University of North Georgia

Enhancing the Quality of Advising at the University of North Georgia

University of North Georgia

The University of North Georgia is part of the University System of Georgia and is designated as a State Leadership Institution and The Military College of Georgia. With about 20,000 students, the University is one of the state’s largest public universities.

UNG has a strong commitment to building a student-focused environment and to developing students into leaders for a diverse global society. Facilitating success and educational goal attainment for all students and fostering a welcoming environment that values and reflects diversity and inclusion is an important institutional goal. To study its effectiveness in success and educational attainment for all students, and prepare for its reaffirmation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), UNG participated in five successive NSSE administrations. More specifically, data from NSSE’s Academic Advising Topical Module helped guide the development and monitor overall progress on UNG’s narrative for its recent SACSCOC Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), which is based on improving and expanding advising.

UNG’s QEP, “On Time & On Target” elaborates a model of blended advising that begins with Professional Advisors to provide foundational advising for all students and then transitions to faculty advisors for the junior and senior years where the focus is on mentoring and identifying discipline-specific experiences and career opportunities.

Early evidence of the enhancements to advising stimulated by the goals in the QEP include a shift in advising culture that enacts advising as teaching through a curriculum that supports student self-efficacy and self-regulated learning and provides accurate and timely advising and program planning tools. Advisors are more able to direct students to online and institutional tools and support student responsibility for their academic success. Since the shift, advisors have observed changes in student self-efficacy as well as their understanding of, and ability to use, the curriculum, program of study, and planning guides to develop and achieve their educational goals.

Advisors have observed changes in student self-efficacy as well as their understanding of, and ability to use, the curriculum, program of study, and planning guides to develop and achieve their educational goals.

Administer the Academic Advising Topical Module During Your NSSE "Off Year"

Recently participating institutions may license up to four modules for local administration when not participating in the standard NSSE.

Visit the Topical Module Local Administration Option

UNG’s recent Academic Advising Topical Module results show improved results for first-year students across multiple items that reflect effective advising practice, including: advisors being available when needed, offering prompt and accurate information, and providing outreach and follow-up. Advisors were also rated highly in terms of providing help to students in the development of their academic goals and future plans. Notably, UNG first-year students outperformed their peers at comparison institutions on the vital advising qualities of active listening, empathy, and cultural sensitivity, known as the Listening, Respecting and Caring scale. This scale captures the extent to which advisors are interpersonally attentive to students. These results provide further confirmation of the impact of the shifts in advising culture and in increased student use of advising resources. The Academic Advising Topical Module results will be included in UNG’s Fifth Year Interim Report to SACSCOC and to support conclusions at the end of the process.

UNG will continue to implement its QEP goals in full and collect a variety of forms of evidence to evaluate improvements in student learning outcomes and identify strengths and weaknesses of the blended advising model.