Academic Redesign Overview

Background
In January 2008 the College embarked on a major advisement redesign initiative - the first of its kind in the College's forty-year history. The initiative was designed to be comprehensive in scope, looking at every way that advisement both was being delivered and could be delivered.

Early work focused on issues of capacity and scale, and the need to adapt to the communication styles of a younger generation of students who use the latest technology and demand 24/7 access to advisement resources.

The ultimate impetus for the redesign is data going back to 1998, both quantitative and qualitative, which indicates that our students have been less than satisfied with our advisement services. That data, when combined with the higher education research on the impact of advisement on retention and student success, made the redesign effort an imperative. The initiative is thus a prime example of the College making changes on the basis of assessment data and attempting to close the loop between assessment, planning, and improvement.

The redesign has been a cross-divisional quality improvement project coordinated by the Center for Institutional Effectiveness, and it began with a business process analysis and a benchmarking study with peer institutions. Over 120 volunteers from across the College stepped forward to serve on the teams formed to give input on the shape of the redesign, making it a truly grassroots effort. The sheer number of volunteers and the quality of their input speak to the felt importance of the project and the prospects for an improved advisement program.

Five Redesign Elements

1. New in-person registration
2. Online orientation
3. Preferred method of advisement
4. IT planning and assessment tools
5. Improved student self-advisement process with degree audit option

All five of these elements have been successfully addressed, and implementation will begin October 6, 7 and 8, 2009. The last two elements will be addressed by Datatel "E-Advising" software that will facilitate remote advisement and streamline the process from advisement to online registration.