Moving Into Students' Spaces: The Impact of Location of Academic Advising on Student Engagement among Undecided Students
University stakeholders recognize the importance of exposing all students to academic advising as a means to enhance their engagement with the institution. Living-learning communities are of particular promise. In this study, conducted at a midwestern land grant university in the 2004–05 academic year, advisees in living-learning communities reported significantly higher engagement in their educational experiences than advisees with access only to a central advising office, and the differences in levels of engagement with advisors were significant as other predictors of engagement were taken into account.
Relative Emphasis: practice, research, theory
Contributor Notes
Janet Heiss Arms (janet.heissarms@msugf.edu) is Director of Academic Initiatives at Montana State University–College of Technology. She holds a PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She has worked in academic and career advising at three different institutions over the past 10 years and is now involved with developing a 2-year college at Montana State University in Bozeman.
Alberto F. Cabrera is a professor of Educational Policy and Leadership at the University of Maryland–College Park. Dr. Cabrera holds a PhD in Educational Administration and an MS in Industrial Relations from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He specializes in research methodologies, college choice, college students, classroom experiences, minorities in higher education, and economics of education.
Aaron M. Brower is a professor and Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Brower holds a PhD in Social Work and Psychology from the University of Michigan. His current research emphasizes differences among American subcultural groups in their educational attainment and life-course decision making and the evaluation of educational innovations, particularly integrative living and learning communities.
