The Solution
The Technology
In order to meet the needs of our students, we’ve tapped into the technology resources available to our institution. This includes our learning management and advising systems. Utilizing both of these resources allows us to create advising center courses for all departments, programs, and academic majors within the college.
The Course templates
We use a "flipped model" approach by having the students get their stuff done before their advising appointments. It will also help cut down on the time the advisor spends with the student because we hope to have them more prepared. Their communications are all in one central location as well as any "homework/assignments" that need to be turned into their advisors. The advisors can make this course template their own and add any additional pages, images, etc. to convey their departmental needs.
The basic advising center template for the college has the following elements:
The basic advising center template for the college has the following elements:
- Welcome page
- Campus Resources page
- Discussions
- Modules with major/minor information, etc.
- Advisor Contact information
- Cranium Cafe' is an online advising meeting tool that some advisors are using inside of their Canvas courses.
- Go to utah.instructure.com/courses/435563 to see an example of the ECON Advising Center Course.
Community building
What is community building? It's a group of people who have the same interests. They support learning and talking about shared topics. In the learning community, this is also referred to as 'Communities of Practice'. Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.
We wanted to use the technology of our LMS to help foster a sense of community among the students transferring to the university and with those students who are in the same major. We focused on the undergraduate experience first but are looking at specific graduate programs in 2017.
We wanted to use the technology of our LMS to help foster a sense of community among the students transferring to the university and with those students who are in the same major. We focused on the undergraduate experience first but are looking at specific graduate programs in 2017.
references
Ralston, Dr. Linda (2014) Fostering a Sense of Learning Community, online workshop in Canvas.
Wegner, Trayner "Introduction to Communities of Practice." wenger-trayner.com. 2015
- You will be required to create a free account on the Canvas Network.
Wegner, Trayner "Introduction to Communities of Practice." wenger-trayner.com. 2015