September 3, 2015 | SharkAdmin Through a grassroots effort, Northwest Vista College faculty members are developing models to broaden and improve academic advising for students. What began a few years ago as “Advising Days,” which was a faculty advising effort coordinated by sociology faculty Miriam Thompson, biology faculty Roberto Gonzales, and others has grown exponentially in the last few months. Business instructor and faculty mentor, Sally First, has taken a leadership role advising business students and developing a Canvas tool called the Online Advising Center. The tool contains a series of self-paced student modules that help students with career planning, selection of concentration, course planning, degree planning toward graduation and transfer planning. The online site also has information about financial aid, scholarships, strategies for academic success and a section devoted to the student’s specific academic concentration or area of study. When the tool becomes available to all disciplines in Spring 2016, faculty mentors will be able to customize specific sections to the needs of their students. “When developing the site, a great deal of time was spent researching what information needed to be in the handbook modules and to what extent so that the finished product would be helpful to students as well as faculty mentors when mentoring students,” said Sally. In between classes, Sally advises at least six to seven students a week. She says faculty members have to juggle challenging schedules and they need tools that are simple and easy to use. Sally says she made it a priority to collaborate on the modules and obtain feedback from students as well as faculty and staff across the college. Sally also obtained feedback from the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA), which promotes and supports quality advising in colleges and universities. “I’m excited and passionate about our NVC Online Advising site because it’s a totally organic effort by faculty and staff to enhance academic advising and help students succeed. Our next step is to make it available to all.” Sally says there is a lot of interest among faculty to participate in the first round of testing the completed handbook. Eight faculty members, who will serve as students’ mentors, will test the tool with their students as part of the “soft opening in fall 2015.” They will work alongside new certified student advisors. Lessons learned will help to improve the tool and make it available to all disciplines in Spring 2016. Sally says, “Our ultimate goal is to help our students travel smoothly through NVC, graduate, transfer and be successful.”
