Teaching, Advising, and Student Development: Finding the Common Ground

Abstract

This article is adapted from a chapter in Giving Advice to Students: A Roadmap for College Professionals, * by Howard K. Schein, Ned Scott Laff, and Deborah R. Allen. It will appear in the summer 1987 edition of American College Personnel Association Media Publication No. 44, published by the American Association of Counseling and Development. Inthis adaptation, the authors offer root concepts and critical thinking skills as the solution—the “common ground”—to the disparate interests and concerns of academic affairs and student affairs professionals. Further, it provides the academic advisor with a variety of advising strategies to assist advisees in learning how to make well-informed decisions about their future.

Developmental Advising Through Life Roles

“…Thomas and Chickering (1984) not only identify common elements of diverse developmental theories regarding college age adults but also note characteristics of development of changepromoting institutions. Laff, Schein, and Allen (1987) further assert that the underlying theme of developmental advising is itself a blending of academics and student life. The holistic approach now becomes both a necessity and a possibility.…”