An Invitation to Innovate Advising

As an academic advisor, I have a passion for helping people. I hold my role as an honor and a privilege. Over time and through my research, I have also learned how vital the role of a strong advising relationship is to students’ retention and success. Providing students with 24/7 access to personally curated information resources can guide them throughout their programs’ completion. This innovation aims to improve the experience for both advisors’ and students’ while strengthening that relationship.

Innovation Proposal

A person in a dark suit is standing behind a large poster board with only their hands and waist visible. The word INNOVATION is printed in the top left corner of the poster and it is covered with drawings of graphs, charts, and gears.

My innovation proposal is to implement a resource for students to access information at various points throughout their academic journey. This will allow me to curate a single location for students to visit instead of trying to navigate the complete University website and departmental sources.

Literature Review

Pictured here are shelves of books with colorful bindings in a library or bookstore. No book titles can be deciphered.

I needed to look at existing literature to make recommendations for successful innovation. I reviewed articles, journals, books, and other publications. I first looked at blended learning within the traditional K-12 system. I studied how blended learning has been applied within higher education. I reviewed current practices related to a flipped advising approach that leverages technology to provide 24/7 access and service to online students. Finally, I reviewed current advising practices, goals, and functions to determine how my innovation could improve online advising.

Implementation Outline

Wooden scrabble tiles are scattered on an orange background. Horizontally centered there are lettered tiles that spell out "Implement."

As my innovation plan proposal moves through the research and implementation phases, it is essential to plan how a project of this size will be undertaken. I will need to identify the priority stakeholders and how the innovation can expand to the advising unit as a whole. Therefore, I created an implementation outline that will show targets over the next 24 months of implementation and expansion.

Personal photo of the 13 book bindings on a stack of my current (and growing) future readings. The book titles are Mindset, Start with Why, Smashing the Wall of Fear, A Failure of Nerve, Grit, Drive, Crucial Conversations, the 4 Disciplines of Execution, Influencer, Academic Advising Approaches, The New Advisor Guidebook, Beyond Foundations, and Academic Advising a Comprehensive Handbook

Annotated Bibliography

After doing the research and planning for an innovation project like the one presented here, you realize that there is a lot to learn as you progress through the actualization of your idea. Over the next several months and years, I will be reading and researching more information about improving academic advising for both advisors and students.

Quote from Joichi Ito that reads "Education is what people do to you. Learning is what you do to yourself. Focus on being connected, always learning, fully aware and super present.