Friday, October 04, 2013

Election Time

If you haven't already considered it, we are looking for some new blood to join the UMAE Executive. This year we are looking for a new Membership Chair and a new Vice-President.

If you're interested in working with the Advisor Exchange, get in touch with Kristin or Greg to discuss the nomination process.

Nominations are due in by October 17th and the election will run between then and the meeting on October 24th.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

NACADA's Academic Advising Today


This monthly newsletter is yet another benefit of membership in NACADA. For those of you that haven’t seen this yet, please take a look.

The article by NACADA’s President Josh Smith is a very interesting take on articulating the role of Academic Advising and how we can play a role in a student’s overall educational experience (co-curricular activities, development of other competencies, etc.).

Also please take a look at the article by NACADA’s Executive Director, Charlie Nutt on how NACADA has recently devised a plan that will guide the organization going forward. The plan includes a vision for what NACADA is going to look like 10 years from now and how it will get to that point - regardless of organizational leadership. I would like us to have a similar discussion (on a smaller scale, of course) about the Advisor Exchange, our evolution, and the role we might play here at the U of M down the road.

Enjoy these, and the other articles by clicking here:


Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Some ideas and issues to ponder...

As a member of the Academic Advising Review team, I am involved in a number of discussions about ways we can work to improve academic advising on our campus. The discussions often turn to the importance of the Advisor Exchange and how we might be able to play a role in the grand scheme of things - and the most impactful and effective way of involving the Advisor Exchange group to discuss and implement new ideas and programs.

Here are a few questions that, as a group, we need to consider:

1. What do you see as the role and purpose of the Advisor Exchange?

2. In your opinion, what would a formal reporting line mean to our group? What are the pros and cons of becoming a group with someone to report to? (there are both!)

3. What are your views on Advisor training and development? Could the Advisor Exchange play a part in developing an advising training program? An advising handbook?

 These are just a few of the many questions that our group will need to consider over the next couple of months. I hope to have a special meeting dedicated to these ideas in the next month or so. I hope that you will think about the above and provide some feedback that I can take to the Advising Review team for discussion.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Came across this great TED talk today. Thought I'd share it with you:



Friday, February 08, 2013

Stats really can be fun...

I attended the Richard Wiggers talk this morning (February 8th), and I have to say that I was most pleasantly surprised by the presentation. The outline describing the presentation led me to the Tim Horton's line-up for a second dose prior to the 10 am start, but as Dr. Wiggers began by describing the research that his organization (HEQCO) has undertaken, it became evident that we were all going to learn a lot from what he had to say - even if the statistics and research primarily focused on Ontario PSE institutions - the information was easily transferable to our province. On top of the compelling Canadian research we were able to learn about, Wiggers entertained us with a laid back style, mixed with some of his personal experiences that left me grinning on more than a few occasions.

There were many great takeaways from the talk this morning. One idea born out of the talk that I plan to undertake is to find out more information about the "kind" of students we currently interact with in Science. In turn, I hope to find out who the students are that we need to do a better job of reaching, informing, and helping.

This is another example of our Vice-Provost (Students) bringing in an excellent speaker to the U of M and inviting the Advisor Exchange to take part. If you attended the talk this morning, I would encourage you to send Susan a note of thanks for once again including us in another excellent PD opportunity.

What did you think about the talk? Are you going to take any action as a result of what you heard? Please share here...

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Welcome to the new webspace for the U of M Advisor Exchange Group. We are looking forward to using our new blog to inform our members of all that's going on with the Advisor Exchange and advising at the U of M.

Be sure to check out the News and Reviews page (found in the tabs above) for upcoming PD opportunities and info about the world of Academic Advising.

If you have any ideas for posts, or you'd like to share some information in this space, feel free to get in touch with any of the executive members (Greg, Erin, Jason, Kristin).