Academic Advising and Counseling:

Library Resources

The following items have been shared with you by GU/TRIO professionals who used them successfully in their programs. You are invited to do the same. Take five minutes to share a document that you use in your program. It could be an activity, form, or program handbook. If we all share a little, this will become a more powerful online program manual for the community. Send to edpractices@eoa.org and share the same on the national and program-specific listservs. The newest items are listed at the top.

EduGuide. Multiple GU and TRIO programs use <EduGuide>’s nonprofit peer-mentoring platform to connect with students on their phones or any other device throughout the year. Each week, students get a text message invitation to a new activity with a quick video where they learn 1 success skill and then choose one other person they can help with that skill. GU and TRIO staff can also engage students in their activities with brief one-minute mentoring responses that lead to significant gains. Control group research indicates that EduGuide students improved grades, standardized test scores, and more. EduGuide narrows equity gaps, improve self-motivation and reduces the effects of stress and trauma. Many schools also embed EduGuide in advisory, English, STEM or other classes to improve achievement. You can learn more about the nonprofit program at www.EduGuide.org.

Connections to Academic Advising/Counseling, Larry Ramos, Director, Talent Search, Wichita State University (KS). The program has developed a link on its website for current students to request a virtual counseling session with their assigned Talent Search Program Educational Advisor or the Middle School Director. Students simply click on the counselor’s name and an email is automatically generated to the appropriate staff. Students may send an email requesting information, assistance, or a virtual meeting. Program staff immediately reply to the student and may set up a virtual meeting using Zoom or another application platform to provide counseling services to students, if appropriate. In addition, program staff contact students who are without technology by phone, text, and/or mail service.

Virtual McNair Alumni Meetings, LaWanda Holt-Fields, McNair Scholars Program, Wichita State University (KS). The McNair Scholars Program at Wichita State hosts an Alumni panel each year to bring back graduates of the program who are in varying stages of graduate study and completion. Current students have the opportunity to gain perspective from individuals who come from backgrounds similar to their own. However, the panel is typically limited to students who are within driving distance of campus. The quarantine has allowed Wichita State to arrange for virtual alumni meetings a couple of times a week with former students from around the world. This allows current and former students the opportunity to connect during an otherwise isolating experience.

Advising Remotely, LaWanda Holt-Fields, McNair Scholars Program, Wichita State University (KS). The McNair Scholars Program at Wichita has maintained weekly advising meetings with students by offering students virtual meeting options. Consistent meeting times allow students to maintain some pre-quarantine normalcy and routine and gives them to the opportunity to connect and discuss any difficulties they may be experiencing regarding the transition to online learning. Students all seem to be facing varying levels of difficulty adjusting to working and studying from home, whether it's due to having to help care for younger siblings or just implementing a new routine and staying motivated.

Virtual Office Hours. Rashawn Harvey, Assistant Director, Student Support Services, University of Nebraska-Kearney. In addition to scheduled zoom meetings for advising and staying in contact with participants, we have created virtual office hours via zoom. Each advisor in our office hosts daily virtual office hours for the participants they advise. Participants are notified of the virtual office hours each morning via email and social media outlets. Emails are sent directly to participants from their TRIO-SSS Advisor and the email includes the zoom link (password protected) for the assigned virtual office hours. In the zoom meeting settings, we enable the waiting room feature. Waiting room attendees can’t join a meeting until the host admits them. Additionally, in our email to students informing them of the virtual office hours, we also inform them of the waiting room scenario if we are already in a meeting when they attempt to join. It’s our goal is to create similar/familiar scenarios as if our campus/office was still open. Below is an example email we send our participants. :Good Morning TRIO Participants! My virtual office hour today is: 3 PM – 4 PM Join Zoom Meeting https://unk.zoom.us/…. Meeting ID: …. Password: ….. Virtual Office Hours Are Designed For: A way for you to ask questions, address any needs you may have, and a way for us to stay connected – just swing “in” and say hello! IF I AM VISITING WITH ANOTHER STUDENT YOU WILL BE PLACED IN A WAITING ROOM & I WILL BE WITH YOU AS SOON AS I CAN! Thank you, Rashawn Harvey” …..

Weekly Zoom Informational Videos. Bambi Sell, Senior Advisor, Student Support Services, University of Nebraska-Kearney. Students are overwhelmed with multiple emails on a daily basis. In order to continue highlighting important updates, I have created a weekly informational video via <Zoom> for my students. Each week, I choose a “destination” to highlight in the virtual background. All destinations are personal pictures that I have taken over the years during my travels. This is a fun and interactive way of keeping your students engaged. Through self-disclosure, I am able to continue to build a trusting relationship with my students during these uncertain times while also providing important updates that may be overlooked if simply just sent in writing via email. Happy “virtual-travels” colleagues!

TRIO Affinity Group (TAG) Meetings. Minerva S. Muñoz, Program Director, Student Support Services, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. TRIO Affinity Group (TAG) Meetings: This is an affinity space for our students to meet every Friday over the lunch hour (1.5 hours); we would order pizza or other affordable food/snacks through sponsorship from our Dean's Office. We quickly transitioned to Virtual TAG on Zoom. We advertise the link to access the meeting on Instagram, Facebook, Remind (text service), and via our Mailchimp campaigns. Students chime in and guide the conversation with staff support. We reduced the meeting to 1 hour. We're going to order food and have it delivered to Virtual TAG participants on the last session to try to recreate the traditional space as it was always about breaking bread and being in an honest community with each other.

Advising Meetings: Minerva S. Muñoz, Program Director, Student Support Services, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Advising Meetings: These have moved to virtual and phone call appointments. Students can schedule online on their own and the appointment system emails them a link to the adviser’s personal Zoom account. The staff has created Google Voice accounts so that they don't have to give out their personal contact information. Another advising meeting we've moved to Zoom is our pre-registration meetings which we require of all first-year students before they can register for their fall classes. These are 1 hours meetings where we walk students through their graduation planner and the registration system, ideate and get feedback on a registration plan, and advisers address inter-college transferring, financial aid, housing, etc.

Online Advising and Documenting Contacts Matt Bisek Upward Bound Advisor, Seaside High School Warrenton High School (Seaside, CA). I have been creating daily videos and embedding them into online forms so I can document contact with my students. Each day I get up to 50% of my caseload completing the form. And I have also reached 95% of my caseload over the past three weeks using this method. Below, you can view the form I created today as an example of how I am still connecting with students, and I welcome any questions about using this technology to help serve your communities. <https://forms.gle/UXng6STA63NiBCT58>