Registration for the MACADA 2020 Conference is open
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Breakouts:
Academic Probation to Good Standing: Academic probation is more prevalent than people realize. About 1/3 of all students in higher education will find themselves on academic probation at some time in their college career. The push for retention has to be accompanied by an understanding of how students can reach academic recovery. The research that has focused on which programs are most beneficial to students on probation does not focus on the experience of the student. This presentation explores what we know about the students who are more likely to be on academic probation, incorporate Schlossberg’s Transition Theory into the experience of moving in, moving out, and moving through academic probation, and how advisors can best assist these students.
Verbal Judo: After a challenging student situation, this left the presenters wondering the best ways to defuse a verbal attack and engage people through empathy. Funny enough, that's exactly what the book Verbal Judo, The Gentle Art of Persuasion by George Thompson and Jerry Jenkins is about. In this session, the presenters will review the book's techniques so advisors can become "Verbal Judo masters" to help in any situation. Our hope is you will have more confidence in having hard conversations with students, parents, colleagues, or anyone for that matter, after attending this session.
Education Advisor Open Forum: If you work with Education students, and want to connect with others across the state who do the same, this is the session for you! It's an open forum with some focused topics for us to discuss as a group. We want for each advisor to leave with information and resources to help their students succeed throughout their certification programs.
Measuring Connections - Using Advising Learning Outcomes: This session will present a learning outcome assessment tool that has been validated using psychometric instrument methods. Learning outcome theory and its application to academic advising will be briefly discussed. Next, we will consider how learning outcomes can be used to assess the effectiveness of advising in one-on-one appointments, group sessions, and the websites/paper resources that may have proliferated during remote advising. Finally, we will explore possible applications of the tool for specific advising interests, such as underrepresented populations, probation, transfer, etc.
Sleep for student success: advisor and student wellbeing during a pandemic: The science is clear - poor sleep decreases mental capacity and compromises mental and physical health. The surveys are in – 2020 anxiety and sleeplessness rates are up for both students and the general population. This presentation discusses what advisors can do both for their students and themselves to address the anxiety and sleeplessness epidemic. The American College Health Association identified poor sleep as one of its top health concerns for students and cited better sleep as one of five key benchmarks for its 2020 Healthy Campus campaign. Yet few universities have a meaningful comprehensive strategy to help improve student sleep, despite sleep’s significant impact on academic success. Often the poor sleep epidemic on US campuses is misjudged as a minor issue to be addressed not at the institutional level, but through sporadic counseling services or residential life initiatives. Advisors can play an important part, too. This presentation provides practical recommendations for advisors to help both advisors and students get the restful sleep they need to feel well and perform well. Resources and best practice examples are shared with the participants, including bibliography and links. There will be an active Q & A session and structured time for participants to jot down action steps and ideas to enhance understanding and retention.
