A good advisor in life is priceless...
Good Advice
  • Home
  • Advisors
    • NACADA
    • New Advisor Checklist
    • Personal Philosophy of AA >
      • Presentation
    • Theories and Approaches
    • Academic Advising Syllabus
    • Diagrams
    • Projects >
      • An Advisor Log
      • Student Wait Times
      • Prerequisite Diagrams
      • Advising Jeopardy
    • Masters in Academic Advising >
      • Degree Objectives
      • Program of Study
      • Capstone Portfolio
  • Articles
  • Software
    • Academic Advising Program Assessment >
      • AAPA Software
    • Academic Advising Inventory System >
      • AAIS Software
    • Student Survey System >
      • SSS Software
  • About
    • Career Narrative >
      • Leadership
    • Personal Narrative
    • Resume
  • Contact

AAPA Software

The Academic Advising Program Assessment (AAPA) is a software tool that uses the standards and guidelines for academic advising programs as defined by the Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS).

Software DisclaimerNACADA encourages the sharing of tools and utilities that may assist others in their efforts to improve the quality or efficiency of academic advising on their campuses.

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF USE CAREFULLY BEFORE DOWNLOADING OR USING THE TOOLS LISTED BELOW.

The tools listed below have been made available by other NACADA members to the academic advising community.

NACADA provides links to software tools as a convenience to its members and to the academic advising community at large. We are not liable for: Loss of data, incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising from the use of the software or any related materials.

NACADA does NOT Provide Updates And/Or Tech Support For any software. Contact the software provider with your questions or support requests.

From the software provider:
Despite the disclaimers above, this is not rocket-science. The AAPA software is one MS-Excel file. I think most people in higher education can handle that.

The 3.0 version of the Academic Advising Program Assessment Software uses the Academic Advising CAS as of December, 2012.
aapa-ver-3.0.xlsx
File Size: 107 kb
File Type: xlsx
Download File

Picture
Picture
The AAPA consists of one MS-Excel file which contains six worksheets:
  • Instructions – contains instructions on how to use this software
  • Licensing – contains information about licensing this software (free to NACADA members!)
  • CAS – information about how to get more information about CAS and how to contact CAS
  • Assessment – use this worksheet to assess your academic advising program. This is the core of the software
  • Documentation – use this to document the evidence of your assessment of your academic advising program
  • Analysis – this worksheet shows the results of the assessment and if there are any data entry errors
The Assessment worksheet is used to indicate how your institution’s academic advising program meets each standard of each Part of the CAS Standards and Guidelines for Academic Advising Programs .

The assessment of each standard and guideline has a possible five assessment values:

  • Not Applicable – use this when the standard is not applicable to your institution or any institution of your type
  • Not True – use this when your institution does not meet the standard at all (even if it does not try to)
  • Partially True – use this when your institution partially meets the standard but has more work to do
  • Mostly True – use this when your institution mostly meets the standard, but is short in some important areas
  • Completely True – use this when your institution completely meets the standard as defined by CAS
Many of the standards on the Assessment worksheet have comments that suggest what kind of evidence could be used to assess whether or not the institution meets the standard. When indicating on the Assessment worksheet whether or not your institution meets the standard, you should enter an ‘E’ (or ‘e’) to indicate that evidence exists to support your assessment, or enter ‘X’ to indicate that no evidence exists that supports your assessment (anything besides ‘E’ will work as well). Standards are in bold, Guidelines are not.

The ultimate goal is for your institution to fully meet all applicable standards with evidence to support each assessment.

The Documentation worksheet is used to document the evidence used in the assessment. For each standard, enter the evidence used in making the assessment value. This is your proof of compliance. Note that one person’s opinion is not sufficient evidence to justify an assessment — they should document “why” they have their opinion.

The Analysis worksheet is used to see the results of the assessment and to see if any data entry errors have been made. It is easy to see if multiple assessment values have been entered or if no value has been entered for a standard. Save the AAPA file for each assessment performed so you can see changes over time.

Technical supportIf you have questions about…
  • …how to do something in MS-Excel, you should refer to a book on MS-Excel or do a search on-line.
  • …how to install the AAPA spreadsheet, please remember that this is just an MS-Excel file. Save the .xlsx file to your computer and open the file just as you would any other MS-Excel file — which means you must already have MS-Excel installed on your computer!
  • …a problem with the spreadsheet, contact me with a description of the problem and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
  • …hiring consultants to help your institution perform an assessment using the methodology of the AAPA, you can contact NACADA’s Academic Advising Consultants and Speakers Service to arrange for consultants to come to your campus. The author of the software is also available for consultation.
“Developmental counseling or advising is concerned not only with a specific personal or vocational decision but also with facilitating the student's rational processes, environmental and interpersonal interactions, behavioral awareness, and problem-solving, decision-making, and evaluation skills.” – Crookston, 1972

“Academic advising is the only structured service on the campus in which all students have the opportunity for on-going, one-to-one contact with a concerned representative of the institution.” - W. R. Hably
NACADA 
The National Academic Advising Association 
NACADA Clearinghouse 
A useful list of Advising topics from NACADA 
The Mentor 
A scholarly publication about academic advising in higher education