The implementation of tutorial systems, essentially a seminar system, but where – crucially and by design – the students are taught by their academic adviser, so embedding the Academic Adviser into the students learning, and making sure the staff member gets a consistent opportunity to get to know their advisees.
All Academic Advisers at Kent can now access a training module on Moodle. The module brings together templates, advice and tried and tested processes from Schools and Departments across the University, alongside existing guidance and research by Student Success to provide a central repository of training and resources for new and existing Academic Advisers.
The course provides a consistent and unambiguous explanation of responsibilities of the role, case studies, an action road map as well as signposting and templates. Course: Academic Adviser Training (kent.ac.uk)
Academic Coaching for Excellence (ACE) has been running for 4 years in Kent Law School and is seeing the results of that time investment. The School team emphasises that coaching requires a long-term approach to maximise effectiveness and necessitates training academic coaches within the school. Some schools provide access to external specialised Coaching Programs, for example the John Schofield Trust Coaching program.
In some schools “Stretch and Challenge” target groups have also been invited to work with committed staff to take part in weekly meetings using a variety of activities. This requires a staff team who are dedicated with an understanding of the time commitment.
The Academic Adviser system is unique among the University’s provision of services, as it offers continuity and overview in a modular system. It is therefore essential that this system works effectively for students and staff, so that productive and meaningful conversations are enabled to develop.