Worthington Scranton
Worthington Scranton Faculty Senate
Advising Committee
Academic Advising: Student Perspectives
Dr. Janet Ann Melnick
Dr. Russell Casey
1
Advising Committee Goals
-Access students perception of the role of an
advisor.
-Engagement of students in the advising
process.
-Increase retention on campus
-Have faculty understand advising from the
students’ perspective.
2
Design Protocol
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Qualitative
Questions derived from Advising Committee
Focus Group Format
 Used to obtain data about feelings &
opinions
 Small groups format

To encourage participation
3
Focus Group Research Design Protocol

Sample
 Random sample
 Population: All currently enrolled PSU-WS
Students- Spring 2011
 75 currently enrolled (Spring 2011
Semester) students
4
Focus Group Research Design Protocol
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Invitation Letter
Three Focus Group sessions
 Noon and 5:00 p.m.
 April 18, 2011
Incentive to participate
 Gift certificate to the Campus Bookstore
 Free lunch /dinner provided
Reminder emails were sent to encourage
participation
5
Second Round


Same protocol
 300 currently enrolled (Fall 2011 Semester)
students
Two possible focus groups (October 24, 2011)


noon
5 p.m.
6
Focus Group Questions
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What semester or year are you in currently
in?
Do you know who your advisor is or how to
find out?
How often do you meet with your advisor
each semester?
7
Research Questions Continued…

What areas have you discussed with your
advisor?
 Schedule of courses for upcoming
semester
 Discuss program and major requirements
 Talk about career options
 Discuss academic concerns
 Discuss graduate programs
 Ask for a referral
8
Research Questions Continued…
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What specific issues/challenges with advising services
did you encounter this academic year?
Describe your experiences with academic advising.
What resources of the campus have you used?
What are the best times to meet? What kinds of
information are you most interested in talking with an
advisor about?
9
Research Questions Continued…
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What has been the most rewarding aspect of
advising for you?
What has been the most frustrating aspect of
advising for you?
What advice would you give to improve
academic advising?
What do you feel are the strengths of the
way advising activities, that you have
participated in, have been provided?
10
Research Questions continued…
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
What do you feel are the weaknesses of the
way advising activities, that you have
participated in, have been provided?
Are there any other comments you would like
to add to this discussion about academic
advising at PSUWS?
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Focus Group April 2011 Sample
Characteristics


One Focus Group was conducted
Six Students Participated
 1 freshman; 1 sophmore;2 juniors; 2
seniors
 5 females & 1 male
 1 student self-identified as an adult learner
 5 traditional age
12
Focus Groups October, 2011Sample
Characteristics


Two Focus Group was conducted
10 Students Participated
 3 freshmen; 1 sophomore; 1 juniors; 5
seniors
 4 females & 6 males
 10 traditional age
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Results/ Main Themes

Availability of Advisor

“Like, in the past when I’ve had to make
an appointment with an advisor, like, it’s
like my old advisor was available like 2
days a week for an hour each day, but like
he would have appointments like booked
like so it was just too, it was too much. “
14
Results/ Main Themes
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Advisors not responding to requests
“This is my first semester here before I used to be at Penn State Harrisburg and I just,
I had to go to my advisor because I had a course I transferred from the (inaudible)
college and Harrisburg, um, it was a 3 credit course over there and at Penn State it is
a 4 credit. So, Penn State Harrisburg waived one credit. When I transferred here the
waived credit was moved out so I had to go and tell my advisor about that but he
didn’t do anything (inaudible). I talked to the Registrar and I just got it fixed.” (April
Group)
Advising on the Fly
 Students found it useful & convenient
…“I stopped going to my advisor since they started that thing where you get the free lunch for the
advising when you can walk in.”;… “It’s really easy cause you don’t have to make an appointment.”
Another student noted… “Student: I really like that advising on the fly. Melnick: Advising on the fly?
.Student: Because you don’t have to make an appointment and like not even like I’m sure like if I email
(names advisor) like I know that she would be available; I know that cause I see her, but like even my
schedule, you know what I mean, cause like nursing is you’re like busy like you’re and all majors but like
it’s just nice to be able to walk in and not be like having to make an appointment two weeks in advance
and then just have the degree audit and just go over it.” (April Group)
15
Results/ Main Themes
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Use of Advisor
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Seen Primarily for advising
 Discussing major requirements
 Graduate programs
 Depended on year of student
 Closer to graduation more likely to think about references and
graduate programs
Now that I’m graduating, um the rest of my life. I met with my advisor and
said “I just need a couple minutes of your time” he said “for what” and I
said “to talk about the rest of my life” and he just laughed. And I
did.”(October, 2011)
More assistance needed understanding requirements for the
major especially for freshman.
16
Results/ Main Themes
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Advisor Not Understanding Course
Substitutions
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Major issue
“Cause he didn’t seem like he honestly understood the
process of what he had to do. Originally when he was like,
he was like, “I don’t know, yeah”. ... “And I’m sure it’s a
pain in the a.. for him to go through all of that.” (April
Group)

When I was trying to transfer to U Park, and um, there was
a lot of confusion there, that’s when I got the different
advisor because I didn’t transfer down and then I just
never left so I got thrown back in to get an advisor here
(October Groups)
17
Results/ Main Themes
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Extra Help from Advisors
 Very appreciative when advisors go the
extra mile such as mentoring, discussing graduate
programs)
Mentoring
Confusion with Degree Audits
 Frustrated when they and/or advisor did
not understand the degree audit
 Want more interactive degree audits

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18
Results/ Main Themes
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Knowing What Questions To Ask
 Felt advisors answered their questions but
they needed to know what questions to
ask
 Frustrating especially early in their
academic career
“I think like when I come up with a question, they answer it but I have to come up with a question which
sort of, I don’t know, like…” continues…, “Melnick: You don’t know what questions to ask.… “ No, like I
just think that they should tell you what to do before you figure it out and encounter a barrier because
like I, since alternative scoring how I explained that, that went in late because I didn’t know so I had to
do that last minute so then my campus location had to be done last minute. Like everything was just so
rushed and for that one week when I, when my degree audit still said Worthington, I tried to schedule
my classes and I couldn’t do it; I got so nervous and like I just wish that someone told me before.” (April
Group)
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Results/ Main Themes
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Concern :Taking Credits (and the Cost of Tuition) that
Do Not Count Toward the Student’s Major.
 Major concern
 Extra time and money
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“it you know what I mean if it like, in that case or even in your case for a 3
credit class is $1600 bucks. And if you, if I took a class that I didn’t have to I’d
p….d. You know what I mean? For $1600 bucks like you know what I mean like?
“Or for you if you had to wait a year… to move on, like I would be, I’d be beside
myself…” (April Group)
I had, last year I got a new advisor when I started the program and I went from
full time status and I wanted to drop down to part time with just my nursing
classes and I was told by my advisor that if I did that, I would lose my financial
aid. That it would affect it, that I would lose health, that I could possibly lose
health insurance. I’m an adult learner, I carry my own health insurance and I
didn’t know how that was quite possible. But if I had just taken that, I’d be
taking classes I didn’t need. But instead, I took the walk up and came up to
financial aid and was told ‘no, your financial aid actually will decrease but so will
your tuition’, so. But if I took what my advisor said as law, I’d still be taking 12
credits for nothing, like.” (October Groups)
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Results/ Main Themes
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Campus Resource Awareness
 Registrar, Business Office, Success Center, Career
Services, Nurse etc
 In regards to the success Center one student noted, … “Like
this, I was just over here, I saw them working on it I was
taking a class in the summer I saw the construction and I
never even thought to come over and look at it. I was like
wow.” (April Groups)
In all 3 groups most students were not aware of resources other
than the library and computer labs.
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Results/ Main Themes
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Best Practices: What Works!
 Disregard emails except from faculty
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“I check it every day but I’m like used to like the same
names coming up from here so, I don’t know, I don’t look at
all of them. Only the ones that are like, really pertain to
me.”(October Groups)
Empathy for Their concerns
“Ah, I know like going to talk to (names Professor), you ah, you
can see, like he can relate, like, you know, I know he’s working
on his Ph.D.” (April Group)
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22
Results/ Main Themes
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Best Practices: What Works! Continued
 Solving their issues
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
“I know she’s here on Monday, Wednesday, Friday so the one day I went to her and I
just went to her office and she just was able to call main campus and ask them a
question right there and I talked to them and just the fact that they were able, well
she was able to straighten that out in like 5 minutes just was really um helpful and it
was like a weight off my chest.”
Another student noted… “Um, one of the strengths I feel like earlier that ah, my
questions are always answered, so that for me is a great strength and like I never
walk out leaving confused or anything, like I have the sense of like knowing what my
next step is and so that for me is a big strength and always being there for me like in
a nutshell like being there for me…”(April Group)
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Student Recommendations
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Class schedules:
“I think that ah, this campus puts the schedule of classes too late like you only have two
weeks before you start scheduling like other campuses when it’s time (inaudible) they
already have the classes up for the next semester. This campus isn’t does that. It’s only like
two weeks in between so the students even doesn’t know like what classes are going to be
offered, what not.” (April Group)

Encouraging summer classes:
“Yeah. No one really pushes like summer classes. I mean, kids think that they just take
them if they need them but they really are—I think it’s helpful because it could lighten your
load and if you take over 6 credits you get financial aid so you save $500 no one really says like
Oh, did you ever think about taking class in the summer.” (April Group)
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Student Recommendations
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Engage Students
I would say like be more engaging towards the student. Like ask them
‘What do you want to do with your life’ and then give advice on what
classes to take, what would be the best option, I think just like to give
a little bit more advice, not just answer the question that I have, I’d
say.”(April Group)
Another student noted: “I think more time, like give more time so that
advisor probably should stay in the office just a little bit longer or
something so if you could go and meet them, you know like give more
time to students you know. Because I know, like a lot of advisors are
not there most of the time. They’re probably once there once a week
or something, in the office or something, but time is more important.”
(October Groups)
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Student Recommendations
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Degree Audits:

“I think you can take a load off the whole process by making that web site better.
Melnick: The audit more interactive? Student: Right and more explanatory that
way. I think that would relieve a lot.”(April Group)

I think that the degree audit is really hard to understand. I didn’t think it was selfexplanatory, I think I had a really hard time understanding it. Even now that all my
plus signs are up there, I still like will be looking at it and I missed a few classes. I
should have graduated the last semester, and I had to take a summer class and I’m
doing independent study this semester that um my advisor missed and I missed ‘cause
I did look at my degree audit. But um, my understanding of the class that I’m taking
for independent now, I didn’t know that it was a mandatory class. I thought it was
like an additional class that you could have opted to take so that’s why I’m in that
now.”(October Groups)
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Student Recommendations
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Student Responsibility
 Interest in understanding the process
 Completing tasks themselves

“You know I mean like I transfer credits from Luzerne all the time. Like back and
forth—I can do it, like once I figured it out I was like ‘wow I don’t have to go and talk
to somebody about this…it’s not that hard.’ And I’d rather do it myself; you know what
I mean? Like you wanna be a part of what’s going on, so it’s not—if I had something
believe me I’d be like, this needs take care of…you know what I mean? Like any, like
if you went to a store and you—something wasn’t right you’d be like ‘this needs to be
taken care of’; I’m paying a lot of money for this.” (April Group)

It is the student’s responsibility. And uh, we’re higher education field, and we need to
step up at one point. Once we get out of here, you know, it’s just us in the working
world. So, while people do put a lot of pressures on the advising staff, I’d just like to
say that some of it’s like a little um, unwarranted. We are our own people, we are our
own students. And as good as the advising staff is, nothing’s gonna overcome like,
student competence.”(October Group)
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Student Recommendations
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Advising and FTCAP
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“And I think that every semester advisors should email their students like, I’m your advisor. Cause I know like
some freshman might not know…” (April Group)
“I remember, because it was chaos. When I came in it was chaos. I don’t know why we were held up in this
room and we were meeting with people right over there, and they had no idea what I needed as a Nursing
major, so I was getting, it was like mid to late August so everything was full. So basically I was put in what
was available just so I could get started and luckily I was able to like appeal it all and go to the teachers like
you had to and get in what I needed but it was chaotic.” (October Groups)
Clarity in advising
Instruction on how to use web resources as they relate to
advising
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Conclusions/ Recommendations
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Overall students were frustrated with the
advising process:
 Degree audits (readability)
 Response from advisors
Students were aware of cost
 Did not want to spend any extra time or
money in securing their degree
29
Conclusions/ Recommendations

Students were aware of the responsibilities of
their advisors
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Apologetic
But, were very frustrated when they could not get in touch
with their advisors.
Students were also frustrated that the degree audits and
found them cumbersome
 Interactive degree audits
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Conclusions/Recommendations
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Appreciative of advisors and /or faculty who took the time to
explain the process to them in addition to helping with
course schedules or course substitutions.
Students need to have multiple attempts at explaining the
degree audit and the associated items needed for major
requirements and class scheduling.
More time needs to be spent, by advisors, explaining degree
requirements especially for freshman and transfer students.
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Conclusions/Recommendations
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Suggestions include individual, group and web access tutorials on
these subjects such as creating a video walk through of how to read a
degree audit for the different majors here at PSU WS and posting on
the web under the appropriate program might lessen student anxiety
and familiarize a student with how to read a degree audit.
The current efforts to revise FTCAP are supported by the data from the
second round of focus groups. Students found it confusing ad as noted
chaotic in many regards. As this is their first experience with the
advising process it can set a positive or negative note that will be
carried throughout the students’ academic career. A better experience
with the first advising contact would help students to be less confused
and more apt to seek out future advising interaction.
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