Students' engagement and interactions within higher education are limited to domains of sports, cultural events, and extracurricular activities. However, it is important to cultivate an all-rounded enriching experience for them within their university life. Furthermore, due to limited classroom communication with both their classmates and…

The purpose of this study was to share the design and development case of Advising Virtual Assistant (AVA), a chatbot created to provide support in academic advising in higher education. By analyzing participants' usage data and chatbot performance, we attempted to understand how students engage with AVA to fulfill their advising needs. AVA…

The purpose of this paper is to share preliminary findings from a grant-funded research project that explores the experiences of higher education and student affairs (HESA) professionals who work with undocumented students. Specifically, we derived our conclusions from the experiences of 10 HESA professionals with advising responsibilities.…

Background/Context: The subject of this study concerns the Michigan College Access Network (MCAN), a college access program that has operated in Michigan since 2010 to promote postsecondary access and equity statewide. The state of Michigan has trailed nationally in educational quality and attainment for the past several decades, ranking 38th in…

The present research investigates the connection between academic advising and academic identity development. The study employed a qualitative interview-based design to develop a grounded theory depicting the interaction of the academic advising process with the phenomenon of academic identity development. The participant group for the study…

This Critical Discourse Analysis looks at the perspectives and experiences of academic advisors regarding incarceration to determine how discourses might impact college access for this emerging student population. Key implications of this work demonstrate that (a) academic advisors are not aware of how to best support students with incarceration…

Academic advising support services play a significant role in a student's college experience from enrollment to graduation. The various services they offer can be instrumental in student persistence and graduation rates. However, the graduation rates of African American students continue to lag behind other ethnicities at a local university in…

This qualitative study explored the experiences of former NCAA student-athletes now serving as athletic advisors at Division I institutions across the United States, aiming to understand how their athletic past influences their advisory practices, with a focus on identity development and mentorship. The following research question and…

The COVID-19 pandemic constrained higher education institutions to switch to online teaching, which led to major changes in students' learning behavior, affecting their overall performance. Thus, students' academic performance needs to be meticulously monitored to help institutions identify students at risk of academic failure, preventing them…

Academic advisors have played an essential role within higher education institutions. Not only did academic advisors assist students in selecting courses/scheduling, but advisors could also help address students' substance use concerns. These concerns could be a factor preventing students from graduating. Students with substance use concerns who…

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) need to stay abreast of advances in communication technologies to be student centric, but institutional adoption of Short Messaging Service (SMS) text varies widely and research on incorporation for advising is limited (Arnold et al., 2020; IPEDS 2020; Santos et al., 2018). This quantitative study explored…

The study explores factors affecting university students' behavioural intentions in adopting an academic advising chatbot. The study focuses on functional, socio-emotional, and relational factors affecting students' acceptance of an AI-driven academic advising chatbot. The research is based on a conceptual model derived from several constructs of…

Institutions of higher education continue to struggle with retaining and graduating students within 6 years, and gender and racial/ethnic disparities are apparent. Only 60% of male and 67% of female students who entered a 4-year institution in 2014 graduated within 6 years (U.S. Department of Education, 2022). In 2022, only 27.6% of Black and…

Research shows that relationship-based advising has a track record of producing better student outcomes and retention, thus local college administrators chose relationship-based advising as the advising model to be used at the campus. The problem addressed in this study was inconsistent implementation of the relationship-based advising model by…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of student success technology (SST) on student engagement at a university from the perspectives of students and academic advisors. Specifically, this study examined the relationship between external variables such as educational initiatives and unforeseen events and student engagement and the…