Advising Online Graduate Students: Methods for Student Success
Heather RicksAssistant Director & Academic AdvisorOnline Master of Science in Food Safety ProgramMichigan State University (USA)
“…learn from the past,
reflect on the present,
and together plan for the future…”
Michigan State University
➢Founded in 1855
➢Arguably the oldest land-grant institution in the U.S., established under the Morrill Act of 1862
➢Students: ~50,350 • 39,100 undergraduate• 11,250 graduate and professional students
➢Faculty/Academic Staff: ~5,500
➢Support Staff: ~6,975
➢Living Alumni: ~552,000 worldwide
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
How CAN you reach students in an online environment?
How DO you reach students in an online environment?
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Presentation Outline
➢Task & Team: making room for online advising
➢Creating Community through elements that students appreciate and use
➢Self Assessments to increase online engagement
➢Connections to physical campus & people
➢Future pathways to increase student success
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Some questions to consider…
• How many of you advise students?
• How many of you teach students?
• How many of you advise using technology?
• How many of you work with a fully online population?
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
George E. SteeleRetired, The Ohio State University (USA)
Task & Team
➢Founded in 2001 with on-campus component
➢30 credit degree
➢Now fully online
➢~275 current students
➢317 alumni
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Students are typically:
➢mid-career
➢mid-20s & mid-30s (74%)
➢full-time professionals (mostly industry)
➢located in 44 states and 32 countries
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Instructors & Staff➢academia
➢industry
➢government
➢alumni
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
➢Why move to fully online?
➢How do we capture what we loved about the on-campus component?
➢What can we gain from this transition?
MSFS students during previous VM 810 course
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
➢Key: Required as first class (offered three times per year)
Semester Total enrollment Continuing New to MSFS
Fall 2013 70 47 23
Spring2017
33 0
Summer 2017
344 (+16)
361 83 278
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Creating Community
➢Short videos of faculty and staff
➢Optional audio recordings
➢Student self portraits
➢Social Media
➢Spartan Trivia: campus icon snapshots
➢Ask the Director forum
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Getting started online
Spartan Systems
Communication
PlagiarismCourse
Planning
Academic Performance
Graduation & Commencement
Dairy StoreMeet Sparty
Spirit Week
Athletics
MSU IconsMSU Gear
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Video
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Audio
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Self Portraits
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Self Portraits
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Social Media➢Closed
➢Private
➢Direct feedback
➢Informal peer-to-peer learning
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Self Assessments
➢Self-reflected and applied assessments
➢Visual and audio components to lectures and assignments
➢Transcribed lectures
➢Discussion forums
➢Quizzes
➢Short essay
➢Group work
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
➢Learning Styles• Visual/Auditory
• Reading & Remembering
• Right/Left Brain
➢MBTI• Perception
➢Jones Belbin• Teams
NACADA Region 5Poster Session
Toronto (Canada) – 2016
Included in online session documents
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Video tutorials
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Video
Interactive link to article
Video tour of Green Meadows
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Connections
Faculty➢Personal welcome email at beginning of week
➢Excellent on-going communication with students
➢Summation email to the class
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Faculty
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Campus
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Campus
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Understanding of MSU policies and procedures?
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Feeling connected to MSU?
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
“Even though it's all online & I'm only one class [into the program] I am absolutely already 100% proud to be a Spartan.”
“This course certainly made me a Spartan!”
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
How CAN you reach students in an online environment?
How DO you reach students in an online environment?
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Future PathwaysChallenges:
➢Multiple content pieces each week➢High number of instructors (many outside MSU)➢Students working all over the world
Opportunities:➢Increasing accessibility➢Balancing new technologies (meeting the students
where they are)➢Increasing support between welcome and 1st day of
class
2017 NACADA International Conference - Sheffield, England
Thank you!
Heather RicksMichigan State UniversityWeb: foodsafety.msu.edu
Email: [email protected] @hmricks74