Spring 2016 Advancing Practice Workshops

The Future of Advancing Practice

Great News! Based on the success of our two-year pilot professional development program, Advancing Practice, the Campus has made an ongoing commitment to supporting advisor professional development. Advancing Practice will not only continue, the long-term plan is to add special on-boarding resources for new advisors and more specialist tracks for experienced advisors. This is a wonderful commitment to advisors and the advising community and recognition of your dedication to our pilot program.

Several things will happen over the next 12 to 18 months. A set of special programs will be offered to support advisors as we transition to using the new Student Information Systems and we will use this time to design the next phase of our expanded Advancing Practice program – which is likely to launch in 2017.  

In the meantime, we are excited to announce our Spring series of workshops. See below our final “pilot phase” Advancing Practice workshops. Also, we will provide more information on additional SIS related programming in the coming weeks.

Continuation of the Advancing Practice program was made possible because of your support and dedication to ongoing learning and development. Thank you for your participation and we hope to see you at our spring workshops.

Visit the UC Learning Center through the BLU web portal(link is external), then search for “Advancing Practice”.

View the Advancing Practice Core Curriculum Map

Spring 2016 Advancing Practice Workshops and Special Events

Philosophy of Advising Statement Writing Groups

February 24 | 12:10 -1:00pm | 231 Wheeler Hall 
March 9 | 12:10 -1:00pm  | 231 Wheeler Hall

Facilitated by Amy Azuma, Berkeley International Office
Additional resources

Special Programs

NACADA web event: A Narrative Approach to Academic Advising: Helping Students Create Their Stories

February 3 | 11:00am - 12:00pm | 212 Cory Hall  

presenters Peter L. Hagen and Richard Trama, Stockton University

Advising Assessment Track - Utilization Focused Approaches to Assessment Design in Advising

February 23 | 9:00 -11:00 am | Gold Room, Career Center 

presenter Yukiko Watanabe, Sr. Consultant/Assessment Specialist, Center for Teaching and Learning

Final Advancing Practice Workshops

Learning Centered Advising

February 25 | 9:00 – 11:00 am | 370 Dwinelle Hall
(with special ANC networking event 9:00 - 9:30 am)

Presenters: Richard Freishtat, Director, Center for Teaching and Learning, and Elizabeth Wilcox

This workshop will connect research based principles for improving learning to advising practice. Advisors will understand the importance of setting clear, reasonable and positive goals for learning, encouraging active involvement in learning, increasing motivation and curiosity, promoting high achievement, and providing feedback and coaching that promotes learning and development.  Other important changes to teaching and learning (role of the teacher/advisor, balance of power, new approaches to content, responsibility for learning and processes of evaluation) will also be discussed. Recommended reading: Academic Advising Approaches: Strategies That Teach Students to Make the Most of College, Maura M. Reynolds (Learning Centered Advising) and also Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice, Maryellen Weimer.

Going Gets Tough: New Approaches to Working with Students in Academic Difficulty

March 3 | 370 Dwinelle Hall | 9:00  – 11:00 am
(with special ANC networking event 9:00-9:30 am)

Presenters: Christopher Hunn, Patrick Allen, Amber Dillon, Heather Peng

Advisors play a key role in identifying and supporting students experiencing academic difficulty. Join us for a presentation of new strategies for early warning and intervention as well as new approaches to working with students during a probationary term.

Trans: Gender Identity Inclusion

March 10 | 240 Bechtel Engineering | 2:00 - 4:00 pm
(with special ANC Happy Hour to follow at the Bears Lair)

Presenters: Marisa Boyce

Trans people have gained a new level of visibility in the past few years, but it has not been paired with the widespread education necessary to move from basic awareness to actual inclusion. This workshop will cover foundational concepts and critical information about gender identity and trans-related issues, which will allow you to better integrate trans-inclusive practices into your advising practices and department. Trans is a term meant to represent the breadth and depth of gender diversity of those whose current gender identity is different than the gender they were assigned at birth. Recommended reading: “Beyond ‘he’ and ‘she’: The rise of non-binary pronouns” http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34901704

Bio: geneq.berkeley.edu/staff#marisa

About Advancing Practice

The Advancing Practice curriculum is designed to build professional competency in five foundational areas: conceptual and theoretical foundations of advising; institution specific knowledge of programs, policy, procedure and resources; interpersonal communication skills; student systems; and critical analysis and self-assessment of the advising practice (using the Habley and McClellan model of advisor training and professional development). Offering a variety of workshops on specific topics, the program aims to expand core knowledge and skills, ensure exposure to current advising trends and topics, stimulate new thinking and approaches to advising, introduce new methods and tools, improve collaboration, and help advisors refine their advising values and philosophy.

Certification

In Spring 2016, the Advancing Practice program offered two levels of certification for participants attending sessions.  The Blue Level Certification is for those who complete at least 8 workshops.  The Gold Level Certification is for those who complete 16 workshops. Blue Level Certification also requires a Statement of Advising Philosophy or an Implementation Project and Gold Level Certification requires a Culminating Project. All the forms are located below. In addition, all participants are encouraged to create an individual development plan with their supervisor. If you aren’t sure where to begin, read up on Best Advisor Forward

Read more about writing a Statement of Advising Philosophy

As part of an ongoing commitment to advising excellence, the Advising Council in coordination with the Center for Teaching and Learning and Learning + Organizational Development launched this professional development program for academic advisors.