Advising excellence is critical to student success. NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising (NACADA) offers guidance on academic advising excellence and why it matters. Realizing these lofty goals is particularly challenging in a large, decentralized university context. This article, cowritten with an undergraduate student, is an interdisciplinary thought exercise that applies key constructs from Hospitality Management to academic advising. Although there are many relevant cross-disciplinary connections, this piece focuses on providing consistency in the advising experience for students from diverse academic colleges.
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In Fall 2019, three academic advising professionals joined the NACADA Center for Research’s NACADA Writes program and embarked on a four-year journey of finding community through scholarship and long-term professional development. Through this experience, we walked together through the stages of the writing group process and supported each other through personal and professional growth experiences. This article reiterates the value collaboration and community can have in professional spaces and the importance of sharing growth experiences with others. Through NACADA Writes, we took an active position to champion our own growth and now use these experiences as conversation points when connecting with others in our personal and professional lives. Our hope is to leverage scholarship to encourage and motivate advisors and other higher education professionals to explore similar opportunities for themselves.
Student success hinges on the utilization of existing resources and educational opportunities effectively. With this in mind, academic support workshops teach valuable knowledge and skills that can significantly improve lifelong learning. Unfortunately, many students are reluctant to proactively attend such workshops, making it difficult for educational institutions to effectively harness their full potential. To address this issue, successful incentive and perk programs have been implemented at various universities and schools worldwide to motivate students to attend academic support workshops. The purpose of this article is to discuss the effectiveness of material incentives for students to attend academic support workshops in a challenged Global South context. The study uses a quantitative methodology to investigate the effect of offering material incentives on attendance at exam preparation workshops for EBIT students at The University of Pretoria. Tangible rewards in the form of exam packs, comprising of notebooks, translucent pencil cases, highlighters, pens, and lanyards were provided as material incentives for all students who attended the exam preparation workshops. The statistical analysis conducted indicates that the material incentive offered to students yielded a positive effect on attendance rates for the exam preparation workshops. This article reviews the necessity and efficacy of employing material incentives to promote student participation in academic workshops. Additionally, this paper explores various potential strategies and approaches to enhance the effectiveness of material incentives in challenged Global South context.
Research shows that academic advising is the most impactful when advisees are engaged in the process. Yet, as academic advisors we often find advisees who are not engaged. This article will examine student agency theory as a tool to engage advisees in academic advising. In this article, readers will learn strategies to 1) foster an advising relationship that centers on student agency, 2) promote student awareness of student responsibilities in advising and 3) maintain an advising space in which students are active co-agents. In fostering our advisee’s agency, we are able to unleash the various possibilities and opportunities for their academic and career success.
A recent study analyzed academic advising structures at U.S. research institutions and how they relate to student success outcomes of first-year retention and six-year graduation rates. It found that a significant relationship exists and is improved with a shared model of academic advising. However, it is also the case that many institutions across the U.S. are organized such that individual academic units together comprise a university’s decentralized undergraduate structure. What can a siloed university do to begin to shift towards a shared model of academic advising? With collaborative and holistic advising at the core, this article provides five practical recommendations to assist institutions at any stage in advising redesign: 1) define advising, 2) develop a university-wide advising counsel or committee, 3) create standard training resources and communication mechanisms, 4) provide informal opportunities for advisors to connect, and 5) recognize and celebrate advisors.
How we feel as advising professionals carries over into the student experience, directly impacting our interaction with students. Acknowledging this and developing tools to cope with stress gives us the capacity to enhance that student experience. The authors present the BRIGHT model using lessons from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), resilience theory, positive organizational psychology, and personal life experience. BRIGHT is an acronym for: boundaries, reframing, intuition, goal setting, help-seeking, and time management. The authors have developed the BRIGHT acronym to stand for consideration points when battling burnout. Each component of the model stands for actionable items that advisors can practice and incorporate into their professional work to improve their experience and their interactions with students.
While some academic advisors remain at one institution, many professionals inevitably move to another institution throughout their careers. Whether it be for monetary, family, or other reasons, it is often necessary to make the leap. Many advising roles have some similarities regarding registration, graduation, and orientation. However, there are many subtle but significant differences that can be taken into consideration when looking for a new academic advising position. In this article, authors who have advised at multiple institutions explore the differences that can be seen from one institution to another and examine what to consider while searching for a new advising position. This includes advising structures, office dynamics, salary and benefits, and campus culture.
Hiring an advisor can be quite the endeavor. However, hiring is just the start. Onboarding, training, and consistent professional development are paramount to helping a new advisor acclimate to their new role and responsibilities. Advising leaders are tasked with helping a new hire to gain the confidence, skills, and to believe they can succeed in their job. We also play a critical part in the professional development of our advisors to shape not only their performance with our team, but can also forward them in the next steps of their professional career.
