Date of Award
6-1-1990
Document Type
Dissertation - NSU Access Only
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Center for the Advancement of Education
Abstract
Practical Bible Training School (PBTS! is a small, private college in need of improved academic advising services. The purpose of this project was to identify strategies in academic advising that would be appropriate for implementation in the small, private college setting, to develop an academic advising system that would address problems experienced at PBTS, and to implement and evaluate such a system through a trial model. A successful program would necessitate limited expansion of resources or personnel, applicability on an institution-wide basis, and demonstrated improvement in adviser and student satisfaction. A trial model was developed and implemented during the 1989-90 academic year. It consisted of pre- and in-service training for advisers, intrusive advising for high-risk students, dissemination of profile data on new students to advisers, streamlined registration and group advising, development of advising support materials, placement of an advising file in the library containing appropriate support materials for student use, and evaluation of advising services by both advisers and students. The model was evaluated through two twenty-five item, pretest-posttest questionnaires. One questionnaire assessed the satisfaction of the ten academic advisers with advising services and support; the other assessed the satisfaction of all returning students {approximately 60). The questionnaires were administered as a pretest at the beginning of the fall 1989 semester, and as a posttest at the end of the spring 1990 semester. An advising preferences survey was also administered to advisers and both returning and new students at the end of the spring 1990 semester. The implementation of the academic advising trial model was responsible for a substantial reduction in the number of advising areas rated “poor” or "very poor” by over ten percent of academic advisers or returning students. Overall increase in the mean and median levels of satisfaction were found for both academic advisers and students. Statistically significant improvements in adviser satisfaction were four in fifteen of the twenty-five areas examined, and in returning student satisfaction in seventeen of the twenty-five analysis areas. Significant improvements in adviser satisfaction included the following: timely notification of advising assignments, information about prior abilities of advisees, tracking of the academic progress of high-risk advisees, awareness of advisee plans to drop a course or withdraw from school, information about support services and course options, sufficient resources to help advisees, satisfaction with registration and pre-registration, and satisfaction with the level of institutional support and recognition for advisers. Student satisfaction significantly improved for adviser clarification of recommendations and college policies and procedures, adviser knowledge of program requirements, tracking of what courses the advisee needed, and help in selecting appropriate courses, and adviser tracking of academic progress and help with academic problems. Significant improvements were also found for discussion of college support services, adviser availability, friendship, and genuine concern about the welfare and growth of the advisee, and the advisee's overall experience with advising. Both students and advisers preferred procedures and materials used in the advising trial model over the former advising system by a significant margin. Former procedures were preferred in only one of the twenty-·six areas modified (advisers preferred that students get academic petition forms from the academic office instead of the adviser). It was recommended that PBTS adopt a permanent advising program based on the components of the advising trial model.