Advising in the SIS Department

1. You can access the list of advisees assigned to you through Web Reports: http://reports.spsu.edu Your Web Reports user name is the same, but your password should NOT be the same as for your other campus accounts. We have mandatory advising in SIS. Students must have their Alternate PIN (and it changes every term) to drop or add courses. And the ONLY way to get their alternate PIN is to be advised. DO NOT give students their Alt PINS unless you have advised them--or have reason to believe they have been advised by someone else. You can access their alternate PINS and much additional information using the Banner Advisor page. Here is a pdf guide to that: Banner Advisor Help Sheet If you need to access Web Reports from off campus, use Hornet Connect http://connect.spsu.edu (and your regular campus log-in) to get access to Web Reports. (NOTE: Hornet Connect will NOT work with Firefox.)

2. Every student should have an advising file in the department office (top drawer of the green file cabinet on the right). Daneir and Julie have keys to the cabinet--student records need to be kept secure--so plan ahead if at all possible. And please be sure you return all folders to the drawer after you have used them.

• Review the material already in the folder--someone may already have worked with the student (maybe even you!)--and there may be information there that will help you
• After you advise, make sure you add copies of relevant material (checksheets, two--year plans) to the folder

3. Look at the student's transcript in Web Reports--look at their courses taken, their grades, AND the comments at the end of the transcript. Remember that they must have a C or better in our programs in any course outside the core or free electives.

4. Use the department check-sheet (available in the rack on your left as you walk into the department office or on the web page for the relevant major) to track what the student has taken and what they still need to take. Every student should have a two-year plan (orange forms in the rack near the drawer with the student files). You will need to use the teaching rotation plan to work this out. A plan should be completed for every student during advising for Spring term 2009 or as they enter the program after that.

5. Advising needs to be a combination of "what courses does this student need to take when" and the context in which those courses are being taken. That will take a little conversation, and here are a few things to include:

• Does the student need to be full-time (at least 12 hours)--especially important if they are on their parents' insurance or they have financial aid.
• How much are they working? Are they balancing other responsibilities? There are only so many hours in the day and so many days in the week . . .
• Is the student making adequate progress toward graduation? The basic math will tell you that the expectation of finishing a 120-hour program in 4 years is based on an average load of 15 course hours per term spring and fall for eight terms.
• Some students will be very intentional about taking only one or two courses per term, but taking much longer to finish.
• Some students will be insistent that they want to take 18 (or more) hours per term. More than 18 hours requires the permission of the department head.

6. Once you and the student have agreed to a plan for the coming term, enter your notes about what the agreement is AND THEIR ALT PIN into the comments field in Banner. They can access this information from under "My Advisor"--and it not only creates a reminder of the agreed plan but keeps them from losing their Alt PINs.

7. Department policy is that all students who are within 35 hours of graduation will become advisees of the department chair. PLEASE LET THE CHAIR KNOW when your advisee reaches this point.

 

 

 

Last updated: 2009-08-15 17:44
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