Advising Tips and ToolsHave you ever wished you could remember your last conversation with a student?

Do you manually look up grades and calculate averages?

Ever wonder what other advisors the student has seen?

Today we consider: Advising tools in AriesWeb (

http://ariesweb.colostate.edu) Who’s using it?

Advisors from 49 departments have access 593,173 Advisor Assignments have been made since 2007.

How do we use it? GPA Tools Advisor Comments Advisor Assignments

Demonstrate GPA Tools and Advisor Comments Benefits and Concerns of a central system for Advisor

Comments How to record a good comment Demonstrate Advisor Assignments

DemonstrationGPA Tools and Advising Comments http://ariesweb.colostate.edu GPA Calculation:

Per Course: GPA Credits * Grade Points = Quality Points

Total Quality Points / Total GPA Credits = GPA Comments

Individual Mass Reason Codes, Contact Types

Advising Comments in any central system:Pros and ConsBenefits ConcernsPersonalization – remember their dog’s name!

Information shared with larger community than intended

Shared Information - Information about what was discussed can be passed on without having to try to track previous advisors down

Privacy of conversations

Written documentation LegalityMore efficient – one place, one method for tracking, more convenient Extra Data - excel exportPaper saving

How to record a good comment Possible Topics to Include in ARIESweb Advisor Comments

Suggested courses Plan of action Referrals to other offices or departments Grade point calculations Personal facts/interests

Possible Format for ARIESweb Advisor Comments Description of the situation Factors involved Plan of action

Confidentiality Protocol The confidentiality of this tool is ultimately determined by how the

information is used by the individual. All faculty and staff with access to advisor comments must sign a

confidentiality statement explaining user responsibilities.

http://advising.colostate.edu/advisors/tipsNtools/aries_ad_comments.cfm

Recording Comments Write comments in a factual format rather than an editorial

format: For example: Jane chose not to take a course that was

recommended. (Factual)Rather than: Jane was stubborn and would not take the right course. (Editorial)

We discussed learning challenges, rather than stating that the student has a learning disability as fact.

Do not include personal information the student may not want shared with other university staff.

Advisors should report any safety concerns about students directly to the CSU Student Consultation Team as well as enter related objective comments regarding these students along with any individual counseling referrals.

Example Semester Registration: FA12: Ned is debating between ECON and/or POLS

major/minor and possibly a minor in business. He no longer wants to major in business. We reviewed each checksheet and showed him the difference between majors and minors. Emailed him links to each dept. Gave him AC horizons to review. Scheduled an appointment with the Career Center. We will meet again in May to discuss majors. Has a job painting houses this summer and is getting a new lab puppy after finals.

  For FA12: CO150, ECON204, POLS101 and POLS232 or 241 or

103, and a choice from 3D.

 

Example Probation: PEAK: Guy is considering transferring to FRCC, finishing core and figuring

out his major. He is still considering business and reviewed controls/GPA. Used Target GPA and it would take 16 credits of A’s to earn a 3.0. Explained CC credits would transfer to CSU but not alter his GPA. Last semester he did not attend all classes (says he is doing much better this semester), felt his classes were too big, we talked about how to manage a large class. Reviewed questions he missed on PEAK quiz, R/D policy, UWD, and PRB policy and made a plan of action that includes attending TILT study halls, going to class and making a weekly study schedule with location and hours.

  Needs to explore majors: Emailed links to AC&H, ONet, and CC. He

admitted he has not spent much time doing research on majors. Suggested another appointment to do so.

  Showed him the Intent to Return (online) form in case he does leave. 

Example Walk-In: WI: Jeff came in to discuss the potential of a retro. He and

his fiancé encountered a terrible situation at the beginning of last semester, and his focus abruptly changed from school to their well-being. They are currently in counseling. His instructors granted him incompletes but he has since changed his major. He is making up incompletes and attending classes in his new major, but with the situation at home, he is overwhelmed. We discussed the retro process instead of completing incompletes. Suggested he continue to attend the all courses until he heard about the Retro (which will be hard since he won't know a decision until October).

 

DemonstrationAdvising Assignments Adding Removing / Changing How to read your list Extracting data Analyzing the data – Tracking and

Assessment!