Jennie Blake, Head of Teaching and Learning Development at the University of Manchester Library, delivered this interactive session focussing on academic advising and how to improve student support. Jennie discussed her project from the Institute of Teaching and Learning which highlighted issues surrounding academic advising especially; feeling unable to support students with health concerns, feeling as though there were a lack of resources on how to support students, difficulty providing holistic and intersectional advice, and feeling as though they did not have enough time to fully support students.

The project also found that students had empathy for advisor’s time pressures and often did not meet their advisors (<50% met their advisors only once or twice a year). The project proposed a new model for academic advising focusing on:

1. Confirming the issue – ensuring that you’re interpreting correctly, and putting less of a focus on your personal experience if it doesn’t match that of the student
2. Connecting the students to relevant support – for example, the counselling service
3. Coaching the student – ensuring that they fully comprehend their needs and helping them through the services you’re passing them onto.

For more information, please look at the PowerPoint presentation below:

Oct21_Masterclass_Academic Advising FBMH