Advising Online Students Using a Course Management System

1. Advising Online Students Using a Course Management System Jamie Hauer Eleazar Ortega Gregory Stivers

2. Gregory Stivers • Greg Stivers joined Great Falls College Montana State University in November 2010.  Prior to coming to GFCMSU Greg worked in Admissions at the University of Great Falls.  Greg is Academic Advisor/Student Support Coordinator for students wanting to transfer to MSU Northern programs in Great Falls. Greg also has the pleasure of advising students pursuing an A.A. or an A.S. degree from GFCMSU.  Greg earned his Bachelor's degree in Radio/Television and Mass Communications from Grand View College in Des Moines, Iowa.

3. Eleazar Ortega • Eleazar joined the Great Falls College Montana State University Advising & Career Center in September 2011. She is originally from Long Beach, CA and obtained her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Southern California and earned her M.S. in Counseling and Student Services from California State University, Fresno. Before coming to the Advising & Career Center, Eleazar was an Academic Counselor Intern at California State University, Fresno and a Research Associate for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

4. Jamie Hauer • Jamie has been with Great Falls College Montana State University since September 2011. She attended Carroll College to complete her BA in Psychology.  She then moved to Minnesota and completed her MA in Marriage and Family Therapy.  While in Minnesota Jamie started working in Post Secondary Education, first as a Director of Financial Aid, and then as a Student Counselor.  Upon moving back home to Great Falls she joined the Great Falls College Advising & Career Center team as one of the Academic Advisors.  She believes in life-long learning and that education is the best investment an individual can make.

5. Academic advising • Academic Advising has been required to evolve as technology evolves • What once used to be completed with a phone call and fax machine has been expanded to involve various technological tools • As the percentage of fully online students continues to grow we need to find ways to target these students and get them the advising services they need

6. Academic Advising = retention Drake, J. (2011). The role of academic advising in student retention and persistence. American College Personnel Association and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NACADA. (2012, September 12). Engaging Online Across Student Populations [NACADA Webinar]. Available at http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Webinars/index.htm • Attrition rates on average are 10-20% higher for online students • Online classes tend to require more time management skills and commitment on the part of the student • Online students tend to have more outside commitments and less time for class work (NACADA, 2012) • The last four decades of research has shown that solid academic advising and first-year program planning are critical elements to the increase of student persistence (Drake, 2011) • Strong Academic Advising has also been shown to impact and improve • Students’ satisfaction with college experience • Students’ effective educational and career planning and decision-making • Students’ utilization of campus support services (Drake, 2011)

7. Why we started online advising rooms • Offer high quality, accessible academic advising services for all students • Increase the amount of contact and connection advisors have with online students • Give students easy access to their individual advisor for questions and help

8. Putting the Pieces together :starting An online advising room • Worked with our online Instructional Designers to open empty online classroom shells dedicated to each advisor • Advisor customized their Advising Classroom • News Items and Updates • Content • Discussion Forums • Personal Introductions • Explanation of how an Advising Room works • Advisor maintains course by manually enrolling and removing students each term

9. Bulletin Boards: Can provide Quick Updates to students • Campus News • Upcoming Events • Dates an Advisor is out of the office • Timeframes for scholarship, program, and graduation applications • Last day to withdraw from classes • Letter to welcome students to classroom • Note explaining what advising room is for and how to get started

10. Bulletin Boards: Can provide Quick Updates to students

11. Send email updates • Online advising room offers advisors the ability to send a quick email update to individual students or all advisees in the D2L platform quickly and efficiently

12. Offer students easy access to off-campus reSourCes

13. Offer students easy access to off- campus reSourCes

14. Provide links and information on transfer Options

15. Provide Helpful links to forms and Career serviceS information

16. Discussion forums • Discussion forums offer students a place to ask questions • Also allows students to introduce themselves to one another and get to know their fellow students

17. SURVEY Data

18. SURVEY Data

19. Survey Feedback • “Can you make a separate discussion posting for advising appointments?...” • “Love the content section! It answers so many of my questions without having to call you or hunt someone down in Student Central.” • “It is nice and easy to work if you know what you are looking for. I LOVE that the due dates for everything is [sic] right there on the home page.” • “Love knowing that being out of state I can simply send an email and will get a reply rather than feeling like it would take a lot of time to work schedules out for a phone call.” • When asked what they would like added to the D2L page: • “…[list of] classes offered and requirements for each. When spring registration is available. Book buyback information.” • “More information about programs and campus updates.”

20. Tips • Keep it simple so advisors and students can understand and navigate the advising classroom easily • Keep in mind technology is just a tool to support academic advising

21. Challenges • Each advisor creates their own content for their advising room so each room may not provide the same information to students • Sometimes students tend to overlook the content area since there are no assignments • Advisor has to manually load new students and delete graduates and withdrawals each semester

22. Outcome • Original goal when creating the online advising room was to provide high quality and accessible academic advising services to online students • The online advising room has offered all students an easy way to communicate directly with their personal academic advisor and has increased overall advisor-student communications

23. Thank you