This chapter explores the intersection of technology and advising students pursuing a health professional program. In consistently serving students, the delivery of the advising experience takes on a new aesthetic. In the chapter, the concept of flipped advising is introduced as a method of delivering information efficiently while leveraging technology. With a wide variety of technological tools available to advisees and advisors, this chapter will highlight the practical integrations on three campuses and examine the technological opportunities and challenges to improve the advising experience.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people were able to feel closer together through technology despite needing to be apart. Entire industries, not just institutions, had to change how work was done in an incredibly short amount of time (Guillen, 2020). Higher education was no exception, and advising offices and operations were forced to shut down their on-campus operations and quickly pivot to a digital offering (White, 2020). In an article in Inside Higher Ed, White (2020, para. 12) wrote that “academic advising was one of the first higher education endeavors to embrace technology as a way to supplement its work.” In essence, this chapter will embody that same spirit as we continue into a world that integrates technology with the way we work, even more so than before.
This shift in how advising services were delivered allowed advisors to explore other ways of connecting with students. Traditional methods of in-person or group advising appointments were no longer possible, and technology was the best available tool to help advisors during a challenging time. Ithaka S+R, in partnership with EDUCAUSE, has been collecting case studies of the implementation of technology in response to the COVID-19 pandemic across multiple universities (Ithaka S+R, 2022). Initial reports have revealed that incorporating technology has allowed advisors to better explain complex institutional policies or procedures, reduce travel time for students to advising offices, and has led to increased attendance at appointments (Fried & McDaniel, 2020; Fried & McDaniel, 2021).
The use of technology in academic advising is not new. Steele (2016) has discussed the concept of flipped advising at length. A flipped advising approach is similar to that of a flipped classroom, a pedagogical method of shifting the typical in-person lecture component of a class to instead be completed at home, while what otherwise would have been homework is completed in class (EDUCAUSE, 2012; Tucker, 2012). This flip is intentional, with an emphasis on active learning as a core feature, allowing students to apply their knowledge and learn from one another (EDUCAUSE, 2012). In a flipped classroom environment, video lectures and other forms of multimedia are provided to the students and viewed in advance of the in-person lecture or as their homework assignments. The digital format allows students to watch the videos at their own pace, enables them to re-watch any part of the lecture they may not understand, and fosters reflection on what they have learned without missing additional content (EDUCAUSE, 2012).