Leading the Change Through Faculty Advisor Training

1. Leading the Change Through Faculty Advisor Training Dr. Diana Wagner Advising Services Coordinator Seidel School of Education & Professional Studies

2. Faculty Advisor Training as an Agent of Positive Change • Stages of Creating Change • Designing Faculty Training • Initial Training • Ongoing Training • New Faculty Training • Creating a Culture of Training • Reasons Major Change Fails

3. Salisbury University • Advising and Student Self-Service Went Live in Spring 2003 • 6,000 students • 325 faculty

4. Creating Major Change (Kotter, 1996) • Establishing a sense of urgency • Go live as soon as possible/feasible • Identify risks and opportunities • Create the Leadership Team • Trainers need the power to affect change • Trainers need the respect of faculty advisors • Trainers need to understand advising

5. Develop a Vision and Strategy • Keep the vision student-centered • Develop short-term and long-term calendars to deliver training • Develop a communications strategy • Communicating the Change Vision • Create a band-wagon culture • Make it impossible not to participate • Continually emphasize opportunities to institution and students

6. Empower Broad-Based Action • Get rid of obstacles • Encourage risk-taking • Encourage leadership • Generate Short-Term Wins • Recognize and reward people • Anchor New Approach in Culture • Articulate relationship between advising process and student/institutional success

7. Initial Faculty Advisor Training • Focus 1: Logistics of Advising Process • Review institutional advising process • Process for approving student plan in O/PS • Process that students will carry out • Make explicit connections to prior process • Focus 2: Introduction to Advising Tools • Degree progress report • Student transcripts • Emphasize student access to tools

8. Initial Training Tools • Faculty Resource Web Site • Detailed Step-by-Step Instructions • Plenty of Screen Shots • Advising Related Handouts

9. Ongoing Faculty Advisor Training (Each Semester Prior to Advising Period) • Focus 1: Review the Advising Logistics • Walk advisors through a theoretical advising appointment • Review the location of advising tools (degree progress, transcript, etc) • Focus 2: Get More Detailed with Online Tools • Close reading of degree progress report • Highlight changes since last advising period • Reinforce student access to degree progress

10. New Faculty Orientation • Focus 1: Class Management Logistics • Class Rosters • Student Contact Info • Personal Portfolio Details • Focus 2: Planting the Seed for Advising • Accessing “View My Advisees” • Accessing Info from Student Details Menu • Alerting Advisors to Pre-Registration Trainings

11. Creating a Culture of Change • Down With the Nay-Sayers! • Drown Out Nay-Sayers • Don’t Let Them Skew Your Focus on Positive Change • Create a Sense of Ownership • Establish O/PS Liaisons in each school/department • Invite Faculty Participation in Training

12. Reasons Change Fails (Kotter, again) (Practically or Philosophically) • Allowing Complacency • Failing to Create a Sufficiently Powerful Leadership Team • Underestimating the Power of Vision • Undercommunicating the Vision • Permitting Obstacles to Block the Vision • Failing to Create Short-Term Wins • Declaring Victory Too Soon • Neglecting to Anchor the Change in Culture

13. QuestionsDiscussionShared Experiences

14. Contact Info • Dr. Diana Wagner • Advising Services Coordinator • Seidel School of Education & Professional Studies • Salisbury University • 1101 Camden Avenue • Salisbury, MD 21801 • 410-543-6290 • dmwagner@salisbury.edu