WHAT SHOULD ACADEMIC ADVISING LOOK LIKE AT BRCC
Jeffrey Selingo's article on academic advising lists many of the same issues we are currently experiencing. In his article, he notes that academic advising "has always been one of those intractable problems on college campuses. Students rarely think about it until that frantic moment when they need someone to sign the registration form for next semester's classes. Only 4 of 10 students consider counselors their primary source of advice regarding academic plans, according to the National Survey of Student Engagement, an annual poll of freshmen and seniors. A third of freshmen turn to friends or family. One in 10 students never even meet with an academic counselor." Please remember to join us tomorrow at 1:00 pm in the Teaching+Learning Center as we continue with our discussion on creating an academic advising program of excellence.

CAN YOU HOLD THAT IDEA FOR A MINUTE
Dr. Maryellen Weimer's latest blog post offers some solid assistance for those who like to use classroom discussion. She writes, "The classroom discussion is going pretty well. Students are offering some good comments and more than one hand is in the air. Then a student makes a really excellent observation that opens up a whole avenue of relevant possibilities. You follow-up by calling on a student whose hand has been in the air for some time. Her comment is fine, but it’s totally unrelated to the previous comment. How do you get students to respond to each other’s comments? How do you get student comments to build on a key topic so that it becomes more like a real discussion?"

DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION IS AN OPPORTUNITY
Dr. Hunter Boylan's editorial on community colleges and remedial education strikes a few familiar chords. He writes, "Members of the professional community in developmental education agree with many studies suggesting that simply placing students in remedial courses is an inadequate response to the problems of underpreparedness among entering college students. They would further tend to agree that the current process of identifying and placing underprepared students is flawed and that the entire process of assessing, advising and teaching them needs reform. But if there is a 'solution' to the remediation education 'problem,' it is vastly more complex than many reform advocates and most policy makers acknowledge. It will require that community colleges change the way they do remediation. It will also require that they address non-academic issues that may prevent students from succeeding, improve the quality of instruction at all levels, revise financial aid policies, provide better advising to students at risk, integrate instruction and support services, teach college success skills, invest in professional development and do all of these things in a systematic manner integrated into the mainstream of the institution."