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CCHE Quality Indicator System (QIS)
CU-Boulder Fall 1998 Submission

State indicator 4: Practices in Academic Advising at CU-Boulder

CU-Boulder views advising as an integral part of the total learning environment, with a particular role in helping students integrate coursework and extra-curricular activities with their future plans and interests. We employ all the best practices listed by CCHE (Colorado Commission on Higher Education), and many other worthy practices as well. We have continuously improved our advising systems over the last 10 years, building on student suggestions and assessment of outcomes and taking advantage of new technologies for degree audits and interactive web applications. These efforts have led to increases in student satisfaction, which we hope will accelerate with changes implemented summer 1998.

CU-Boulder uses a combination of assigned advisors, student-selected advisors, electronic resources, and printed material to deliver advising. Faculty, professional academic advisors, other academic staff, career services staff, and student services staff all contribute. For example, faculty tend to be best at helping students think about their major, what graduates in that major do, and how their own skills fit the major. Professional advisors are often better at advising on details of requirements and deadlines.

Entries A-L in this document are CCHE-specified "best practices" in advising. Entries M-O describe additional best practices used at CU-Boulder.

A. CU-Boulder requires academic advising before registration.
Our policies differ by college and by class level to require advising for students when they need it the most, and allow more independence for student decision-making in later years. 

• All new undergraduates receive advising before registering, usually during orientation sessions.
• In Spring 1998, over 40% of continuing undergraduates were required to obtain advising before registration. This group included:
• All freshmen and sophomores in arts and sciences-- 
  • 90% of all undeclared students had individual appointments with primary advisors
• Students in journalism
• Students in engineering
• All freshmen in business
• All majors in over 30 departments

B. CU-Boulder provides a formal orientation program for new students.

• All students new to the campus are required to attend an orientation session before starting school. Programs are held immediately prior to spring and summer terms, and throughout the summer for students beginning in the fall.
• Over 3,000 parents participated in orientation programs in summer 1997, attending some sessions with their students, some especially designed for parents.
• One of the primary goals of new student orientation is to teach students about advising at CU-Boulder. Students have the opportunity to meet with their primary advisor and learn how advising works on campus. Advisors provide students with the information they need to access advising services in their major departments.

Our orientation programs are academically focused and comprehensive, giving students the opportunity to:

• meet faculty, the primary advisor, and peer advisors
• learn about college requirements, policies, and procedures
• find out the requirements of their declared major, and information designed for undeclared students
• receive advising and learn about the advising process
• select classes
• learn about academic support resources and services
• get to know the campus and the diversity of the university community,

Orientation publications include a brochure (for fall) or letter (for spring and summer) describing the program and goals. The 1996 brochure won second place in the General Brochure category at the National Orientation Director's Association national conference publications/media showcase competition. Students are also sent, before orientation, an academic planning guide developed by the deans of the colleges. This helps students prepare a preliminary course schedule to bring to orientation.

Most orientation programs include the following sessions, each crucial to the academic mission of the colleges: 

• Sample lectures by faculty members, to introduce new students to the academic style and rigor to be expected at the university level.
• Follow-up small group sample recitation sessions led by faculty members and peer advisors, to highlight the role of the active learner in the classroom environment of a large research institution.
• Placement testing in foreign language to help students with prior language background understand the level at which they should continue should they do so.
• Meetings presented by the deans of the colleges that outline degree requirements, including Minimum Academic Preparation Standards and the core curriculum, and policies and procedures of the colleges regarding advising and registration.
• Major department advising by faculty and/or staff advisors in all departments of the colleges. Students without a chosen major attend a special meeting addressing the "how-to's" of exploring the college and making decisions about selecting a major.
• Group advising sessions for students seeking to apply to another school or college on the Boulder campus (e.g., journalism, which accepts only juniors and seniors), those who have been accepted into special programs such as honors, or who are seeking to pursue optional academic programs such as study abroad, pre-medicine, pre-health sciences, or pre-law.
• Small group pre-advising sessions led by peer advisors, to help students begin to integrate advising information into an academic plan for the first semester of study.
• Small group advising sessions led by faculty/peer advisor teams, to assist students in completing a course schedule that is appropriate given their college requirements, major requirements, placement test scores, and other academic requirements and goals.

C. CU-Boulder offers academic and career advising for students with and without declared majors, and offers specific advising services for students declaring or changing majors.

• Procedures differ across our seven undergraduate schools and colleges. In the largest, arts and sciences, freshmen and sophomores are assigned a core advisor in their major department. Juniors and seniors in arts and sciences select their own advisors, a practice most upperclass students say (on surveys) that they prefer. Students in every college can and do contact faculty and staff in academic departments, career services, counseling, and other units to assist them. Major and core curriculum audits, described in section F, also help both students and advisors with issues about degree requirements.
• Many departments offer outside-class get-togethers, often with pizza, where students can hear about and discuss courses, requirements, careers, and graduate study in the discipline.
• Undeclared students in arts and sciences are assigned to the Academic Advising Center (AAC) Students transferring from one CU-Boulder college to another are also referred to AAC. AAC handles over 3,000 advising appointments and over 5,000 walk-in consultations per year. AAC also runs group core advising sessions in the residence halls, serving over 1,000 students each term, and stations primary advisors in residence halls and the student union throughout the year.
• AAC also advises students in any major who are pursuing careers in law and medicine; AAC advises over 700 such students annually and maintains a web site for them as well. 
• Undeclared students in colleges other than arts and sciences receive advising through the office of the dean of their college. Engineering has established a special first-year curriculum for undeclared students, which allows students to move into any engineering major their second year, on track for graduation in that major in four years. Engineering also offers courses to help students learn about and select among engineering majors.
• The AAC publishes similar-format flyers for all majors except those in music and engineering, which produce their own flyers. The flyers provide current information on major and minor requirements, an overview of the academic discipline, career options, and advising information. For majors with sequential requirements, term by term schedules are suggested. Flyers are also available for students pursuing pre-law and pre-medical courses of study. Students may obtain flyers from their department or the AAC. The major flyers are of course used by students deciding among several majors.
• Career services publishes flyers on careers for several different majors. These are available at the department and at career services. Career services also has a career library and extensive web listings, and hosts dozens of workshops each term.
• AAC works with career services to provide undeclared students with information about career opportunities. One program, Choosing a Career: A Major Decision, focuses on teaching undeclared students about the relationship between their academic experience and their future careers. Students are given a vocational preference inventory and guided through the results with an academic advisor and a career counselor. Participants learn about campus resources for researching careers, internship opportunities, and mentoring programs. 

D. Students with a declared major are assigned a faculty advisor within their major department.

• Policies differ among colleges and departments. In some cases the student's primary assigned advisor is a professional staff advisor rather than a faculty member, and students select their own faculty advisor. This allows faculty to focus on helping students consider the major as a whole, what graduates do, and their own strengths and weaknesses, while staff advisors focus on requirements and deadlines. 
• In journalism, every faculty member advises 14-25 students assigned to that faculty member for the duration of the student's career in the program.
• All students in engineering and music are assigned departmental advisors.
• Departmental advisors in arts and sciences may be assigned or selected by the student. In every department there are assigned primary advisors and designated faculty who work with students regarding career opportunities and academic choices.

E. There is an "early warning" system for at-risk students that requires special advising and/or other services for these students.

Each year, up to 200 undergraduates enter CU-Boulder as provisional admits. These are the new students considered most "at risk," with predicted grade point averages lower than those of other new students. All are required, as a condition of admission, to participate in the Academic Access Institute (AAI).

• AAI students receive special advising, academic monitoring, and instructional services during their first two semesters at CU-Boulder. During summer orientation AAI staff provide customized academic advising based on an evaluation of the student's high school transcript and other records.
• AAI sponsors courses in writing, mathematics, and the sciences. Each AAI student must enroll in at least one AAI-sponsored class per semester; this enables AAI staff constantly to monitor student attendance, study skills, participation, and achievement. Problems in these areas are addressed through counseling and supplemental instruction.
• In addition to regular reports from instructors of AAI-sponsored classes, AAI coordinators receive midterm reports from faculty in all courses taken by AAI students. This information is used to intervene, as necessary, with counseling, academic skills instruction, tutoring, or other needed services.
• The AAI staff also provide academic advising for students before they register for their second and third semesters. After this point AAI students use the regular advising system and services.
• Even though the provisional students required to participate in AAI have predicted CU GPA's averaging 2.1-2.2, vs. the 2.8-2.9 of regular admits, many succeed at CU-Boulder through the AAI program:
• 64-74% are enrolled their second fall, compared to 80-82% of regular admits
• 30-40% graduate within 7 years of entry, vs. about 70% of regular admits.

• Students in most colleges are put on academic probation if their cumulative GPA falls below 2.0. The student then has one semester to improve the cumulative GPA to over 2.0; if this does not happen the student is subject to dismissal. About half of students placed on probation do regain acceptable academic standing.
• Students placed on probation are informed with a letter from the dean and are either required to attend an informational meeting or are encouraged to meet with their primary advisors. Advisors work one-on-one with students to develop a plan for success.
• The number of students placed on probation has decreased in the last two years. While cause and effect are difficult to determine, there is no doubt that increased emphasis on academic skills at orientation, early feedback from faculty in classes, and increased use of tutoring and other academic support services have helped.

• The college monitors examination grades in key math, physics, and chemistry courses, contacts students in difficulty and refers them to appropriate college or campus support services.
• The college also has a seminar to help students adjust academically, understand faculty expectations, and develop study, time-management, and note-taking strategies.

F. Information is given to students on progress toward their degree at least once per year.

• CU-Boulder's degree audit system produces a computerized summary of a student's progress toward graduation requirements, in both the core curriculum and the major.
• Major degree audits are distributed through colleges and departments. Engineering uses a customized on-line system; all other colleges use the centralized degree audit system. Many departments mail audits to students; others distribute them at advising sessions.
• Printed core curriculum degree audits are mailed to most students, including all arts and sciences students, before registration each term. Copies are also placed on the web in PLUS, a secure personal-lookup service. Students may use the web to access their own audit and to request an update.

G. Advising is available for high school students taking college-level courses.

• Continuing education provides academic advising to high school students interested in taking CU-Boulder courses. A packet of information, including commonly-asked questions, is distributed to Colorado high schools and students. The director of our program for high school students also visits area schools to meet with students, counselors, and principals.
• In addition, continuing education hosts an orientation each term for prospective high school concurrent students and their parents. The program director and representatives of each college speak, as does an admissions representative, who also answers questions regarding the application of these courses to degree programs at CU-Boulder.

H. Information is given to students in all majors with a model or sample term-by-term schedule for graduating efficiently.

• This information, in the form of calendars or checklists, is included in AAC and departmental flyers for all majors with sequential course requirements. Many majors also publish model schedules in the catalog and/or on the web as well.
• Several colleges, including arts and sciences, publish more generic guidelines for students wishing to graduate in four years. The college guarantees that if the scheduling of essential courses has prevented a student from graduating in four years, and the student meets all the graduation guidelines, the college will cover tuition and fees for all remaining required courses.

 

• Degree audits are available for most students on CU-Boulder's web personal look-up service, PLUS.
• Advisors across campus are using e-mail as an additional form of communication with advisees. Education, architecture and planning, and engineering all have e-mail advisory systems in place now. An e-mail system is also in place for undeclared majors and pre-professional students, with plans in place to widen the system to all schools and colleges.
• Information is on the web for general advising on campus, and individual departments such as Psychology and Honors have guides for students on the web
• CU-Boulder's Ask Ralphie electronic question-and-answer service handles questions about many advising concerns. About one-third of the 50 questions Ask Ralphie receives in a typical week are relevant to advising of some sort; these come from current students, prospective students, and even parents. Ask Ralphie handles many of these questions directly, and refers questioners to people and places with answers to technical issues.

J. CU-Boulder provides information about how closely employment opportunities are associated with academic program areas.

• Career services provides students with occupational outlook information from several sources through written information, job fairs, internet search assistance, an alumni career network, web resources, individual appointments, seminars, internship programs, and a career hotline.
• Career services staff work with academic departments in providing information or employment opportunities and present this information to departmental student clubs as well.
• Engineering has a staff member from career services in the dean's office on a half-time basis to assist students.
• Graduating seniors are provided statistics on the number of job offers resulting from on-campus interviews.
• Flyers on each discipline also discuss employment opportunities.

K. Advising is considered in the faculty reward system.

• Each year, all faculty members complete a professional activities report which includes student advising as one entry. These reports are the starting point for considerations of promotion, tenure, salary, and reappointment.
• In addition, each year the campus honors faculty and staff as outstanding undergraduate advisors. The award comes with a stipend of $500. Awardees are nominated by students, faculty or staff who put together a dossier including letters from students, faculty, the department chair and the dean.

L. Regular evaluation for effectiveness includes input from students, faculty, and staff.

• CU-Boulder has surveyed students and faculty about undergraduate advising twice since 1988 and we plan to do so again in 1998-99 or 1999-2000. In addition we regularly solicit evaluations and suggestions from advising staff. 
• Results of the 1988-89 surveys, and of a campus-wide study of advising, led to the development of a campus definition for the advising function, mandatory advising for all freshmen and sophomores, the creation of a central advising office (AAC) for students not fitting neatly in an academic home (e.g., students without a major or wishing to change majors, students in academic difficulty, and students wishing to prepare for medical or law school), the development of a set of flyers describing all majors in a common format, the creation of an award system to honor academic advisors, a system for on-going training for advisors, and a general increase on campus in the awareness of the importance of academic advising. A survey done four years later indicated an increase in student satisfaction with advising as a result of those changes. Advising is a high priority for CU-Boulder's student government, which issued a report critical of advising on the CU-Boulder campus. In response, the dean of the arts and sciences and the associate vice chancellor of academic affairs convened an advising task force to examine advising and its effectiveness. The task force made a number of recommendations which were implemented in 1997-98.
• The student advising survey is next scheduled for spring 1999 or 2000. Two-thirds of seniors and sophomores surveyed in 1993 reported having had at least one advising discussion the prior fall; another 21% said that their course of study was so clear-cut that they didn't need or seek advising. Under 5% said they wanted and couldn't get advising. Some students did report receiving an "unpleasant surprise" during their advising discussions; the regular distribution of reports on progress toward degree requirements (called degree audits), initiated in 1993, is designed to reduce the incidence of unpleasant surprises.
• Results from a survey of all degree-seeking undergraduates enrolled in CU-Boulder's six undergraduate colleges in spring 1997 showed that the majority of students tend to be more satisfied than not with academic advising. 86% of student respondents reported receiving academic advising. Nearly half of them reported satisfaction with the services. A quarter were neutral, and a quarter noted some dissatisfaction. 
• Seniors' satisfaction with academic advising increased steadily between 1991 and 1996 (the most recent year available; results for '98 will be available fall 1998).
• The faculty advising survey is scheduled for fall 1998 or 1999. Virtually all faculty surveyed in 1992 had advised some undergraduates over the term, and almost all were positive about their involvement in advising. Some asked for more information and training, which is now provided by both AAC and dean's offices.
• In 1997 the graduate school inaugurated a survey of students receiving masters and doctoral degrees. The survey touches on advising; results will be used by the graduate school and by individual departments.

Entries M-O are CU-Boulder best practices not on the list specified by CCHE.

M. CU-Boulder provides students with a year-by-year schedule for career planning.

• A career-planning calendar is given to all new students at orientation and sent to parents of all undergraduates as well. It details when the student should plan on doing activities such as drafting a resume and using various career services facilities.

N. CU-Boulder publishes student ratings of courses and instructors.

• CU-Boulder students regularly evaluate their courses and instructors.  The results are used not only by students but by instructors for improvement and by administrators for course management and for salary, promotion, and tenure decisions.
• Six terms of course and instructor ratings are available on the web, accessible by course or by instructor.

O. CU-Boulder offers training and support for faculty and staff doing advising.

• The AAC trains faculty and staff in individual academic units or departments, and schools and colleges also conduct their own training. For example, in 1996-97 journalism faculty learned how to use the on-line student information system in their advising sessions.
• The 1997-98 advisor training series include six sessions, on such issues as "making campus connections for academic success" and academic probation.
• An electronic discussion network and an advising newsletter offer further opportunities for answering questions and trading resources.
• The faculty and peer advisors who participate in orientation undergo training on the special needs of new undergraduates.
• An advising resource team was established in fall 1997 to provide an opportunity for all student and academic service professionals to network and share information.

L:\IR\CCHE\QIS98\CC4.TXW---- Last updated July 14, 1998 
Written by Lou McClelland, Brangwyn Foote, and Monteith Mitchell

Summary of State indicators

Last revision 07/30/03