Validating Faculty Advising Through Assessment

Faculty members take on the role of primary advisors on many small campuses. Many report feeling underprepared for the advising role. Assessment of academic advising can raise the awareness and perceived importance of advising and provide helpful feedback for practitioners. We developed a 14-item online advising assessment used to evaluate four important domains of advising: academic advice, advisor availability, advisor as personable and interested, and advising about vocation. We used this assessment to evaluate advisors who participated in an advising workshop designed to enhance their relational and conceptual advising skills. Student evaluations of advisors before and after the workshop showed significant positive differences. We recommend this assessment for advising improvement and as a means of evaluating workshop efficacy.