2016 Annual Conference

In this session, we will discuss challenges and strategies for advising graduate adult learners at a distance. The strategies bridge philosophical and pedagogical elements of developmental advising and self-directed practices. We utilize a framework that incorporate these elements, while avoiding a one size fits all model.

Our target audience will include faculty or academic advisors, administrators, program coordinators, and anyone interested in implementing or learning about a self-directed advising model for advising online adult graduate students.

While the continued growth in online learning shows no signs of slowing down, there is a lack of research at the graduate level on advising practices for distance students. Much of the research has been conducted at the undergraduate level and with face to face advising methods. Although this research informs us with foundations about advising practices, we must extend our knowledge and experiences as it relates to distance students.
Knowing that adult learners are not all self-directed but using an outcome of developing learners’ self-efficacy to promote growth and development can become a pivotal part of their academic journey. Although we might incorporate these practices into our courses, we can also incorporate the same practices into the way we advise distance students. As faculty advisors we want to be able to engage with our students at a high level interaction, and often, the logistic segments of academic advising become only transactional. In order to move beyond this type of interaction, we suggest utilizing a lens of advising as teaching and proposing a holistic approach to advising that integrates the logistics, the engagement and the development for our learners on a continuum rather than separated segments of the advising process.