A key component of an affordable
education is graduation in a timely manner. Currently, it is possible to
complete any of the over 100 undergraduate degrees offered at CSU,
· The University Catalog
· The Class Schedule
· General Education Advisors at the Advising Office
· Major/Minor Advisors accessed via the appropriate department
· Other students
These resources and their success have become profoundly important to the University as a whole.
In recent times, budget cuts have brought the issue of students graduating in four years to the forefront. CSUs are no longer being paid on a per full-time enrollment basis so students lingering beyond their allotted four years don’t add to the budget. They simply force the school to stretch their dollars further. The Chancellor’s office has increased its pressure on the CSU campuses to get their students through in four years. The universities cannot afford to turn away new students to accommodate students who don’t graduate in a timely manner nor can they tolerate increasing class sizes.
Despite the increasing focus on
graduating students in four years, the majority of students at CSU,
Some students do not have awareness of the need for advising
or of the advising resources available to them.
As a result they pick courses with little or no planning. Lack of planning easily leads to failure to
complete a lower division major class or taking a pre-requisite at the wrong
time. These little advising mistakes
early on in a student’s academic career are costly often leading to an extended
stay at CSU,
The University Catalog provides
students with information about both general education and major/minor course
requirements. The Class Schedule,
published annually, provides information about the courses scheduled for each
semester and intersession. Both the University
Catalog and the Class Schedule are available in printed format and on the
internet (linked to the CSU,
Advising for general education, major and minor courses is handled by different advisors. Assistance with general education requirements is provided through the Advising Office. The Advising Office currently employs 4 full-time Academic Advisors and 6 part-time Advisors. Students can make an appointment or utilize the services of the office on a drop-in basis. Students seeking advising in their major or minor must visit another advisor. They are directed to their respective Academic Department. In the case of students majoring or minoring in Computer Science, the role of advisor to undergraduate students is shared among 9 faculty members. For students majoring or minoring in Computer Information Systems, advising is shared between two faculty members. The same is true for students majoring or minoring in applied computer graphics. Advising in the major/minor is done via appointment or on a drop-in basis during the respective faculty member’s office hours. For students double-majoring or minoring in an area from a different academic department, advising for the second major or the minor would require the student to access faculty advising resources in the other respective Academic Department. This easily adds up to 2 or 3 advising appointments to create one semester schedule.
No compensation is provided to the advising faculty either via a lighter class load or an increase in salary for the time spent advising. Faculty are forced to either work additional hours to fit advising into their schedules or the University loses the productivity of faculty teaching or doing research during the time they spend advising students. This is not a good use of the University’s resources at a time when getting the most for their money is vitally important.
The flow charts and “4 Year Plans” available to students are only helpful if the student is lucky enough to fit the single scenario provided. A transfer student or a student facing scheduling or work load issues quickly finds these advising aids inflexible and more trouble then help.
Students frequently find it difficult to interface with faculty and other advisors during the peak advising time periods when all students are trying to schedule next semester’s classes or add and drop courses. Long lines during office hours or drop-in periods discourage or make it impossible for students to get the assistance they need when they need it.
To adequately advise a student, the advisor must access the
student’s transcript, determine what courses that were transferred in count
toward the courses needed, check the current course catalog to determine what
courses are offered during the Spring and Fall semesters, review the course
catalog relevant to the student’s admission to the college to determine the
courses required, and finally check the current class schedule to see what is
offered when. This is quite a timely
task that involves interfacing with multiple applications and/or paper
resources. Faculty, who already face a
full-time schedule of responsibilities are hard pressed to find this time for
each student needing advising. Even
full-time advisors in the advising office don’t have this kind of time to
devote to each and every student on the campus.
To make matters worse,
The Chancellor’s office has required each of the CSU
campuses to submit a proposal to increase the number of students graduating in
4 years. CSU,
You have been selected to the development team. The project is currently in the requirements gathering phase. Your team’s current task is to meet with a focus group of students to gather their input on requirements they would like to see included in the online, interactive advising system. Upper management for this project has made it clear they believe student input is vitally important to the success of the project. Your team will be reviewing the results of the focus group with upper management so it is important that you get some good requirements from your meeting with students. Be sure to come to the focus group meeting ready to respond to student’s questions. Also be sure your team has a clear strategy to generate participation by the students and document their input.