The Advising Express
Volume 4, Issue 4, November 20, 2014
Brought to you by:
Announcements!
In this Issue...
• Simple but Effective Evidence-Based Advice for
College Students
• Advising Reminders on the Liberal Arts Core - Part 2
• Importance of Faculty Advisors
• How to Make Effective Referrals
• Steps for students trying to get into a closed course
• ALEKS Math Placement Exam Changes
• Important Dates
• Welcome to the Novermber issue.
• We encourage any feedback regarding
content and design. Please email
david.marchesani@uni.edu with suggestions.
• Look for the link symbols
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indicate text hyperlinks that will lead you
outside the publication.
Simple but Effective Evidence-Based Advice for
College Students: Microaction and Macrochange
Helping Students Suceed!
Sometimes, we focus on the bigger picture rather than the smaller steps needed in order to help students be
successful. Dr. Sugn Hee Kim from the University of Kentucky studied what advisors can do to help students who
struggle academically in college. She found that initiating microactions (actions that require little effort, time,
and resources) create positive macrochanges in students’ lives overall adhearing to their success.
Examples of Microactions
Below are microactions that advisors can recommend
to advisees, depending on challenges they may face:
1. Sitting in the front row of class.
2. Jotting down important dates
(e.g. the day of adding/dropping classes).
3. Creating a potential exam question from
what was learned right after class
(rather than mmediately checking phone).
Liberal Arts Core
Advising Reminders on the Liberal Arts Core - Part 2
Listed below are important advising notes for the Liberal Arts Core, Categories 4-6. We have
selected key points advisors need to be aware of. Find all Liberal Arts Core information on the
Liberal Arts Core (LAC) website.
Tips & Reminders
Liberal Arts Core 1D Wellness - HPELS 1059 Dimensions of Well Being will satisfy this requirement. Although this class is 2 credits/units, a student does not need to make up the additional
hour with another PE/Wellness course.
Category 5A: Sociocultural & Historical Perspectives
Importance of Faculty Advisors
Category 5B: Individual & Institutional Perspectives
“Frequent faculty-student contact in and
out of the classroom is the most important factor in student motivation and
involvement”
Category 5C: Diversity & Global Issues
- Any student who completes Category 5 coursework prior to fall
2014 may opt to follow either the 2014 Liberal Arts Core or the
2004 Liberal Arts Core.
2004 Liberal Arts Core
Waiting Lists - If a student needs to put his or her name on a waiting list, please follow these
directions.
- Students are required to complete one course from 5A; one from
5B; and a third course from 5A, 5B, or 5C.
Category 4A: Life Sciences
Category 4B: Physical Sciences
2014 Liberal Arts Core
- A. Chickering & Z. Gamson
- Students are required to complete one course from 5A; one from
5B; and one from 5C.
- For all courses listed under Life Sciences, with the exception of ANTH 1001 Human Origins, a
student must have satisfied the minimum UNI entrance requirements in English and Mathematics.
Some courses require a minimum ALEKS score.
- Students are required to take a course with a scheduled laboratory from either LAC Category
4A: Life Sciences or 4B: Physical Sciences.
For 5B: Satisfactory completion of both ECON 1041 Principles
of Macroeconomics and ECON 1051 Principles of Microeconomics by all non-business majors and Business Teaching majors,
through UNI or transfer may subsititute for ECON 1031: Introduction to Economics.
Category 6: Capstone Experience
Courses
The following courses are intended for students who are pursuing a science or science-related
major or pre-professional program:
- Junior or Senior standing is a prerequisite for all Capstone
BIOL 1033
CHEM 1110
EARTHSCI 1110
BIOL 2051
CHEM 1130
EARTHSCI 1210
BIOL 2052EARTH SCI 3328
BIOL 3101
- The Capstone requirement must be fulfilled through UNI. No
course from another institution will transfer to fulfill the Capstone
requirement, regardless of equivalency.
PHYSICS 1511
PHYSICS 1701
SCIED 1200 - Inquiry to Life Science, SCIED 1300 - Inquiry into Physcial Science,
SCIED 1100 - Inquiry into Earth and Science are for only elementary education majors.
How to Make Effective Referrals
courses.
- Students who transfer to UNI with an AA degree will still need to
complete the LAC Category 6 requirement.
Steps for students trying to get into a closed course:
CopnConCont
Many times there other resources available on campus that would be helpful to students. If a situation
occurs where you need to make a referral, keep the following three-step framework in mind:
1. Ask if there is another section of the class open. If so, have the student rearrange his or her schedule.
1. Try to put yourself in the student’s shoes and communicate understanding.
2. Think what resources are available to help with this issue and normalize the service.
3. Transition from the advising office to other office.
become available in a course section as well as to gauge if another section could be opened. Note that not all
departments use waiting lists, and each department uses waiting lists differently. Have the student check with the
department offering the course regarding their waiting list process.
UNI Resources:
- Referral Resources: Directory of Curricular and Career Information 2014-2015
- Advisor Handbook Quick Referral Guide
Information obtained from the article, How to Make Effective Referrals: A Three Step Framework,
by Mark C. Rehfuss (Regent University) and Melissa Mentzer (Ashland University).
2. Have the student get on the waiting list if offered! Departments may use waiting lists for priority when seats
3. Remind the student to check his or her Student Center regularly. Recommend that the student checks his or
her Student Center at least twice per day. Other students will be making changes to their schedules for the student
to potentially find an open seat.
4. Have the student go to the instructor or the department office to request into a course section. In some
departments it is up to the instructor to decide who to let in; whereas in others, it is the department office that will
make such approvals.
ALEKS Math Placement Exam Changes
The new version of ALEKS is up and running for students in the MyUNIverse
portal. Any student who takes ALEKS now will have access to a free initial
assessment, 6 months of access to an online review module, and up to four retakes. Placement scores, recommended review modules, and FAQs for the new
ALEKS exam (called ALEKS PPL, or “ALEKS2” in our system) are available here:
https://www.uni.edu/orientation/math-placement.
There have been some questions about the re-take procedures for students
who took the old version of ALEKS in a previous cohort (for example, before orientation in summer 2014) and now need to re-take due to delaying their math
enrollment until spring semester. These students should go back into ALEKS
through their MyUNIverse portal and take the new version of the exam. They
will not need any additional access codes.
Course pre-reqs have been set up in the catalog for both the old and new
placement scores, so the system will recognize both. Please feel free to contact
the Math Department with follow-up questions.
Important Dates
December
1
Instruction Resumes
15
Final Examinations Begin
19
Semester Ends
20Commencement
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 advsing by
visiting the Advisor Handbook at:
http://www.uni.edu/advisorhandbook/