ICU's Advising System

Junji Kobayashi (Senior Associate Professor of Chemistry & Director of Academic Planning Center)

*This article was written in 2017. The academic and administrative titles stated above are those held at the time of writing.

[日本語]

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What Is Advising?

Advising as academic planning

According to the definition by NACADA (National ACademic ADvising Association), academic advising is a developmental process which assists students in the clarification of their life/career goals and in the development of educational plans for the realization of these goals. It is a decision-making process by which students realize their maximum educational potential through communication and information exchanges with an advisor.

One of the main goals of an education at ICU is the development of students as intentional learners. This means that all students at ICU should be purposeful and take ownership during their learning process. Students should not just receive advice from faculty members and/or staff, but they should also construct their own academic plans. In this context, an advising system at ICU is based on the concept of “academic planning”.

Three keywords of academic planning

1) Intentional learning: First, academic planning is when the student takes responsibility for him or herself in proceeding with his or her course of study. The term “academic planning” instead of “academic advising” has been adopted to emphasize the aspect of education in which students engage themselves in their learning in an intentional and self-reliant manner.

2) Explore and Focus: ICU, which has been pursuing a new way of education, should provide an environment in which students are stimulated intellectually and encouraged to explore open-mindedly without being constrained or dictated by interests formed before entering college. Therefore, we faculty are expected to develop classes and provide major explanations in such a way that raises student interest. After this period of exploration, students will then choose an area of concentration. This is what is meant by focus.

3) Unity in Diversity: “University” is sometimes said to mean “unity in diversity.” Since its inception, ICU has been practicing liberal arts education, and the educational and scholarly activities that take place here encompass broad and diverse areas of study. Students' learning should not progress in a process like “cherry picking.” Having stated this, the concept of “unity in diversity” is a profound question that challenges all members of this institution who are involved in intellectual activity.

Advising as a part of our educational activity

First, advising is a way to support students’ academic planning and is part of our educational activity. This may sound obvious in words, but it is in fact a challenging idea when we think of ourselves in the actual environment. Do we find our advising becoming one-way directions and instructions, or simple signature writing? It is well worth remembering that listening to individual students, having communication with them, and showing proper respect for them as people are the fundamental elements of teaching which also apply to advising.

What Do Faculty Need to Acquire to Be a Good Advisor?

Preparation and knowledge

· Successful advising requires that advisors prepare in advance of their advising sessions. This involves keeping up with the institutional knowledge dimension while also remaining aware of each advisee’s particular needs and academic progress so that advising sessions can proceed effectively.

· Like teaching, successful advising requires faculty members to master particular bodies of knowledge for advising.

· It also requires the mastery of institutional policies and procedures, programs of study and their requirements, and other information students will need as they plan their education.

· Moreover, it requires advisors to know where to refer their advisees when they do not know or are uncertain about the answer to an advisee’s question.

Communication skills

It is important that we clearly share information with our advisees when we advise them. Advisors also have a responsibility to clearly and constructively help advisees evaluate their goals and progress in their education so they can continue to meaningfully monitor their progress. Faculty members are also required to construct a learning environment that champions dialogue between students and teachers, active learning, and ultimately the transition in which students assume responsibility for their own learning and progress. Advisors must also be good listeners and pay attention to their advisees’ verbal and non-verbal cues to again help them achieve clarity on the questions they are confronting.

Communication among faculty members

Under the Major System at ICU, the faculty member provides advising under the assumption that they do not necessarily share similar academic interests. There may be some faculty members who have concerns about this situation. Admittedly, it is understandable, for example, that a physics professor may not have much advice to give when asked about literature. One of the functions of the Academic Planning Center, therefore, is to assist and complement such aspects of faculty advising.

As a fundamental issue, however, I believe that it is important to always be reminded that ICU is a liberal arts institution. The specialization of each faculty member is of primary importance but, at the same time, it is also important for each faculty member to have curiosity about and interests in areas outside of his or her specialty, have communication and interactions with faculty members from other disciplines in a free and informal manner, and deepen mutual understanding. Just as we expect our students to seek liberal arts, we should also make an effort to seek liberal arts and build a liberal arts intellectual environment.

Attitude

Both teachers and advisors should treat students with respect and concern, be accessible and available outside the classroom, and regularly offer support and encouragement. Something as simple as remembering a student’s name can have tremendous benefits. Although it might not initially seem to be the case, teachers and advisors are role models for students in the higher education process.

Understanding ICU’s three commitments

To offer better advising to ICU students, it is important to be reminded of three commitments of ICU which include International, Christian and Academic commitments.

1) International Commitment: From the ICU official web sites, “On the Mitaka campus, people from different nations and cultures live, study and work together, to form an international community. Our academic program reflects a variety of educational visions, with each individual encountering others from different backgrounds. This multi-cultural environment provides students with the groundwork for future problems in the world by handling tensions in a group, accommodating other's needs and adapting common goals.”, “To promote mutual understanding and exchange in the international community, language ability is vital. ICU provides a bilingual education in English and Japanese.”

As “truly global human resources”, the global society requires the students to possess well-balanced language skills in both English and Japanese, an ability to understand and adjust to different cultures, and rich business acumen. In this context, ICU students are constantly improving these aspect during their academic life.

2) Christian Commitment: Although all ICU students have to take “Introduction to Christianity” and there is a C-week (Christianity Week) in May, it depends on the students whether they experience religion on campus or not. However, the “spirit of service” is the university’s founding principle and is a basic concept shared by all faculty, staff and students.

3) Academic Commitment: Students are required to be an intentional learner based on the liberal arts education. All ICU students will have original learning road maps that are different from each other and they are always asking themselves what subject they want to learn next.

Using the “Advising Syllabus” for Planning and Offering Effective Advising

The advisor-advisee relationship is one of the most important relationships for undergraduate students. Students start at university knowing little about the institution they have entered and simultaneously face important questions about their course of study, choice of major, and career goals. Advisors play an obvious and important role in helping students achieve clarity on those issues. Moreover, a positive relationship between a student and his or her advisor is also recognized as being an important factor for helping students feel connected to their institution as well as an indicator of student educational success. Creating a positive advisor-advisee relationship, therefore, is an important part of ICU’s liberal arts education.

The advising syllabus includes the following items:

Contact information

Every advising syllabus should clearly describe how the advisee can contact the advisor and include such information as office phone, office address, email address, office hour and appointment policy.

Advising Philosophy

In order to help students better understand the advising process, it is useful for the advisor to describe his or her approach to advising. In a way, this section is similar to a course description for a regular syllabus. A faculty member will outline such central components of advising as its collaborative nature, its role in guiding students in meaningful academic planning, and its relationship to the fulfillment of students’ personal, educational, and professional goals. Academic advising is more than just handing out grades and signing forms and thus it is useful to give students a clear sense of the positive role it can play in their lives.

Three R’s; Rules, Rights and Responsibilities

This is perhaps the most important part of the advising syllabus because it describes in concrete detail the parameters of the advisor-advisee relationship. It is important to note, however, that this involves identifying the rules, rights, and responsibilities for the advisor as well as the advisee. The points included here should complement those listed in the advising philosophy section. For example, one important goal of a positive advisor-advisee relationship is to guide students so that they understand that they must take responsibility for their own planning and choices. The advisor’s role is not to choose courses or make decisions for students, thus the advising syllabus can inform students of their responsibilities on this point and instruct them to come to advising meetings prepared so that the advisor can help the student make the best choices. Conversely, it is important for students to know that their advisors will also be prepared, knowledgeable, respectful, and generous with their time. There are numerous other aspects that could be listed here, but the important point to recognize is that a clear set of concrete guidelines will help students and faculty create a productive relationship.

Peer Advising Through ICU Brothers and Sisters (IBS)

The Academic Planning Support (APS) has engaged in the advising process with IBS (ICU Brothers and Sisters), the peer advisors. As of today, IBS consists of 20 students from sophomores to seniors. The IBS participants are rich in diversity and vary in background as well as in majors. They are required to participate for three years starting form the end of their freshman year.

The origin of ICU Brothers and Sisters

We asked the first generation of peer advisors who are the first students to graduate with a major and what name should be given to their group. Many wanted to call themselves IBS (ICU Big Brothers and Sisters), the name of a group that once existed (now “Big” is dropped). In the old version of IBS, two senior students mentored each section of the English Language Program. Knowing this, the students wished to carry on with the tradition. Also, the word “advisor” is avoided because it may be associated with a top-down structure between faculty and students. The important point was to help the students at the peer level.

The IBS mission statement

“We commit to the mission of the Academic Learning Center, which is to “nurture intentional learners”, from the viewpoint and standpoint of a student. Activities of IBS will make advising more familiar and enable the student body and other members of the campus, to recognize the importance of academic planning. Our goal is to make sure that the concept of academic planning spreads and takes root as ICU’s culture.”

Committing “from the viewpoint and standpoint of a student” is one of the main characteristics of IBS, and it may not be done by the faculty and staff. Many things are visible to IBS because the members are studying at ICU at the same time. This strength of IBS must be featured to the fullest in order to keep up with the activities.

The activities

1. Advising: The main activity of IBS is advising. IBS members are stationed at the APC from 1PM to 3PM everyday during the term to answer different kinds of questions concerning academic plans and major choices, among other things. To conduct advising diversely, two or three advisors from different classes team up. During the registration day and late registration period, IBS is available almost the whole day. As of today, 20% to 30% of the inquiries made at the APC are answered by IBS.

2. Offering learning opportunities: ICU offers various learning opportunities, such as student exchange programs, service learning, World Languages, Teacher Certification Program, Curatorial Training Program, and Japanese Language Teacher Training Program. Some inquiries are about long-term academic planning such as how one may make use of these opportunities within the four years at ICU. For example, IBS would ask the students “why would you like to do it?” and “what are you planning for your future?” IBS members will then help them decide on their priorities. Also, IBS members try to give students choices instead of answers. By pointing out places where they may gather the necessary information about learning opportunities, we wish to provide them new viewpoints.

3. Training (Workshop): The activities of IBS are supported by daily training. APC hosts a concentrated training program, or workshop, during the spring, summer, and fall holidays. A wide variety of themes is incorporated from ideals to practical advising techniques. While the understanding of the graduation requirements or curriculum of every major is important, the role-play training is also important and aims at a dialogue with advisees understanding their situation and mind. Moreover, the understanding of ICU educational principles and liberal arts education is a fundamental feature for advising.

4. Besides the APC’s workshops during the spring, summer, and fall holidays, numerous learning opportunities are planned by the training team. It is an important responsibility of IBS members to keep themselves updated and work closely with the APC. In the regular meetings that are held every month with all of the members, we try to share what is necessary to keep everyone updated and have a discussion about it to decide the future direction of IBS activities.