We applaud recent advances made by the University to improve undergraduate advising with practical web-based tools. Particularly important at Brown because of the New Curriculum's open, design-your-own approach to education, advising has long been the source of complaints from undergraduates. We are, therefore, happy to recognize concrete positive steps in this critical area.
Codified in the Faculty Rules and Regulations and affirmed by the 2008 report of the Task Force on Undergraduate Education, advising is for the most part the faculty's responsibility. Professors must remain at the core of Brown advising. But, in the current publish-or-perish academic climate, professors have less time to be teachers and guides to undergraduates. Though the merits of this increased focus on scholarship can be debated, it is clear that optimizing student-adviser interaction is essential.
Among other things, this means disseminating information about courses, concentrations and University resources as efficiently as possible. Students, armed with greater academic and co-curricular institutional awareness, can make better use of the contact they do have with advisers. Advising Sidekick, Focal Point and other new online advising tools seem to achieve this utility.
They also reduce the random, scattershot way in which underclassmen acquire institutional knowledge. Though online resources can never offer the same level of intimate detail, they can offer better odds at holding the information students seek.
The Office of the Dean of the College created Focal Point, a tool designed to aid underclassmen in exploring concentration options. It pairs a clear and concise description of concentration programs with information about liberal learning goals, capstones and honors, possible career paths and links to program requirements and departmental undergraduate group webpages. Focal Point is easy to navigate and fills a clear void in previous advising resources.
Another valuable addition to online advising is Advising Sidekick. Though little-known and less-utilized by upperclassmen who arrived on campus after its introduction, Advising Sidekick centralizes a variety of resources — useful links for academic support and student life, a listing of relevant events and contact numbers. It also facilitates communication between advisees and peer and faculty advisers, though this feature's advantage over email is unclear.
Of course, advising is critical to more than just academics. We are encouraged by recent changes to CareerLAB and are confident that students will be better served by its increased accessibility and enriched offerings. "GChat office hours" advising is a convenient way to get quick answers from CareerLAB advisers. Additionally, the Job and Internship Board, a valuable tool for students searching for and applying to jobs, has been a useful CareerLAB offering. The board has benefited the hundreds of seniors now engaged in on-campus recruiting by providing centralized resources, information and opportunities for communication with potential employers. That said, we see the potential for improvements to the website and encourage CareerLAB leadership to actively seek out and heed student suggestions.
As at most colleges, undergraduate advising at Brown is far from perfect. Demands on faculty time and increasing pressure on students to over-perform have strained traditional advising models. Though more work remains to be done, new tools have certainly improved advising, and we applaud the efforts toward continued improvement.
Editorials are written by The Herald's editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
