Students who are highly motivated and well prepared usually tend to do well in college and go on to graduate. However, for different reasons, many universities and colleges tend to enroll students with a mix of abilities and educational backgrounds. Also, there are some educational institutions that seem to be more efficient than others in assisting students from various backgrounds and abilities to succeed in college. These institutions identify that in terms of personal development and learning, what students do when they get to college is more important than what they bring to college.
Academic advisors play a vital role in encouraging students succeed by helping students in a way that helps them to interact in the right kinds of activities outside and inside the classroom. Here are some strategies that advisors can adopt for the success of their students:
Interact with students
One of the ways through which advisors can contribute to the overall quality of the campus environment and student learning is by assisting to support, participate and develop mentoring programs. The mentor-mentee relation helps in creating good connections with one or more than one important individual. These relationships are most important for those students who are in underrepresented groups in campus.
Know your students well
The most important task of advisors is to assist the students to change for the better by making sure that they are making good use of the institution’s resources for learning. In order to make it happen, advisors go to great lengths to know as much as they can about their students – when and where they require help, their dreams and talents and where they are from.
Advise and student success is a team activity
The personal and educational development goals of advising in high performing schools are shared among more than one partners and not just the individual who is “assigned” this task. The professional academic advisors along with mentors, student affairs staff and faculty constitute the numerous safety net and early alert systems for students; especially amongst students for whom institutional research studies show – may have high risk of dropping out. Teams like this tend to go a long way in helping students by providing the necessary information that they require.
Identify ways to social and academic success
Besides helping the students in choosing the correct courses, advisors motivate students to take benefit of the personal and learning opportunities that is available in their schools. Advisors should ask their students to follow and apply what they are learning in real life situations, which will enhance student learning in ways that various courses might not be able to attain. One another important factor that will help in going through the college effectively is by learning the campus culture – the rituals, practices and traditions that describe how and why things are done at schools.
Get more detailed insights in this webinar on how faculty advising can play a key role in your institution’s success with expert speaker Kent Seaver. Look at the pros and cons of faculty advising at the higher education level.
