'll get the most out of your NACADA experience and network with colleagues.

First-Timers Orientation and Networking Luncheon

noon-1:30 p.m. | Cost: $50

For this special event, we have designed a short presentation, followed by some guided networking activities for our first-time attendees while they enjoy lunch with their colleagues before the opening session and keynote.