The Teaching-Advising Connection

Drew Appleby, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis

Part III
Editor's note: This is the third installment of this article. Parts I and II appeared earlier.


4.  Is there more than one type of academic advising?

In one of the classic articles in the advising literature, Crookston (1972, reprinted in 1994) introduced the term developmental advising by contrasting it with the term prescriptive advising. He explained prescriptive advising with the following medical analogy: Patients (i.e., advisees) are people who seek the advice of doctors (i.e., advisers) when they realize they have medical (i.e., academic) problems, and doctors are the authorities who prescribe treatments to cure patients' problems. According to Crookston, a prescriptive adviser assumes that “once advice is given, his responsibility is largely fulfilled; now it is up to the student to fulfill his responsibility to do what is prescribed” (p. 6).

Although the results of prescriptive advising are often successful, it does have one major drawback: it doesn't help students develop a sense of responsibility for their academic choices. Crookston described this problem when he said, “The decision (prescription) is the adviser's, so if the advice turns out badly, the student doesn't feel responsible; he can place the blame on the adviser” (p. 6). This type of assumption about academic responsibility is particularly damaging to positive student development if it is made – either implicitly or explicitly – in colleges and universities (such as my own), whose institutional goals include those similar to the following:

Crookston used McGregor's (1960) Theory X and Theory Y models of human relations to distinguish between developmental and prescriptive advisers. Prescriptive advisers, like human relations managers who espouse Theory X, believe that people

Developmental advisers, like managers who believe in Theory Y, assume that people

It seems obvious that advisers who hold these different views of human nature will construct and use different advising strategies.

Crookston clearly equated developmental advising with teaching, which he defined as “any experience in the learning community in which teacher and student interact that contributes to individual, group, or community growth and development, and which can be evaluated” (p. 5). He coined the term developmental advising, which he said is

concerned not only with a specific personal or vocational decision but also with facilitating the student's

Not only are these 'advising' functions but they are essentially 'teaching' functions as well” (p. 5) ...“ based on a negotiated agreement between the student and the teacher in which varying degrees of learning by both parties to the transaction are the product” (p. 9).

Table 2 contrasts prescriptive and developmental advising, using ten dimensions from Crookston's original article and nineteen more dimensions I have identified during my twenty-six years of advising. This table reveals a variety of ways in which these two types of advising differ, but the major thread that runs throughout these differences is that developmental advisers gradually shift the responsibility of the relationship to their advisees and prepare them for this shift by

TABLE TWO: Contrasting Dimensions of Prescriptive and Developmental Approaches to Advising

Table Two
Prescriptive Advising Developmental Advising
Crookston's
Dimensions
Abilities Focus is on limitations (i.e., the adviser uses student's past performance to predict future obstacles. Focus is on potentialities (i.e., the adviser uses past performance and current aspirations to anticipate potential).
Motivation Students are viewed as passive, lazy, irresponsible, and in need of help and prodding. Students are viewed as competent, striving, and active seekers of information.
Rewards Students are motivated by grades, credit, income, and parental threats. Students are motivated by mastery, achievement, recognition, status, and fulfillment.
Maturity Students are immature, irresponsible, and must be closely supervised. Students are responsible, maturing, and capable of self-direction.
Initiative Adviser takes initiative on fulfilling requirements; any additional advising is initiated by the student. Either the adviser or the advisee can initiate advising.
Control Adviser is the authority and is in control. Control is shared and negotiated.
Responsibility Adviser's responsibility is to provide advice and the advisee's responsibility is to act upon the adviser's advice. Responsibility is negotiated and/or shared.
Learning
Output
Student learns from the adviser. Both the student and the adviser learn and develop.
Evaluation Adviser evaluates the advisee's progress. Evaluation is an adviser/student collaboration.
Relationship A formal relationship exists between adviser (authority) and student (dependent), which is based on status, strategies, games, and a low level of trust. The adviser/student relationship is informal, flexible, situational, and based on a high level of trust.
Appleby's
Dimensions
Purpose To deliver accurate information to as many students as possible in as efficient a manner as possible. To develop mentoring relationships with students that will enable them to continue to develop personally, academically, and professionally after the formal adviser-advisee relationship has ended.
Ultimate
Goal
The ultimate goal of advising is to enable students to earn diplomas and graduate “on time.” The ultimate goal of advising is to enable students to clarify their future goals and to plan strategies to accomplish their goals.
Location In the adviser's office. Anywhere (e.g., in the adviser's office, in the hall, on a campus bench, at a basketball game, in the student union or cafeteria, etc.).
Future The future refers to next semester. The future refers to post-baccalaureate opportunities.
Course
Rationale
Courses are taken to “get them out of the way.” Courses are taken to develop knowledge, skills, and characteristics.
Curricular/
Co-curricular
Emphasis
The emphasis is on curricular activities (i.e., classes). Emphasis is on both curricular and co-curricular activities (e.g., membership in organizations and volunteer activities).
Strength/
Weakness
Emphasis
Emphasis is on hiding weaknesses and using strengths to bolster GPA. Emphasis is on recognizing what skills will be necessary to accomplish future goals, strengthening those that are weak, and continuing to build those that are strong.
Questions
Addressed
What courses do I have to take? Who is teaching them? When are they offered? How difficult are they? Do you have to write a paper? Is there a lot of reading? What can I do with a degree in psychology? Why are statistics and experimental psychology important classes? What classes can I take after English Composition to strengthen my writing skills?
Culpability The advisee assumes the adviser is responsible for negative consequences if errors occur. The advisee understands that she/he is ultimately responsible for negative consequences if errors in advising occur.
Delivery
System(s)
Single delivery system (one-on-one meeting in the adviser's office). Multiple delivery systems (e.g., e-mail, telephone, classes, seminars, workshops, group sessions, alumni panels, handbooks, and peer advisers/mentors).
Curricular
Understanding
A student “understands” the curriculum when she knows what classes she must take and when to take them. A student “understands” the curriculum when she realizes how she will change as a result of completing classes and how these changes will enable her to accomplish her post-baccalaureate goals.
Stability/
Change
The advising process remains constant as the student progresses from freshman to senior. The advising process changes in response to the developmental needs of students as they progress from freshmen to seniors (i.e., different questions are addressed).
Thinking
Skills
Involved
Retention (e.g., what courses to take, sequence of courses, number of credit hours for graduation, etc.). Comprehension (e.g., Why do I have to take physiological psychology? I want to be a counselor, not a biopsychologist.)
Application (e.g, How can I graduate if I have three semesters of classes to go and only two semesters of financial aid left?)
Analysis (e.g, How can I satisfy the requirements of General Education and how do all the requirements fit together?)
Synthesis (e.g., What electives should I take to help me work with unwed pregnant teenagers?)
Evaluation (e.g., Is clinical psychology an attainable career for me?)
View of
Electives
Electives are courses that are easy, fun, can raise GPA, and are offered at convenient times. Electives are courses that enable students to expand upon the knowledge they gain in their required courses and to “construct” themselves as unique individuals who are different from other undergraduates with the same degree.
Rule
Orientation
The adviser attempts to make sure that advisees follow all rules and procedures to the letter. The adviser will attempt to bend rules and procedures if such accommodations are in the best educational interest of the student.
Appropriate
Topics
The adviser sticks to academic advising and avoids giving personal or career advice. Many topics can be broached and discussed during advising sessions, as long as they fall within the competence of the adviser.
Skill
Development
Emphasis is on passing skill courses (e.g., Statistics) to “get them out of the way” rather than on actually acquiring and retaining the skills they teach. The development of skills is stressed in a way that allows advisees to understand the value of the skills they will acquire and how the sequence of the curriculum will require them to build upon these skills.
Personal
Insight
Not stressed after an advisee has decided upon a major. Personal insight is a driving force during all advising sessions (e.g., “Do you still want to be a clinical psychologist?”).
Curricular
Rationale
It is unnecessary for advisers to explain to advisees why they must take certain classes, other than that these courses are required for graduation. (Assumption: Advisees are only interested in what classes they should take, not why they should take them or how they will be changed as a result of taking them). One of an adviser's most important roles is to enable advisees to comprehend the rationale behind classes they will take and the way these classes are sequenced. (Assumption: Advisees are more likely to involve themselves in classes they know will enable them to accomplish their goals and will attempt to retain and strengthen the skills these goals require.)

Crookston says that a developmental adviser views the advising process “as a shared experience and recognizes that the student is not likely to learn from the relationship with the adviser unless the adviser himself is also open to learning” (p. 8). This assumption is in full agreement with teaching's emphasis on professional development as stated by Bruce Fretz (1993), who admonishes teachers to engage in the “lifelong learning they espouse for their students” (p. 95). This active, dynamic interchange that forms the essence of the developmental advising relationship produces trust, curiosity, enthusiastic participation, and a sincere desire to learn and grow.

We know that certain types of teaching methods can also produce these qualities, but can this type of active learning also be fostered by developmental advising?

References

Editor's note: This question was answered in Part IV of this article, which was published on April 9, 2001.


Drew Appleby is director of Undergraduate Studies of the Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis Psychology Department. He can be reached at dappleby@iupui.edu or (317) 274-6767.

Published in The Mentor on March 19, 2001, by Penn State's Division of Undergraduate Studies
Available online at www.psu.edu/dus/mentor/
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