Virtual Academic Advising at Community Colleges: Opportunities and Challenges for Supporting Student Success

• In Event: Opportunities Outside Academics to Support Student Success

Abstract

Academic advising is central to students’ success, contributing to their persistence and completion, and has been referred to as the cornerstone of student support at community colleges (CCCSE, 2018). In this paper, we examine how academic advisors and students at one of the largest urban community college systems in the US understand the benefits and challenges of utilizing a videoconferencing platform to support virtual academic advising. The findings show the experiences of both advisors and students in the following three shared themes: (1) Convenient, Efficient, and Supportive Alternative to In-Person Advising (2) Advisor Workload Increase through Virtual Advising, and (3) Digital Divide Reinforced. We also present the Virtual Advising for Community College (VACC) Model for future implementation of our findings.

Authors

• Mimi Miyoung Lee, University of Houston
  Presenting Author

• Gerald V. Bourdeau, University of Houston
  Presenting Author

• Lyle McKinney, University of Houston
  Non-Presenting Author

• Andrea Backscheider Burridge, Houston Community College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yolanda Michelle Barnes, University of Houston
  Non-Presenting Author