Part II: Implementation Strategy Rationale and Description

Major Program Strategies Proposed for Title III

Strategy 1: Institutionalization of Advising Standards and Policies 

This strategy is designed to create a new, heightened emphasis on quality advising, thereby improving academic performance for all students. Millikin faculty have long been involved in advising and many appear to do it quite well. Advising, however, is not uniformly valued at Millikin, as reflected by the fact that it is viewed and evaluated as part of the teaching process rather than as a separate skill worthy of assessment. A consistent activity throughout the grant period will be an evolution of the advising process at Millikin from an activity that is acknowledged as having benefit to an endeavor that is recognized and adequately supported.

Responsibility for this strategy will rest with a Faculty Task Force on Advising (a task force of the Council on Faculty). The Title III Advising Development Coordinator, a quarter-time position, will assist the task force as it moves through the process achieving a system by which the workload of advising is borne equally throughout the institution, and good advising is recognized as a factor in promotion and tenure decisions. 

The task force will:
* Quantify the present advising loads throughout the University and identify where faculty have overload and unused resources for advising;
* Recommend an advising workload and model for distribution of the advising needs of the student body. In those situations where the advising loads are exceptionally high and cannot be brought to within the recommended range, the task force will recommend compensation or release strategies.
* Explore models of assessment and evaluation for individual performance in advising. After selecting and, as needed, modifying the model, the task force will recommend to the Council on Faculty a process for 1) implementation of advising workload standards; 2) assessment of evaluation; 3) recognition of advising in tenure and promotion decisions; and 4) the University resources necessary for achieving these ends.
The task force will, after a continuing and ongoing dialogue between the members of the task force (most of whom will be faculty members) and the larger faculty body, draft language for the Policies and Procedure Manual, or find another appropriate way, to institutionalize the advising role. The process will require information dissemination, debate, negotiation, compromise and a sequence of steps developed by and adopted by the faculty.

Strategy 2: Strengthening Advising and Mentoring for High-Risk Students

This strategy is designed to develop a new process for meeting the needs of high-risk students, thereby reducing attrition. The Director of Academic Development will be responsible for the enhancement of present systems designed to meet the needs of students who are either at high risk, or higher-than-average risk of leaving before degree completion. Achieving this strategy will require three actions:
* The EDGE program, which is offered to high-risk first-year students at Millikin, will be enhanced through involvement of faculty advisors, student mentors and teachers of the First-Year University Seminar. During the first year of the grant the Director of Academic Development will recruit students who are appropriate models for new, high-risk students, and faculty with strong advising skills to participate in planning and implementation of a process for first-year support. For each student there will be a team of three individuals (faculty, staff, student) with whom they will form a relationship during the one-week EDGE program at the start of the semester. All will be available to the student during the first year providing structure and informal guidance and support.
* The Director of Academic Development will also recruit a corps of faculty members who are interested in and willing to advise first-year and transfer Exploratory Studies (undeclared majors) students. During the first year of the grant, and every year thereafter, Exploratory Studies advisors will be trained by the Director of Academic Development and undertake to assist these specific students in navigating the first year or until such time as they declare a major. A particular skill for these advisors will be to assist their students in how best to explore their academic and life options at Millikin and find the field of studies that both meets their interests and academic capacity.
* Academic Development Office staffing will increase by one staff member, reporting to the Director of Academic Development. The workload will be assigned so that the Director will continue to coordinate activities such as the EDGE program and initiate targeted advising for Exploratory Studies students, while a new retention development specialist will work with both students and with faculty to assist them in meeting the needs of those students most likely to leave Millikin early. The new Specialist will work with the Director in meeting the needs of individual students, including students on probation, helping them to link to the University services that are most likely to increase their potential for success.

Strategy 3: Faculty Development to Meet the Needs of Contemporary Students

This strategy is designed to develop a new, specific emphasis, on faculty development addressing the needs of contemporary and high-risk students. An experienced faculty member with strong credentials in student advising and professional development will, as Faculty Development Coordinator, be responsible for coordinating the professional development tasks linked to this proposal. Those tasks take two forms: 1) training relating to the specific tools and programs, including MPSL, in place at the University or to be developed with Title III funds and 2) a broader range of professional development on teaching and advising contemporary students, students with a higher-than-average risk of failure, and students diversity. The changing profiles of incoming students call for ongoing training and feedback.
Each year during the summer, a team of five from the schools/colleges will attend the national NACADA conference on academic advising, to enhance their own advising insights and skills, and to bring back information for their colleagues on campus. After five years, a significant portion of the faculty will have experiences this aspect of professional growth and development, leading to better advising across campus.
Each year through the five-year Title III process, the Faculty Development Coordinator (a quarter time position) will coordinate with the Provost's Office, Academic Deans, Chairs, the Vice President for Student Life and Academic Development and Title III staff to develop a series of professional development programs. In addition, the Faculty Development Coordinator will work with faculty councils to develop a system for institutionalizing the faculty development function at the University. The specific faculty development components proposed include:
* Training in meeting the needs of an under-prepared and diverse student population, as well as the specific needs of students who have not yet declared a major. This training will be developed as part of specific programs (i.e. advising for Exploratory Studies students), and/or offered on a voluntary basis to all advisors;
* Training and orientation for new faculty, in particular, but also present faculty, on the specific opportunities inherent in the Millikin Program of Student Learning, as well as the challenges it presents in advising and course design; 
* Training by the Office of the Director of University Teaching and Learning on the web-enhanced interactive, self-guided Plan of Study process (see below). Training in the "Plan of Study" system will focus both on faculty recognition of the value of the Plan of Study as an important advising and educational tool as well as the specific skills needed to assist students in using the system.
* Training by the Registrar in the use of the new online registration. This training is important for faculty and administration participants in two ways: 1) identifying ahead of time what courses they expect to teach during a two-year period and 2) understanding the online registration process well enough so that they can assist students in conceptualizing their Plan of Study based on course availability over the long-term (as distinguished from the task of registering semester by semester). Appropriate materials (handbook, software) will be developed, as needed.
Some of these training tasks, however, will be conducted in part by specialists in specific academic and advising issues. These trainings will be supported by the University's current faculty development budget. 

Strategy 4: Strengthen the Role of the Plan of Study in Enhancing Student Responsibility for Academic and Life Planning
This strategy is designed to develop the Plan of Study, which empowers students to take greater control over the progress of their educational endeavors. A critical component of the MPSL is the student Plan of Study. Although some Departments have implemented the use of the Plan of Study as a meaningful process for student development (The School of Education, for example, has been piloting a portfolio process for student planning and work), in other areas it has been perfunctory or non-existent. The overall concept for MPSL, however, was built on the concept that students see their educational endeavors in the context of their individual development and life plans. The courses at Millikin, both University requirements and in major fields of study, must be integrated and be seen as being part of the larger whole.
To support Plans of Study Millikin will develop the web-enhanced system noted above for the realization of the Plan of Study frameworks needed by departments and programs. 
The Plan of Study, a part of the MPSL, is an organic process by which students, from their first year, articulate what they expect to achieve educationally and how they will achieve those goals. The Plan of Study should be a central tool in a successful advising process. It can be used in the First-Year Seminar, other University Studies courses, and the University Capstone Course. The plan fosters re-consideration of the value of program decisions and is flexible enough for students to change directions, if they wish. For the majors, it should address what co-curricular programs the student wishes to engage in, possible internships and service activities, and post-graduation plans.
The Plan of Study, however, must be adapted to the needs of each department or area of study. The Plan must be designed to have different dynamics for a student in the School of Fine Arts, for example, as opposed to a student in the Tabor School of Business. It may take the form leading to some kind of a professional portfolio (now being piloted in the School of Education), or be based on an interdisciplinary study linking two disciplines to create a third. 

The Plan of Study Coordinator will:
* Develop, with the University Webmaster, and the Plan of Study Committee, a web-enhanced Plan of Study tool to form the basis for departmental adaptations;
* During Summer 2003 work with a pilot group of five programs, and their faculty, to pilot development of the Plan of Study instrument on the web and in each department. Each participating department will appoint a Departmental Coordinator for the project, with whom the Plan of Study Coordinator will work to monitor and evaluate the process;
* During the 2003-2004 year monitor the implementation of pilot Plan of Study models in each of the departments.
* Using interviews with students and faculty in model departments, a second group of departments will participate in a Summer 2004 training session and pilot their work, using results from the evaluation of the first year's efforts. The Coordinator will monitor and evaluate the process in the second-year programs and continue to monitor developments in the initial cohort of departments.
* During the summers of 2005 and 2006 the remaining departments at the University will design their Plan of Study models, using information from the first two cohorts. Reports will share the progress with the broader university community.
The Coordinator will monitor the first-year effort in each of the departments and collect data on the implementation of the model in each department.
Strategy 5: Strengthen Student Responsibility for Educational Decisions Through Implementation of an Online Registration System
This strategy is designed to give students a key tool they need in projecting their Plan of Study. The University Registrar and Administrative Information Systems staff have begun to explore a model for online registration that is consistent with Millikin's Banner AIS system. Online registration will be developed in parallel with the Plan of Study model as it will be difficult for students to project their academic plans without a registration system that allows them to project the future course offerings. Academic Technology will help develop appropriate training methods for students and advisors.

An online registration system with prospective courses identified two years in advance is needed for two reasons: 
* To allow students to develop a long-range vision and sequence for their Plans of Study; and
* To decrease the amount of mechanical work necessary for course selection advising and, thereby, allow a shift in focus of the advising process from registration to the central issues of how students approach MPSL, the Plan of Study, the link with co-curricular activities, and their post-Millikin plans.

Millikin has already begun to develop an early pilot for an online registration system. This pilot will have its first test during the summer of 2002. The first pilot will be used to strengthen the registration system design. The Registrar and Administrative Information Systems personnel will: 
* meet with faculty to address their concerns about online registration and assist faculty in understanding their responsibilities. Faculty members, as advisors, will need to know how the system operates. They will also, through their departments, need to project their course plans for two to three years in advance.
* develop ongoing faculty development activities to address the needs of new faculty members on the online system after the system has been rolled out (first with Seniors and James Millikin Scholars). The Registrar will also develop student-information session on the registration system to facilitate the rollout to juniors and freshmen.
The Registrar will consult with the Orientation Program staff from Student Life and Academic Development for inclusion of information about the registration system in orientation for new students at Millikin. 

Strategy 6: Strengthen Advising and Student Support through MPSL Assessment

This strategy is designed to monitor student performance and feedback in the Millikin Plan of Student Learning, and thereby continue to adjust MPSL to student needs. Because the MPSL is a critical component of education at the University, an ongoing assessment process for MPSL will be an important tool in informing advisors of where students are facing challenges and how best to address those challenges.
The Faculty Task Force on MPSL Assessment, assisted by the Institutional Research Officer serving as MPSL Assessment Coordinator, will:
* Design an evaluation process and work plan with the aid of the Title III Evaluation Consultant;
* Complete a pilot assessment with seniors in the University Capstone course;
* Use information from the pilot to expand the assessment to all seniors;
* Expand the assessment range to the University sequential courses (University courses, such as U.S. and Global Studies, that are designed to be taken in a sequence);
* Complete a University-wide MPSL assessment in the fourth year; and
* Develop a plan for the institutionalization of the MPSL assessment process using the instrument developed during the Title III process. 
Throughout the MPSL assessment process the task force will report assessment data to the University community as a whole through newsletters, a web site, informational meetings and formal reports to the Council on Curriculum and Council on Faculty. Findings from the assessment will become the focus of faculty development programs designed to strengthen the application of MPSL throughout the University and reduce barriers to student and faculty satisfaction with and achievement of MPSL design goals.

The Significance of Advising in Student Persistence

Research on advising (and retention) suggests that students who receive good and frequent advising, particularly in their first semester of study, will succeed and graduate. Part of the rationale for this success may be found in the list of student benefits of advising:
* First, the student gets to know at least one member of the faculty in an other-than-classroom acquaintance, making him/her feel "connected" to the faculty;
* Second, the student is given the opportunity to discuss options with a faculty member in terms of occupational or professional specialties;
* Third, the student is given a "lifeline" to administration through the advisor, a member of the academic community. This faculty member can become a strong ally or moderator in potential difficulties with administration; and 
* Fourth, the student has a role model close at hand. This accessibility of an adult who is sought and admired provides a powerful stabilizing force in the life of the student learner (Hardee and Mayhew, 1970, pp. 11-12).

Further, research indicates that, in general, students who are actively engaged in college are more successful than students who are not. (Alexander Astin, 1984, 1985; Ernest Boyer, 1987; Vicent Tinto, 1975, 1987). Astin suggested that learning is directly proportional to both the quality and quantity of involvement, which successful policies and practices seem to advance (i.e. good and frequent advising).
By the early 1970s, research was being conducted that developed a new concept of academic advising, using theories of student development and linking advising to teaching. Burns Crookston (1972) and Terry O'Banion (1972) were two such scholars. Crookston framed a new definition of advising, linking his new concept to the belief that students and advisors should share responsibility for both the nature of the advising relationship and the quality of the experience. He called this developmental advising, which he saw as a rational process. For Crookston, the advising relationship is vital; determining and achieving both long-term and immediate goals are in its domain. (Students who achieve their goals are much more likely to continue in their university studies).

In How College Affects Students, by Ernest Pascarella and Patrick Terenzini, the authors explained that: "The greater the student's involvement or engagement in academic work or in the academic experience of college, the greater his or her level of knowledge acquisition and general cognitive development (p. 616). As evidence indicates, instructional and programmatic interventions (i.e.: through advising) not only increase the student's active engagement in learning and academic work, but also enhance knowledge acquisition and some dimensions of both cognitive development and psychosocial change.

Directly addressing the connections between advising and retention, Vincent Tinto states: "Effective retention programs have come to understand that academic advising is the very core of successful institutional efforts to educate and retain students." A number of key factors help determine student retention, according to Charlie Nutt and Tom Kerr, both leaders of NACADA and highly respected in the field of advising and retention research. Those factors include:
* Decisions are made early in their educational career (often the first semester);
* There are aggressive intervention strategies;
* Initial contacts with advisors are helpful, informative, and inviting;
* They are made to feel that they are appreciated and that the campus is pleased that they are there; and
* Support needed is provided early.

Those who remained enrolled include the following (again, stressing the important role of the advisor):
* Those who have high grade point averages in their previous educational careers;
* Those who are traditional-aged students;
* Those who begin as full-time students;
* Those who attend classes during the day;
* Those who are involved in college activities;
* Those who have interactions with faculty, administrators and staff outside the classroom; and
* Those who are involved in orientation and advisement activities.

Patrick Terenzini states that learning and student success is shaped by a variety of out-of-class experiences. He concludes: "The most powerful influences on student success in cognitive learning are students' interaction and involvement out-of-class with other students, faculty, administrators, and campus staff. Early intervention is needed to capitalize on positive benefits and to avoid or minimize negative effects."
Thus, advising that contributes to student success and retention:
* Focuses on a student-centered process;
* Stresses actions and behaviors, solving problems, making decisions, and evaluating goals and aspirations;
* Builds upon both short-term and long-term goal setting;
* Creates an environment in which the students feel they matter and are important; and
* Focuses on advising as a collaborative process with both advisor and advisee having responsibilities and emphasizes appropriate and concrete decision making on the part of the advisee.

Select Advising Bibliography
Alexander Astin, "Student Involvement" A Developmental Theory for Higher Education." Journal of College Student Personnel, 1984, 25(4), 297-308.

Alexander Astin, Achieving Academic Excellence. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1985.

Ernest Boyer, College: The Undergraduate Experience in America. New York: Harper-Collins, 1987.

Thomas Brown, "Designing Advising Training/Development Programs." In NACADA/ACT Academic Advising Summer Institute Session Guide. Manhattan, KS: National Academic Advising Association, 1998.

David Crockett, Advising Skills, Techniques, and Resources. Iowa City, IA: American College Testing Program, 1984.

Burns Crookston, "A Developmental View of Academic Advising as Teaching." Journal of College Student Personnel. 1972, 13, 12-17.

S. H. Frost, Academic Advising for Student Success: A System of Shared Responsibility. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report, no.3. Washington, D.C.: George Washington University, School of Education and Human Development, 1991.

Virginia Gordon, The Undecided College Student: An Academic and Career Advising Challenge [2nd ed] Springfield, IL: Thomas, 1995.

Virginia Gordon, Wesley Habley, and Associates. Academic Advising: A Comprehensive Handbook. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000.

Wesley Habley, The Status and Future of Academic Advising: Problems and Promise. Iowa City, IA: American College Testing Program, 1988.

Wesley Habley and R.H. Morales, "Advising Models: Goal Achievement and Program Effectiveness." NACADA Journal, 1998b, 18(1), 35-41.

Tom Kerr, ed. NACADA Faculty Advising Training Facilitator's Manual. Manhattan, KS: National Academic Advising Association, 1996.

Terry O'Banion, "An Academic Advising Model." Junior College Journal. 1972, 42(6), 62-69.

Terry O'Banion, "Retrospect and Prospect." NACADA Journal, 1994, 14(2), 117-119.

Ernest Pascarella and Patrick Terenzini, How College Affects Students: Findings and Insights from Twenty Years of Research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991.

A. G. Reinarz and E. R. White, eds. Teaching Through Academic Advising: A Faculty Perspective. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 62. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995.

Vincent Tinto, "Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical Synthesis of Recent Research.: Review of Educational Research, 1975, 45, 89-125.

Vincent Tinto, Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.

Paula Weston, "Adviser Training in the Community College." In M. C. King, ed. Academic Advising: Organizing and Delivering Services for Student Success. New Directions for Community Colleges, no. 82. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993.