Educational Plan
This page draws on content from the videos by Dr Rebecca Hapes of NACADA (National Academic Advising Association). Here you will find a discussion on how academic advisors can help students evaluate their interests and abilities, guide students to develop educational plans, and develop critical thinking. If you have already viewed the video by Dr Hapes, you will be familiar with some of the content in this section.
What are self-reflection and self-assessment, and what can I do to foster them?
Self-assessment involves establishing strengths, improvements and insights; it can help students identify gaps in their skills, which leads to necessary actions being taken to improve them in the context of higher education. Here are three key components of self-reflection:
- Enhance: Enhance student awareness, discovery, and self-assessment
- Encourage: Encourage students to identify challenges and barriers to success
- Facilitate: Facilitate the development of strategies to overcome challenges and barriers
Benefits of self-reflection and self-assessment
Self-reflection and self-assessment are processes that can help students
- Better understand themselves
- Improve their learning
- Lead to insights and discoveries
- Respond intentionally, improving their decision-making skills
- Foster a sense of well-being
- Take ownership of their learning & improve educational outcomes
- Improve student agency
How do academic advisors begin this process?
Building Relationships
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care
Students are more responsive to prompting and guidance after a relationship with their academic advisor has been established and a level of trust has been reached. When beginning to meet with a student, it is important to allow the student to feel that they have a safe space in which they can have developmental conversations. Here are three steps to a solid advising relationship:
- Create a welcoming environment
- Develop rapport and foster a connection
- Support student agency
Note: Relationship building is a mutual endeavour between the academic advisor and the student. The student should play an active role in the academic advising process, as per the institutional expectations of this initiative. Students are expected to attend meetings and engage in preparatory activities. See Expectations and Responsibilities for more information.
Challenges and Barriers
As students self-reflect, they will also identify challenges and barriers in their lives. Students may be dealing with some of the following challenges and barriers:
- General transition and experiencing higher education for the first time
- Financial challenges
- Mental health concerns
- Accessibility
- Academic concerns
- Family obligations
Challenges can be difficult to navigate, but they can also create opportunities or stimulating experiences. Understanding these challenges can help advisors facilitate work with the students that ultimately enables them to develop strategies to overcome the identified obstacles and achieve their goals. Identifying a knowledge gap can become a goal for the student to work towards. On the other hand, barriers can prevent the student’s progress. In both cases, this is an opportunity to signpost students to institutional supports, which can include the writing centre, math support centre, digital skills resources, volunteering opportunities, sports clubs, and other societies.
When discussing challenges and barriers, it’s important to be mindful of the language used in the advising sessions. Remember, students are juggling multiple things at once. Be mindful and empathetic to their experiences. Use language that encourages the student to move into the growth mindset.
Understanding Educational Planning
Creating a plan is a collaborative process between students and their academic advisors, with both parties being flexible and adapting to the changing student needs. Educational planning is a continuous and iterative process throughout the higher education journey. Once the plan has been developed, academic advisors can encourage students to stay accountable to their educational plan by checking in with them.
- Helps students set and achieve academic goals
- Requires a collaborative effort between students and academic advisors
- Flexible and adaptable to students’ changing needs and goals
Developing an Educational Plan
Developing a successful plan requires a strategic and comprehensive approach. This includes encouraging students to start planning their educational goals early, beginning their first year at university. The educational plan should include steps for the accomplishment of the goals established. It should also consider the future, which includes career aspirations and where the student sees themselves following university. It should be strategic, with module selection that aligns with program completion requirements, and it should provide a mechanism for ensuring students stay on track. This stage includes monitoring progress and adjusting the plan as needed.
One approach is to document the appointments after they have taken place. This documentation can include the topics covered, signposting provided, and action items decided upon, both for the student and advisor. This will also be useful for your future reference and assists with the coherence principle of UCD Academic Advising.
Supporting Student Success
- Build relationships
- Provide resources
- Empower students
- Recognise achievement
- Encourage reflection
- Showcase achievements
- Encourage students to participate in institutional events
- Signpost students to available support to help achieve their goals
Monitor and Adjust
- Assess student progress toward their goals
- Reassess goals as needed and make adjustments
- Provide ongoing support and encouragement
Setting Goals
A goal-setting strategy is essential to a successful plan. There are a variety of goal-setting strategies that can be utilised, these include SMART, GROW and WOOP. Consider these as a point of reference:
SMART
- Specific: Planning effectively with specific targets or goals in mind
- Measurable: Ability to track progress towards the completion of the goal and reassess along the way
- Attainable: Setting goals that are challenging yet achievable
- Relevant: Ensures the goal serves a relevant purpose, e.g. gaining relevant skills to combat a knowledge gap
- Time-bound: Specifies a deadline for the completion of a goal
GROW
- Goal: a target to be achieved
- Reality: current situation and context
- Options: possible paths and strategies
- Will: concrete steps to move forward toward the goal
WOOP
- Wish: an aspirational wish or desire
- Outcome: encourages visualising the best outcome if the wish is fulfilled
- Obstacle: potential barriers and challenges that may be encountered during the goal completion
- Plan: concrete plan to achieve the wish
Underlying principles of successful goal-setting
Different academic advisors may prefer different strategies; however, successful goal-setting needs to reflect the five underlying principles:
- Commitment: How devoted is the student to achieving the goal? Students are generally less devoted to goals to which they have had no role in developing, this is why setting goals needs to be a collaborative process between the student and academic advisor. This gives the student agency in working towards the goal.
- Clarity: How specific is the goal? Vague goals are generally more challenging to meet since the target is fuzzy.
- Challenge: Degree of difficulty to achieve the goal. Challenges can be a difficulty to overcome, but they can also be regarded as stimulating or as an opportunity.
- Complexity: Demands of the goal attainment. Big goals are harder to reach and can become overwhelming. When faced with big goals, consider the idea of chunking, with respect to complexity - this enables the goal to be ‘chunked’ into more manageable pieces or broken up into smaller tasks. Students who have perfectionist or procrastination tendencies may particularly benefit from chunking, as it will help them get started and build momentum.
- Feedback: Presence of progress reporting. This is an accountability and adjustment component for the students. It plays a vital role that academic advisors play within the student educational experience.
Critical Thinking
Objective number three from UCD's Objectives of Academic Advising is for students to "Develop critical thinking and independent decision-making skills to make and accept responsibility for academic decisions." See the Objectives of Academic Advising for the six objectives.
Critical thinking is the ability to reflect with clarity and purpose before reaching a decision or conclusion. It involves questioning assumptions, gathering relevant information, analysing that information in context, exploring different perspectives, and drawing conclusions based on evidence and reasoning.
Critical thinking is a particularly valuable academic skill, contributing to more thoughtful, informed understandings and can help students to take greater responsibility for their learning. Students often need guidance in identifying what information is relevant to their situation and how to interpret it.
Through academic advising, you can help your students think critically by supporting them to break down information, identify barriers, and think through the implications of their choices. This process can help to lay the groundwork for students taking responsibility for their own learning and decision-making.
- Students are encouraged to evaluate their academic options, such as choosing modules, in an informed and thoughtful way.
- This may involve weighing pros and cons and considering how decisions align with long-term goals, such as postgraduate study or career aspirations.
The Goal
This approach can prepare students to become independent, reflective students and graduates.
Independent Decision-Making
- Academic advising supports students in becoming confident, self-directed learners.
- Rather than relying solely on academic advisors to make decisions, students are guided to take the lead in making academic decisions such as selecting modules, managing their time, seeking support when needed, and understanding assessment and degree requirements.
Taking Responsibility
- Students are expected to take ownership of the choices they make. If, for example, a student struggles with a module that they have selected, they are encouraged to accept responsibility for the decision, and use the experience as a learning opportunity.
Example in Practice
Academic advisor:
Let’s look together at your results and any feedback you’ve received. What stands out to you? Are there patterns or areas that seem to be causing the most difficulty? Once we understand that, we can talk about what steps you might take next - whether that’s changing your approach to study, using support services, or thinking differently about your module choices
This kind of conversation can help the student reflect on their performance, identify specific challenges, and make informed decisions.