Editor's note: This article includes a brief summary of six recommendations for advisers from the paper “Promoting student success: What advisers can do” (2005) by D.J.DeSousa. The full text of that paper can be found at www.nsse.iub.edu/institute.

Advisers are among the first representatives of an institution that new students encounter. Many times they act as a surrogate parent, able to answer almost any question related to college life, particularly for first- or second-year students or transfer students who haven't yet identified or connected with a faculty or staff mentor. Because of this unique role, advisers also have a great responsibility to be as effective as possible; however, sometimes keeping abreast of institutional changes and academic regulations isn't enough.

According to the 2005–2006 National Student Satisfaction Report (NSSR), there has been no significant improvement in the quality of academic advising over the past five years (Five-year trend study: National student satisfaction report, 2005). During the same time period, the report finds that academic advising ranks second in importance after instruction—exceeding registration, campus safety, and support services. We know from sources like NACADA (National Academic Advising Association) that specific elements of a quality advising system improve student retention rates, such as establishing student relationships with faculty or staff and helping students to clarify academic and career goals. In light of NSSR's findings, I propose that academic advisers utilize another tool to increase overall effectiveness: the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).

The objective of the NSSE is to obtain annual information from colleges and universities nationwide about student participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for their students' learning and personal development. Administered through the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research and Planning in cooperation with the Indiana University Center for Survey Research, the NSSE surveys randomly selected seniors at four-year colleges and universities “regarding their engagement in the college experience” (Kuh, 2001). Typically, institutions will use their data to identify aspects of the undergraduate experience inside and outside the classroom that can be improved through changes more consistent with good practices. Each survey question is associated with one of five National Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice: level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student interactions with faculty, enriching educational experiences, and supportive campus environment (Kuh, 2002). The data from these benchmarks create a powerful tool to help academic advisers focus on what needs to be changed and, possibly, how.

What is student engagement?

George Kuh, director of the Center for Postsecondary Research, defines student engagement as “the time and energy students devote to educationally sound activities inside and outside of the classroom, and the policies and practices that institutions use to induce students to take part in these activities” (Kuh, 2003). More simply, student engagement has also been defined as “participating in the activities offered as part of the school program” (Natriello, 1984). Thus, student engagement cannot be effectively evaluated without considering academic advising since it is an integral (and required) part of student life.

Who's more engaged?

Advisers typically rely upon students to come to them for mandatory appointments around registration, questions about general academic issues, or any other questions when they don't know who to ask or where to go. There are also students who fall through the cracks or drift aimlessly. Knowing what types of students are more engaged or more likely to see an adviser assists in identifying those students who otherwise would not. The NSSE identifies several groups of students that are, on average, more engaged than others:

Regardless of the reasons why these students self-identify as being more engaged, it should be noted that those groups not listed will require more attention in order to meet their needs.

How can advisers assist students in becoming more engaged?

An adviser's suggestion to a student can be very influential. The adviser needs to know what works and what doesn't in order to guide students toward graduation and a successful completion of their degree. One of the best suggestions is to recommend that every student enroll in a first-year seminar, if available. The NSSE shows that students who participated in a first-year seminar were more challenged academically, reported more active and collaborative learning activities, interacted more frequently with faculty, perceived the campus environment as being more supportive, reported that they gained more from their first year of college, and were more satisfied with the college experience (National Survey of Student Engagement, 2005). It should be noted that these students also were more likely to use academic advising and planning than those students who only attended an orientation.

In addition to just using NSSE data alone, the NSSE and the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) collaborated on Project DEEP (Documenting Effective Educational Practice) to develop six guiding principles for advising. The full paper, by D. J. De Sousa, can be found at www.nsse.iub.edu/institute.

The following paragraphs paraphrase summaries of the De Sousa article that were shortened for readability.

  1. Adopt a talent development approach to advising. Believe that any student can learn anything we teach and be engaged, provided the right conditions are established for their learning. Enact this belief by meeting students where they are—academically, socially, and psychologically. Be well informed about your students: know where they are from, their preferred learning styles, their talents, and when and where they need help. Establish high but attainable expectations for students, making explicit what students need to know and do to be successful.
  2. Think of advising as if it were a tag-team activity. A cookie-cutter approach to advising students from increasingly diverse backgrounds probably will not be sufficient. Incorporate a wide spectrum of people, expertise, and multiple perspectives in the advising process. Team approaches make certain that students get the information they need, so they can take full advantage of the opportunities and resources for learning that their school provides for their academic achievement and social needs.
  3. Help students map out a path to success. College life presents a variety of challenges, especially for first-generation and nontraditional students. Advisers should regularly convey what students should be thinking and doing in order to be successful. Central to the task is working with students to plot a course of action for their education success. Use advising sessions to teach new students about campus culture, to develop a four-year-plan, and to give a “checklist” of what needs to be done to make the most of their undergraduate years.
  4. Focus on meaningful interactions with students. Have frequent and quality interactions with students. Include informal sessions, if possible, by visiting with small groups of students in their residence halls. Help develop, support, and participate in mentoring programs. Fully participate in orientation and first-year programs. Make yourself as available as you possibly can to meet with students when they have free moments. This may mean time occasionally outside of normal working hours, but that connection with the student will instantly become closer.
  5. Connect students to co-curricular learning opportunities—what happens outside the classroom influences learning inside the classroom. Encourage students to participate in complementary learning opportunities outside the classroom. Experiences that have powerful, positive effects on students and their success, like service learning, study abroad, civic engagement, internships, and experiential learning activities, should be particularly promoted. The linking of academic performance and real-life issues as experienced in these activities enhances student learning in ways that many academic courses alone may not be able to accomplish.
  6. Encourage students to seek out and learn from experiences with different forms of diversity. There is considerable evidence that experiencing diversity is associated with many desirable outcomes, such as enhancing leadership skills, developing the ability to work with people from different backgrounds, viewing the learning environment positively, and interacting more frequently with peers and with faculty members. The opportunity to learn about self and others creates powerful and enriching educational experiences. Advisers should champion the development of such opportunities and make certain their advisees are aware of them (De Sousa, 2005).

Conclusion

NSSE findings indicate that students typically don't exceed their own expectations, particularly with regard to academic work. But students will go beyond what they think they can do under certain conditions, one of which is that their mentors (faculty, advisers, peers) expect, challenge, and support them to do so (Kuh, 2003). With a unique function in the academic environment, advisers are the cornerstone of a student's undergraduate career—no matter what courses are taken, no matter how many times a major is changed, no matter how many equivalency forms are needed. “Academic advisers can play an integral role in promoting student success by assisting students in ways that encourage them to engage in the right kinds of activities, inside and outside the classroom ”(De Sousa, 2005). The ubiquitous adviser is crucial to establishing and maintaining student engagement; using student engagement data can help steward the improvement of academic advising.