Being engaged in our profession means not simply gaining knowledge, but also finding ways to innovate and bring about new ideas.
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What can I do in my work with the association that benefits others, creates positive not negative moments, and helps both my own health and the health of the association? … I challenge each you to join me in this path of self-reflection and on this guided pathway to being fully charged.
Advisors use dozens of tools to aid students, including advising styles, recommendations, curricula, academic coaching, and more. Any one of these may be appropriate with different students, or with the same students at different times. But when advisors’ roles can include teaching, reviewing a checklist, making referrals, and more, how does the advisor know when to use which tool, when to offer a checklist, and when to engage in behavior counseling?
Successful engagement in strong communication, problem-solving, and rapport-building skills – those critical to the relational component of advising – requires emotional intelligence. Without it, advising is little more than authoritative information dissemination.
As the field of advising continues to grow, many students may look to peer advisor programs to explore potential pathways or to even start their career; support, guidance, and training are needed for these students as they transition into professional advising roles.
Growing up in a small town environment can result in a steep learning curve when stepping out into the wider world…
Multi-campus institutions have the complex task of providing advising services to meet the needs of their varying student populations. Creating a campus-wide framework for advising services across all campuses can be challenging, especially when resources are limited, campus cultures are different, and there is a considerable amount of distance between campuses.
There is much debate in the academic advising community regarding the efficacy (or even possibility) of a unifying theory of academic advising.
If one of the primary goals of academic advising is to get beyond learner engagement and into the realm of empowerment, then that also must be a focus of our assessment.
Barriers for new advisors seeking to engage in professional development include time, justification, venue, and cost. Reducing these barriers supports robust professional development of new academic advisors, enlivening staff and creating learning and mentoring connections across campus, between institutions, and within the profession.
