1. UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL
OF ADVISING SESSIONS:
Empowering Students
Through Pre-Advising Preparation
Kelsey DuPere – Cindy Morical – Miwako Nakamoto – Bill Stahley

2. History and Demographics
 Located in SW Washington
 In 1989, formally established as a branch campus of
the state’s land-grant institution
 Commuter Campus of 3000
 Degrees - 18 bachelor’s, nine master’s, two doctorate
 37+ fields of study
 Opened door to Freshmen Fall of 2006 (~60% first
generation)

3.  Success Programming and Study Skills
 Academic Advising
 Career Counseling
 Disability Services
 Supplemental Instruction and Tutoring
 Education Abroad and National Student
Exchange

4. SRC Advising
 Advising Population:
 Pre-majors and Undecided
 Transfer and Freshmen
 Mandatory Advising for Summer, Fall, Spring
 Advising Hold on Student’s Account

5. Reflection Debrief
 What topics take the
majority of your time?
 What topics do you wish
you had more time to
address?
 What are your students
doing prior to advising?

6. Spring 2010
On average across
campus, students
engaged in 3.01
preparatory activities
each Other Departments
SRC students engaged in
The SRC was in the
an average of 2.75
bottom three
preparatory activities
departments for student
preparation prior to an
appointment

7. Implication for Advising Sessions
 Majority of time spent on class scheduling
 Less time for other critical topics
 Advisor fatigue

8. Goals of Advising Sessions
 Brainstorm & define goals for advising sessions
 University/department mission statement
 For students and advisors
 Practical, achievable, and developmentally
appropriate
 SRC Goals: shared responsibilities, goal-setting, system
navigation, autonomy, career planning
 YOUR TURN!
 Complete the “Set Your Goals” section of handout
 Debrief

9. Intervention: Advising Homework
 Collaborated to identify tasks to complete
 Set goals
 Access resources
 Connect with major/career
 Create academic plan
 Identify questions
 Students required to complete homework prior to
session
 Students surveyed immediately after advising
appointment
 Complete the “Intervention” section of handout

10. Challenges
 Student resistance
 Use of the word “homework”
 Repeat completers
 Degree of student investment
 Advisor response to incomplete work
 Technology
 Printing pdf out of date
 Links for printed document/dead links
 Degree audit
 Complexity added to appointment scheduling

11. Spring 2010
On average across
campus, students
engaged in 3.01
preparatory activities
each Other Departments
SRC students engaged in
The SRC was in the
an average of 2.75
bottom three
preparatory activities
departments for student
preparation prior to an
appointment

12. Survey Options for Preparation
Spring 2010
Spring 2011
New options

13. Spring 2011
 On average, students
engaged in 3.72
preparatory activities
each
 SRC students averaged
more than 5 activities
Other Departments

14. Notes from Assessment Specialist
When comparing differences in the level of
preparation between units, it was found that SRC
students engaged in significantly more preparatory
steps relative to all other units.
Clearly, students from SRC have shown the
largest increase in preparatory activities between
the two waves of data collection. While SRC
students ranked in the bottom three last Spring
for number of activities, they now show the
highest number of activities.

15. Additional Measure
As a result of completing the SRC “Advising Homework,” I
was better prepared to participate in my advising
appointment.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Agree
1 2 3 4 5

16. Results
Students advised in the SRC were asked if they completed the SRC
advising homework prior to their advising session. 83.5% confirmed that
they had done so and rated how this prepared them to participate in their
advising session on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly
agree). The average rating was 4.18. The percentage of responses in
each category is below.

17. Student Comments
The advising homework is great! It really helped me
focus on what I wanted/needed to talk about and
helped me prepare questions to be answered.
The homework feels tedious since I know what I
need and want to talk about.
Very helpful, this was the first time I completed
homework and found it very helpful towards planning.

18. Advisor Observations
 Prompted deeper reflection and examination of decisions before
appointment
 Promoted student confidence before advising session
 More engaged in dialogue and increased co-construction of session
 Conversation/dialogue became more natural and meaningful
 Resistance from some students and some put less energy into it
 Less of “scheduler” role – better time management
 Appointment is more personalized for each student
 Students can self-identify more resources
 When students reflect on previous homework responses, they can
see their own development over time

19. Contemplations Moving Forward
 Develop a different version of the form for students
who have already completed it once
 Create an online form so that advisors have the
information in advance of the appointment
 Come up with a single way of addressing students
who decide not to complete it
 Brainstorm a name different from “Advising
Homework,” and enhance the design layout
 Address varying degrees of student investment,
reflective skills

20. Inquiry and Action Debrief
 Complete “Inquiry and Action” section of handout
 Share insights your group discussed that would be
helpful for others.
 Other questions raised?

21. Celebrating Success!

22. THANK YOU FOR COMING
Student Resource Center Kelsey DuPere
www.vancouver.wsu.edu/src dupere@vancouver.wsu.edu
Advising
Cindy Morical
 Advising Homework cmorical@vancouver.wsu.edu
 Advising Syllabus
 Undergraduate Advising Form Miwako Nakamoto
 Tutoring and Learning Support mnakamoto@vancouver.wsu.edu
Bill Stahley
bstahley@vancouver.wsu.edu