Title III Grant

There are two components: 1) establish a Walk-In Advising Center, and 2) restructure the existing advising process. To create the new Center, the Records Office has moved into the smaller Counseling Office. The Counseling Office and new Center is now located where the Records Office was, which is in a prominent location that is easily accessible. The Records Office space was not in good condition though, and its layout was not conducive to advising and counseling. Renovations were necessary, including the construction of offices, private advising and counseling spaces, and a small waiting area. A full-time Advisor was hired to staff the center during regular hours. Trained faculty advisors support the center on selected evenings and times during student registration and the summer. Center services are posted on signs around campus and on the NJC website, which stress the availability of services to part-time students (as well as full-time students). The new full-time Advisor also implements online advising and trains faculty to advise online effectively. The central advising center is intended to better address the advising needs of students who are most at risk of not succeeding or those who because of the part-time nature of their attendance, fall between the cracks.

Restructuring existing advising processes involved reassigning faculty advisors. The selected advisors are comprehensively trained in the principles of developmental advising, which includes an annual one-day workshop conducted by an outside expert in the field. In addition, the new full-time Advisor conducts ongoing training sessions. "Developmental advising" is a term for advising approached from a student development theory perspective (Broadbridge 1996), which helps students "discover who they are in the context of making educational and occupational decisions and setting life and career goals" (Gordon 1994).

The establishment of advising systems that take into account the developmental needs of students is considered a major factor in increasing student retention rates (Clark 1989). To assess students’ developmental needs, intake assessment at NJC is expanded to include the nationally used Noel-Levitz non-cognitive assessment (in addition to existing academic skills assessment). Intake assessment is also expanded to include part-time degree and certificate seeking students. A consultant from Noel-Levitz visited campus in years one and two of the grant to train faculty advisors to use the assessment results effectively. Advisors meet periodically with students to help them determine appropriate goals and experiences, take responsibility for their learning, and evaluate their developmental progress. The recording of individual students’ developmental progress takes the form of an "Individual Strategic Learning Plan," which each student develops with assistance from the advisor. The plan will be web-based and password protected, providing easy but secure access to students for review and updating.

Implementation Strategy and Timetable

YEAR ONE (2004-2005)
Complete renovations and department relocations to create Walk-In Advising Center.  Records Office moves to Counseling Office. Counseling Office temporary relocates to vacant space. Records Office is renovated.  Counseling and Walk-In Advising relocate.  Walk-In Advising Center has physical space conducive to effective advising.
2/1/05.

Hire new Advisor.  HR finalizes job descriptions as needed with assistance from Coordinator Steve Smith. Conduct search, select candidate, sign contracts as needed.  New Advisor hired by grant start date to staff Walk-In Advising Center.
12/1/04.

Faculty Advisors staff Walk-In Advising Center on selected evenings, weekends and selected times during Registration and summer.  Coordinator Steve Smith and new advisor train faculty to staff center. Faculty compensated to staff center outside of regular hours (during which time new Advisor is there). New Advisor does scheduling.  Walk-In Advising Center staffed evenings, weekends, etc.
10/1/04 - 10/1/05.

Retain outside advising expert to hold annual advising workshop for faculty advisors.  Contact experts recommended by the National Assoc. of Academic Advising (NACADA). Contact references, select candidate, hold workshops.  Faculty Advisors trained in developmental advising. 
10/1/04 - 1/15/05.

Implement Noel-Levitz non-cognitive assessment and Noel-Levitz service to score and report on findings
Coordinator Smith and new advisor handle logistics of purchase and implementation. Expert from Noel-Levitz trains advisors to use assessment results.  Non-cognitive assessment becomes part of advising process.
10/1/04 - 5/15/05.

Determine final form and implement Individual Strategic Learning Plan.  Individual Strategic Learning Plan format designed based on research. Faculty are taught to use the plan in the advising process.  Individual Strategic Learning plans become part of advising process.
10/1/04 - 5/15/05.

Faculty Advisors implement new advising procedures. Faculty Advisors use new procedures. New Advisor holds follow-up advising seminars. Developmental advising process begins to be implemented.
1/15/05- 10/1/05.

YEAR TWO (10/1/05—9/30/06)
Full-time professional advisor, Sarah Goepel, has been working with all facets of the advising system including training and updating advisors, improving web assisted advising mechanisms, directly advising many undeclared and part-time students, implementing developmental advising strategies campus wide, and giving classroom presentations and residence hall programs on career exploration/academic advising.

Continue to implement Noel-Levitz, College Student Inventory (CSI), non-cognitive assessment and the Noel-Levitz service to score and report on findings.

Determined final formation and implementation of Individual Strategic Learning Plan.  All advisors are utilizing with their advisees.  During the third-week required advising session, these are discussed with student by advisor.   

Faculty advisors use the Individualized Learning Plan (emphasizing student short and long-term goals, 2-year plan for NJC) during Spring Semester 2006.  Faculty advisor webpage continues to develop.  Approximately five faculty advisors are utilizing evening advising hours and advising during peak advising times above and beyond their regular duties as advisors.

YEAR THREE (10/1/06—9/30/07)
During the January staff in-service, Steve Smith, Sarah Goepel, and Cindy Carey led a workshop on the subject of Career Advising.  The 21 participants at the workshop each received the book, Career Advising:  An Academic Advisor’s Guide by Virginia N. Gordon.  As part of our on-going efforts to broaden our developmental academic advising practices, we will be focusing on career advising throughout the Spring 2007 Semester.

Virginia Gordon’s book suggests a simple, yet effective process to incorporate career advising into the academic advising session.  It is called the 3-1 Process.  According to Gordon, INQUIRE, IMFORM, and INTEGRATE are the natural phases in the academic and career-decision-making process.  During the in-service workshop, Steve, Sarah, and Cindy each took one of the ‘I’s” and discussed it with the advisors.

The following Webinar key topics in advising and student success are available: 
• February 15, 2007—Strengths-Based Advising:  Going Beyond Course Scheduling With Developmental Advising.
• March 29, 2007—Academic and Career Advising for Sophomores (for four-year institutions) or Academic and Career Advising for First-Year Students (for two-year institutions).
• June 7, 2007—Strategies for Using Academic Advising to Enhance Retention and Student Engagement (designed especially for professional staff advisors and advising administrators, though faculty are also welcome).
• July 28, 2007—Using Evaluation to Improve Academic Advising (designed especially for professional staff advisors and advising administrators, though faculty are also welcome).
• September 13, 2007—Academic Advising:  The Pivotal Point in Assisting Students to Attain Educational and Career Goals.
• October 11, 2007—Relating to Students Through Advising.

All Webinars are scheduled from Noon to 1:30 p.m. mountain time.  Location to be announced.  Contact Steve Smith to sign up.  

STUDENT LEARNING STYLES AND MORE!
COMPUS TOOLKIT is a great retention tool that we are piloting with our students. 

Once students log in to Campus Toolkit and set up their own private user account, they select a “coach”—Steve Smith, Candy Carey or Sarah Goepel.  They then have the opportunity to complete several assessments.  The coach can assess the student information and follow-up with e-mails, phone calls, or personal appointments, as needed.
It’s a great way to have an additional connection with students who are on the fringe.  Here are some of the assessments in Campus Toolkit:

DISC—categorizes people as Driving, Influencing, Stabilizing, Conscientious.  This gives students insight into why they respond the way they do. 

GrandMax—I love this one!  It allows students to assess what is going on in their world.  They evaluate themselves on a scale of 1 to 10.  They identify stressors in their lives.  They can share this confidentially with their “coach” and request follow-up if need be.  We can follow-up on any red flags that we see. 

LASSI—A 10-scale, 80-item assessment of your students’ awareness and use of learning and study strategies.  This measures anxiety, attitude, concentration, motivation, time management, test strategies, and MORE.  This is a one-time assessment. 

Paragon Learning Style Inventory—uses the four Jungian dimensions used by Myers-Briggs, Murphy, and Kiersey-Bates.  It measures student’s cognitive and perceptual preferences. 

Barsch Learning Style Inventory—Evaluates whether you are visual, auditory, tactile, or kinesthetic. 

We can share this tool with entire classes, or students can be referred to us individually.  We can help any student or group of students get started.  If you are interested in learning more, or if you have students that you need to refer to us for this service, please let Steve Smith know.

In response to findings that career advising had been a missing component in many advising sessions, Steve Smith, Cindy Carey and Sarah Goepel created a web-based Career Advising workshop for academic advisors to complete during Spring and Summer 2007. It was based on the book Career Advising by Virginal Gordon, which had previously been purchased and distributed to all academic advisors. The academic advisors were asked to implement what they learned from the workshop in registration advising sessions. In addition, a student Career Forum with presentations from professionals in several career areas was held November 7, 2007.

Year Four (10/1/07—9/30/08)

The central Advising Center and Advising Program Development efforts have contributed to more effectively advising students for successful transfer and planning to enter the workforce productively. The grant has provided funding to establish a more effective advising center with additional resources to improve developmental advising to increase student enrollment and retention.

The campus advising system has been expanded and improved through a wide variety of efforts under the grant. On going faculty training has occurred to better address student needs. Training includes topics in career advising, life coaching, and a better understanding of resources to help students. The “non-cognitive advising” tool (College Student Inventory surveys) continues to be an added element of all freshman registration/advising activity on campus. The majority of faculty advisors have been trained in developmental advising concepts. A newly developed online advising training course on developmental advising was well received. Fall 2007 we provided an opportunity for students to enroll in a freshman extended orientation course as an added effort to boost student retention and success.

The College has focused on improving and increasing enrollment in its Advanced Academic Achievement (AAA) course as a retention strategy. This course examines theories and practices associated with successful learning to enhance college success.  In Fall 2007, significantly more sections of the course were offered (six sections with 70 students) and the curriculum was revised to include a broader career advising component.

Following a trial period last spring, the College purchased a year-long subscription for the Campus Toolkit Retention System. This product provides various assessments to help students identify and understand their personality types, potential problem areas and learning styles. It is being used primarily in the AAA classes and to improve communications between students and their assigned advising coaches, and is targeted at improving retention of at-risk students.

NJC faculty advisors had the opportunity to participate in several webinars sponsored by Noel-Levitz. Webinar topics included strengths-based advising and career advising.

The Student Advising Survey continues to be administered, and has provided useful feedback that is informing the development and refinement of advisor training. It is planned that a question on career advising will be added to the survey in order to better assess the implementation of this component.

The Walk-In Advising Center has also expanded evening and weekend hours at peak registration times for the students. Trained advisors work during the summer registration periods and spend more time with true developmental advising. The visible central advising area and one stop components of testing, career center, financial aid counseling and accounts payable have improved support to all students but particularly the part-time, undecided and under prepared student.

Title III Advising Successful Implementation:

--A full-time Advisor is on staff with the Center.

--Faculty Advisors staff the Center at peak times during student registration.

--Center conducts non-cognitive student intake assessment for advising use.

--Employ individual learning plans as a tool for effective advising.

--AAA pilot program implemented.

--Have trained 68% of faculty in developmental advising concepts.

Please check back for project updates and advising success stories.