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

2. 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

3. 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.

4. Group Advising Progression: Goals, Planning & Success Sessions
NSO
Registration times
CIA
Year round
WebAdvisor Support
2013
GPS
Combine CIA & NSO
2014
Focused on online tools and the registration process
Year Round
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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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 /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 /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

8. 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

9. Thank You!
Zach Kendra-Dill