What is Online Advising?keyboard_arrow_down

Collected by the Adviser Education Program and the Advising with Technology Group (Formerly known as the Online Advising Group), this webpage features resources developed by advising colleagues across campus. Some of these materials were developed before the University’s move online for Spring Quarter 2020, while others are in direct response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Online advising is something any adviser can do with the support of technology. While it can be utilized to reach online-only students, it can also be used to expand access to advising resources for campus-based students as well. If you've emailed students, telephoned, or engaged in a video chat with students, you've done online advising. So, rather, than online advising, which brings to mind advising for online-only students, try to think about "advising with technology" to better visualize how you are already doing online advising.

The literature often uses the terms "synchronous" and "asynchronous" to describe types of interactions in online courses. These apply to the ways advisers and students engage with one another as well.

Synchronous — Events where people interact in the same online space at the same time.

Asynchronous — Events where people interact in the same online space, but at different times. This flexibility is one of the key benefits of online learning, which enables students to participate in school while juggling work or home responsibilities.

Using technology, advisers can provide their students many of the same services they would offer in-person: individual appointments, drop-in advising, and group advising. These can all be done online. The challenges include determining the best technologies to facilitate those interactions, finding the right the balance between synchronous and asynchronous communication, and learning to implement the tools effectively. Advisers transitioning from on-campus to online advising may find that student preferences might shift when services are moved online -- for example you might find that students who utilized drop-in advising on-campus might prefer to email you or schedule appointments when you move online. For that reason it is helpful to provide students both synchronous and asynchronous ways to connect with you in the online environment. The resources here are designed to help you do that as well as give you new ideas for supporting your students.