Editor's note: This is the sixth in a series of seven articles written by students who were enrolled in Dr. Jennifer Bloom's course, Developmental Academic Advising in Higher Education, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign during the 1999 summer semester. For an overview of the course, along with a description of all seven articles, please refer to Dr. Bloom's article, “Developmental Academic Advising in Higher Education: The Class.”

In 1972, Burns B. Crookston was the first author to state that, “Advising functions ... are essentially teaching functions” (1994, p. 5). He pointed out that, “ ... advising is concerned not only with a specific personal or vocational decision but also with facilitating the student's rational processes ... problem solving, decision-making, and evaluation skills. Not only are these advising functions but, deriving from the above assumptions, they are essentially teaching functions as well” (p. 5). Because of the similarities between teaching and advising, it would follow that techniques to improve teaching might also improve advising. The concept of active learning is currently a hot topic in the teaching pedagogy field. Active learning involves incorporating various strategies in the classroom in order to increase student learning and long-term retention of the material presented. Reading, writing, discussion, problem solving, and role playing are just a few examples of active-learning techniques used to encourage students' motivation and participation in the learning process. This paper will explore how active-learning techniques can be incorporated into an adviser's repertoire of skills in order to make the advising process more relevant and meaningful to the student advisee.

Arthur W. Chickering (1994) considers the fundamental purpose of advising as, “ ... to help students become effective agents for their own lifelong learning and personal development. Our relationships with students – the questions we raise, the perspectives we share, the resources we suggest, the short-term decisions and long-range plans we help them think through – all should aim to increase their capacity to take charge of their own existence” (p.50). As such, having a variety of strategies for asking questions and for getting a student more actively involved in an advising session is of great importance. Incorporating learning strategies into the advising session, much as they have been incorporated into the classroom, will promote ownership of each student's decisions and destiny. Bonwell and Eison (1991) note that an important active-learning principle involves the instructor/adviser sharing control with students (p. 63). A student can learn how to inquire, how to extract relevant information, and how to then organize these ideas through a more interactive approach versus that of the more traditional prescriptive style of advising. By applying active-learning strategies to academic advising, the pitfalls of prescriptive advising can be avoided because the student is continually involved in determining his/her future.

According to Bonwell and Eison (1991), active learning is enhanced by determining which behaviors “ ... promote interpersonal rapport by projecting warmth, openness, predictability, and a focus on student-centered teaching” (p. 22). They include:

These are useful concepts to apply to an advising session because the goal is to achieve a very open, two-way line of communication in which the student feels comfortable enough to ask questions and communicate his/her needs to the adviser. Utilization of active learning in the classroom sometimes requires instructors to learn new skills and techniques that may differ from what they may have needed for a traditional lecture style of teaching (Bonwell & Eison, 1991, p. 63). Likewise, an adviser might have to develop skills not otherwise used in prescriptive advising. For example, the active-learning techniques for more effective questioning include:

Initially, advisers may have to work consciously to incorporate these active-learning techniques, but as they continue to utilize them, the techniques will become habitual. The more interactive approach to working with students will help ensure that students won't become bored and inattentive during advising sessions. The more the student is involved, the more the student will retain the information presented to him or her.

The utilization of active-learning techniques in academic advising has many potential benefits. If faculty members and advisers utilize these techniques, students will perceive that the institution as a whole is truly committed to student learning and development. Students will also perceive the adviser as an approachable resource person and a crucial part of their support network on campus. Active learning techniques have the potential to add a new dimension to advising in that the student is an integral part of the process. “Students must have an awareness of the full meaning of the assessment process. It should be experienced as something that is happening with them rather than to them, something they are helping to shape rather than solely being shaped by” (Brown, 1984, p. 199). Incorporating active-learning techniques allows individual advisers to customize these techniques to the particular needs of students that they serve. It is hoped that students will also learn by example from the adviser how to successfully use active-learning techniques such as effective listening, questioning, and discussion skills.

Incorporating active-learning strategies in the classroom and in the advising session demonstrates a commitment to reaching the students in the most effective way possible. Although incorporating active-learning techniques may initially require more preparation and planning on the part of the instructor or the adviser, the benefits to the student will outweigh this initial output of effort on the part of the instructor/adviser. Sharing the process of advising with the student will assure that each advising session is a unique and meaningful learning experience for all parties involved. “The developmental adviser sees learning as a shared experience and recognizes that the student is not likely to learn from the relationship with the adviser unless the adviser himself is open to learning” (Crookston, 1994, p. 8).