Application links students to adviser notes

Ohio State has given students access to their advisers’ notes, summarizing conversations from their advising meetings.

On Thursday, a link was added to Buckeye Link and the Student Information System (SIS) Student Center that allows students to access information from academic adviser meetings. AdvisingConnect, a web-based application, was implemented as an extension of University Notes.

University Notes, an electronic note-taking system, started in 2008. It became AdvisingConnect on March 28, the day it went live for academic advisers, said John Wanzer, assistant provost of the Office of Enrollment Service and Undergraduate Education. On April 18, it became available to students. On Thursday the link to the application was placed on Buckeye Link and the SIS Student Center, said Beth Snapp, director of web and data solutions in arts and sciences technology services.

The application was created in a joint enterprise among the College of the Arts and Sciences, the Office of Undergraduate Education and the office of the Chief Information Officer, Wanzer said.

When a student signs into the AdvisingConnect application, they will see a list of and notes from their academic and major advisers. Students will only be able to see notes that were placed in the application after it was launched on March 28, Wanzer said.

Advisers create notes that are visible to the specific student, other advisers and faculty. The notes students will see are a summary of the conversations between advisers and students, Wanzer said.

The extension from University Notes to AdvisingConnect changed the application interface, increased the amount of data and allowed students to access it, Wanzer said.

The funding for AdvisingConnect came from an extension of the budget created for University Notes, Carlson said.

There was a $44,000 fund through OSU’s SIS for University Notes maintenance and upkeep, which included the extension to AdvisingConnect, Carlson said.

While they are not required to use it, all of OSU’s colleges were involved in discussions about AdvisingConnect, said Wayne Carlson, vice provost and dean of undergraduate education.

Carlson said he believes most of the colleges will use the application.

Tuesday, more than 750 students had visited the AdvisingConnect application since its link was placed on Buckeye Link and in the SIS Student Center, Snapp said.

The Undergraduate Student Government recommended students’ use of the application.

“USG expressed a desire to have more transparent access to advising information,” Wanzer said. “When we talked about (students) having access to their advising notes, it seemed like a good idea.”

Snapp said her team, which works in arts and sciences technology, met with members from USG before the system was launched to receive feedback.

“We incorporated a lot of (USG’s) comments,” Snapp said. “Some of their comments were new feature requests that we hope to incorporate down the road.”

New feature suggestions include being able to schedule advising appointments online in the application and finding ways to have more interactive relationships between advisers and students, Snapp said.

While the application attempts to provide better communication between students and advisers, “keeping track of academics is ultimately a student responsibility,” Wanzer said.

The application will not replicate specific materials, Wanzer said.

Hannah Benadum, a first-year in integrated social studies, said she has not heard of the application, but thinks it could be helpful.

Benadum said she met with her advisers three times last quarter. While Benadum will not have notes from those conversations on AdvisingConnect because the application had not launched, she said she likes the idea of being reminded of the conversations she had with her advisers.

“It would help me out a lot,” Benadum said.

AdvisingConnect was designed to have the ability to handle the entire student body signing in at once, Snapp said.

“There should be no limit,” Snapp said.

Advisers in the College of Education and Human Ecology will be encouraged to inform students about AdvisingConnect in the last five minutes of an appointment with a student, said Jennifer Klosterman-Lando, he college’s assistant dean of undergraduate student service.

Klosterman-Lando said the application will be a good reminder to students who have trouble remembering all topics discussed with advisers.

“That way there’s no question about what happened during the course of an adviser meeting,” Klosterman-Lando said.

AdvisingConnect is under the Enrollment and Academic History section on Buckeye Link, and there is a link to it in the SIS Student Center homepage.

AdvisingConnect is listed as “Advising Notes” on Buckeye Link and the SIS Student Center, Snapp said.

Snapp said she placed a request to have it changed, and it will be referred to as AdvisingConnect on those links.