May 4, 2023
Progress toward proactive advising with technology
Submitted by Vice Provost Jeannie Brown Leonard
Dear faculty and staff,
Over the past year, K-State has made progress in advancing academic advising excellence. Our Strategic Enrollment Management, or SEM, plan calls for improving advising quality and consistency and developing strategies for proactive interventions with students. Undergraduate academic advising is critical to student success. In our advising as teaching model, the mission of academic advising encompasses much more than course scheduling and includes tools like student Canvas activity data, tutoring and coaching resources, faculty progress reports and coordinated advising in Navigate.
Leveraging data and technology is key to supporting proactive outreach. To support undergraduate student retention and degree completion, academic advisors build relationships with their students and intervene when there are indicators that a student may need enrichment or support. These signals often come from faculty. Our intervention model will continue to rely on final course grades, but final grades are a lagging indicator of student progress. We are more likely to improve student outcomes if we can identify leading indicators of performance throughout the semester. Progress on assignments and early alerts are examples of leading indicators.
To improve our understanding of student performance, we are feeding limited course data from our learning management system, Canvas, into Navigate, our university advising platform. Advisors can now access information about Canvas logins and assignments in Navigate. Engagement with our LMS is a strong predictor of academic success. Student activity in Canvas offers another set of data points to inform the conversations advisors have with their students and provides another filter for identifying students who may need some additional support or guidance. Advisors can direct students toward the resources faculty provide, such as office hours and study sessions, as well as tutoring, academic coaching and co-curricular opportunities designed to promote academic success and a sense of belonging.
After being introduced to this new functionality, Don Saucier, professor of psychological sciences and faculty associate director of the Teaching and Learning Center said, "As faculty and advisors at K-State, we all recognize that it is our mission to support the learning and success of our students. I see this tool as something that will help us achieve that mission. This will help us identify issues and guide our students to solutions and success."
This data integration from Canvas complements critical information shared by faculty via early alerts or Progress Reports. As key partners in student success, faculty teaching full-semester courses submit Progress Reports in week five of the term. The Academic Achievement Center coordinates communication, but advisors are the primary collaborators connecting students to resources designed to help students change their behavior in time to improve their academic performance. Faculty may also issue alerts on students via Navigate outside of the Progress Report window. Positive alerts, or Kudos, are available to signal significant improvement or outstanding work. We need to develop a more robust set of response pathways for these alerts. Once built, we will guide faculty on best practices for using alerts in Navigate.
These advancements will contribute to improving student persistence to graduation. Advisors take notes on these interactions in Navigate, which provides context and insight for coordinated care and support across student services areas. This data in Navigate allows us to leverage technology to offer holistic advising support that is proactive and personalized.
Please visit the Office of Student Success website for more information about advising excellence at K-State and information about the Navigate platform, including FAQ related to this initiative.
Thank you for our partnership as we work together to support our students.
Jeannie Brown Leonard
Vice Provost for Student Success