‘The deep Framework: A Holistic Advising Technique’ Prepared By Judith Dumont & Dr. Jonathan Michelon

The deep Framework: A Holistic Advising Technique

Case Study:

Presenting Problem:

Intuition - the inner response to the student that you experience as you engage - like the sunshine on your

skin. Consider appearance, non-verbal affect, resistance and defensive behavior, and nudges you get from

your gut as you engage in conversation with students.

Active Listening - This involves whole listening - not trying to solve until the entire story is understood. To

practice, use them sentence stems to clarify the issue student is managing:

Tell me more about...

Help me understand...

If it were you, how would you...

How would it be if...

Pave a Resource Path – This is a collaborative experience between the student and holistic adviser as they

work together to engineer resources through available support services needed to resolve issue. Consider the

following: on-campus, community & academic resources.

Carry Through - Consider how to follow up with the student after meeting. This might include: meeting after

class, scheduling regular appointments, meeting for lunch/coffee, email/phone call for check in.

‘The deep Framework: A Holistic Advising Technique’ Prepared By Judith Dumont & Dr. Jonathan Michelon

The deep Framework: A Holistic Advising Technique

Case Study: Mazzy

Mazzy has been sent to the division office after being asked to leave her developmental writing class

due to using profanity after having a disagreement with her professor. Upon entering the office,

Mazzy quickly tells the division secretary that she wants to file a complaint against her professor as she

feels she was unfairly treated and was highly offended by comments directed at her during their

heated exchange. After submitting the forms, a meeting is facilitated by the Associate Dean in an

attempt to diffuse the situation so that the student can return to the classroom and successfully

complete the semester.

The next day, Mazzy enters the Associate Dean’s office and fidgets and twitches a bit while finding

her seat. She has on ripped jeans, a Rage Against the Machine concert T-shirt, high-top high heel

sneakers, and a ball cap on backwards. As she begins to settle into her seat, she opens her

backpack and pulls out a leather bound journal with her initials engraved on the front.

The Associate Dean asks Mazzy to help her understand what occurred the day before in the class. As

Mazzy prepares to tell her side of the story, she opens her journal to find some notes she had made.

Flipping through many pages, the Associate Dean notices handwriting scrawled in various forms of

what appears to be poetry, quotes, free-writing, and some drawings. She finds her place and shares:

First of all, thank you for meeting with me. I know you are busy. To be blunt, I don’t like

bothering people or making a big deal out of things—I’d rather just handle stuff on my own—

but what went down the other day wasn’t right. And I’m not the nark type, but I think I was

treated unfairly. Basically, I showed up to class at 9:15 today even though I knew it started at

9:05. I worked really late last night at the restaurant and had a hard time getting up after

getting home at nearly 3am. As soon as I walk in, I walk up to the professor’s desk and put my

essay on the stack with the others, and then I made my way to my seat.

The professor then said (if front of everyone), “I don’t accept late work. Please remove your

paper from the stack.” I felt my face getting hot and my heart started to beat faster. I then

responded, “I’m sorry. I worked until really late last night and got here as soon as I could. I had

to make rent, so I opted to stay and work the closing shift to make more money.” The professor

then said, “I don’t care if your rent is due or not. The only thing I care about that is due is your

paper.” The next thing I did was roll my eyes, and then I slid down into my seat. The professor

then asked me to have a word with her outside in the hall.

I followed her out to the hall. She then asked me if I had a problem with her late work policy. I

replied no but told her that I was just needing a little understanding because my life is stressful.

She then told me that wasn’t her problem. I rolled my eyes again. She then said that perhaps if

I was having this much trouble managing my life and her class, then maybe I wasn’t ready for

college yet and that I should return when I am real college material. That’s when I got mad.

And it is true that I used a cuss word at her after she said this. But people don’t understand that

I have tried really hard to come to college, and I want to be here, but it just feels like high

school all over again with people up in my face trying to tell what to do and how to be. I

thought we would have more freedom here. And even though I cussed at her, I don’t think it’s

right that she said I’m not college material. I thought professors were here to help us. People

just don’t get it. They don’t get what I went through to be here.

‘The deep Framework: A Holistic Advising Technique’ Prepared By Judith Dumont & Dr. Jonathan Michelon

The deep Framework: A Holistic Advising Technique

Case Study: Quigley

Quigley is a joyful and happy-go-lucky student who appears to thrive in the fellowship of the

classroom, always smiling and creating conversation with his classmates. Currently enrolled in the

developmental reading course, Quigley is moving through the semester with no real hiccups. His

attendance is extremely consistent although he is late sometimes due to the local bus schedule that

he takes to come to college on a daily basis—he’ll often show up to class heavily breathing having

just run from the bus stop straight to class. Quigley isn’t the best student academically, but what he

lacks in intellect he makes up for interpersonally. One thing his professor really likes about him is that

he genuinely tries to keep up with the theories presented, and he shows eagerness to please the

professor when participation is initiated in the class. After class hours, the professor has also seen him

many times in the library reading the textbook that was placed on reserve.

Quigley appears to be of a lower socio-economic status seeing as he frequently wears the same

garments of clothing over the course of the semester. He always wears his same black boots, even in

the 95* heat that encapsulated the early months of the fall semester. Some might say he needs a

haircut; others might think he’s just letting his hair grow out. Either way, he is a little unkempt, yet he’s

constantly smiling.

The week before finals, students are broken into teams to present their final group projects. Quigley is

there on the first day when students are paired up. However, over the next week during prep time for

the assignment, he doesn’t show up to class for an entire week. Worried about this change in

behavior, the professor shoots Quigley an email, clarifying the importance of the final group project

grade in relation to his final grade. In addition, the professor brings up the fact that his study group

partners are relying on him. His group partners report to the professor that they have texted him and

called him many times, but there is still no reply from Quigley.

The day of the final exam, Quigley again does not show up to class—this is his fourth absence in a

row. His group presents without him, and the class wraps.

Upon returning back to her office, the professor checks her email and discovers Quigley has finally

replied. The email reads:

Hello Prof. Plz forgive me 4 missing the final. I know I failed. It’s ok. I’m used to it. The world isn’t

cut out for people like me. Thnx for everything. I enjoyed your class despite the way it ended.

The professor notices the email was sent from a T-Mobile messaging system that is a different phone

number that what is on Quigley’s advising report. Curious to see how Quigley faired in the class, the

professor averages his grade and discovers that due to the zero on his final project, his grade is now

a 62 D. If he would have earned the grade his group members earned, he would have earned an 84

B. Grades are not due for three more days.

‘The deep Framework: A Holistic Advising Technique’ Prepared By Judith Dumont & Dr. Jonathan Michelon

The deep Framework: A Holistic Advising Technique

Case Study: Gwendolyn

Gwendolyn is a 44 year old working mother who is enrolling in college for the first time. She has shown

up to begin the application process three days before registration ends for the fall semester. Due to

her age and time out of school, she has been granted a waiver for TSI readiness, bypassing her

through remediation where she can immediately begin her credit bearing coursework. In fact, she

isn’t even required to take the placement test to see where she lands on the college readiness

spectrum.

Gwendolyn is very motivated to attend school as she patiently waited for her three sons to complete

their high school diplomas before she made time for herself to begin her higher education pursuits.

While she isn’t clear as to exactly what she wants to do for a living, she knows that teaching sounds

appealing as nurturing people and taking care of others has been something she truly enjoys. Keep

in mind, however, that Gwendolyn graduated high school in 1989 and has not been in a structured

learning environment for nearly 25 years—although she is an avid reader and maintains a daily

journal. Becoming a mother for the first time at the age of 17, she barely finished high school with

passing grades as her time and energy dramatically shifted when she gave birth to her first son during

her senior year.

Upon arriving at the school to begin her application process, she sits down to see an advisor where

they begin to discuss her academic plan. She quickly indicates that she heard online courses were

the type of classes she wanted to take since she works overnights at the hospital as a data entry

clerk. She thinks online courses are the way to go because she has seen many commercials on TV

that highlight the assessibility and ease of this mode of instruction. She does have a desktop

computer at home, but she rarely uses it and is not active on the internet or social networking sites

because she thinks they are “a waste of time” and “nonsense.”

‘The deep Framework: A Holistic Advising Technique’ Prepared By Judith Dumont & Dr. Jonathan Michelon

The deep Framework: A Holistic Advising Technique

Case Study: Suli

Suli is a Nigerian student who moved with her family to the United States nearly four years ago. Her

family holds sacred the value of higher education, placing high expectations on her to maintain a

4.0 GPA so that she may become a nurse like her 5 older brothers and sisters. Suli has genuine respect

for her family and wants to please them as this is the most profound way she can demonstrate

respect to her parents who sacrificed nearly everything to bring her family to the western world for

better opportunities.

Despite Suli’s intense levels of intrinsic motivation to do well, she has been placed in all levels of

developmental studies, including mathematics, reading, and writing. Because of this, she is in a

required student success course that helps students master strategies to excel in college and explore

their interests to help align their passion with their program of study. Three weeks into the course, Suli

takes a career inventory; upon receiving her results, she learns that careers recommended for her

based on her genuine interests and strengths include advertising, journalism, business management,

and graphic design. As she further investigates her results, she realizes science-centered and health

care professions are the lowest on her list.

Deeply confused and worried about disappointing her family, Suli makes an appointment to meet

her professor during his office hours where she shares her disenchantment with the results and fears of

disappointing her family. At the same time, when she’s honest with herself about what she is

passionate about, science and health care are low on the list. In fact, in her spare time, Suli often

draws Japanese anime and has a secret inkling to design comic strips for the college newspaper.