Advisors’ Perceptions of the Value of Advising Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study at a South African University

Abstract

Traditional advising responsibilities are shifting to include a holistic, learning-based and developmental approach that favours advising of the entire university experience. A dearth of systematic empirical evidence exists on advisors’ perceptions of the value of advising students during the COVID-19 pandemic in the South African context. The purpose of this study is to elucidate advisors’ perceptions of the complexity and challenges inherent in their responsibilities during the pandemic. This case study draws on a qualitative research design; it is based on semi-structured in-depth interviews undertaken with nine advisors in 2020. The central research questions posed in this study are: how do advisors describe their perceptions of their responsibilities within the COVID-19 pandemic, and how might these contribute to future practices? The findings indicate that advising during the pandemic has transcended the typical transactional dissemination of information to include addressing contextual environmental and resource challenges, social justice imperatives, emergency remote learning, asynchronous advising challenges and data-informed advising. These responsibilities have encompassed a holistic approach to advising and to getting to know students as ‘whole people’. Adjustments and transitions to emergency remote learning have highlighted social inequalities in access to data, to internet and electricity connectivity, which have served as impediments to students’ learning, and to educational experiences. Some home environments were not conducive to studying but necessitated doing household chores and herding cattle. The findings also indicate that an institution’s advising delivery model should enhance advisors’ abilities to perform their responsibilities. A network of cascaded responsibilities that incorporates greater involvement of lecturers in advising could contribute to a shared responsibility between lecturers and central, faculty and peer advisors. Insights gained may lead to a more nuanced understanding of advisors’ responsibilities as they relate to student learning and to the overall educational experience to promote retention and student success in a post-pandemic era.

Demystifying the Work of South African Academic Advisors: An Exploration of Students’ Structural and Material Constraints

“…The consequences of forgoing NSFAS or other financial aid monies in this way can be catastrophic and must not be discounted when considering the complex social realities students bring to the advising engagement or the institution more broadly. Importantly, these data must be utilised to develop and implement responsive strategies for enabling student success and for improving the integration of academic advising with all other components of South African HEIs (Moosa, 2021), to ensure that students (especially those most affected by the complex realities of the South African higher education sector) reap the benefits.…”

“…As the South African higher education sector shifts beyond emergency modes of instruction towards a post-pandemic reality, the conditions for change may be in place: the inequities entrenched in the sector are known and cannot easily be ignored (Czerniewicz et al, 2020); academic advising has emerged as a previously undervalued practice that can bridge gaps between the student, the institution, and the lecturer (De Klerk, 2022;Moosa, 2021); and calls for intentional shifts towards student-focused pedagogies and holistic student support within the South African higher education sector are on the rise. Now is the time for the South African higher education sector and its institutions to draw on the wisdom of these insights beyond paying lip-service to student challenges.…”

“…Others, like Emekako and Van der Westhuizen (2021), explore academic advising in a South African context in relation to students' academic performance, or investigate advising during the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g. De Klerk, 2022;Moosa, 2021). Additionally, much of the literature focuses on the adoption of global-North advising models in South African contexts (Obaje & Jeawon, 2021, pp.…”

Challenges and Coping Strategies of Campus Advising in the Post-Pandemic

“…However, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges, particularly in a virtual context, hindering advisors from effectively serving students (Yoder, 2021). Moosa's (2021) case study at a South African university emphasized how advising during the pandemic differs greatly from the prepandemic era. The results of their study also indicated dissemination of information as one of the major obstacles in their advising career during the pandemic.…”

Achieving Student-Centred Advising Using Hermeneutic Theory: Implications for Advisor Training and Professional Development

“…Students' needs are identified during the advising process since advising typically involves guiding students through their university career with issues such as finances, curriculum planning, scheduling classes, understanding degree requirements, referral to resources and setting personal and career goals. Advisors' responsibilities are thus broad and include the entire university experience (Moosa, 2021). Advisors' ability to adapt to address students' changing needs is dependent on the repertoire of appropriate theories that they have to draw on to inform their knowledge base.…”