Dissertation Writing Help - The Relationship Between the Location Where Academic Advising is Provided and Student Engagement

I need a Custom Dissertation Writing Service on "The Relationship Between the Location Where Academic Advising is Provided and Student Engagement"

Academic advising offers the potential to help students clarify their educational and career goals, select project that is well-matched with their interests, skills and values and develop a personal relationship with a university faculty or staff member. The connection that advisors help students create between their goals and institutional resources may lead to greater involvement at the institution, increased learning, and retention. Universities are recognizing the potential that academic advising affords to all students, and therefore are devoting greater resources to academic advising programs. One area of advising that has been emphasized among these programs is the development of personal relationships between advisors and students.

Research shows that a personal relationship between the academic advisor and student is important for student satisfaction, success, and retention. Based on the belief that advising positively affects student success and retention, and that in-depth, personal relationships between advisors and students are most effective, universities have sought to provide more opportunities to develop student-advisor relationships. Academic advising offices are increasingly developing programs to integrate advising more seamlessly into student life with the hope that this will have the greatest effect on students. One way that universities have sought to integrate advising is by offering academic advising services in residence halls and living-learning communities. The increased convenience of academic advising services may lead students to make greater use of the services, and therefore may have a positive impact on student-advisor relationships and campus engagement. This research seeks to examine this question:

To what extent does the location where academic advising is provided (for example conventional residence halls, living-learning communities, or central advising offices) have an impact on student engagement?

This question is important as universities focus more resources (that is advisors' salaries, time, and office space) on academic advising services with the hope that advising has a positive impact on students.

Problem Statement

Student engagement is an important factor in student learning and success. It is also known that learning communities can be a tool for increasing student engagement. Research shows that the effect of learning communities on student engagement is indirect and is based on the relationships formed within learning communities. It is unclear; however, which relationships have the greatest impact. Some research suggests that faculty-student interactions are important, while other indicates that peer interaction is the most influential. Still other research suggests that increased interaction with both faculty members and peers is important to enhancing engagement. Previous research on the impact of relationships formed within learning communities has focused only on faculty-student and student-to-student relationships.

While research on learning communities has not assessed the impact of academic advisors (or other student affairs professionals) on students, literature does suggest that academic advisors are a key component of the learning community team. Love and Tinto (1995) assert that professional academic advisors can be instrumental in the development of learning communities and state that advisors are "in the best position to know what incoming students need". They argue that academic advisors are the most equipped individuals on campus to select and construct course clusters, assist with the recruitment of students into learning communities, and participate as members of the learning community faculty team. This literature implies that delivering academic advising services in students' living environments is effective for enhancing student success; however, this belief has never been tested.