The Global Community for Academic Advising

The Global Community for Academic Advising
NACADA Executive Office Kansas State University 2323 Anderson Ave, Suite 225 Manhattan, KS Phone: (785) Fax: (785) © National Academic Advising Association The contents of all material in this presentation are copyrighted by the National Academic Advising Association, unless otherwise indicated. Copyright is not claimed as to any part of an original work prepared by a U.S. or state government officer or employee as part of that person's official duties. All rights are reserved by NACADA, and content may not be reproduced, downloaded, disseminated, published, or transferred in any form or by any means, except with the prior written permission of NACADA, or as indicated below. Members of NACADA may download pages or other content for their own use, consistent with the mission and purpose of NACADA. However, no part of such content may be otherwise or subsequently be reproduced, downloaded, disseminated, published, or transferred, in any form or by any means, except with the prior written permission of, and with express attribution to NACADA. Copyright infringement is a violation of federal law and is subject to criminal and civil penalties. NACADA and National Academic Advising Association are service marks of the National Academic Advising Association. Peering Into the Future: Using Peer Advisors to Assist Our Changing Student Populations 2013 NACADA Summer Institute Jacksonville: Chuck Lepper Ivy Tech Community College Scottsdale: Kathy Stockwell Fox Valley Technical College

Who are Peer Advisors? Peer advisors are students who have been selected and trained to offer academic advising services to their peers. Services provided by peer advisors are intentionally designed to assist in student adjustment, satisfaction, and persistence toward attainment of their educational goals. Peer advisors are top-notch students who have an interest in helping their fellow students. They are leaders who wish to continue developing their leadership skills while lending a hand to other students.

Peer Advising… Enhances academic advising programs Demonstrates that advising is taken seriously Demonstrates that addressing student needs is an institutional priority Compatible with all academic advising delivery models Offers versatility – can be tailored to the needs of the institution Implemented institution-wide Used for certain majors or sub-sets of students PA can be centralized, as is FVTC’s, or decentralized, which is how we started out. There are benefits to both, and your institution needs to make a determination as to which format will work best for your students. It is also easy to be centralized with the caveat that peers can work within the instructional departments during heavy advising and registration periods. This has worked well for FVTC.

Limitations of Peer Advisors
The Global Community for Academic Advising Limitations of Peer Advisors Peer advisors are not professional advisors Peer advisors shouldn’t feel that they are counselors Peer advisors need to know their boundaries Peer advisors should advise, not tell advisees what they should or should not do Peer advisors need to refer, refer, and refer as needed! Peers need to understand the difference between giving advice and advising. We have a handout that they receive during their initial training that highlights the differences, and we spend quite a bit of time talking with them about this. The handout can be found in the peer advising materials on the FVTC website, as noted at the end of this presentation.

Benefits for the Peer Advisors
The Global Community for Academic Advising Benefits for the Peer Advisors Enhance leadership skills Become actively engaged in the college environment Contribute to the intellectual and personal growth of students Enhance problem solving skills Improve communication skills Receive certificate of participation and letter of recommendation Great for the résumé What other benefits can you think of?

Identifying the Need Budget constraints Increase in enrollment Increased advisor loads Need to maintain quality advising services Faculty/professional advisors not always available Basic questions need to be handled quickly and efficiently Are there other needs not listed here?

The Global Community for Academic Advising Developing a Framework
Obtain administrative support Sponsors Cheerleaders Determine project leaders Include one or two administrators when possible Form a steering committee Those interested in project Antagonists and protagonists Administrators within and outside of department The steering committee is an essential part of a successful peer advising program. Make sure students are included from the beginning, and as peers are hired, make sure one or two of them become part of this group; their feedback is crucial to the success of the program.

Strategic Links Link to college strategic directions Example: Strategic Direction: Expand innovative approaches and partnerships to leverage and enhance College resources Link to department strategic plans Accountability Plan: To increase course completion, retention, and graduation rates of current students One of the first jobs of the steering committee is to develop a vision, mission, and goals for the PA program. These need to be in line with both the institutional and departmental (advising, students services, etc.) statements.

Identify realistic timeline Develop Marketing/Recruiting plan Schedule Peer Advisor Training Market for Peer Advisor Applications Determine Scope of Project Determine target population Identify pilot vs. full implementation Identify key tools to be developed (i.e. training manual)

Identify Support and Resources Grants Curriculum consultation Strategic initiative or similar college incentives NACADA Clearinghouse and Peer Advising and Mentoring Listserv Successful practices from other similar/peer institutions of higher education

Determine Programmatic Outcomes Provide leadership development opportunities for peer advisors Provide professional development opportunities for peer advisors Increase student satisfaction with advising services Demonstrate institutional response based on need for increased advising services Increase the quality of advising services It also doesn’t hurt to start thinking ahead and determining what process delivery outcomes and students learning outcomes should be tied to peer advising. We will talk about the actual assessment process in a little bit.

Marketing 3-tiered approach Applicants the need, the importance, the opportunities and benefits Student Users increased availability of advising Faculty-Staff trained assistance with advising, reduced case loads

Getting Started Expect that people will be apprehensive Change is not easy Know that not everyone is going to be supportive Students are now performing duties historically reserved for faculty and/or professional staff Expect that there will be glitches New programs need to be piloted Even existing programs have difficulties and issues Let the students be your informal advisory committee Both the PAs and the student advisees

The Global Community for Academic Advising Selecting the Peer Advisors
Formal applications Letters of recommendation Reviewed by steering committee members Group interviews Individual interviews Application and interview materials used by FVTC are included in your binder. We post the positions on the student portal but also rely heavily on recommendations from faculty and staff (we send an all-staff to announce that we are hiring). When we get those recommendations, we ask if they want to approach the student with an application or if they want us to do it. The students really appreciate it if the faculty approach them as that indicates that they are held in high regard by that person. The steering committee reviews all applications. With a few exceptions, all applicants are invited to the group interviews. Those really serve as our “weeding” process; typically ¼ to ½ of the applicants are eliminated at that point. For the most part, those who make it to the individual interviews are hired, unless we see something glaring that was not obvious during the group sessions; that has definitely happened a few times!

PA Training Initial one day retreat Peer Advisor Manual/web site Log book of issues and ideas kept in peer advising office Continuing monthly meetings On demand topics Peer advisors and student diverse needs drive agenda items Student Success related concerns Luncheons/Potlucks

PA Training As with any advisor training, focus on Informational components programs, policies, procedures, resources, etc. Conceptual components definition and role of advising, advisor and advisee expectations, etc. Relational components communication skills, referral skills, rapport building, etc.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Peer Advising Identify PA program goals Identify desired process/delivery outcomes Identify desired student learning outcomes Map desired outcomes Identify multiple measures for each desired outcome Gather data Determine whether desired outcomes have been met Report the data Act upon the data Continue assessment of desired outcomes Implement assessment of any changes As discussed previously, the first three items in this list should be discussed by the steering committee at the very outset of program development. These form the basis for hiring and job duties.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Peer Advising
The Global Community for Academic Advising Assessing the Effectiveness of Peer Advising Values Vision Mission Goals Programmatic Outcomes Process/Delivery Outcomes Student Learning Outcomes Cognitive, Psychomotor, Affective Mapping the Experience What experiences? When or by when? Gathering Evidence When gathered? Where gathered? How often gathered? From whom gathered? How gathered? Minimum performance criteria for success? Sharing and Acting Upon the Results Interpret how results inform practice How and with whom to share interpretation Follow up on implemented changes Start the process all over again! (adapted from Darling, 2005, 2010)

Peer Advisors vs. Peer Mentors: What is the Difference?
The Global Community for Academic Advising Peer Advisors vs. Peer Mentors: What is the Difference? Peer advisors typically provide advising services in a variety of formats to the general student population; no assignments are made. Peer mentors are paired in a mentor-mentee relationship with a student or students from a particular student group (incoming freshmen, at-risk, dislocated worker, etc.). In many cases, these two terms are used synonymously. However, in the true sense of the word, there are differences.

The Global Community for Academic Advising Peer Advisors vs. Peer Mentors: What is the Difference? Peer mentors “follow” their mentees for a pre-determined amount of time Peer mentors are proactive in their work with their mentee/s Peer mentors provide a consistent and reliable source of support, direction and inspiration for other students

The Global Community for Academic Advising Peer Advisors vs. Peer Mentors: What is the Difference? Peer mentors provide resources that will link academics, career development, and the quality of student engagement during the college experience As noted earlier, many use these terms synonymously. And in many cases, the job duties from one category are assigned to the other category, such that there really is no difference.

Using Technology for Peer Advising
The Global Community for Academic Advising Using Technology for Peer Advising Course management system (Blackboard) Livebinder.com Pinterest Facebook Twitter Blogs Other? FVTC’s LiveBinder site: Access code – E121B kstockwell49 slugrad71

FVTC Peer Advisor Connection Training and Hiring Materials can be accessed as follows: Select Blackboard on the left Username – advise Password – advise Select peeradvise: Professional Communications for Peer Advisors Click on Course Documents Pertinent documents located under 1st item – PAC Hiring and Training Materials Click on link for document you would like to review; if asked for login and password, click on “cancel” and document will open.

THANK YOU! Peering into the Future:
The Global Community for Academic Advising NACADA Executive Office Kansas State University 2323 Anderson Ave, Suite 225 Manhattan, KS Phone: (785) Fax: (785) © National Academic Advising Association The contents of all material in this presentation are copyrighted by the National Academic Advising Association, unless otherwise indicated. Copyright is not claimed as to any part of an original work prepared by a U.S. or state government officer or employee as part of that person's official duties. All rights are reserved by NACADA, and content may not be reproduced, downloaded, disseminated, published, or transferred in any form or by any means, except with the prior written permission of NACADA, or as indicated below. Members of NACADA may download pages or other content for their own use, consistent with the mission and purpose of NACADA. However, no part of such content may be otherwise or subsequently be reproduced, downloaded, disseminated, published, or transferred, in any form or by any means, except with the prior written permission of, and with express attribution to NACADA. Copyright infringement is a violation of federal law and is subject to criminal and civil penalties. NACADA and National Academic Advising Association are service marks of the National Academic Advising Association. THANK YOU! Peering into the Future: Using Peer Advisors to Assist Our Changing Student Populations 2012 NACADA Summer Institute

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