Projects
As an advisor I was facinated by the data-rich environment surrounding me. Students coming and going. Advisors coming and going. Data was everywhere I looked.
Over time several side-projects suggested themselves to me. Nobody told me to undertake these projects, how to do them, or if they would be welcomed. They just seemed intersting and potentially useful so I forged ahead anyway.
My first project, my advisor log, was tracking information on the students I was seeing every day. I saw between 15 and 40 students a day and the data kept accumulating.
My second project, an analysis of student wait times, was intended to bring real data and evidence to a debate about the reasons for long student wait times.
My third project, prerequisite diagrams, proved very useful to students and advisors.
My forth project, Advising Jeopardy, is a fun way to learn and share information in a group setting.
I share these projects as examples of what you could do if you look around the data-rich environment you work in with curiosity. I encourage you to find small research projects and perhaps even to write them up for publication by NACADA. You never know what these kind of things could lead to.
Over time several side-projects suggested themselves to me. Nobody told me to undertake these projects, how to do them, or if they would be welcomed. They just seemed intersting and potentially useful so I forged ahead anyway.
My first project, my advisor log, was tracking information on the students I was seeing every day. I saw between 15 and 40 students a day and the data kept accumulating.
My second project, an analysis of student wait times, was intended to bring real data and evidence to a debate about the reasons for long student wait times.
My third project, prerequisite diagrams, proved very useful to students and advisors.
My forth project, Advising Jeopardy, is a fun way to learn and share information in a group setting.
I share these projects as examples of what you could do if you look around the data-rich environment you work in with curiosity. I encourage you to find small research projects and perhaps even to write them up for publication by NACADA. You never know what these kind of things could lead to.
