Have you given any thought to what would happen to the advising profession if higher education went completely digital? I read an article from the Chronicle News blog today which was discussing the increase in online course participation as well as the increased recognition of it within catalogs. Reading this made me think about the shift that may take place within academic advising once more coursework moves from the traditional classroom setting to the online realm (which I firmly believe will happen).
Things I think we need to consider as this shift occurs:
1. Advisors need to make themselves aware of web 2.0 applications and their uses in the new digital university (e.g., blogger, delicious, flickr, facebook, twitter, linkedin, and youtube to name just a few).
2.Distance education presents us with a whole new world of privacy issues and concerns.
3. How do we advise students in regard to online coursework when many of us have never taken an online course.
I'm sure that there are many more things to think about and discuss that I haven't listed here, but the most important thing is to recognize that the shift is happening. I don't believe that institutions in the traditional sense will ever completely disappear, but they will fundamentally change. Especially with the difficult economic times we are currently facing, students don't need to sit in lecture halls to learn basic material when they can gain the same type of experience online. Rather, more time and money can be invested in higher level courses which include experiential components.
We need to start the conversation about this topic. There is much to be learned.
1 comment:
Hello Jillian! Just stopping by to comment on this post.
I've been thinking a lot about this issue of online advising. This blog post in particular (http://windblownbytes.wordpress.com/2008/08/22/a-new-model-for-advising/) has made me think a lot about what online advising can look like.
I have to say I'm still torn on the issue of it being part of the future of providing enough resources to get in contact with students...or rather, whether or not it SHOULD be. On one hand, online advising is just another tool to help provide immediate answers to students and is no different than calling into an advisor's center to obtain these answers. The only difference is the medium.
But I certainly hope that the world of advising focuses more on how to provide better face to face advising rather than developing whole new realms of online advising. Distance learning classes and other online pursuits may be the trend de jour, but I still don't believe them to be as adequate as meeting with a live person. Meh, perhaps I'm old school.
I would love to hear insight into this topic as well. I think that my perspective is colored by the fact that I haven't seen or heard of an institution that accomplishes the goal of online advising in an efficient and comprehensive way. In short, I'm not impressed.
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