Intrusive In A Good Way

Intrusive advising is a term that has been making the rounds in higher education for a while now. It seems to appear whenever someone asks how the college where they are working can improve the student retention and completion numbers. While most of us can probably come up with a description of what we think intrusive advising is, it is always good to look to current research to help determine what is really working in the important areas of retention and completion. A research study by Paul Donaldson, Lyle McKinney, Mimi Lee, and Diana Pino does just that. They report that a key factor in successful intrusive advising is making it mandatory for students. They note that the motivation to seek help is often lower in students who may most need it. They also noted that students indicated other positive aspects of the intrusive model included degree planning activities, which included reviewing required courses, developing a plan for future course registration, completing an electronic course planner tool, learning transfer requirements, and participating in major and career exploration. You can read the entire research article here.

As our yearly spring break week winds to a close, there is anticipation in the air. It is always a mystery as to just how many of our students will check back in. It is the time of year when we may have seen the last of a student yet we didn't know it. Many of us, with the small taste of sprummer (spring/summer Louisiana style), can empathize with our students who check out at this point of the semester. Why does this happen? Does the break someone trigger feelings of being done or hopelessness or both? It reminded me of a recent article on NPR.org that encouraged us to not schedule early classes because our students learn better later in the day. It also said, "College classes start too early in the morning for students' brains. While most colleges have start times of around 8 a.m., Jonathan Kelley advises NPR Ed that the ideal start time would be more like 10 or 11 a.m. The reason: People fall into different 'chronotypes,'which people know as 'early birds' and 'night owls.' In this sample, night owls outnumbered early birds by far. The reasons for this are biological, says Evans. There has been evidence over time from specific studies indicating that teenagers' body clocks are set at a different time than older folks, she says. Medical research suggests that this goes on well into your 20s, so we decided to look at college students. While there is no ideal start time for everyone, up to 83 percent of students could be at their best performance if colleges allowed them to choose their own ideal starting time for a regular six-hour day, according to Kelley." Food for thought. By the way, we are strongly encouraging our study group student participants to plan some meeting time to discuss how they plan to finish the spring semester strong so please encourage your students to spend some time on this idea as well.