Vital Behaviors

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Find and Clarify Your Vital Behaviors

• Advisors will formulate and share their why statements, then create web based advising resources/ePortfolios to utilize in their advising interactions.
• Advising will create and allow for flexible advising options (online, e-advise, module/quiz-based, video/quiz-based, in-person), allowing for the ultimate diversity of choice, ownership, and voice for each learner and advisor within accepted and set boundaries/expectations. This vital behavior empowers and frees students and advisors from mandated expectations of advising interactions to express their individuality while contributing to the collaboration of compelling flipped advising opportunities.
• Advising teams collaborate on content development and establish best practices for ePortfolio implementation into advising interactions while holding one another accountable for use of the resource.
  • Long term development goals might include content modules can include internal triggers to direct students’ needs based on assessments from within advising modules. Answers/scores can launch informative videos, initiate a referral to support services (Careers, Accessibility Resource Center, advising appointments, financial aid/scholarships status updates and direct inquires), targeted outreach, and follow up from stakeholders to explain options and impacts and/or advising/coaching campaign links.
  • During peak advising/registration times, outreach efforts/campaigns will direct students to flipped advising resources. This action leaves advisors’ schedules open and available during critical availability timeframes.

How credible is each Vital Behavior that you listed?

Have you found credible research done by others that validates the behavior you listed? Yes

“Blended advising draws directly from the benefits of synchronous, on campus advising—”same time, same place” experiences that enable human connection and spontaneity—while simultaneously taking advantage of the asynchronicity and computer-mediated environment of online advising—or “different time, different place” experiences that afford more opportunities for flexibility and accessibility, thereby leaving out any weaknesses from either method”

Ambrose, G. A., & Williamson Ambrose, L. (2013). The Blended Advising Model: Transforming Advising with ePortfolios. International Journal of ePortfolio, 3(1), 75-89.

“… improve the advising experience by helping students prepare in advance for advising meetings and to be more mindful in the making of academic decisions through pre-engagement, reflection, and planning”

Ambrose, G. A., Martin, H. E., & Page, H. (2014). Linking advising and e-portfolios for engagement: Design, evolution, assessment, and university-wide implementation. AAC&U Peer Review Winter.

Through content unites and modules in various technologies, advisors integrate services and resources that can be evaluated to show an individual’s understanding of and meaning applied to learning.

Steele, G. E. (2016). Technology and academic advising. Beyond foundations: Developing as a master academic advisor, 305-326.

Have you conducted a positive deviance study to determine what has worked for you or others in the past? (Chapter 2) Yes, through the use and pilot of this advising ePortfolio.

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Change How You Change Minds

Check YES or NO for each question.

• When trying to convince yourself or others to change minds, do you create ways to experience the need to change (For example: field trips, pilots, trial runs, or other hands-on experiences) rather than simply trying to talk yourself or others into changing through presentations, lectures, pep talks, or other verbal means? Y N

• Do you use powerful and credible stories as a way of touching people’s hearts and minds with the need to change? ** For more information on how to change minds, see Chapter 3 in Y N

Diagnose the Current Behavior—Why Does Change Seem Impossible?

When it comes to your current results, to what extent are the following factors a source of your current behaviors? These questions should apply to others whom you are trying to influence (boss, team, company, etc). Check YES or NO for each question.

Personal Motivation

• Do you or others take satisfaction from the right behavior or dislike the wrong behavior? Y N
• When the going gets tough, do you or others think carefully about how the Vital Behavior would help with long-term goals and align with moral values? ** To work on personal motivation, see Chapter 4 in Y N

Personal Ability

• Do you or others have all the skills or knowledge to perform what is required? Y N
• Do you or others have the self-control to engage in the Vital Behavior when it’s hardest to do so? ** To work on personal ability, see Chapter 5 in Y N

Social Motivation

• Are the people around you or others actively encouraging the right behavior or discouraging the wrong behavior? Y N
• Are you or others modeling the right behaviors in an effective way? ** To work on social motivation, see Chapter 6 in Y N

Social Ability

• Do you or others provide the help, information, and resources required, particularly at critical times? Y N
• Do you or others hold people accountable for behaving in the right way? ** To work on social ability, see Chapter 7 in Y N

Structural Motivation

• Are there clear and meaningful rewards (such as with pay, bonuses, or incentives) when you or others behave the right way? Y N
• Are short-term rewards in alignment with the desired long-term results and behaviors you or others want? ** To work on structural motivation, see Chapter 8 in Y N

Structural Ability

• Are there aspects in the environment that make the Vital Behavior convenient, easy, and safe? Y N
• Are there enough cues and reminders to help you or others stay on course? ** To work on structural ability, see Chapter 9 in Y N