Building an Online Advising Community
With a grant from the University of Wisconsin (UW) System Innovation Fund, University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s Distance Learning Center (DLC) created and implemented an online advising community for online undergraduate students using Desire2Learn. After noticing a need for an interactive place to share content and ideas from student, advisor, and staff assessments, the DLC assembled a team of advisors to create a platform where students and advisors could connect more easily.
The project committee was led by Advising and Outreach Manager Amy Foley and included undergraduate advisors and outreach specialists Cameo Updike and Kalyn Williams, along with course developer Julie Hewitt. The group met weekly — and sometimes daily — in order to successfully launch the online community with a small turn around, and group members received help from DLC colleagues who work with assessments, tech support, grants, institutional review board processing, and campus leadership.
The grant was awarded in September 2015, and the Advising Community of Support was launched in October 2015. As part of the grant requirements, the group submitted reports every 30 days during the duration of the 120-day project, and a final report was submitted when the project was completed in February 2016. After project completion, DLC advisors decided to continue access to the online community for all undergraduate students and are currently researching the development of an online community for graduate students.
The purpose of the community of support is to have a space that allows students to interact with their peers and advisors. The DLC’s goal for this project was to increase student engagement and retention, identify student issues and concerns as early as possible, and to help students feel as if they are part of the larger university community. After only six months from its launch date, it is too early to determine if the project has met its goals and primary objectives; however, several assessment methods have been explored to identify improvements necessary in moving forward.
Three months after the launch of the online community to all undergraduate students, nearly half of them have logged into the community at least once. Discussion posts have been created and read by a large percentage of the student population, and important content posted by the advising team has been well received. The emphasis of the Advising Community of Support is not the content itself; rather it is the engagement between the students and the advisors. Students are starting to become more comfortable posting questions for their peers to answer. Advisors are keeping students informed by posting items such as important dates, industry information, and campus activities.
As of today, presentations on the Advising Community of Support have been given at the Adult Student Recruitment and Retention and at the University of Wisconsin Information Technology Management Council meeting. A presentation will be given at the National Academic Advising Association’s 40th Annual National Conference in October.
For more information, contact: Amy Foley, Advising and Outreach Manager at foleya@uwplatt.edu or 800-362-5460.
