Proactive Targeted Academic Advising Approach for Students Under Academic Probation and At-Risk Students

Abstract

Academic Advising in higher education has received considerable attention in recent years. This is mainly due to the increased focus on improving education quality, student retention and ranking. The current approach focuses on at-risk students, which includes students with a CGPA of less than 2.3. The Academic Success Program (ASP) is comprised of three main components, which start early in the semester where the targeted students are enrolled in zero-credit courses on the Learning Management System (LMS), i.e., Blackboard. In the first phase of the ASP, we targeted students who are currently under academic probation with the aim to expand the program to include students at risk (students with a CGPA of < 2.3). First, students are asked to answer an online questionnaire, which include carefully designed questions on student status, reasons for academic probation, study habits, social issues, challenges they are facing in their study programs and assistance or services they require to improve their academic standings. Next, students are invited to attend a 2-h workshop that focuses on explaining the various rules and regulations pertaining to academic probation, how to calculate GPA and CGPA along with study plan navigation assistance. The third part of the workshop is a motivational seminar aimed at encouraging and inspiring the students to seek help, talk about the challenges they face, get parents involved and key points on academic success. After the workshop, students are asked to answer an exit assessment that is constructed in the form of a quiz to gauge the gain or impact the program had on the students. The initial results are very encouraging, where 75% of the students who completed the program were able to overcome their academic probation status.