From Gatekeeping to

Gateways:

Proactive Advising for Student

Success

session #149

Dorcia Chaison Kristy Dumont

Debra Dotterer Sadiq Mohammed

Michigan State University

Student Success Initiative

▪ State of Academic Advising prior to November,

2016.

▪ University Innovation Alliance (UIA) membership

▪ Educational Advisory Board

▪ Deloitte Consulting

▪ New Associate Provost for Undergraduate

Education

▪ Created Assistant Dean for University Advising

position.

Current State of Advising

●Advisor Profile

●Organization

●Oversite

●Interactions with Students

●Case Management

●Cross-unit Collaboration and Communication

●Training

●Usage and Assessment of Tools

Why Change?

▪ Commitment to transform from a reactive

advising structure to a Proactive Advising

structure that would better support advisors as

well as the students they serve.

▪ Meet UIA goals

Data, Data, Data……

▪ Data gathered, implementation of EAB/Student

Success Collaborative (SSD)

▪ Interviews with 75 advising professionals across

campus.

▪ Decentralized Campus, question of how to

influence change.

Collaboration was Key

The MSU Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology is a new organization

on campus and is working to support several Student Success Initiatives,

including Proactive Advising: initiatives are aligned to the Vision and Mission of

the Hub.

Collaboration was Key

What do we need to change

▪ Identification of gaps in advising practice, tools

and assessment processes

▪ Focus on the student’s interaction with the

policies, procedures and practices.

One Mission

▪ Academic advisors will collaborate with the MSU

community and stakeholders to proactively

assist, support, and develop students to

▪ Reduce time to degree

▪ Increase graduation rates

▪ Close opportunity gaps

▪ Create an inclusive community

▪ Become globally engaged citizens

Academic Advising Core

Expectations

The University Advising Leadership

group (UAL) developed a set of

Academic Advising Core Expectations

(AACE) to guide the work of advisors.

How to get the work done?

▪ Establishment of the Advising Fellows Program

and working groups

▪ Professional Development

▪ Tools and Collaboration

▪ Assessment & Metrics

▪ Process Mapping for Improvement

▪ Steering Committee Work

▪ Town Hall Meetings

13

Advising for Student Success Framework

Advising Core Expectations:

Establish modicum of consistency

across advising community to

support student success outcomes

Advising Roles and Careers:

Provide clear professional

development pathways, expectations,

and opportunities for advisors

14

Professional DevelopmentEffective performance management includes clear oversight, consistent messaging, and targeted

content to ensure advisors possess the skills they need to successfully and accurately support

students.

Targeted development that drives and supports advisors’ performance

In the future…

professional development

will set advisors up for

success by providing:

Excellence in Advising Core Expectations will yield:

• Professional growth and alignment

• Engaged and empowered advisors

• Knowledgeable and accurate advising

• National recognition for innovative advising support

?

Without cohesive learning support,

advisors today often manage and

deliver many responsibilities on their

own.

Students, therefore, too often receive

an inconsistent advising experience –

ping-ponging between resources

or even following

inaccurate guidance.

Leadership

Development

Career Planning

Onboarding

Insights drawn from interviews with advisors in Spring 2016.

Professional Development

Where We StartedWhat We’ve

AccomplishedWhat’s Next

• Assessment of existing

professional

development: gaps,

areas of need, etc.

• 2017/2018 sessions

underway

• Launch onboarding

tool 2018

• Investigation of Advisor

Career Ladder

• Survey advising

community to focus

programming efforts

• Developed preliminary

Advisor Onboarding

tool

• Academic Advisor

Portal or designated

website

• Plan 2018/2019

sessions

• Utilized Core

Competencies to drive

focus of efforts

• Inaugural Advisor

Recognition and

Awards Ceremony

• Increase collaboration

capacity: HUB,

Academic Specialist

Advisory Council, etc.

• Established

professional

development session

for 2017/2018

• Sub-committees with

targeted focus:

mentoring, networking,

planning, onboarding

• Assist other working

groups

Assessment

and

Metrics

Establishment of a robust and coordinated initiative to measure MSU’s student success programs promotes:

New Insights and Innovation: Regular measurement will help MSU understand how the advising

initiatives improve student success outcomes. Additionally, program assessments will reveal insights

for MSU to improve Advisor Core Expectations (ACE) and Advisor Roles and Careers (ARC).

Clear, Shared Expectations: Through clear and transparent measurement, the MSU community will

have a better understanding of its role and contributions to student success at all levels of the

organization.

Accountability: Clarity around the advisor job description and career path through ARC will ensure

MSU can hold its leadership, Colleges and Neighborhoods, programs, and advisors accountable.

National Model Recognition: MSU will be recognized as a national leader of student success

through reporting achievements against their student success vision and goals.

Measurement and data analysis today

lack coordination and alignment across

MSU on vision and strategy, resulting in:

• An inability to demonstrate progress

• Insufficient feedback to improve

programs and advisor performance

Foste

ring A

ccounta

bili

ty

And Continuous Improvement

Assessment & Metrics

Where We StartedWhat We’ve

AccomplishedWhat’s Next

• Conducted a

situational review of

current advising

assessments

• Created Student and

Advisor Learning

Outcomes

• Use existing resources

to establish baseline

data

• Created a bank of

college-based advising

assessment practices

• Identified an Advising

Assessment Plan

• Launch the survey in

November

• Surveyed sister

institutions about their

advising assessment

plans

• Developed a student

survey

• Conduct focus groups

in follow-up to the

survey

• Invited a NACADA

consultant to lead a

two-day Assessment

workshop

Tools & Collaboration

…but some of

the ways they

do it can be

…

…so, the future will

bring

stronger

capabilities.

Our current

tools do a lot

for advisors…

Improved and streamlined tools will allow advisors more time for meaningful engagement with both students and the larger advisor community. Tools

User-friendly Toolset: Advisors will have access to user-friendly and intuitive tools that translate data insights to action and spend less time navigating screens and more time with students.

Improved Collaboration: Access to more effective communication channels will strengthen cross-unit dialogue and facilitate collaboration to provide holistic advising to students.

Student Self-service: Robust self-service and mobile-accessible apps will help students accomplish more simple actions on their own and then reserve time with advisors for more complex requests.

Tools & Collaboration

CollaborationTailored collaboration workflows and tools help advisors break down barriers and build a culture of communication and coordination to support the holistic well-being of their students.

Disconnect now…

Integration in the future…

Student-centric Services: When MSU staff and faculty coordinate internally, they can identify programmatic solutions to respond to students’ needs—rather than defaulting to those of faculty and staff—thus helping students have a more seamless experience at MSU.

Service Delivery Excellence: The quality and relevance of advising and services to student improves when advisors and student success professionals are better able to collaborate and communicate.

Practitioner Engagement: MSU advisors and student success professionals will feel more connected to the institution and to each other, strengthening their commitment to MSU’s student success vision.

Admini-

stration

Advisors

StudentCollabor-

ators

Resources

Student

Affairs and

Health

Services

College

Advisors

Registrar

Neighbor-

hood

Advisors

Student

Financial

Aid and

Bursar

Faculty

Tools & Collaboration

Where We StartedWhat We’ve

AccomplishedWhat’s Next

• Situational Review of

existing tools &

collaboration efforts

• Electronic/Online

Directory

• Website template for

major change

information

• Surveyed advising

community regarding

use of tools

• Electronic/Online

Reference List of

Resources

• Academic Advisor

Portal

• Surveyed sister

institutions about

streamlining processes

• Flow charts for all

individual major

change processes

• Coordinate campaign

efforts through Student

Success Dashboard

• Investigated platforms

for creation of an

academic advisor

portal

Where do we go from here….

▪ Working through May, 2018

▪ Continuing to plan Town Hall Meetings for open

communication twice a year.

▪ Assessment will inform future work for each of

the working groups.

Questions?

References▪ Deloitte Consulting. (2015). “Student Success Transformation Initiative, Stakeholder Engagement

Findings and Recommendations” report for Michigan State University

▪ Education Advisory Board. (2016-17). Washington, D.C.

▪ Ford, S.S. (2007). The Essential Steps for Developing the Content of an Effective Advisor Training

and Development Program. Retrieved from the NACADA Clearinghouse of Academic Advising Resources

website: http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/clearinghouse/advisingissues/AdvTrng-Steps.htm

▪ Habley, W.R. (1995). Advisor training in the context of a teaching enhancement center. In R.E.

Glennen & F.N. Vowel (Eds.), Academic advising as a comprehensive campus process (Monograph No.2)

(pp. 75-59). Manhattan, KS: National Academic Advising Association.

▪ McClellan, J.L. (2007). Content Components for Advisor Training: Revisited. Retrieved from

NACADA Clearinghouse of Academic Advising Resources website:

http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/ViewArticles/AdvisorTrainingComponents.aspx

▪ NACADA Academic Advising Core Competencies Model. (2017). Manhattan, KS: NACADA

Executive Office

▪ Tinto, Vincent. (1987). “Increasing Student Retention”. San Francisco: Jossey Bass

▪ http://www.theuia.org/. (2017). University Innovation Alliance

▪ Tyton Partners. (2015). “Driving Toward A Degree: Establishing a Baseline on Integrated

Approaches to Planning and Advising”, Boston, MA

Contact Information

Kristy Dumont Dorcia B. Chaison, PhD

Assistant Director for Student Affairs Director of Academic Advising

College of Education Undergraduate Programs

517-353-9680 College of Agriculture and Natural

kdumont@msu.edu Resources

517-355-0234

Debra Dotterer Chaison@msu.edu

Assistant Dean for University Advising

Assoc. Provost for Undergraduate Education

517-353-3243 Sadiq Mohammand

Dotterer@msu.edu Academic Specialist

Honors College

Breana Yaklin 517-355-2326

Instructional Designer mohamm61@msu.edu

MSU Information Technology

The Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology

517-353-2993

yaklinbr@msu.edu