New Student Advising: The Highs and Lows of Group Advising Zach Kendra-Dill Academic and Career Advisor Rowan-Cabarrus Community College TYFY 2017

What are we going to cover? History of the Academic & Career Advising Center at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College Group Advising Program Progression & Layout Data Since 2015 Highs and Lows – What we have learned Future of Group Advising at RCCC

Academic & Career Advising at RCCC 2011 – Title III Grant Awarded Developed ACA Center Improve student persistence, retention and graduation rates through intentional advising and academic interventions. Director, Administrative Assistant, 3 Full-Time Advisors, 4 Part-Time Advisors, 10 Master Faculty Advisors Focus Areas: NSO/First Semester Advising, Early Alert, Major Changers, Super Seniors Walk-in basis 2016 – Restructure/Grant Ends Combine with the Counseling Department Director, Assistant Director, 6 Full-Time Advisors, 2 Disability Service Counselors, Summer Master Faculty Advisors Focus Areas: First Semester Advising, Transfer Student Services, Career Services, Wellness Center, Accessibility Services In 2011 Rowan-Cabarrus Community College was awarded a Title III grant from the Department of Education. The goal of this grant was to improve student persistence, retention and graduation rates through intentional advising and academic interventions. The grant laid out the foundation of the Academic and Career Advising Center along with other focus areas. These focus areas included New Student Orientation, first semester advising, an early alert program, a more intentional process to assist our students changing majors and a program to review those students who had 60+ credits. Throughout this development of the ACA Center it was determined that we would operate on a walk-in basis for students. In 2016 RCCC went through an organizational restructure as the grant was coming to an end. In this restructure the ACA Center and Counseling Center was combine, adding more full time advisors. We then also did away with our part time staff members and eliminated MFAs for the Fall and Spring. This leaves us with our current staffing of the Director, AD, 6 Advisors, 2 DS Counselors and summer MFAs. The focus areas have also changed to include First Semester Advising, Transfer Student Process, Career Services, Wellness Center, Accessibility Services.

Group Advising Progression: Goals, Planning & Success Sessions 2011-12 NSO Registration times CIA Year round WebAdvisor Support 2013 GPS Combine CIA & NSO 2014 Focused on online tools and the registration process Year Round 2015-2017 Focused on advising and registration 2011 was really a planning year for the ACA Center, so in 2012 was we implemented our group advising model. We start with three different session. New Student Orientation, Compass Interpretation and Advisement, and WeAdvisor Support Sessions. In NSO, we covered basics to the college. This included technology tools, policies and procedures, FERPA, campus resources, classes to take. NSO was offered through Blackboard and in person. CIA sessions reviewed test scores and what classes to take. WebAdvisor support sessions was our registration one stop. In 2013 NSO and CIA were combined into Goals, Planning and Success Sessions. Many of the same topics were covered. When we first started GPS sessions we conducted them year round and partnered with WebAdvisor Support in order to help students get registered. In 2014 we adjusted our schedule to do away with WebAdvisor Support and only offer GPS sessions during registration times, as we found these to be the most successful. Explain WebAdvisor Explain when the time frames of registration

GPS Session Layout (current) Registration through Google Forms GPS Prep Once a week at each campus Computer lab Folder of materials Resource Information/Terminology Worksheets Goals Test score interpretation guide MAP Next steps Presentation Career & Academic Goals Interpret test scores Review Program of Study, courses, credit hours, prerequisites/corequisites 1st Semester course planning Introduction to WebAdvisor Registration

Data Fall ‘15 Spring ‘16 Summer/Fall ’16 Spring ‘17 Summer/Fall ‘17 Attended 297 32 384 74 122 Registered 86% (255) 78% (25) 77% (295) 77% (57) 93% (113) Dropped/Deleted 3% (9) 6% (2) 7% (26) 7% (5) 4% (5) Payment Release 8% (23) 3% (1) 10% (37) 5% (4) 3% (4) Retained Spring ‘16 81% (71%) Retained Fall ‘16 53% (47%) 56% (41%) Retained Spring ‘17 47% (43%) 44% (34%) 61% (72%) Retained Fall ‘17 34% (30%) 40% (23%) 55% (47%) 65% (44%) Graduated 8% 0% 2% Retained is of the original folks who registered not attended. Graduated is of the original folks who registered not attended.

Highs & Lows – What we learned NSO vs. GPS Highly Encouraged Not mandatory Timing Registration vs. Non-registration Days/Times Staffing Technology Registration tool Log-in information New/upgraded technology GPS communications Admission email/letter Website Navigation Station Testing center GPS student breakdown Transfer, AAS, Pre-health GPS Prep MAP Participant review Next Steps Collaboration NSO vs. GPS Many students thought that GPS was going to be a NSO, where they would learn all of their tools, go on tours and meet faculty. While this would have been very beneficial for the students, GPS was not planned in that fashion. Highly Encouraged The question we would receive would be is this mandatory, we would tell them it was highly encouraged. Timing Reg/NonReg: We saw more students back in our offices when students attended during non-reg periods. Days/Times: It was always difficult to determine days and times that would best work. Staffing Ideally we would have a 1:10 ratio, but that was difficult to accomplish. Since we worked with a walk-in appointment scheduled we were not always able to close the office down in order to focus on GPS sessions. We also did not want to have advisors travel between campuses as we have in the past. Technology Registration Tool: Appointment plus was able to send out reminders and was easy to track within the system. With Google Forms we just gather information, but students did have a direct contact. This was more work on staff to follow up with students. Log-in info: When we started we had student log-in to each tool half way through the presentation. This took a lot of time away from our focus of planning and registering. When we moved the log-in to the beginning when students arrived we found that it saved time. New Technology: WebAdvisor vs SSS, change in browser GPS Communication Admission email/letter Website (listed as NSO and GPS) Navigation Station Testing Center GPS student breakdown Summer 2015 we broke groups up into 2-3 rooms: Transfer, AAS & Pre-health MAP Found it easier when we were short on staff to create the MAP prior to coming to the session. The downfall was that not all students showed up and MAPs were created for them. Next Steps Added a form to the folder

Future of Group Advising at RCCC Case management model Intentional outreach Focusing on consistent relationships Success teams Smaller New Student Advising Groups Focus on program specifics

Thank You! Zach Kendra-Dill Zach.Kendra@rccc.edu 704-216-7168