Dr. Julie Tetley, Chief, Academic Advising and FYE
The United States Air Force Academy
julie.tetley@usafa.edu
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Engage student actively in the learning
process
Facilitate learning—act as c0-learners
Teach students how to evaluate information
Provide regular feedback, reinforcement, and
encouragement
Provide problem-solving tasks to students
Knowledgeable and caring
Demonstrate passion and interest
“An excellent advisor does the same
for the student’s entire curriculum
that the excellent teacher does for
one course.”
Marc Lowenstein, 2005
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Prescriptive Advising
 Advising as bookkeeping
 Student is passive recipient of knowledge
 Unidirectional Flow of information
 Advisor tells the student actions to
undertake
 Checklists, rules, requirements
 Instruction paradigm—teacher focused
 Developmental Advising
 Holistic model
 Focused on personal growth and
development
 Counseling model
“To say that students’ personal development is
the essential core of teaching is to ignore
teachers’ primary academic goals and
responsibilities” (Lowenstein, 2005)
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Learning-centered Advising
 Curriculum, Pedagogy, and
Outcomes for Advising
 Academically focused
 Mission-centered, student-centered
 Students as active learners, Advisors as
facilitator
“The core purpose of advising is to enhance
learning, a more academically oriented goal
than the broader personal growth
advocated by the developmental model”
(Lowenstein, 2005)
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Curriculum: What should students learn
through advising?
 Mission and Principles
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Pedagogy: How might the learning take
place?
Using this paradigm, advising is centered on
institutional mission/core values and on
student learning.
Mission
 Roanoke College develops students as whole persons and
prepares them for responsible lives of learning, service,
and leadership by promoting their intellectual, ethical,
spiritual and personal growth.
Principles
 At Roanoke College a liberal arts education prepares
students for lives of freedom with purpose. The college
aims to produce resourceful, informed, and responsible
citizens prepared for productive careers and for leadership
in community, with an understanding of community
appropriate to American diversity and to the increasingly
global experience of the 21st century.
Outcomes for Advising
 What attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, and skills
do you want students to have as a result of
the advising experience?
Students will:
 craft a coherent educational plan based on assessment of
abilities, aspirations, interests, and values
 use complex information from various sources to set
goals, reach decisions, and achieve those goals
 assume responsibility for meeting academic program
requirements
 articulate the meaning of higher education and the intent
of the institution’s curriculum
 cultivate the intellectual habits that lead to a lifetime of
learning
 behave as citizens who engage in the wider world around
them
Did this advisor approach advising from a teaching
and learning perspective? If so, in what ways?
 How was Lisa’s advisor able help her to get to a
place in which she is able to advocate for her
passions and interests in future conversations with
her parents?
 What curricular and co-curricular opportunities exist
here at Roanoke that might allow Lisa to explore
her interests and engage more in the community?
 What sorts of referrals or supports would be helpful
for Lisa?
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Require students to actively participate in the
advising process
 Ask students to seek out answers
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Provide opportunities for students to
enhance their skills of reflection, selfassessment, goal-setting, problem-solving,
and critical thinking skills
Ask students to reflect on their experiences—
respond in writing
Your first advising meeting with new students
 What were your favorite courses and strengths in
high school?
 What are your greatest concerns about coming to
college?
 Why did you choose to attend Roanoke?
 How do you think is Roanoke different than a
large, state university?
 Do you have any ideas about possible fields of
interest (majors) or career goals?
In general, in what ways is Roanoke meeting or not
meeting your expectations?
 What experiences at Roanoke have been most
rewarding?
 What experiences have been most challenging?
 What have you found to be the most stimulating
academic or intellectual experiences so far? Explain
why.
 In what way(s) are you addressing Roanoke’s
mission and core values? Why is the core curriculum
important?
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At the beginning of the year, what did you expect that your
sophomore year would be like? In what ways have your
expectations been met or not?
Talk about your level of confidence in your choice of an
academic major. Describe the process that you have gone
through to make this decision. Who have you asked for
advice or guidance?
Tell me about one of your best academic or co-curricular
experiences you’ve had so far in college. Have you
encountered any negatives experiences, challenges, or
stressful situations? If so, could you describe those for me?
What kind of support systems do you have and how have
those played a role in your college experience thus far?
Discuss 2 scenarios in groups of about 5
Apply the principles of the Advising as Learning
Paradigm
Scenarios:
 Scenario 1: Brian, Underperforming StudentAthlete
 Scenario 2: Mary Beth, Pressure to Declare a Major
 Scenario 3: Rose, Shattered Dreams
 Scenario 4: Brooke, Personal Issues
 Scenario 5: David, Not Reaching his Potential
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Group 1, 2
Group 3
Group 4, 5, 6
Group 7, 8
Group 9, 10, 11, 12, 15
Group 13, 14
Kime
Ramser-Beamer
Garrett
President’s Dining
Room
Pickle
Patterson
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Keep Questioning Paramount—asking probing and
open-ended questions
Use your resources and act as a referral agent
Slow Down—remember process rather than just
product
Do what is comfortable for you as an advisor/teacher,
know your boundaries
Turn more responsibility to the student—Balance
Challenge with Support
Do whatever you can to encourage students to reflect
on their experiences
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High Impact Practices are
defined by:
 Student-faculty contact
 Active learning
 Prompt feedback
 Time on task
 High expectations
 Respect for diverse
learning styles
 Cooperation among
students
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Advising done well is a
high impact practice
Connecting students to
High Impact Practices
through advising
 Undergraduate research
 Service-learning
 Experiential learning
 Internships
 Diversity/Global
Learning
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How do you work with advisees to encourage and plan for
experiential learning? What techniques are successful?
How do your strategies differ based on the student? (e.g.
the highly engaged honors student versus the student that
just wants to “get through” their courses; 1st year students
versus juniors and seniors)
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What are your frustrations/concerns about advising
students about experiential learning opportunities? Pitfalls
and obstacles you have encountered?
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What supports/information would be helpful for advisors in
the area of experiential education?
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Time constraints
 Consider group advising when appropriate
 Use upperclass students in the process
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Can we really do more?
 Require more from students
 Use technology to your benefit: DataTel degree
audits, online major declaration
 Use referrals—don’t try to do it all
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Begin to discuss advising within the category of
teaching when creating promotion packets
What resonated most with
you today?
One take-away
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Buckminster Fuller said:
You should never try to
change the course of a great
ship by applying force to the
bow. You shouldn’t even try
it by applying force to the
rudder. Rather you should
apply force to the trim-tab.
The shift to the Learning
Paradigm is the trim-tab of
the great ship of advising
(Adapted from Barr and Tagg, 1995)
Dr. Julie Tetley
The United States Air Force Academy
julie.tetley@usafa.edu
719-333-8973