Distance Education Advising Commission

Welcome to Denver! Commission Planning and Schedule Reminders

2011-09-27T04:57:00.000-07:00

Greetings DEA Members and welcome to Denver!

To make your conference planning a little easier we are providing some links below to add these Distance Education Advising sessions and events to your conference calendar.

The first addition to make to your calendar is our commission meeting, of course! Be there Monday October 3, 2011 from 2pm-3pm in room 704 to discuss the goals met in the previous year and provide input that will help to shape our agenda for the future.

Kick off your conference by stopping by our booth at the Commission and Interest Group Fair. Learn about our member driven webinar series and find out how you can get involved.

Monday October 3, 2011 9:15am-10:15am, Room 702 Developing an Online Orientation Program that Addresses the Support Needs of Adult Learners with Richard Brungard

Monday October 3, 2011 11:30am-12:30pm, Room 702 Challenges and Solutions to Academic Probation and Academic Bankruptcy for Distance Education: One College's Approach with Kerianne Silver

Monday October 3, 2011 3:00pm-4:00pm, Room 607 Job Satisfaction and Distance Advising: The Heights or the Pits? with Ann Sukalac

Tuesday October 4, 2011 7:15am - 8:30am, Korbel Pre-Function Area POSTER SESSION Let Their Fingers do the Talking with Cherie Dilley

Tuesday October 4, 2011 9:15am-10:15am, Room 702 Taking the Distance Out of Distance Advising: Successful Methods for Bridging Distance Education Students with University Advisors in Meaningful Supportive Relationships with Thomas Benjamin

Tuesday October 4, 2011 11:15am-12:15pm, Room 406/407 One Step Above: Proactive Advising in an Online Environment with Mariko Carson

See you there!

-Tyann Cherry
Commission Chair

Updates - Conference Agenda and Sessions

2011-09-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

Greetings Distance Education Advising Commission Members,

We are getting ready to close out another strong year. Did you know that this year we:

Hosted a webinar on Cross-Cultural Communication at a Distance? (A request that came directly from our commission meeting last year)
Finished our revision of the NACADA Standards for Advising Distance Learners? (Special thank you to members Ron Banks, Kristen Betts, Lisa Haas and Angela Dorsey!)
Sponsored a NACADA survey led by our commission members on job satisfaction and distance advising? (Congratulations to members Lisa Haas, Heidi Marshall, Ann Sukalac and Brighton Brooks!)
Continued our subcommittee on Research of Academic Advising in Online and Blended Education? (Thanks again to Dr. Kristen Betts!)
Cosponsored an online event with the Advising Adult Learner’s Commission and Advising Graduate and Professional Students Commission?

What do all of these things have in common? None of them are possible without your continued commitment, active engagement and support! So pat yourselves on the back and congratulations to everyone who participated.

We are required to staff a table at the Commission and Interest Group Fair on Monday, October 3 from 7:15 – 8:15 a.m. This gives us an opportunity to connect with new members and talk to them about the opportunities available in our commission. If you would be interested in volunteering for this please contact me at cherry@webster.edu.

Our Commission meeting at the Annual Conference this year will take place on:

Monday, October 3 from 2-3 p.m. If you will be in Denver save this place for us!

Please send any agenda items you may have to me at cherry@webster.edu prior to September 23, 2011.

I also encourage you to check out and attend our Commission sponsored and distance advising related sessions: http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/AnnualConf/2011/tracks/disedu.htm

Best,

Tyann Cherry
Chair, Distance Education Advising Commission
Senior Academic Advisor, Webster University

Thank you to our April presenter!

2011-04-26T10:43:00.001-07:00

We would like to thank Bethany Keller, Assistant Director of the Multicultural Center & International Student Affairs and NAFSA fellow, for her presentation of Cross-Cultural Communication at a Distance this morning. You can download a copy of the powerpoint here. Today we had over 40 participants from 25 different institutions login!

Our next meeting will take place sometime in June, so be sure to keep up with the listserve communications for details.

We are currently seeking commission members who may be interested in running for the position of Chair. You can find an overview of the NACADA Commission Chair responsibilities here.

If you are interested in running (or you know someone who might be interested) please email our current Commission Chair, Tyann Cherry (cherry@webster.edu). Tyann's term will end at the October 2012 conference and the newly elected chair will take over at that time.

Great News - "New" Dear Colleague Letter Released on State Authorization Rule (extended enforcement date - July 1, 2014)

2011-04-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

Important news for anyone working in online education from our Research Sub-committee Chair:

Great News - "New" Dear Colleague Letter Released on State Authorization Rule (extended enforcement date - July 1, 2014)

Good morning,

I have some great news to share regarding the State Authorization rule. The US Department of Education released a "New" Dear Colleague letter yesterday (Wednesday, April 20th) that is EXTENDING the enforcement date to July 1, 2014. This is with much relief since this letter provides colleges and universities with a larger window to be in compliance with the state authorization rule. Moreover, you will notice in the new Dear Colleague letter that changes have been made to the rule and the US Department of Education is now providing more detail and support.

I am including below several important links. I am also highlighting key details from the New Dear Colleague Letter to share with you some of the changes that have been made in response to the legal cases that have been submitted since October 2010.

Important Links:

http://wcetblog.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/second-dear-colleague-letter/?blogsub=confirming#subscribe-blog
WCET Blog Update on New Colleague Letter (April 20, 2011)

http://wcet.wiche.edu/wcet/docs/state-approval/GEN-11-11.pdf
New Dear Colleague Letter (April 20, 2011)

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/04/21/education_department_delays_enforcement_of_rule_on_state_approval_of_online_programs
Breathing Room on State Authorization – Inside Higher Ed (April 21, 2011)

Highlighted Changes – New Dear Colleague Letter (April 20, 2011):

Residency: Notice below how the US Department of Education is now referencing "students' place of residence" when engaged in distance education. This will make it much easier for institutions to track students since the previous rule did not refer to residency.

Comprehensive Directory: The US Department of Education is now going to work with "appropriate parties develop a comprehensive directory of State requirements." This will certainly assist in streamlining the process since the previous rule required that each institution contact all 50 states on their own accord. Additionally, the US Department of Education has stated that it will make the "Directory" publicly available on the Department's Web site once it is developed. This will ensure that as the states continue to update their policies that they are reflected in one common site as opposed to the previous rule which required higher education institutions to track changes/updates as they were made within each state.

Documentation: Documentation is still needed from each state even if the state does not have any policies regarding distance education. However, you will notice in the section on Supporting State Coordination that the US Department of Education is now seeking suggestions to "develop model reciprocal agreements, common applications, or other methods that States could adopt to foster compliance." It is with great hope that this process will become more centralized through the proposed comprehensive directory and common applications as well as reciprocal agreements.

Signature on New Dear Colleague Letter: The new Dear Colleague letter is now signed by Eduardo M. Ochoa, Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education which indicates that this issue is now at a higher level. All previous documentation was signed and sent out on the senior policy analyst level. Eduardo M. Ochoa - http://www2.ed.gov/news/staff/bios/ochoa.html

Excerpts from the New Dear Colleague Letter:

Clarification of Enforcement. With regard to the State authorization provisions at 34 C.P.R. § 600.9(c), the Department will not initiate any action to establish repayment liabilities or limit student eligibility for distance education activities undertaken before July 1,2014, so long as the institution is making good faith efforts to identify and obtain necessary State authorizations before that date. Evidence of good faith efforts by institutions could include anyone or more of the following items:
• Documentation that an institution is developing a distance education management process for tracking students' place of residence when engaged in distance education.
• Documentation that an institution has contacted a State directly to discuss programs the institution is providing to students in that State to determine whether authorization is needed.
• An application to a State, even if it is not yet approved.
• Documentation from a State that an application is pending.
Development of a Comprehensive Directory. As part of our technical assistance efforts, we are committed to working with appropriate parties to develop a comprehensive directory of State requirements that provides a meaningful opportunity for States to clearly articulate their specific requirements and for institutions of higher education to easily access the requirements and apply to the State for authorization. Once the directory is developed, we plan to make it publicly available on the Department's Web site.
Supporting State Coordination. States determine what requirements, if any, distance education programs offered within their borders must meet. As a result, efforts to clarify and coordinate State laws require the engagement of States and the entire higher education community. We are interested in working with the community to support States' efforts to develop model reciprocal agreements, common applications, or other methods that States could adopt to foster compliance. We welcome suggestions from institutions and associations about how such efforts could be undertaken to best meet the needs of institutions and States.

I will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.

With best regards,

Kristen Betts

**************************
Dr. Kristen Betts

Senior Director for eLearning Initiatives
Office of the Provost
&
Director, EdD Program
Educational Leadership & Mgt, Philadelphia Campus
Goodwin College of Professional Studies, School of Education

A message from our Research Sub-Committee Chair

2011-04-13T14:01:00.000-07:00

Sent January 11, 2011

Good afternoon,

It was wonderful having many of you attending this afternoon's session for the NACADA DEA Commission: Subcommittee for Research on Online and Blended Education. Please find below a link for today's archived webcast. I am also attaching a copy of the slides and a Word document with important links relating to Program Integrity and Accessibility.

Webcast: http://drexellive.wimba.com/launcher.cgi?room=ConferenceEventsksb23_2011_0111_1202_37
Click on Archive Start on the top right of your screen after clicking on the above link to watch this presentation

Let me know if you have any questions! As shared in the presentation, we are looking to find ways to proactively work with the new federal regulations that have been put into place.

Have a great week!

Kristen Betts

Attachment 1
Attachment 2

The April Webinar has arrived! Cross-Cultural Communication at a Distance

2011-04-13T13:35:00.001-07:00

We would like to thank our January presenters, Heidi Marshall, Amy Kubista and Sara Culver!

You can find a copy of their presentation here.

We would also like to announce our upcoming April session!

Cross-Cultural Communication at a Distance

Presenter: Bethany Keller, Assistant Director of the Multicultural Center and International Student Affairs (MCISA) at Webster University

DATE: Tuesday, 04/26/11

TIME: 10am (This is 8am PST and 11am EST. If you are unsure what time this is in your area please click here).

To access the presentation you will need to access the webinar and call in to the conference call:

Conference Call Number: (605)-475-4850
Participant Access Code: 883567#

URL for the webinar site: http://webster.edu.acrobat.com/dea/
Instructions for entering webinar in case you encounter trouble: http://www.webster.edu/technology/training/online_workshop_login.shtml

This topic was requested specifically at our national conference meeting in Orlando. Please email me directly (cherry@webster.edu) if you have any specific questions you would like to see addressed in this session or perhaps a personal challenge you have encountered in the past regarding cross-cultural communication at a distance. This will allow Bethany to address topics around cross-cultural communication that are of most interest to our membership.

Information on presenter: Keller has worked in international education for over ten years, successfully merging an academic background in international relations with expertise in intercultural communication and academic advising, as well as international student and scholar services. She has developed cross-cultural communication training for academic advisers, faculty, and her campus community and presented regionally and nationally for NACADA (National Academic Advising Association) and NAFSA (Association for International Educators) conferences. She was recognized by the Missouri Academic Advising Association (MACADA) as the Outstanding Academic Adviser in 2007. Her presentation on Developing a Framework for Intercultural Communication Training was selected as a “Best of Conference” session for the NAFSA Region IV Conference in 2010. In addition, she teaches first year experience courses on culture and identity at Webster University.

This topic was requested specifically at our national conference meeting in Orlando. Please email me directly (cherry@webster.edu) if you have any specific questions you would like to see addressed in this session or perhaps a personal challenge you have encountered in the past regarding cross-cultural communication at a distance. This will allow Bethany to address topics around cross-cultural communication that are of most interest to our membership.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE:

1. This webinar is not affiliated with the NACADA webinar series run from the National Office.
2. There is no charge for this session and it is open to all commission members
3. If you have any questions please contact me at cherry@webster.edu or 314.246.7556

We will also discuss planning for the upcoming commission meeting in October which include the election of a new Commission Chair! If you are interested in running (or you know someone who you would like to nominate) please contact me.

Hope to see you there!

-Tyann Cherry
Chair, DEA Commission
Webster University

Announcing the January Webinar! Personalizing the Online Writing Center Experience!

2011-01-18T08:55:00.000-08:00

Join us for our first webinar of the new year on Thursday January 27, 2011 @ 11:oo am Central Time (This is 9am PST and 12pm EST. If you are unsure what time this is in your area please click here).

We will be joined by Heidi Marshall, Amy Kubista and Sara Culver of Walden University who will present on:

Personalizing the Online Writing Center Experience

In the summer of 2009, the Walden Writing Center began development on a new initiative to provide more streamlined feedback to students and to make full use of the resources available to students. The Personal Writing Plan (PWP) was born from a staff retreat conversation about three types of students: stagnant writers, those students who visit the writing center time and time again and never show any improvement; underdeveloped writers, those students whose English proficiency needs to be raised before they can write effective academic English; and the hyper vigilant writers, those students who are strong writers but lack the confidence to submit their writing without first having it reviewed by a tutor. Because of the high demand of our services, we needed to find a way to direct these students down the appropriate channels so they don’t become stuck in the writing center rut. The PWP provides us with a tool to assess a student’s writing at our first point of contact with that student, and based on that assessment send the student personalized modules that suggest how he or she can most effectively use the resources that the Writing Center offers. We finalized the modules in December of 2010 and began our pilot implementation of the program in early January, 2011. Come learn about our process of developing this unique program and how students reacted to the pilot.

More information on the presenters:

Heidi Marshall, Senior Writing Specialist: Heidi holds an MFA in creative nonfiction writing from Hamline University and has been with the Walden Writing Center since August, 2007. She has presented at the Minnesota Colleges and Universities English and Writing (MnCEUW) Tutoring Summit and the Association for Experiential Education annual conference.

Amy Kubista, Writing Specialist: Amy holds a MALS degree from Hamline University and has served as a writing specialist at Walden University since October 2009. She has presented at and serves on the organizational committee for the annual Minnesota Colleges and Universities English and Writing (MnCEUW) Conference.

Sara Culver, Writing Specialist: Sara holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities and a BA from Harvard College. She joined the Walden Writing Center in October 2010, after having taught writing in online, physical, and hybrid classrooms.

To access the presentation you will need to access the webinar and call in to the conference call:

Conference Call Number: (605)-475-4850
Participant Access Code: 883567#

URL for the webinar site: http://webster.edu.acrobat.com/dea/
Instructions for entering webinar in case you encounter trouble: http://www.webster.edu/technology/training/online_workshop_login.shtml

Update from the Research Sub-Committee!

2011-01-18T08:51:00.000-08:00

Good afternoon,

It was wonderful having many of you attending this afternoon's session for the NACADA DEA Commission: Subcommittee for Research on Online and Blended Education. Please find below a link for today's archived webcast. I am also including a copy of the slides and a Word document with important links relating to Program Integrity and Accessibility.

Webcast: http://drexellive.wimba.com/launcher.cgi?room=ConferenceEventsksb23_2011_0111_1202_37
Click on Archive Start on the top right of your screen after clicking on the above link to watch this presentation

Let me know if you have any questions! As shared in the presentation, we are looking to find ways to proactively work with the new federal regulations that have been put into place.

Have a great week!

Kristen Betts

Job Satisfaction and Distance Advisors - Seeking Co-Presenter or Panel

2011-01-07T09:00:00.001-08:00

It has been in the back of my head that I’d like to work on something around job satisfaction for distance advisors. It seems to me that lots of advisors go into the field because they like people contact, and then they end up only working with people they never meet in person. We talk often about putting the ‘high touch’ in for distance students, but not for ourselves.

Seeking co-presenter or panel if there is enough interest. If interested in this topic contact Ann Sukalac, @ asukalac@linfield.edu

Thank you to Cynthia Greene!

2010-12-09T09:49:00.000-08:00

The Distance Education Advising Commission would like to thank Cynthia Greene for her presentation on online writing coach effectiveness for the December session. You can download a copy of the ppt here.

We currently do not have a presenter for the January session. If you are interested in presenting please email Tyann Cherry @ cherry@webster.edu.

We are also pleased to announce that the final revision of the NACADA Best Practices for Advising Distance Learners page will be submitted to the National Office on schedule. You can view the final version here.

We hope that you have a restful and happy holiday break!

Join us for our Upcoming Meeting on 12/09/10 @ 11am CST

2010-12-02T06:27:00.000-08:00

We are thrilled to announce that our December webinar will be presented in conjunction with the Advising Adult Learners Commission and Advising Graduate and Professional Students Commission. It will take place on:

Thursday December 9, 2010 at 11am CST.

This is 9am PST and 12pm EST. If you are unsure what time this is in your area please click here.

We will be joined by Cynthia Greene, Academic Specialist and Adjunct Faculty Member of University of Maryland University College. She will be presenting on:

"Advising Through Tutoring: How an Online Writing Tutor Program Fosters Graduate Student Success"

Effective written communication is fundamental to academic success, especially for adult learners. At University of Maryland University College, an open access university, there is a wide variance in the writing skills of students. To facilitate student success, the Graduate School recently embedded Writing Tutors into several foundation courses.

In this entirely online tutoring program, writing tutors review student assignment drafts, engage students through general writing and specific assignment tips - in both traditional and multimedia formats, and provide students with resources for use in other environments. This presentation will provide an overview of the program, an assessment of the program's effectiveness, and an analysis of best practices in implementing a writing tutoring program for adult learners in a virtual environment.

To access the presentation you will need to access the webinar and call in to the conference call:

Conference Call Number: (605)-475-4850
Participant Access Code: 883567#

URL for the webinar site: http://webster.edu.acrobat.com/dea/
Instructions for entering webinar in case you encounter trouble: http://www.webster.edu/technology/training/online_workshop_login.shtml

A note on the 11/29/10 meeting of the Research Subcommittee

2010-12-01T13:38:00.000-08:00

Greetings,

It was wonderful having so many of you attend this the DEA Subcommittee online session today. Please find attached the PPT presentation that was shared. Please send me ideas that you have regarding a survey that we can send out this winter relating to advising online students. The ideas shared today were fabulous.

I look forward to hearing from you about our future study.

Have a great week!

Kristen
kbetts@drexel.edu – Email

**************************
Dr. Kristen Betts

Senior Director for eLearning, Drexel University
Office of the Provost
&
Director, EdD Program
Educational Leadership & Mgt, Philadelphia Campus
Goodwin College of Professional Studies, School of Education

Additional Information provided by Research Sub-committee chair, Dr. Kristen Betts!

2010-11-29T09:17:00.000-08:00

Our Research Sub-committee Chair, Dr. Kristen Betts, has provided some additional slides specifically tied to federal and state regulations that she discussed in our previous webinar session. You can find that information here.

Our thanks to Dr. Betts for this useful and timely information!

Thank you to all who participated in yesterday's webinar session

2010-11-24T08:35:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone who took the time to login to yesterday's webinar discussion regarding the revision of the NACADA Best Practices for Advising Distance Learners. Over 23 commission members participated. In total this means that close to 50 commission members (including those who attended the session at the National Conference) have actively participated in this revision! That is fantastic turn out for our organization.

I also would like to extend thanks to Ron Banks, Kristen Betts and Lisa Haas. Ron has taken the lead on this project and it is because of his consistent leadership and timely revisions that we are currently on track to make our December 31, 2010 deadline. The bulk of these revisions were based on a 2010 NACADA presentation by Kristen Betts and Lisa Haas, who have also contributed a tremendous amount of time and energy to reading and re-reading each of these drafts, making recommendations / changes as we proceed.

You can find the current NACADA Standards for Advising Distance Learners here.

The powerpoint from yesterday's presentation can be found here and a word version of the latest draft that was reviewed can be downloaded here.

If you have the chance to review these documents and have further recommendations please contact Ron Banks @ rbanks@charteroak.edu before 12/01/10

We will do our best to keep you informed of changes and alterations that are made in the coming weeks.

We also wanted to share some additional information from yesterday's session. Someone inquired about a bibliography of research being available that surrounds / supports these changes. The bulk of them came from the 2010 NACADA presentation led by Dr. Kristen Betts and you can find a copy of that presentation here.

Dr. Betts is the Chair of our Research sub-committee, which will meet on November 29th. If you are interested in participating please email her @ ksb23@drexel.edu

Also, during the course of the webinar Karen shared a link to some technical standards provided by Educause.

Our next webinar is scheduled to take place on 12/09/10 and details about this months topic will be coming soon. We are currently looking for presenters for January and February. If you are interested or have interest in a particular topic please email Tyann Cherry @ cherry@webster.edu

In March we will be joined by two NAFSA members who have been selected as part of the NAFSA Training Academy. This is in direct response to several requests we received at the 2010 National Conference for a webinar that focuses on cross-cultural communication at a distance.

Hope to see you in December!

November Webinar 11/23/10

2010-11-22T07:13:00.000-08:00

The next meeting of the Distance Education Advising Commission will take place TOMORROW:

Tuesday November 23, 2010

11:00am CST. If you are unsure what time this in for your timezone you can find the current time for CST here.

This session will focus on the updating of the NACADA Standards for Advising Distance Learners. For those of you who were able to attend the national conference this will part of an ongoing conversation from our Hot Topics! Session. We will be joined by Ron Banks (who will lead this session), Dr. Kristen Betts, Lisa Haas, Maria Greaney and Angela Dorsey who also organized the session in Orlando.

If you could not make it to the conference we would love to see you in the webinar session to become part of the conversation.

You can find the current standards here and the most recent version of the revisions (updated from the previous 11/09/10 post) here. You will need to click on the download tab at the top left hand side in order to view the word document.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Rescheduled November Meeting

2010-11-09T08:04:00.000-08:00

Our November 18^th webinar was in conflict with a webinar that the National Office is offering. In light of this we will move our November webinar to the following date:

Tuesday November 23, 2010

11:00am CST. If you are unsure what time this in for your timezone you can find the current time for CST here.

We will work closely with the National Office to avoid this kind of confusion in the future.

The next meeting of the Distance Education Advising Commission will focus on the updating of the NACADA Standards for Advising Distance Learners. For those of you who were able to attend the national conference this will part of an ongoing conversation from our Hot Topics! Session. We will be joined by Ron Banks (who will lead this session), Dr. Kristen Betts, Lisa Haas, Maria Greaney and Angela Dorsey who also organized the session in Orlando.

If you could not make it to the conference we would love to see you in the webinar session to become part of the conversation.
You can find the current standards here and an updated draft of what the committee has been working on here.

To access the presentation you will need to access the webinar and call in to the conference call:

Conference Call Number: (605)-475-4850
Participant Access Code: 883567#

URL for the webinar site: http://webster.edu.acrobat.com/dea/

Instructions for entering webinar in case you encounter trouble: http://www.webster.edu/technology/training/online_workshop_login.shtml

IMPORTANT! Next Commission Meeting - Date has changed!

2010-11-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

The next meeting of the Distance Education Advising Commission will take place on:

Thursday November 18, 2010

11:00am CST. If you are unsure what time this in for your timezone you can find the current time for CST here.

The next meeting of the Distance Education Advising Commission will focus on the updating of the NACADA Standards for Advising Distance Learners. For those of you who were able to attend the national conference this will part of an ongoing conversation from our Hot Topics! Session. We will be joined by Ron Banks (who will lead this session), Dr. Kristen Betts, Lisa Haas, Maria Greaney and Angela Dorsey who also organized the session in Orlando.

You can find the current standards here and an updated draft of what the committee has been working on here.

To access the presentation you will need to access the webinar and call in to the conference call:

Conference Call Number: (605)-475-4850
Participant Access Code: 883567#

URL for the webinar site: http://webster.edu.acrobat.com/dea/

Instructions for entering webinar in case you encounter trouble: http://www.webster.edu/technology/training/online_workshop_login.shtml

2010 Conference and November Meeting

2010-09-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

Greetings All!

We want to thank Lisa Haas for presenting at our August session. You can find a copy of Lisa's presentation here.

We are gearing up for the 2010 Conference in Orlando this year! A Panel of DEA Commission members will be presenting a Hot Topic Session on revising the NACADA Standards for Advising Distance Learners. We are grateful to Ron Banks, Kristen Betts, Angela Dorsey, Lisa Haas and Maria Greaney for their hard work in putting this session together. It has been over ten years since the NACADA Standards for Advising Distance Learners have been revised so we expect significant changes to come from this dialogue.

If you are unable to attend the conference but still want to be a part of the conversation (and we hope that you do!) be sure to mark your calendar for November 11, 2010 at 9am PST. This is when the next DEA Commission webinar will take place. At that time we will continue the discussion regarding the NACADA Standards revision. You can find a copy of the handout that will be given to those who attend the confernence session here.

If you are coming to the conference be sure to stop by our table at the CIG Fair on Monday October 4, 2010! The Fair will be held from 12:15-1:45pm.

Hope to see you in Orlando!

Join us for our upcomming August Meeting!

2010-07-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, 08/12/10 at 9am Pacific Standard Time 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time the Distance Education Advising Commission will host Lisa Haas' session regarding issues surrounding academic honesty and integrity. Description below:

Who should take the blame for academic honesty violations? Should the blame be placed on the student, the instructor, or the institution? There are several factors to consider and evaluate when working with non-traditional students in an online environment. A few aspects to consider are the demographics of the student, technology comfort level, and profession.

Understanding the non-traditional, on-line student is essential to developing measures to prevent academic dishonesty violations from occurring. A few of the include working material into the curriculum, using similarity detection services, having strong policies, honor codes, and sponsoring preventative measures.

One such event is an Academic Honesty Awareness Week with events for faculty, students, and staff. The focus of the event should be awareness of concerns and how to prevent violations from occurring. It should be fun and interactive, which can all be accomplished online. This presentation will cover some of the aspects to consider and how Colorado Technical University-Online had made this week long event successful.

Lisa earned her Bachelors of Arts in English from St. Norbert College in Wisconsin and holds a Masters in Educational Leadership from Argosy University-Schaumburg. She began in the secondary education program as an undergraduate, but fell in love with student/academic affairs at the higher education level. She has been working in online, higher education since 2005. The majority of her time has been spent working with at-risk students.

Lisa is currently the Academic Services Manager at Colorado Technical University (Chicago Area Campuses) and works primarily with student integrity violations (student conduct, academic honesty violations, and policy exceptions). In addition, she is an Assistant Professor and teaches an introductory class for new students.

Lisa resides in the suburbs of Chicago and loves the area. She is very family oriented and spends most of her free time with friends and family. She tries to spend as much time outdoors as possible (weather permitting). Her other hobbies include reading, shopping, and running.

If you have a topic you would like to add to the list please email it to Bobbi (bobbi.kristovich@wsu.edu) or Tyann (cherry@webster.edu)

Hope to see you there!

To access the presentation you will need to access the webinar and call in to the conference call:

Conference Call Number: (605)-475-4850
Participant Access Code: 883567#

URL for the webinar site: http://webster.edu.acrobat.com/dea/
Instructions for entering webinar in case you encounter trouble: http://www.webster.edu/technology/training/online_workshop_login.shtml

Thanks to Robert Klick!

2010-07-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

We extend our sincere thanks to Robert Klick for his presentation on utilizing the SPIDER method of communication within email. You can download a copy of Robert's presentation here.

Next month we will be joined by Lisa Haas, Academic Services Manager at Colorado Technical University. Lisa's presentation will focus on academic honesty issues and ways to communicate with students around this and related subjects.

Joins us and "Crawl Through the SPIDER-web" with Robert Klick!

2010-06-25T08:22:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, 07/08/10 at 9am Pacific Standard Time 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time the Distance Education Advising Commission will host Robert Klick's session on navigating the online jungle. Description below:

When crawling through today’s online jungle; academic advisors often get caught in the trappings of the web. By using the SPIDER method to streamline e-mail communication with students, advisors can breathe new life into an old method of online communication. This presentation will teach the basics of the SPIDER method of informative, professional, and positive e-mails to escape the trappings of the "web".

Robert has been serving as an Academic Advisor with the Online Campus of Columbia College (MO) for 2 years. Robert earned a Masters in Public Administration as well as Bachelors or Arts Degrees in Political Science and Religious Studies through the University of Missouri-Columbia. During his time with UM-Columbia Robert acted as a student advisor for Religious Studies program, including 2 summers working with incoming freshman as part of the “Summer Welcome” orientation program. He has previously presented at the MACADA (Missouri) state conference. When not working, he is a proud papa and likes to perform in community-theater around the Columbia Area.

If you have a topic you would like to add to the list please email it to Bobbi (bobbi.kristovich@wsu.edu) or Tyann (cherry@webster.edu)

Hope to see you there!

To access the presentation you will need to access the webinar and call in to the conference call:

Conference Call Number: (605)-475-4850
Participant Access Code: 883567#

URL for the webinar site: http://webster.edu.acrobat.com/dea/
Instructions for entering webinar in case you encounter trouble: http://www.webster.edu/technology/training/online_workshop_login.shtml

Also - coming soon! In August we will be joined by Lisa Haas who will be presenting on topics related to academic honesty in the online learning environment.

Upcomming Meeting Thursday May 20 @ 9am PST

2010-05-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, 05/20/10 at 9am Pacific Standard Time 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time the Distance Education Advising Commission will host a Hot Topics! session regarding current issues facing distance advisors and online student populations.

Topics include:

- The recent closure of UT Telecampus
- The idea of "separate but equal" - how are you serving students at your campus and are online students better served by centralized advising or breaking off into a separate division?
- Academic Support Services - how does your campus deliver academic supports such as tutoring, writing coaches and peer mentoring?

If you have a topic you would like to add to the list please email it to Bobbi (bobbi.kristovich@wsu.edu) or Tyann (cherry@webster.edu)

We will also discuss the current status of the research sub-committee and goals for the upcoming National Conference.

Hope to see you there!

To access the presentation you will need to access the webinar and call in to the conference call:

Conference Call Number: (605)-475-4850
Participant Access Code: 883567#

URL for the webinar site: http://webster.edu.acrobat.com/dea/
Instructions for entering webinar in case you encounter trouble: http://www.webster.edu/technology/training/online_workshop_login.shtml

Thank you to Carol Gravel and Art Esposito!

2010-04-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

We would like to thank Carol Gravel and Art Esposito for joining us for our April meeting. You can find a copy of Carol's ppt presentation here.

Our next meeting date will be moving from the second Thursday of the month, May 13, 2010 to a alternate day. We will move the date of the meeting so as not to conflict with a scheduled NACADA webinar event. We will be working with the National Office to avoid conflicts such as these for all future meetings.

Be sure to check back to the blog for more information on our presenter for the May meeting along with the date and time!

Login and join Carol Gravel for the April DEA Commission meeting on "Best Practices in Advising Students in Online Degree Programs"!

2010-04-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, 02/9/10 at 9am Pacific Standard Time 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time Carol Gravel, Faculty Advisor at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire, will present research and experience on “Best Practices in Advising Students in Online Degree Programs”.

Carol will be sharing research on advising online students and providing some suggestions on best practices, but also will facilitate discussions among participants to share their own best practices.

The purpose of this webinar is to look the growing trend in enrollment in online degree programs and ways that we as advisors can help support these students. This webinar will look briefly at research in online program enrollment, look at specific ways that we can engage our advisees in the advising process and discuss your feedback and suggestions.
To download a copy of the presentation click on the following link: Best Practices in Advising Students in Online Degree Programs

Carols Bio:

Carol is a graduate professor at Franklin Pierce Universities College of Graduate and Professional Studies and has been teaching in the US and internationally for over 12 years. During her career she has held leadership positions in both business and higher education. Most recently she has focused her efforts on higher education and has been focused on adult learners by enhancing curriculum design and online learning environments. She is currently working on her doctoral degree in Instructional Technology and Distance Education with a research focus on advising students in online degree programs.

She has been a speaker at several US and international conferences such as AAACE and NACADA.

We will also be joined by Art Esposito as a follow up to our previous webinar on social bookmarking as used for advisor training and development.

Thursday April 8 @ 9am Pacific Standard Time - Upcoming DEA Webinar

2010-03-22T07:33:00.001-07:00

The next Distance Education Advising Commission webinar will be hosted on April 8, 2010 at 9am Pacific Standard Time. We are finalizing arrangements for our next three webinar sessions, so be sure to check back and see who are presenter will be!

Our Sincere thanks to Lisa Kittelson!

2010-02-11T11:31:00.000-08:00

Our sincere thanks to Lisa Kittelson for sharing her research on using Moodle in conjunction with academic advising. Below you will find links to Lisa's presentation materials:

Lisa's "Stressing your noodle? Try Moodle!" PowerPoint
Moodle Screen Shots
Lisa's course design hand out
"Millennials, Moduels and Meaningful Advising" by Lisa Kittelson
Moodle
Jing

We would also like to thank Kristen Betts for her updates on the Research in Academic Advising Online and in Blended Education Subcommittee:

Kristen's Subcommittee update

And Ron Banks for bringing us up to speed on the Website Subcommittee. If you wish to get in touch with Rob regarding the website updates please contact him at rbanks@charteroak.edu.

We are currently making arrangements to shift the hosting of our webinar series for March and will let you know the details as they become available.

Thank you for your continued engagement and participation!

-Tyann Cherry
Webster University

Next Commission Meeting 02/11/10

2010-02-08T12:47:00.000-08:00

We will be joined on Thursday, 02/11/10 at 9am Pacific Standard Time by Lisa Kittelson, Academic Advisor at the University of Minnesota Duluth within the College of Education and Human Service Professions.

Lisa will be showing us ways that incorporating Moodle into her advising process has helped her students while saving her time. We will include Lisa's presentation description and bio below:

Do you feel crunched for time during advising appointments? Do you wish that students came more prepared for advising appointments? Do you find programmatic advising taking up a large portion of your advising appointment? Explore how a pre-advisement module might help you when advising. The purpose of this webinar is to look at the impact of integrating a pre-advisement module with advising appointments. This webinar will look briefly at the process of development when using an online course management system, explore the impact of utilizing the pre-advisement module, and discuss student feedback.

Getting to know Lisa:

I was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota. And my heart lies here! I started as a student at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). I obtained both my Bachelors of Arts Degree in Communication and Masters Degree in Education from UMD. In 2005, I started working in the College of Education and Human Service Professions as an Academic Advisor and have continued in the same position since then. In my position I work primary with first year Elementary Education students. In my spare time I enjoy taking time to enjoy the outdoors. Whether it is hiking, biking, roller blading, or just taking a stroll along Lake Superior you will find me somewhere outside. Recently, I have spent a lot of time exploring technology in the field of advising and look forward to sharing my ideas and findings with you.

Our thanks to Jaqueline Almdale!

2010-01-20T17:33:00.000-08:00

Our thanks to Jaqueline Almdale for her presentation at our January meeting on Academic Integrity and Distance Education. You can download a copy of Jaqueline's presentation here.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday February 11 at 9am Pacific Standard Time. We will be posting information to the blog on our next speaker soon!

Remember that if you want to see a specific topic discussed at a meeting, have a presentation that you would like to share please contact our Commission Chair Bobbi Thomas at thomasb@wsu.edu

Meeting on January 14 @ 9am PST - Academic Integrity in Distance Education

2010-01-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

Greetings!

Our next meeting will take place on Thursday, January 14 @ 9am Pacific Standard Time. If you are unsure what time zone this is in your area you can see the current Pacific Standard Time here.

Our presenter will be Jacqueline Almdale, Academic Advisor & DDP (Distance Degree Program) Academic Integrity Coordinator at Washington State University.

Jacqueline took the time to give us a little more background information on herself:

“I was born and raised on a homestead in Alaska and I lived there for 31 years. I moved to Washington State in 1989 to complete my education. As a single parent I raised two children while completing my college degree and working as a non-traditional student advocate. In my youth I cleaned fish in a cold storage, served on bomb search crew at Anchorage International Airport, and worked as a licensed hair stylist and make-up artist; I have worked as a pastry chef at an Alaskan lodge, and owned my own catering business. I am a writer, artist, medicinal herbalist, avid gardener and library loiterer. As an academic advisor for Washington State University’s Distance Degree Programs, I advise over 500 students in 15 Washington State counties, Alaska, Active duty military and international students in 13 countries. I think I have the best job ever! I help make the world a better place—one student at a time.”

To access the presentation you will need to access the webinar and call in to the conference call:

Conference Call Number: (605)-475-4850
Participant Access Code: 883567#

URL for the webinar site: http://webster.edu.acrobat.com/dea/
Instructions for entering webinar in case you encounter trouble: http://www.webster.edu/technology/training/online_workshop_login.shtml

We look forward to seeing you there!

Next Meeting on January 14, 2010 @ 9am PST

2009-12-11T12:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who participated in the DEA Commission Meeting yesterday and a special thank you to Art Esposito for his presentation on delicious.com and social bookmarking. Art graciously agreed to join us again in February to go more in depth regarding delicious and specific questions that develop as we log in and use the technology.

If you have questions about what delicious is or how to sign up for an account click here for a "In Plain English" video that will give you more information.

This "In Plain English" series has come up a few times and you can access all of these videos on You Tube here. They essentially explain tekkie terms that sometimes come up in our meetings such as RSS feeds, Googledocs, etc. in ways that are easy to understand.

Once you create your delicious account we would like you to network with the commission. To get you started Art and Joshua Barron provided their delicious usernames and I will include mine as well:

Joshua Barron - barronkid
Art Esposito - vcuesposito
Tyann Cherry - tyanncherry

Please feel free to post your delicious username on the blog so other members are able to find you.

Our next meeting will take place on January 14, 2009 at 9am PST when we will be joined by Jaqueline Almdale of Washington State University to discuss ways in which that institution is tackling the issue of plagiarism and the distance learner.

Art Esposito to Present at Next Commission Meeting

2009-12-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

The next DEA Commission Meeting will take place Thursday December 10, 2009 at 9:00am Pacific Standard Time. If you are unsure what time this is in your area we recommend checking what time it is currently here.

Our next guest will be Art Esposito, Director of Discovery Advising at VCU (their program for Undeclared and Exploratory students). Art has advised first-year and undeclared students at Virginia Commonwealth University since the summer of 2004. He specializes in encouraging student engagement and the promotion of his advisees becoming active participants in their own collegiate opportunities, educational planning and career goal-setting.

Art has also dedicated much of his research to identifying effective ways of engaging students in web-based environments—meeting them “on their own turf”—and attempting to “socialize” them into viewing their educational career as the same sort of interesting and compelling experience as is their on-line world of social networks and web 2.0 platforms. He is the creator and proponent of an advising approached referred to as Supplemental Virtual Advising and brings three years of successful implementation to bear on the presentations and workshops he delivers.

Art is an active member in NACADA, regularly presenting at Regional and National conferences, as part of NACADA Webinars and as a member of the NACADA Consultant and Speaker Service (http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/aacss/). He has also spent the last two years on the steering committee for both Undeclared and Exploratory and Technology in Advising Commissions.

Art is also currently running for Chair of the Undecided & Exploratory Students Commission.

We look forward to seeing you all at the webinar this month and please be sure to check your email boxes for the web address and conference call info!

Del.icio.us - Social Boorkmarking Information

2009-11-16T11:14:00.000-08:00

Many of attendees have contacted our November presenter, Jennifer Varney with questions about viewing a Delicious account.

As requested you can view an account for one of Jennifer's colleagues delicious accounts here: http://delicious.com/SarahStearns

During the webinar Joshua Barron of Texas Tech provided a great link that explains social bookmarking in plain English: http://j.mp/deliciousexplained

If you aren't sure what exactly delicious is or how it can be useful that video is a good place to start.

Thanks for your participation and we look forward to meeting in December! Remember that if you would like to write for the DEA blog simply email Tyann Cherry @ cherry@webster.edu and she will add you as a contributor.

Distance Education Advising Meeting 11/12/09

2009-11-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

Thanks to our presenters for the November 2009 DEA Commission meeting:

Jennifer Varney, Director of Advising at SNHU Online shared her insights on using appreciative advising techniques with distance education students. Her PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded here.

We were also joined by Dr. Kristen Betts, Associate Clinical Professor in the School of Education's Higher Education program at Drexel University. Dr Betts shared some of her research with us along with national data and trends emerging in Online Academic Advising. Her PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded here.

Click here to be linked to a listing of Dr. Betts publications.

We encountered some playback difficulties with the recorded versions of the presentations and are hoping to have these worked out soon. So please check back for this.

The next Commission meeting will take place on Thursday, December 10 at 9:00am Pacific Standard Time. If you are unsure what time this would be in your timezone use the World Clock to verify.

Next month we will be joined by Art Esposito, Director of Discovery Advising at Virginia Commonwealth University. Art specializes is the advisement of exploratory students and social media.

Distressed Student Callers

2009-06-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

Folks, anyone have any experience with a distance education student who calls and speaks with an advisor in a location outside of the immediate vacinity of the college who talks about harming themselves or others. Does your school have a protocol for such a situation. As Thomas Edison State College is exclusively an online school, our interaction with students is 99.9% on the phone or through email. Last week we recieved a call from a student who expressed that they were going to harm themselves and then suddenly said just kidding. But what if the student was sincere. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

DEA Commission Meeting - 06/18/09

2009-06-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

We would like to thank our presenters for the June 2009 DEA Commissions meeting. Each presenter covered the orientation that their institution provides for online students. The insight and information gained from this collaboration was both practical and focused on real world applications. We hope to see you all back for the next meeting July 16, 2009 at 9am PST. Check out the world clock to see what time this would be in your area.

Thanks to:

Catherine Binuya (Catherine.Binuya@gpc.edu) of Georgia Perimeter College - Online
Shelley Dixon (Shelley.Dixon@esc.edu) of Empire State College
John Hasselbring (jhasselbring@devry.edu) of DeVry
and Bobbi Thomas (thomasb@wsu.edu) of Washington State University

You can view the recorded online meeting here.

You will want to play the audio that accompanies the meeting by calling: Free Conference Play Back Playback Number: (605) 475-4899 Access Code: 883567#

Some helpful tips using playback:

Playback Feature Keys

	Rewind 30 seconds
	Fast forward 30 seconds
	Pause/resume playback

Please note that the recorded presentation (video) is slightly delayed from the audio. You may need to adjust accordingly using the playback controls.

Links online orientations referenced in the presentations can be found below:

Pierce College
GPC
READI Assessment Info

Thanks to everyone who participated and we look forward to meeting again in July!

-Tyann Cherry
cherry@webster.edu
Senior Academic Advisor
Webster University

Washington State University - Bobbi Thomas (thomasb@wsu.edu)

2009-06-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

The state’s land-grant research university, Washington State University was founded in Pullman in 1890. The Pullman campus serves approximately 19,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Statewide, WSU enrolls more than 25,000 students on the main and regional campuses, the latter of which are located in Spokane, Richland and Vancouver, WA. WSU uses a mandatory advising system for all undergraduate students.

The Center for Distance and Professional Education (CDPE) houses the Distance Degree Programs (DDP), which began in 1992. WSU was one of the first four degree completion programs in the United States. Beginning with two courses and 52 enrollments, the DDP now offers hundreds of courses and serves in excess of 6000 students per semester. We are considered by most staff and faculty as a fifth campus within the WSU system. The admission and graduation requirements for DDP students are identical to those at WSU Pullman. All courses are taught by WSU faculty and staff. The degrees are not distinguished as being earned at a distance on transcripts or diplomas.

A large part of what has made DDP so successful through the years is the quality of our student services and advising staff. We use a high-tech yet high-touch approach that makes students feel they are more than just a warm body. We continuously look for ways to enhance our services while creating efficiencies that enable us to do more with less during these difficult economic times.

I am the Senior Academic Advisor and Assistant Director of Student Services for CDPE. I supervise four, full-time professional advising staff; an Advising Coordinator and Advising Assistant. I also supervise the distance learning student government advisor; the DDP financial aid advisor and the DDP career services advisor.

Each distance advisor has a caseload of approximately 550 students. My student advising load is smaller, given my administrative responsibilities. But working with students is still what I consider to be the best part of my job!

DDP advisors are located within a centralized advising unit and work with degree-seeking, non-certified and certified majors. The DDP advisors advise for ten different degrees, 15 minors and three professional certificates across two colleges. This ensures that our jobs remain challenging and stimulating, particularly when it comes to keeping track of the ever-changing college, major and university requirements and policies!

Athabasca University Profile...

2009-05-29T09:09:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,
I am very excited to join this blog and cannot wait to share info and ideas with you. We are the largest distance education provider in Canada and have been around the longest. There are not many specializing in distance ed to share with here.

We are a solely distance education provider.
The University:
AU serves over 37,000 students (over 7,300 full-load equivalents).
AU offers over 700 courses in more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs in a range of arts, science and professional disciplines.
AU has a $118 million annual operating budget.
AU employs over 1,200 faculty and staff members on four Alberta, Canada, campuses located in Athabasca, St. Albert, Edmonton and Calgary.
AU maintains over 350 collaborative agreements with other Canadian and international post-secondary institutions, with professional associations and employer groups and with First Nations institutions and communities.

Our Students:
AU students come from every Canadian province and territory and 84 countries worldwide.
The average undergraduate is 29; the average graduate student, 37.
81 per cent work while they study.
67 per cent are women.
63 per cent of program students study year round, balancing their studies with other commitments.
63 per cent of graduates support dependents.
74 per cent of graduates are the first in their family to earn a university degree.
Many students enrolled at other post-secondary institutions make extensive use of AU’s courses and educational services to help them complete their degrees. These visiting students take AU courses for transfer to an academic program at their home institution. Still others take AU courses out of personal interest or for professional development.

My role:
I am the Coordinator of Advising Services in the School of Business department at Athabasca University. I am based in Athabasca, Alberta. This is a new role and I have only been in it for 2 years now. However, before this I was a senior level advisor and started our advising unit within our department from the ground up. It has been interesting and busy to say the least! We have over 3000 program students in the School of Business that have taken a minimum of 6 credits (two courses) with us. Due to the large body of students we serve (both program and non-program/visiting students) and the understaffing we have been basically following a "respond-to" model. This past year I've been lucky enough to have increased staff numbers (we're now up to 4 full-time advisors and myself) and we are now trying to incorporate a more proactive stance on our advising. I'm very interested to hear how others advise from a distance and the support models you have incorporated as we expand further in this ourselves.

I look forward to your comments!
Cheryl

Georgia Perimeter College- Online Profile

2009-05-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
Here is a brief profile of Georgia Perimeter College (GPC) & our Online program:

GPC is the third largest institute in the University System of GA/Board of Regents serving over 23,000 students with a large international population.
GPC is a two-year Associates degree granting access institution.
GPC- Online serves approximately 6000 (as of Spring 2009) GPC students taking online courses.
The majority of our students tend to be non-traditional aged & work & support families while pursuing their college aspirations. This is especially true of our "totally online students."
We offer ~10 degrees that can be completed totally online. Four other degrees are short one or two courses from being fully online degree offerings.
We offer the most number of accredited courses & degree programs among the public institutions in the Southeast region.
Most of our students take online courses primarily for the "convenience" of the flexible schedule that allows them to still meet their work, family & community obligations.

I serve as the Director for Online Student Services for the college. I am responsible for overseeing all Student Services for our online population. I have developed & implemented a number of college initiatives to help better serve our student population "at a distance" from: our revised New Student Orientation Online program, our Online Student Satisfaction Survey that allows us to assess our level of quality service, our FAQs for online courses, the Student Success Backpack to provide resource information to assist our students in meeting all their "life needs" and an online Student Services Center that is accessible to any student taking online courses at the college through our iCollege (Vista) server.

I am looking to connect with other online Student Services providers to share ideas, give & receive inspiration and -overall- help to build an online community that supports the collective success of our students, our institutions & our communities in this very real "virtual" world.

2009-05-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Just a few notes about myself and my college:

Institution's name: Thomas Edison State College, Trenton, NJ

TESC is one of New Jersey's 12 senior public institutions of higher education, and one of the oldest accredited schools in the country designed exclusively for adults and a pioneer in the use of technology to create learning opportunities for adults.

Size: 17,000+ from all 50 states and 70+ countries and proudly serving military personnel and their families

Type of distance program: We offer over 100 areas of study and numerous professional certificate programs and confer associates, bachelors and masters degrees

Your role: Academic Advisor for Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Business Administration and Bachelor of Science, Human Services degrees

What are you main interests in advising? Interested in the use of technology to advise students and also the debate regarding advising vs counseling adult distance students to success.

As a former, "traditionalist" in advising, I am finding it challenging to now primarily be advising students via distance methods so am looking forward to being a part of this Commission.

2009-05-08T07:17:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone-
I finally found the time to visit this blog and get our information out there. I enjoyed the first teleconference meeting. Here is the profile of Excelsior College:

Excelsior College is located in Albany, New York
Excelsior College was founded as Regents College in 1971 as an external degree program of the New York State Board of Regents. In 1998 the Board of Regents granted Regents College an absolute charter to operate as a private, nonprofit, independent college and the name was changed to Excelsior College. We are accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
A leader in online and distance learning, Excelsior College awards degrees at the associate and baccalaureate levels in liberal arts, nursing, business, technology and health sciences, and at the master's level degrees in liberal studies, nursing and business. Certificate programs are also offered by the Schools of Liberal Arts, Business and Health Sciences.
More than 121,000 students have earned degrees from Excelsior College.
Our current college enrollment is approximately 31,600 students.
The average age student is 39-40 with 60% female and 40% male.
One third of our students are active-duty or reserve military personnel all over the world.
Less than 10% of our students come from NYS and the remaining are from the rest of the US and other nations.
The faculty of Excelsior College, both full time and adjunct, are drawn from many colleges and universities as well as from industry and the professions. They teach our online and CD-Rom courses, establish and monitor academic policies and standards, determine degree & curriculum requirements and determine the means by which credit may be earned, develop the content for all examinations and recommend degree conferral to the Excelsior College Board of Trustees.
I am the Director of Advisement and Evaluation in the School of Liberal Arts (7500 students).
Each school within the college has full and part time professional academic advisors. We have no faculty advisors. In the School of Liberal Arts, I supervise 2 Academic Evaluation Specialists (similiar to Ass't Dir positions), 16 full time academic advisors, 1 part time academic advisor, 1 Career Services Coordinator and 3 Advising Assistants.
I am looking forward to learning new ways that social networking and other technology can increase our contact with our students.

Susan Moyer

Webster University - An overview

2009-05-01T14:18:00.000-07:00

With its home campus in St. Louis - MO, Webster University is a worldwide institution committed to delivering high-quality learning experiences that transform students for global citizenship and individual excellence. Webster offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs through five schools and colleges, and a global network of more than 100 campuses. Its 20,000-plus student population represents more than 120 nationalities. The University’s core values include excellence in teaching, joining theory and practice, small class sizes, and educating students to be lifelong independent learners, fully prepared to participate in an increasingly international society.

We offer 17 graduate programs fully online across 4 schools and colleges; you can find a listing of all of our programs here. We also offer 3 graduate certificates and two undergraduate certificates fully online. We are currently exploring opportunities to expand our online programs to include more undergraduate options (possibly general education requirements, degree completion programs or more certificate options).

I am the Senior Academic Advisor at Webster University and oversee the workload management in a center of 6 full time advisors, 10 adjunct advisors and 2 Asst. Directors.

We recently conducted an overhaul of our advising model to connect students to advisors more quickly. Our on-campus and online models are identical with the exception of what we call “specialty” programs. These are programs with admissions criteria different than the standard admissions criteria of the graduate school. Often these program will require that a student meet with a specific advisor or they require an in person interview. At the present time our School of Education is the only online program that requires such a process. Aside from this we are a centralized advising office who also handles initial undergraduate student intake (which is large here at the main campus – 3,500+). We retain only those students who are undeclared or students who are completing degrees within the School of Business and Technology in the accelerated program.

I am interested in learning what models other multi-campus institutions employ and what types of data collecting they have done regarding online student retention and completion rates. If you would like to chat email me at cherry@webster.edu

-Tyann Cherry
Senior Academic Advisor
Webster University

distance education surveys

2009-04-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

Can anyone provide me with a survey that you give your distance education students. I am specifically looking for questions about faculty and advisor involvement with students to aid in their persistence to graduation. It is for my final co-op project to graduate in December with my MS in Higher Education. Thank you.

Linda Gaines

graduate student, Drexel University

llg35@drexel.edu

Penn State World Campus Profile

2009-04-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

For our first post, and in response to Tyann's request that each person do an introduction with a profile of their institution, here we are!

Penn State World Campus

*Online and Distance Education campus of The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)

*We offer associates, bachelors and graduate degrees as well as several certificate programs completely online through Penn State

*In terms of enrollments, we are currently the second largest campus of Penn State

*We have a team of professional academic advisers that advise all of our online students, including students in certificate programs

*I am the social networks adviser for Penn State World Campus and although I no longer advise students, I do work closely with students and staff to help build and develop a sense of community. I also train advising staff in the use of new technologies and manage our Second Life space.

I'm looking forward to being part of this community and blogging on tech-related items!

-Shannon Ritter

Joining In

2009-04-17T05:39:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks: I'm joining the Blog. I'll be working on my profile and stuff and should have it done shortly. Paul (Trela)

Institutional Pofile

2009-04-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

For those of you that were able to attend the Distance Education Advising Commission's first meeting thank you! We were thrilled that so many people made the time to attend and we look forward to our next meeting on 05/21/09, 9:00am PST.

It was suggested that we begin to strengthen our network and identify collaborators among the group by each member submitting an institutional profile based on their particular school or college and the type of advising they do. We would ask that in your submission you include the following:

Institution's name:
Size:
Type of distance program:
Size of distance program:
Your role:
A summary of the type of advising model you use in advising distance students:
Does that model differ from the one you use to advise traditional classroom student? If so how?
What are you main interests in advising?

If someone has a suggestion for adding a question or particular information let us know and we will update.

We look forward to working with all of you in the future!

Best,

Tyann Cherry
Webster University
Senior Academic Advisor