Play can be beneficial in academic advising as it can be used to help students make decisions, explore options, and create plans. Additionally, play can assist students in solving conflicts and sharing values, both of which help students make educated decisions regarding their college choices. Examples of types of play in all six phases of appreciative advising (disarm, discover, dream, design, deliver, don't settle) are discussed, as well as ways advisors can engage in play themselves.
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First-generation college students' (FGCS) challenges to a successful college transition were magnified during the height of COVID-19. With the return to normalcy, FGCS continue to face barriers and the effects of COVID-19. We utilize Schlossberg’s Transition Theory to conceptualize FGCS experiences and provide practical implications to support FGCS.
College students are faced with difficult and sometimes complex personal financial decisions, often without having the resources or training available to help them. Financial stress is causing students to experience anxiety and it is leading to poor performance in classes, reducing the number of credits taken, or leaving before obtaining a degree. Studies show that students may learn financial education best if it is currently relevant to their situation and if the information provided is succinct. The brief academic advising meeting is an incredibly useful moment to incorporate financial management and budgeting tips to encourage positive behaviors. This article offers practical ideas for the academic advisor to serve as a resource to students experiencing financial distress.
Academic advising is the very core to education and sustaining students, but how academic advising supports student learning is unclear, especially international students who grow up in a foreign culture. Supporting international student learning in academic and career advising is rarely discussed in professional practices nor scholarly work. To build a sustainable model of retaining international students, universities and academic advising must proactively invest efforts to define and deliver outcomes related to international students’ academic success. This article is to introduce Syracuse University’s International Student Success Model, share strategies and initiatives developed and implemented to help achieve increased international student retention. The significance of this model will change the narrative of international student support services, most importantly, bridging the gap between academic advising and international education.
Research on academic advising has demonstrated a positive impact on many student success outcomes, including grade point average, retention, and graduation rates (e.g., Kirk-Kuwaye & Nishida, 2001; Molina & Abelman, 2000; Swecker, Fifolt, & Searby, 2013; Vander Schee, 2007). Knowing this impact often compels advisors to approach the task with as much effort as possible. Unfortunately, for professional staff advisors, high caseloads can quickly lead to exhaustion. For faculty advisors, advising is only a small part of their workload. In both cases, advisors need strategies to make advising more sustainable. In his pivotal book, Essentialism, McKeown (2014) teaches individuals to focus their efforts on the highest priority in order to have the biggest impact. McKeown’s (2021) follow-up book, Effortless, guides individuals towards making it easier to do those essential tasks. First is creating an effortless state, followed by engaging in effortless action, and then achieving effortless results. Through a series of questions, advisors will be able to apply these principles to their practice.
This essay covers one advising unit's approach to accelerating advisor onboarding and professionalization through the creation of a new advisor reading program. The author frames this contribution through the exemplarity/model framework. By outlining the program and the problem it helps solve for this unit, the piece provides readers with a model to think with (via analogical reasoning) when trying to solve similar problems in their own contexts.
College facilitates exploration, experimentation, and identity development, all of which can lead students to change programs of study. A change in major is often pivotal for students and assistance from advisors is critical. Change of major students are a distinct population with unique advising needs. Advising change of major students requires an intentional approach focused on helping them make an informed decision and achieve degree completion. Advisors serving specific major programs must develop deliberate advising practices for change of major students, especially while balancing this responsibility with other duties. Program-specific advisors can intentionally develop advising strategies for supporting change of major students that are ethical, efficient, and effective.
