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Increasing Awareness of Advising Requires Internal and External Professional Considerations

Increasing Awareness of Advising as a Profession Joshua S. Smith Loyola University Maryland Baltimore, MD, USA Jssmith2@loyola.edu. Increasing Awareness of Advising Requires Internal and External Professional Considerations. To what extent are academic advisors and advising administrators :

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Increasing Awareness of Advising Requires Internal and External Professional Considerations

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  1. Increasing Awareness of Advising as a ProfessionJoshua S. SmithLoyola University MarylandBaltimore, MD, USAJssmith2@loyola.edu

  2. Increasing Awareness of Advising Requires Internal and External Professional Considerations • To what extent are academic advisors and advising administrators : • Concerned about defining advising as a profession? • Effectively communicating the purpose of academic advising in higher education? • Attuned to the debates on what it means to be a profession?

  3. What’s in a Profession? According to Schaffer, Zalewski, and Leveille (2009): • Substantive body of knowledge supported by research • Theories that are unique or characteristic of academic advising • Terminal degree and agreed upon curriculum (M.A. or Ph.D.)

  4. In My Presidential Address at the 2012 Annual NACADA Conference I Asked the Big Question, “Are we there yet?” • Appreciation for the history of academic advising within higher education • Very real changing dynamics in higher education • Changes within academic advising

  5. The Development of Academic Advising as a Field • Harvey Wall interview documenting the changes in academic advising since the 1950’s • Provided by full-time faculty; characterized as rather parochial • Students were passive recipients of information of the course schedule • Little consideration of the “whys” of courses, or what are you here for, or connections of the course content to the respective over-arching major.

  6. The Development of Academic Advising as a Field - Continued • Grites and Gordon (2009) The History of NACADA: An Amazing Journey • First meeting in Burlington, Vermont 1977 • Decision to create by-laws; revised a few times in some major ways • Creation of an organizational structure • NACADA changed with the growth and diversity of student body and institutional types.

  7. The Development of Academic Advising as a Field - Continued • Grites and Gordon (2009) The History of NACADA: An Amazing Journey - Continued • Adopted the Carnegie classifications of institutional types • Commission structure was adopted in 1992 and shortly after interest groups and potential interest groups emerged • Administrator institutes, assessment institutes, webinar series, and multiple scholarship outlets such as the Clearinghouse, NACADA Journal, and AAT

  8. The Developmental Nature of Academic Advising Approaches • Developmental vs. Prescriptive Advising : False Dichotomy • If Advising is Teaching, What Do Advisors Teach (2005; reprinted in 2009) • Fielstein (1994) Developmental versus Prescriptive Advising: Must it Be One Way or The Other, citing research and theories regarding individual differences in preferences • Smith called for us to consider advising as a developmental process itself. In this piece and others I called for a loosely named approach as the “caring-expert”

  9. The Developmental Nature of Academic Advising Approaches • Developmental vs. Prescriptive Advising : False Dichotomy -Continued • Alexitch’s (1997) Internally motivated students are significantly more likely to prefer developmental advising on the AAT than students who are externally motivated. • Hemwall and Trachte (1999) called for praxis advising, with a greater emphasis on student learning and the “academic.” • Marc Lowenstein-logic of the curriculum “the excellent advisor helps the student to understand, and indeed in a certain sense, to create the logic of the student’s curriculum.”

  10. NACADA’s Contribution to the Professional Discourse • High quality, peer reviewed journal that clearly articulates acceptance of Boyer’s scholarship types • Annual research symposium • Hundreds of academic advisors have earned a Master’s degree from Kansas State University • Annual conference has phenomenal keynote speakers; one speaker focuses on scholarly inquiry

  11. Current Research on the Issue of Professionalism • Aiken-Wisniewski, Larson, Adams, & Barkemeyer NACADA supported grant. Focus group study on how advisors describe the occupation of advising and how they describe a profession • McGill research paper exploring the history of NACADA through the literature and interviewed several NACADA leaders regarding its founding, the establishment of a research agenda, and the formation of the executive office

  12. Advocacy Advising • Moving Academic Advising into the Higher Education Policy Debates • Advocacy advising is closest to Lowenstein’s learning-centered paradigm as it positions the role of advisor as a key person in uncluttering the messaging and co-constructing the meaning of college curriculum. Not just for students, but for Higher Education itself • Bologna project and the Lumina Foundation for Education are pushing higher education to think beyond the set of courses, the credits generated to get to the 36, 64, 120 credit major, degree, or credential and arrive at a set of agreed upon outcomes one has accomplished once they complete a BA, MA, or PhD in areas such as History. • Advocacy Advising can be actualized is related to the advent of the Common Core State Standards in the United States. • “Is College a Lousy Investment?”

  13. Scholarship • NACADA Journal, AAT, the Mentor, Inside Higher Education, Chronicle of Higher Education • Global outlets • Twitters and blogs. Advisors and other student affairs folks are front and center sharing perspectives, articles, and commentary in this space

  14. References Cook, S. (2009). Important events in the development of academic advising in the United States. NACADA Journal, 29(2), 18-40. Danis, E. (2009). An interview with Harvey W. Wall. Personal perspectives on the history of academic advising. NACADA Journal 29(1), 52-62. Fielstein, L. L. (1994). Developmental versus prescriptive advising: Must it be one or the other? NACADA Journal, 14(2), 76-79. Grites, T. J., & Gordon, V. N. (2009). The history of NACADA: An amazing journey.NACADAJournal 29(2), 41-55.

  15. References Hagen, P. L. (2008). Imagination and interpretation: Academic advising and the Humanities. NACADA Journal, 28(2), 14-20. Hemwall, M. K., & Trachte, K. C. (1999). Learning at the core: Toward a new understanding of academic advising. NACADA Journal, 19(1), 5-11. Lowenstein, M. (2009). If advising is teaching, what do advisors teach. NACADA Journal, 29(1), 123-131. NACADA Clearinghouse. Developmental advising definitions. Smith, J. S. (2002). First-year student perceptions of academic advisement: A qualitative study and reality check.NACADAJournal, 22(2), 39-50. Winston, R. B., Jr., & Sandor, J. A. (1984). Evaluating academic advising. Athens, GA: Student Development Associates.

  16. Increasing Awareness of Advising as a ProfessionJoshua S. SmithLoyola University MarylandBaltimore, MD, USAJssmith2@loyola.edu

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