Reflecting upon this first course, I know there is too much content to cover.
Would a longer duration or a multi-course approach work best?
What I envision is a 15-week course that is broken up into three five-week classes. I hope shorter courses will be less overwhelming to learners. This approach would allow me to narrow in on each course’s focus.
- The first course would introduce the learner to what an advisor is, does, and when to contact their advisor. This introduction to advising includes a ton of information about policies, procedures, impacts, and considerations which serve as an onboard to the university.
- The second five-week course would hit right around the time learners face their first big exams, questions about the fit of their major selection, and whether this college experience is going how they imagined it would. This five-week course could focus on resources available and referral procedures, reinforcing the advising relationship as a central hub for connecting across campus. This course could also utilize growth and learner’s mindset information to empower learners to actively drive their educational experience instead of accepting the role of a passive participant. This five-week course also includes social and academic connections throughout campus life, from student government association, leadership conferences, greek life, intermural sports, and so much more. These three focus areas could drive home the learning outcome for a healthy and holistic student support system and experience.
- The final five-week course would revisit the learning outcomes covered in the first two five-week courses and add the technology that learners will use to monitor their degree progress, explore other majors of interest, and ensure they are taking the classes they need at the pace and timeframe recommended by their department for timely graduation. This course will empower the learners to prepare a four-year plan of study and a one-year registration plan and allow them to verify that every class they register to take moves them closer to 100% completion.
Completing a cumulative final exam with a minimum score and advisor review may serve as a mandatory advising pass for the following semester by demonstrating their learning through formative and summative assessments for the entire 15-week term.
- Measurement would require learners to prepare a registration plan with course reference numbers for the next academic year, a narrative statement about their major and career interests, an itemization of the services and social opportunities utilized and explored, if not used, a narrative account about the other ways students found support.
- Multiple choice/short answer assessments of university policy, procedures, and implications (financial aid, time to degree, etc.) allow the measurement of information transfer topics important to students throughout their college experience.
Students with questions or advisors with concerns would allow for more meaningful and enriching advisor-advisee interactions.
- What are the essential things students must know to be able to succeed in the course?
- What are the essential things students must be able to do to succeed in the course?
- What knowledge or skills do students bring to the course that the course will build on?
- What knowledge or skills will be new to students in the course?
- What other areas of knowledge are connected to the work of the course?
The Advisor That Cares 