Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Professional Development Roundtable: “Reflections in Advising”

by Mae Kiggins

Reflection in Advising, a workshop hosted by the Professional Development Committee of the Undergraduate Advising Council and the School of Business, allowed advisors to develop and discuss their personal theories about successful advising and to also enjoy some holiday cheer. The discussion focused around the article “Reflections in Advising” from the December 2009 issue of NACADA’s Academic Advising Today.

The article encouraged advisors to continue their lifelong learning by one of the oldest and simplest methods: reflection. The authors recommend advisors develop a professional identity by reflecting on attributes they believe successful advisors share and the sources of those beliefs. These reflections are used to develop a “Personal Practical Theory” (PPT). The article suggests that after developing your own PPT about advising, it is important to discuss it with another advisor. This can encourage more reflection and also give advisors new ideas for their own advising practices. The article goes on to outline more ideas for incorporating PPT into everyday advising practices.

The Reflection in Advising workshop focused on the first two sections of the article by giving UF advisors the opportunity to reflect and record their ideas of what makes a successful advisor (thus creating their own PPT) and to discuss their ideas with the workshop participants. The opportunity to make connections with other advisors across campus by discussing our ideas about successful advising was encouraging. Thanks to Lindsey Dedow and the UAC Professional Development Committee, for providing UF advisors with this opportunity to interact and reflect with each other!

Hutson, B. L., Bloom, J. L., and He, Y. 2009. Reflection in Advising. Academic Advising Today 23(4).

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