On 14 March 2018, several advisors from the IEC attended the CU Advisor Day, organized by the Advisor Council. The schedule included 16 sessions, plus a plenary session with a panel. In addition, Continuing Education sponsored a buffet lunch, during which the Advisor Council introduced their members from across the campus, gave awards to advisors who affect students positively and highlighted the many campus services that set up Expo Tables. The Advisor Day web site explains the purpose of this focused training as to “learn from one another regarding advising best practices, campus resources for students, and ways to enhance our advising community at CU” (Advisor Day Schedule, n.d.). Several advisors have contributed their reflections on the different sessions that they attended.
- “Encouraging Students in Their Quests to Learn How to Learn” by Eryn Elder and Audrey Blankenheim – This session created an engaging atmosphere while pointing out examples of how advisors and coaches can guide and collaborate with their students. The four stages they introduced were based on building where the students were in their development in their field of study and their level of awareness in how to reach their goals. The levels went from simply writing down and regurgitating information to knowing where and how students want to guide their studies through self-questioning and seeking information. The stages were Absolute Knowing (listen and record information), Transitional Knowing (thinking about an instructor’s words and inputting it into their own words/peer acknowledgement), Independent Knowing (trusting in new individual ideas to develop own opinions based on learned knowledge), and Contextual Knowing (intention to reinforce new learning and discovery). These stages develop throughout students’ lives at a university and hopefully students can reach the final stage and progress into the future continually building and acquiring knowledge. In reflection, I felt this information was well organized and gave me examples to help identify where my advisees were and how I needed to get them to the next level. I thought this topic was helpful and will aid me when advising my students. (Karen Eichhorn)
- “Experiential Advising: Taking Advising Beyond the Office” – Two International Affairs Advisors presented a program that they have run for two years: A trip to Nicaragua during Spring break, where a group of selected “high-risk students” with both, low and high GPAs do social work. The outcome is higher involvement and a better general feeling for these students back on campus. The presenters emphasized the effort that they made to create awareness with stakeholders at CU Boulder. This was a key factor to the success of this project. The presenters’ objective was to encourage the audience to take similar initiatives. (Pilar Devolx)
- “Issues & Options for International Students” – This presentation focused on immigration issues and procedures of international students as well as the support that the ISSS office can provide them. The presenters, Paige Progar and Carrie Ngai, were knowledgeable and balanced the presentation of this topic between objective information and entertaining tips and anecdotes. I learned about processes and resources that are available at CU Boulder to support international students. (Pilar Devolx)
- “Learning in the New Millennium: Perspectives from Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, and Education” by Nicole Speer, PhD -- Speer reviewed how the brain learns and remembers. She incorporated thoughts about certain behaviors and actions that can maximize students’ memories and learning potential. One of these is to give frequent practice tests so learners can practice a skill or targeted material before they are required to apply it in a high-stakes situation. Her other key points included: exercise and sleep are critical to brain elasticity, mindfulness is helpful to keep the mind focused, chronic stress is detrimental, a healthy diet makes a difference, and learning keeps our brains sharp and active. Speer reminded the audience that “practice makes permanent” rather than “practice makes perfect”; thus, practice is important, but correct practice is key. I picked up three informational booklets: “Q&A Answering Your Questions about the Brain”, “Staying Sharp – Successful Aging and the Brain”, and “The Mindboggling Workbook – A Fun-Filled Activity Book about the Brain”. These are available to IEC faculty and staff upon request. (Connie Davis)
- “Student Community Action Teams: How to Get Your Students Involved” by Maura Hollister -- Based on evidence from the Document Effective Educational Practice (DEEP) project, students who become engaged in their institutions feel more connected and in control of their community and careers and show higher retention rates. Hollister used a High-Impact Practice activity in her Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering class. In this presentation, she explained the process and techniques she used to get students involved, thus improving the climate and culture in her student group. One of the techniques was a sticky note brainstorm activity. Students were given different colored sticky notes and asked to write their ideas on them and then to post them on the wall by category. After the array of notes was posted, ideas were reviewed and discussed for future action. I recognize the interactive and productive nature of this activity and was glad to be reminded of it for my own teaching. (Connie Davis)
- “Working with Pre-Health Student: A Crash Course” – The presenter provided practical and relevant information on pre-health requirements to the academic advisors. I found it interesting to gain a deeper insight into the collaborative working relationship between Pre-Professional Advisors and Academic Advisors. This collaboration is vital to help pre-health students be successful and this presentation contributed to increase direct communication between the two groups of advisors. I believe that this also applies to all pre-professional advising. (Pilar Devolx)
In addition to professional development, advisors gained personal contacts to reinforce training and connections on campus, making Advising Day beneficial and insightful.
Reference
- Advisor Day Schedule. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19, 2018 CU Boulder Advisor Day Site.