Get Your Students Hired
Hi Catherine,
Listening is key! Sometimes our students just simply need someone to listen to them. Venting is really healing for some people.
Patricia Scales
I agree with you on this. The instructor is the role model. You have to give advise and guide to how it will be in the real world. It is not a good idea to sugar coat things. Be honest and up front with the students.
I think some of the basic components of successful student advising should include:
staying upfront with the student. Help them understand the expectations, ramifications, and address any issues or concerns that they have. They (student) also needs to know that you are committed to helping them succeed.
I think taking interest in the student as a person that interacts with their environment is number one. Focusing in on the student, utilizing active listening skills by being empathic, re-phrasing, and summarizing shows the student you are listening to them. Allowing them to be accountable for the decisions they make. It is very similar to counseling clients. They come to you expecting all the answers to be given to them, when in fact the counselor is basically an advocate, facilitator utilizing empirical valid data.
Hi Randall,
The SWOT Analyis is certainly a great tool to evaluate one's self. Bottom line, this tool is very effective as long as you trying turning your weaknesses into strengths and your threats into opportunities.
Patricia Scales
Hi Theodora,
My favorite motto is, "A student does not care how much you know until they know how much you care."
Patricia Scales
Successful student advising rests more in the hands of the advisor than the student. The advisor must be caring and compassionate and genuinely be interested in the growth of the student that is being advised. Active listening is a skill that assists in these traits.
I like to tell my staff that when they meet with their students, they need to look at the overall student and his or her path to graduation, not just the specific task that they might be there for, such as registration for next term's courses. Instead. Look to the past term or two and see if there are any trends - successes or failures in courses? How long has the student been in the program? How do they like the program? What are their career goals, if any? GPA? Potential for joining student leadership groups? Successful advisors get to know their students on a deeper level that can assist them tremendously in their retention efforts.
Additionally, successful student advisors follow up with their students routinely. Weekly or bi-monthly check-ins are an important aspect of this routine, which demonstrates to the student that the advior genuinely cares.
My thoughts on Student Advising.
ED209
Facilitator: Patricia Scales
By Randall Aungst
12/6/2012
What are the key components of successful student advising?
My thoughts regarding advising students revolve around self-discovery. It is my belief that no adviser of any kind should be offering their own opinion regarding someone else’s feelings or thoughts. Rather the adviser should take the role of tour guide, in a matter of speaking, allowing the student to discover the answers themselves. The following discussion is an examination of what the role of a “tour guide†is in this context.
There are two main issues when it comes to self-discovery of this kind and that is self-analysis and goals. As a tour guide it is the job of the adviser to assist the student in fine tuning their insights so that the self-analysis and goal setting is properly executed and useful. For the self-analysis portion it is my belief that a SWOT analysis format is very useful when executed properly for this purpose. A SWOT Analysis is generally thought of as a business tool but is very effective when used for self-analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Using these four areas you create a four quadrant grid. In each grid you list issues that fall under each category. So far this is nothing that needs a facilitator for. The issues come when the subject begins to fill in each quadrant.
The following are the directions for properly assigning attributes to each quadrant.
1)You are to list strengths and then explore those strengths using the following questions to expand on the topic:
a) What are my strengths?
b) Why are these strengths important?
c) When have these strengths made a difference?
2)You are to list weaknesses and then explore those weaknesses using the following questions to expand on the topic:
a) What is my weakness?
b) Why is that weakness of significance?
c) When has this weakness hindered me in anyway?
3)You are to list opportunities. Opportunities are ways to improve upon your weaknesses. Then explore those opportunities using the following questions to expand on the topic:
a) What is my opportunity?
b) What weakness is this opportunity related to and how will it help to improve upon it?
c) How will I implement this opportunity so that it can help me with my weakness?
4)You are then list threats. Threats are issues that you have no control over and can interfere with your ability to succeed. Then explore those threats using the following questions to expand on the topic:
a) What is my threat?
b) Why is this a threat?
c) In what way does this threat pose a danger to my success?
Guiding the student through the qualifying questions for each quadrant is essential so that the contents of each quadrant are specific enough and of the correct perspective. It is my experience that most people have little problems with strengths and weaknesses but have a difficult time with opportunities and threats as these two areas require them to do some planning and forethought. Opportunities allow you to plan for overcoming internal obstacles that you create for yourself and threats allow you to plan for overcoming external obstacles that you may run into along the way.
Once the self-analysis is done it is now the tour guides job to guide the student through proper and productive goal setting. Using the assistance of a goal planning worksheet the guide begins by defining a goal and offering the characteristics of a quality goal.
The following is how I guide the student through goal setting:
1)What is a Goal?
a) A goal is a destination.
2)There are five characteristics of a goal.
a) Specific
b) Measurable
c) Attainable
d) Relevant
e) Timely
3)What is the difference between long term goals and short term goals?
a) Long term goals are grander requiring more time, perseverance and planning.
b) Short term goals are small easily conceptualized goals that are designed to help you achieve your long term goals.
4)What is a Goal planning worksheet?
a) At the top you put your long-term goal
i)As with any good goal plan you start with a long-term goal and break it down into smaller goals or short-term goals.
b) Short term goals are designed to help you achieve your ultimate objective, your long term goal.
i)Working horizontally from left to right you design your plan on how to achieve your short term goals by identifying the actions required to do so.
(1)With each action identify one obstacle.
(a)For each obstacle come up with one solution to overcome that obstacle.
(i)Then put it to a timeline for completion.
When the student has successfully navigated these two exercises, properly and with insight and thought, they should have a clear understanding of what makes them tick, where they want to go and how they intend to get there.
Just food for thought.
Randall Aungst, MBA
Hi Denise,
I love your perspective, and I agree with it wholeheartedly. Students need to know that we are fully there for them.
Patricia Scales
Hi Todd,
Sometimes when you reprimand students, it is not always positive. Some students you have to be hard core with in order to get through to them because all they know is how to be hard.
Patricia Scales
From day one, I do my best to have the students use my open door policy. I reinforce to them that their goal, the goal of the institution and my goal is success and it will take a collaborative effort of all involved parties to make sure this happens. I want them to know about and be aware of my open door policy to them. I want them to know that life happens to everyone and whenever something comes up that may prevent them from coming to class or simply interferes with their learning, that they need to be proactive in their communication with me about it. Most anything can be overcome with proper and prior preparation...I stress being PROACTIVE and not reactive. I have found this to be successful for me in helping and advising students
Great question, we are getting quite a few students of very questionable back ground and group affiliation. They are very hard to impossible to advize and especially hard to repremand in a positive way.
Hi Tina,
I agree! We can't make everything easy for our students. It is good when they have to research to find things on their own, and we are there for guidance/facilitate.
Patricia Scales
The key components of a sucessful student is advising student as an active listening, give advise to direct student in a clear path. When a student has a question I usually ask them a a question in return to make them think. I was taught by an an Army nurse in first job, her commment was "never give the answer to a person make them look the answer up because thet are more apt to retain the information".
Using this technique helps the student to become more aware of all the information that is available by putting a little effort to find the answer.
The aspect of the student's interaction with the campus environment is an important component of developmental advising. In our institution, it is very important to observe this interaction and take it into account when advising students.
Hi Robert,
You are on point! If we are uanble to help the student, we should help the student find the help that they are seeking.
Patricia Scales
Hi Trang,
Our students are not very good problem solvers. They want us to help them solve their problems personally so that they can excel professionally. It seems as though they just do not know how to think for themselves.
Patricia Scales
To creates a bond between people - a bond of genuine human connection. Sin a lot of our students do not know how to handle their personal problems. Carefully give advice but don't jump in and try to fix their problems, and don't make judgments. Just ask questions and pay 100 percent attention until you think you really understand. Then check it out to see if you do. I think you will be surprised at just how much this kind of emotional listening can do for your student.
Responding to each student as there needs arise and having the tools to address the issues is key. Knowing what you can and can not provide,but also having the back up help on campus to allow the student to seek the answers to an issue.
Hi Michael,
I love your perspective. Care about each student, but do not bend the rules, policies, and procedures.
Patricia Scales