To Enhance Retention, Progression, Graduation, and Career

Opportunities

Dorothy Burton Nelson, Ph.D.

Northwestern State University Will prepare its students to become

productive members of society and Will promote economic development

and improvements in the quality of life of the citizens in its region.

http://oir.nsula.edu/assets/Mission.pdf

1. Student Success b. Increase the percentage of program

completers at all levels each year.

http://oir.nsula.edu/assets/GRADAct/NwSUGRADActReport201011.pdf

Academic advising enhancement: The Academic and Career Engagement Program

(ACE) program provides professional development for academic advisors for all students, coordinates special advising efforts for incoming freshmen, and develops advising and career engagement sessions

Good academic advising is at the core of efforts to move students forward to completion of their degree programs in a timely fashion…

Early tracking indicates the ACE program will result in increased academic success leading to a higher percentage of completers.

http://oir.nsula.edu/assets/GRADAct/NwSUGRADActReport201011.pdf

First Advising Era

1636: Harvard: Faculty mentoringFaculty lived, supped, prayed, and worked

with students who aspired to ministry, medicine, law (Morison, 1946)

Second Advising Era

1870-1970: “Academic Advising as a Defined and Unexamined Activity” (Frost, 2000)

Introduction of elective courses and program options

Term “adviser” first associated with new freshmen (Rudolph, 1962)

Faculty advisers – more emphasis on undergraduate guidance for curricular decisions (Rudolph, 1962)

Second Advising Era

Gilman (1886) defined term “adviser” and stated responsibilities of role: The adviser’s relation to the student is like that

of a lawyer to his client or of a physician to one who seeks his counsel. The office is not that of an inspector, nor of a proctor, nor of a recipient of excuses, nor of a distant and unapproachable embodiment of the authority of the faculty. It is the adviser’s business to listen to difficulties which the student assigned to him may bring to this notice; to act as his representative if any collective action is necessary on the part of the board of instruction; to see that every part of his course of studies has received the proper attention (p.565).

Second Advising Era

1930s-1940s: Student-centered philosophy: Student Personnel Point of View (SPPOV)

Encompasses the students as a whole…attention to the student’s well-rounded development – physically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually – as well as intellectually. The student is a responsible participant not a passive recipient of an imprinted economic, political, or religious doctrine, or vocation skill.

(American Council on Education, 1949, pp. 17-18)

Second Advising Era

SPPOV established the legitimacy of academic counseling along with personal, vocational, and job placement counseling in higher education, which extends to modern day. (Morrison and Ferrante, 1973)

Third Advising Era

1970s – present: “Academic Advising as a Defined and Examined Activity.” (Frost, 2000)

1977: National Academic Advising Association (NACADA)

Publication of research articles Crookston (1972) O’Banion (1972)

Organizational models of administrative structure of advising (i.e., Faculty-only, Total Intake)

Third Advising Era

Emergence ofPrescriptive advisingDevelopmental advising Intrusive advisingAdvising as teaching

Third Advising Era

2000s: Focus on Results and Accountability (Troxel, 2008)

Assessment of advisingLearning outcomesAcademic mapping and tracking progressCareer salience (vocational identity)

Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) at the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA (Pryor, et al, 2011)

Identified national norms of American freshmen More liberal in views Slight positive change in attitudes and behaviors

aligned with academic success Expressed number one reason for entering

college as being better job prospects Fewer scholarships and substantive financial aid

Students express number one reason for entering college as being better job prospects (CIRP, 2011)

Three out of four students entering the university for the first time have no clear career/occupational goals, and only 8 percent of declared students have a clear understanding of their majors (Gordon, 1995).

The advising process serves as the venue for personalizing a program of study (Glennon & Vowell, 1995).

“All students need career advising, even those who are decided on an academic major”(Gordon, 2006, p. 5)

“…helps students understand how their personal interests, abilities, and values might predict success in the academic and career fields they are considering and how to form their academic and career

goals accordingly” (Gordon, 2006, p. 12).

Faculty and Staff Advisors should:

Know occupational options associated with major/field in which they advise

Know typical employers of those occupations Know skills qualities necessary for employment in

those occupations Help students seek/connect with early experiences

and part-time employment in field Know when to refer students

Advisors partner with students for advising process Advisors recognize issues, attitudes and behaviors

which warrant referrals Indecisiveness Lack of progress (frequent withdrawals, inferior

grades) Avoidance, depression Low self-efficacy, outcomes expectancy, decision

certainty Advisors know campus resources Advisors track and follow-up

Readiness to declare/decide? Level of decidedness?

The capability of an individual to make appropriate career choices taking into account the complexity of family, social, economic, and organizational factors that influence career development

Capability – Individual student factors Complexity – Factors outside the student

Sampson, Reardon, Peterson & Lenz, (2004)

How are career choices influenced by the way a student thinks and feels?

How does the world around the student influence his or her career choices?

•Family•Friends•Economy•Society•Employment opportunities

Low ReadinessHigh Support

Moderate Readiness Moderate-low support

needed

Moderate Readiness Moderate-low support

needed

High ReadinessLittle support needed

Decided IndividualsVery decidedSomewhat decidedUnstable decided

Undecided IndividualsTentatively undecidedDevelopmentally undecidedSeriously undecidedChronically indecisive

Gordon, (1998)

Very Very DecidedDecided

Somewhat Somewhat DecidedDecided

Unstable Unstable DecidedDecided

Tentatively Tentatively UndecidedUndecided

DevelopmentallyDevelopmentally UndecidedUndecided

Seriously Seriously UndecidedUndecided

Chronically Chronically IndecisiveIndecisive

Gordon, (1998)

Gordon’s (2006) 3-I Process:

Inquire

Inform

Integrate

“The inquire phase involves identifying students’ academic and career concerns, clarifying their needs, and making

appropriate responses to help them move to the information-collecting phase.”

Gordon, (2006, p. 47)

“Interview Guide” (Amundson, 2003).

Five parts:1.Elicit the idea/belief/problem presented by the

student2.Gather confirming and disputing evidence3.Seek information about concept development4.Determine the social supports5.Determine the positive and negative consequences of

making the decision

Elicit the “Idea/Belief” presented by the student: “Tell me about what you’d like to explore or

possibly change about your academic plan.” “What concerns do you have about your career

plans?” “Explain your primary academic or career goals

and/or concerns.”

Gather confirming and disputing evidence:

“What qualities or characteristics do you possess that will help you succeed in your major? “What qualities or characteristics should you develop that would help you succeed in your major?”

“What would make you a good ?” “Can you identify any reasons that you should not

pursue the field?” “Explain any doubts about going into this field.”

Seek information about concept development:

“When did you first become aware of an attraction to this field?”

“How long have you considered this field?” “What were the most attractive features to you?” “When did you begin doubting your decision?” “What caused you to begin doubting your

decision?”

Determine the social supports: “Have you discussed your concerns or ideas with

anyone?” “How did your parents/friends/spouse (key person)

respond to your thoughts?” “What kind of support do you need to make a

career/academic change or to support your current decision?”

Determine both positive and negative impact of the decision:

“What do you see as the positives of declaring or changing your major at this point in time?””Explain the benefits of changing right now versus waiting.”

“What are the consequences you’ll face with making this decision?”

“Can you manage those consequences?” “Is there anything you can do to minimize the

consequences?”

Often conducted by career services

StengthsQuest Holland’s Self Directed Search Myers-Briggs Type Indicator SIGI3 Discover Informal discussion

“Three areas where students need to gather career information are (1) their personal attributes, such as their likes and dislikes; (2) educational information, such as how academic decisions (e.g., major, coursework) relate to possible career directions and the

acquisition of marketable skills; and (3) the type of occupational information that is pertinent to their academic situation and career

goals.”

Gordon, (2006, p. 63)

Advisor’s expertise and experiences

DISCOVER http://www.act.org/discover/

Occupational Outlook Handbook http://www.bls.gov/oco/

O*NET http://www.onetonline.org/

SIGI3 http://sigi3.org/

Workers in the field

Discuss assessment results with students Align results with occupational options Write questions for gathering additional

information Scrutinize structure of the curriculum Discuss skills inherent in general education

and major courses pertinent to employability

“In the integrate phase, advisors and students determine what additional assistance is needed to help students organize and make

meaningful connections between the information sources they have collected. The term integrate is used in this context to mean coordinating or blending all the student knows into a functioning

or unified whole.”

Gordon, (2006, p. 63)

Specify suitable occupation(s) Write career goal(s) Develop an academic map/plan to achieve

goal(s) Develop a timeline for checking progress Adjust career goal or academic plan if

indicated

Case of James

James, a third semester sophomore, entered college as a business major. His father, grandparents and uncles are all involved in a family business and he entered college with the assumption he would continue the tradition. His father, especially, is looking forward to having James take on responsibility in the business, and hope that one day James will be in a good position to take over.

 As James took the required courses for business, however, he did not

feel his academic strengths and interests were aligned with the content of those courses. He did not do well in his math or accounting courses, and, although he received a B in his first economics course, he did not enjoy it. Now, as he progresses through his sophomore year, he is having real doubts about his choice of a business major.

 James has been active in student government since his freshman

year and was elected chair of several committees for his fraternity. Leadership roles seem to come natural to James. He finds political science and history courses to be his best subjects, and he does well in English composition. He has also been involved in soliciting and writing advertisements for the yearbook. James’ interests span so many areas that he is having difficulty identifying all the alternative majors that might be possible for him.

James is concerned about going home to talk to his father about the doubts he has about continuing as a business major, but he feels sure that he needs to change directions.

What questions could you ask James to help clarify or conceptualize his situation?

  Based on the information provided, what can

you say about James’ readiness to make a decision?

What strengths/talents does James possess that you would consider paramount in the decision-making process?

What referrals might you consider that would help James move forward in his career and academic decisions?

Why should you?

Not about the institution’s retention and graduation rates

Not about the Grad Act and university funding

Not about the process of career advising

About touching the life of each individual you advise

About being a part of the rich and meaningful experiences associated with each person’s career journey

Amundson, N. (2003). Active engagement: Enhancing the career counseling process, (2nd ed.). Richmond, B.C.: Ergon Communications

American Council on Education. (1949). The student personnel point of view (rev. ed.). American Council on Education Studies, series 6, no. 13. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.

Clifton, D.O., Anderson, E., & Schreiner, L.A. (2006). StrengthsQuest: Discover and develop your strengths in academics, career, and beyond (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: The Gallup Organization. Crookston, B. B. (1972). A developmental view of academic advising as teaching. Journal of College Student Personnel, volume 13, pp. 12-17. 

Frost, S.H. (2000). Historical and philosophical foundations for academic advising. In V.N. Gordon, W.R. Habley, et al. (Eds), Academic Advising: A comprehensive handbook. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Glennen, R. E. and Vowell, F. N. (eds.) (1995). Academic advising as a comprehensive campus process . NACADA Monograph Series, no. 2. Manhattan, KS : National Academic Advising Association.

Gordon, V. N. (1995). The Undecided College Student: An Academic and Career Advising Challenge (2nd Ed.). Springfield , IL: Charles C. Thomas.

Gordon, V. (1998). New horizons: learning from the past and preparing for the future. NACADA Journal, 18 (2), 5-12.

Gordon, V.N. (2005). What is your career advising IQ? Academic Advising Today, 28(4).

Gordon, V.N. (2006). Career advising: An academic advisor’s guide. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Gordon, V.N. (2007). The undecided college student: An academic and career advising challenge (3rd ed.). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.

Gordon, V.N., & Sears, S.J. (2010). Selecting a college major: Exploration and decision making (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Hughey, K.F., Burton Nelson, D., Damminger, J.K., McCalla Wriggins, B., & Associates.2009). The handbook of career advising. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Morison, S.E. (1946). Three centuries of Harvard: 1636-1936. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Morrison, J.L., & Ferrante, R. (1973, February). The public two-year college and the culturally different. Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans.

O’Banion, T. (1972). An academic advising model. Junior College Journal, 42(6), 62-69.

Pryor, J.H., DeAngelo, L., Palucki, B.L., Hurtado, S., Tran, S. (2011). The American Freshman: National norms fall 2011. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.

Rudolph, F. (1962). The American college and university: A history. New York: Knopf.

Sampson, J.P., Jr., Reardon, R.C., Peterson, G.W., & Lenz, J.G. (2004). Career counseling & services: A cognitive information processing approach. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Troxel, W.G. (2008). Academic Advising: A comprehensive handbook. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.