Providence College: Angel-Supported Academic Advising
Providence College in the Rhode Island city of the same name, prides itself in
selecting the right students for its highly regarded primarily undergraduate
programs, and starting early on to assure that the students receive what they
seek from their Providence education. Incoming students are contacted with the
usual welcoming events and messages from the Student Life office. In addition,
new students are invited to take their Spanish language and mathematics
placement tests on line prior to coming to campus orientation. All new students
now take the math test, and more than one-fourth of the new students take the
language test prior to summer orientation. The remainder completes the tests
on-line from the Providence campus. The results are immediately available to
new students and their advisors to plan the students’ fall course schedules.
This attention to proper course placement, as well as positioning the student
at the center of the Providence learning experience, no doubt helps account for
Providence’s 92% retention rate for incoming students. This placement/advising
partnership also extends to the campus IT organization- students receive their
Angel (CyberLearning Labs course management system) login prior to coming to
campus. The placement tests are delivered through Angel, simultaneously building
a profile of the incoming student and giving that student early access and
navigational practice for the CMS that will support much of their coursework.
The advising process is remarkably well-integrated through the assessments and
surveys delivered through Angel. For example, each segment of the Spanish
placement test is individually password-activated so performance on an early
section of the test can be used to guide a student toward early or advanced
placement question sets, progressively adapting to the student’s performance.
The test segments, which focus on grammar, vocabulary, and listening skills
based on interpreting sound files delivered through the Angel assessment
interface are summed, the quantitative score correlated to the proper course
number and level, and the advisor is provided an aggregated “gradebook” that
conveniently provides all needed information in a single electronic place.
Using a similar strategy for math, the on-line test results are electronically
delivered to a counselor along with qualitative survey responses from each student.
The advisor uses it to propose a sequence of math courses based on existing
math competencies and skills projected to be useful in specific majors. The
dossier provides a concise and concrete focus for the face-to-face interview
conducted for each student (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: The advisor’s
view of student math performance includes a checklist of demonstrated competencies,
standardized test scores and qualitative survey results. The box in the upper
right corner holds the advisor’s recommendation for the sequence of math courses
that would benefit the student.
In another series of screens, advisors can track academic program information,
workshops, internship opportunities, career and subject-oriented campus lectures,
and campus announcements. These opportunities and activities can be distributed
to student calendars providing a parsimonious way to provide customized campus
views for different student groups. This service has proved especially valuable
to the approximately 1,000 undeclared and 400 premedical sciences student body.
For about 30-50 juniors, seniors and alumni who are applicants to post-baccalaureate
health professions schools, Providence offers an intricate and adaptive Health
Professions Advising program. Scheduling, testing, and tracking progress
through the application process were once separate, paper-based activities.
Here again, compilation in an Angel-delivered database serves student, faculty,
and advisor needs. Angel’s “who-dun-it” function is used to send electronic
reminders to students who have not completed a necessary part of the application
process. This “tickler” function makes the work of staff much easier and keeps
students up-to-date without a need to “bug” the HPS administrators.
Advising is as much about matching student interest and needs as it is about
proper placement. Discussion, collaboration and conversation remain the heart
of the successful advising process, but the Angel-delivered support system
adds immeasurably to the efficiency of the system. To “close the loop,” each
student is asked to complete an on-line survey about his or her advising
experiences at Providence. In the words of student Nicholas Beatty (gathered
from an Angel-delivered survey): “I very much like the organizational simplicity
that the Angel group site has brought to the application process.”
Carol Crafts, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Providence College,
along with Spanish faculty member Nuria Alonso Garcia and Angel administrator
Adam Hauerwas, has overseen the migration of advising support to the Angel-enabled
functional integration of the Student Services office. The next steps her team
envisions include adding French to the placement test inventory and integrating
advising groups to support the faculty based academic advising of all Providence
College students. They credit Angel for helping them reduce stress, paper, and
organizational chaos in the advising process, expanding the time available for
the critical human interaction on which good student advising relies.
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