Academic Advising
Arising from the Academic Advising Initiative, this page contains a variety of training and resources to support academic staff involved in academic advising to ensure that students are appropriately supported as individuals in their learning, as outlined in the UCD Strategy for Education and Student Success 2020-2024. The definition and objectives of academic advising below were approved by the Academic Council Executive Committee in May 2022.
Definition of Academic Advising
Academic Advising is part of the educational experience, where students are supported by faculty in making appropriate choices from a wide range of opportunities towards achieving realistic academic and professional goals.
Objectives of Academic Advising
- Evaluate personal interests and abilities leading to the creation of realistic academic and professional goals.
- Develop an educational plan that leads to the timely completion of educational goals.
- Develop the critical thinking and independent decision-making skills to make and accept responsibility for academic decisions.
- Understand the most appropriate choices to make in order to achieve goals (module or major choices)
- Know what the most appropriate research opportunities are to support their educational and professional goals
- Know what the most appropriate internship, study abroad and or co and extra curricular opportunities are to support educational and professional goals.
Training and Resources
A selection of dip-in and out courses and resources are available on the tabs below. There are templates and documents that have been shared by UCD colleagues for adaptation and the Project Showcases include 17 different approaches to academic advising from around the university, arising from funded projects.
Short Online Courses
The following short online courses are available free to UCD employees as part of our institutional membership of UKAT, the UK Advising and Tutoring Association. To access the courses, you must register to create your account on the UKAT site. This involves entering your name and email address and creating a password, after which you will be able to login. There is no need to "Join UKAT" as UCD has already joined at institutional level.
Each course has a video of no more than ten minutes that you can watch in your own time. Additionally, there are useful exercises and resources. The first course is a great start for anyone who wants to learn more about academic advising and its benefits.
- What is Personal Tutoring?
- Setting Boundaries and Managing Expectations
- Listening Effectively
- Communicating Effectively with your Students
- Self-care for Personal Tutors
If you have a query around access to these resources, please contact academic.advising@ucd.ie
Templates and Documents
An academic advising shared folder has been set up with useful documents and templates on:
- General Information
- Academic Advisor Training
- Student Tools and Resources
- Communication to Students
- Meetings with Students
- Advising via the Curriculum
Project Showcases
Our collection of Academic Advising Project Showcases from schools and colleges presents various experiences and insights on academic advising across the University.
Academic Advising Community
The Academic Advising Community is an internal UCD forum where colleagues are welcome to post, share or discuss anything relating to academic advising. The community is currently online but will also have in person meetings in due course. Access is for UCD staff only and is granted on request - for further details or to be added please email judith.archbold@ucd.ie
Helping students to evaluate personal interests and abilities
The first UCD objective of academic advising is to "Evaluate personal interests and abilities leading to the creation of realistic academic and professional goals." Dr Rebecca Hapes from NACADA has created this training resource for UCD to provide guidance on how academic advisors can help students to evaluate their interests and abilities and create goals.
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Helping Students to Develop an Educational Plan
The second of the objective of academic advising is to "Develop an educational plan that leads to the timely completion of educational goals." In the resource below, Dr Rebecca Hapes provides guidance on how academic advisors can help students to develop educational plans.
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Learn More
For further information on Academic Advising see:
- UKAT Resources - The United Kingdom Advising and Tutoring Association
- NACADA Resources - The Global Community for Academic Advising based in the USA
For questions relating to the initiative contact judith.archbold@ucd.ie Senior Project Manager, UCD Teaching and Learning
