The Advising Express Volume 5, Issue 4, October 26, 2015 Announcements! In this Issue... • • • • • • • • Welcome to the October 26, 2015 issue. Dropping a Course Student Excuses Student2Student Event: Geography Club Registration Meet a Peer Academic Advisor in Residence National Student Exchange Important Dates and Deadlines • We encourage any feedback regarding content and design. Please email david.marchesani@uni.edu with suggestions. • Look for the link symbols to indicate text hyperlinks that will lead you outside the publication. What to Think about when a Student wants to Drop a Course A student may want to think about these areas when they want to drop a course such as: •Financial Aid- will they drop below full-time status? •What does having a “W” mean on their transcript? •When are the deadlines for dropping a course to avoid an “F” on their transcript? A useful tool to help these students is the flow-chart on the right (click the picture to see larger). Students can also be referred to several services to help them decide including their PAIRs, the Academic Learning Center, and Tutoring Services. Remember, the last day to drop a full-semester course with a “W” instead of an “F” is October 30th by 5 p.m. Deciding whether or not to drop a class Academic Information -Cumulative GPA -Major Selection -Summer Courses -If GPA is below 2.0 and student needs higher to be admitted to major choice: Complete GPA Evaluation Examine Study Habits Minimum Load Requirements -Financial Aid -Scholarships -Insurance -Athletic Eligibility -International Student -Voc. Rehabilitation -Other? (IF YES) Academic Requirements How much will dropping a course affect requirements for major, Liberal Arts Core, admission to your major/school, or prerequisites for other courses? Reasons For Dropping -Changing major -CLEP/previous credit -Time demands or work and/or activities -Health reasons -Low grade If student will be short of credits, EXPLORE ALTERNATIVES ALTERNATIVES: - Credit by CLEP exam - Add 2nd half-sem. course - Credit/No credit -Guided Independent Study course (UNI’s do not toward Financial Aid) -Summer Session course -Auditing a course -Take an “incomplete” If necessary, examine major choice For assistance visit Office of Academic Advising (102 Gilchrist) Examine Study Habits & SelfManagement Course Grade Assessment -Grade so far? -Checked with professor? -Final grade based on what criteria? -How many exams remaining? -Minimum grade required? -Other factors? Student Excuses Excuses, Excuses Student excuses are part of the academic environment. But should they be? Using the theory of transformative learning, we may be able to change student responses from creating an excuse for why a task wasn’t accomplished to how can the student change their perspective and habits to gain the best college experience available (Kunkle, 2015). Most student excuses form to relieve the student from guilt in not accomplishing a task or goal that they are responsible for. In the excuses themselves lie components that the students create that are subconsciously prioritized in way that prevented them from completing an assigned task. Faculty and staff have an opportunity to help students realize that they are only hurting themselves. “When students are presented with the explanation that their excuses are actually a reflection of their choices and priorities, students must then question their learned interpretation of excuses,”(Kunkle, 2015, p. 1). This creates what Mezirow (1990) terms a disorienting dilemma and Studythe Abroad forces student to change their behaviors or continue on the same path toward unfulfillment. “A new perspective, one which explores how excuses mask our choices and shields an individual from their own truth, has begun to form through a process of self-reflection, (Kunkle, 2015, p. 1). The goal is to spark a question within an advisee’s head. The self-reflection must be a genuine attempt by the student to evaluate their behaviors and priorities to create a positive change. As advisors and mentors to these students, we have the unique opportunity to guide our students to move them forward on a path that will help be successful long into the future. The long-term goal of this practice is to help students make different choices, both inside and outside the classroom, so excuses are not a part of their day-to-day lives anymore. Student2Student Event! Geography Club November 4, 2015 4:00 p.m.- 5:30 p.m. in the Bender Hall Rec Room Learn about the Geography major and Go Geocaching on UNI‘s campus! Become a treasure hunter! Registration is coming! Registration for students is starting in November! It’s that time of year again. The Spring 2016 Schedule of Classes is available and students are gearing up to get registered. A refresher on viewing and reading advisement reports, reviewing holds, and searching the schedule of classes can help make your upcoming appointments run smoothly. SIS has several aids and tutorials to help you with this! You can also find more information on advisement reports on the Advisor Development eLearning course. To view the available resources SIS offers, click here! To view the Advisor Development course in your eLearning, click here to sign in! Registration Dates: Graduate Students: November 2 Seniors: November 2 - 3 Juniors: November 4- 6 Sophomores: November 9 - 12 Freshman: November 13 - 18 Unclassified: November 18 Meet a Peer Academic Advisor in Residence! Meet Maddison! She’s the Shull Hall PAIR and a Senior in Public Relations! How do you handle difficult or special circumstance advisees? “[They] usually just need reassurance. I have a recurring appointment with one resident that knows what they’re doing as far as writing papers and such, but feels confident with an extra set of eyes. It’d be easy to say, ‘You don’t need me, you can do it yourself,’ but a little positive reinforcement goes a long way.” The most rewarding experience of being a PAIR? “Because I’ve done it for three years, [it] is seeing my residents grow as students over time. I’m helping a student apply for graduation that last year I helped with her first semester of classes at UNI.” Contact Maddison at ShullPAIR@uni.edu! sadf National Student Exchange UNI students have the opportunity to attend one of 166 colleges and universities across the U.S. and Canada for one or two semesters while paying UNI tuition! Exciting opportunities include University of South Carolina, New Mexico State University, University of Montana, California State University-San Bernardino, and University of Idaho. This is a great opportunity to enhance a student’s academic, social and cultural experiences, travel to a different part of the country, and expand social and cultural awareness. There will be several informational meetings for students coming up! For more information, check out their website! NSE Informational Meetings: Tuesday, November 3: 3 p.m. in the Elm Room, Lower-Level Maucker Union Wednesday, December 2: 3 p.m. in the Elm Room, Lower-Level Maucker Union Thursday, January 14: 3 p.m. in the Elm Room, Lower-Level Maucker Union Wednesday February 3: 3 p.m. in the Elm Room, Lower-Level Maucker Union Important Dates 10/27 Majors in Minutes, Maucker Union Ballroom, 7 p.m.-9 p.m. 10/28 Fall 2015 Graduation Fair in the Old Central Ballroom in Maucker Union, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. 10/31 Halloween 11/1 Daylight Savings Time Ends 11/6-11/8 Family Weekend 11/11 Veteran’s Day 11/23- 11/27 Thanksgiving Break Deadlines 10/30 11/13 Last day to drop Full-Semester course without an “F” Last Day to Drop a Second Half-Semester course without an “F” Contact Us Office of Academic Advising 102 Gilchrist Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0389 Phone: 319-273-3406 Fax: 319-273-7515 Email: advising-services@uni.edu Advisor Contacts by College Stay up-to-date on everything advising by visiting the Advisor Handbook at: http://www.uni.edu/advisorhandbook/ Content by Ashley Jones, Graduate Assistant