Insights from the Advising Accelerator
Last year, OUE Research, the Academic Advising Center, and colleagues at the University of Texas at Austin partnered to conduct a collaborative experimental study on college advising. This Advising Accelerator study explored whether students and their advisors report similar expectations and experiences in advising meetings and whether requiring an additional fall advising meeting significantly improved first-year students’ reports of their advising experiences.
Thirty-eight experienced college advisors and 217 of their first-year advisees participated. Approximately half of participating students were randomized to receive incentives and encouragement to attend an additional advising meeting from mid-September to mid-October 2023 (“accelerated advising”). The other half received “advising as usual.” All participating advisors and advisees were asked to complete post-meeting surveys immediately following advising sessions, and advisees were invited to complete an end-of-year survey in Spring 2024. Of participating students, 28% completed any post-meeting surveys and 29% completed the end-of-year survey. Of participating advisors, 47% completed at least one post-meeting survey. Although low participation rates limited the conclusions we could draw from the findings, several actionable insights are highlighted below.
Insight: College advisors underestimated the frequency with which students hoped to discuss specific topics (e.g., potential majors and summer opportunities).
Suggestion: Consider requesting additional information when students schedule a meeting to provide greater insight into students’ needs and goals (e.g., “What are some things on your mind that you might want to discuss?” “What else would be helpful for me to know about what your goals are or something you want to pursue?”).
Insight: Actively requesting meetings from students prompted increased advising—most students assigned to the accelerating advising condition met an additional time when advisors actively reached out in September to October (82%) versus students assigned to standard advising (29%).
Suggestion: Actively reach out to students during “lulls” in the term, as these additional messages may encourage students to come and discuss topics of conversation that may benefit them if they engage with staff more regularly.
Insight: Advisors underestimated how much students benefitted from the advising meetings, both personally and professionally. Overall, students reported much higher satisfaction in the meeting (M = 4.40) than what advisors perceived students’ satisfaction was (M = 3.70).
Suggestion: Take pride in knowing that students notice and appreciate your work, and benefit from your knowledge, encouragement, and support. Within your team, consider providing ways for students to give thanks or describe how they have benefitted from interacting with you and your colleagues across the term.
Click here to read more about the study design and findings. Thank you to all the students and advisors who participated in this research!
Do you have a research question or idea you’d like to see evaluated with experimental research? Reach out to the OUE Research team for consultation and support (as staffing allows): molly.weeks@duke.edu