Introduction

The academic advising and course planning processes are a key component to students' retention and completing their degrees on time.


Challenges

  • Students may change majors or degree programs multiple times.
  • Out of the classroom work may count toward academic progress, but only in unique situations.
  • It may take several in-person conversations with an academic advisor for a student to make a change.


Solutions

  • Track any requested change with a unique submission to keep records separate and document the transition timeline. 
  • Build a workflow with required information the student must submit, as well as a multistep approval process. 
  • Summarize action items from in-person meetings in a standardized form, and use progress reports to check-in regularly.


Tips

  • Use a data feed to seamlessly bring student information (e.g., from Banner or other CRM) into the platform.
  • Ask for reference letters from faculty members, coaches, or other staff members to give a more holistic view of the student.
  • Include policies and procedures about the institution's official major change process in the acknowledgement section.
  • Set up separate routing steps for the student's academic advisor and the registrar. Use Applicant-Driven Routing Steps to make the process even quicker.
  • To approve extracurricular activities for course credit (e.g., studying abroad), gather the initial information well in advance, and then use progress reports to collect information on learning outcomes later.
  • Pull data on a specific student to show any/all submissions over time from the Reports tab > Applications reports.

Have more questions about this topic? Go to the Community Forum to pose the question to other users or submit a support ticket to InfoReady.