Appreciative adVISING syllabus
COURSE OVERVIEW
THE COMMUNITY
The Appreciative Advising course is designed to be a community of learners (instructors included). There are opportunities for you to interact with other community members each week via the course discussion boards. Active participation in our community enhances your own experience and the experiences of all of the other learners in our community.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
We believe in new things and new ideas. Our teaching philosophy is rooted in the newness created through the process of life-long learning and seeking ones’ full potential. It is through this conceptual newness that we teach through a process of shared responsibility. We no more expect to do all of the teaching in this course, than we expect our “students” to do all of the learning. We intentionally work to build a community of learners where the responsibility for teaching and learning is shared by instructors and students alike. Building on the work of Bain (2004) we “fundamentally recognize that people will learn best and most deeply when they have a strong sense of control over their own education rather than feeling manipulated by someone else's demands.” The teaching level for this course is set at a continuing education level. We fully believe your learning will match the time and effort as you put into the course.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Our suggested learning aims to: (a) inspire our community of learners to think critically and engage actively with topics related to Appreciative Advising and Academic Advising; (b) provide a foundation of knowledge about Appreciative Advising, in theory and practice, that will allow for personal growth and professional development; and (c) to foster a supportive community that allows for dialogue and discussion during the six-week course as well as build a collegial network at the conclusion of the course. Our objective is not to get you to think in any particular way, and it is not to “teach” you to think like us. In fact, we often do not always think like each other!
Your suggested learning aims for the course are just that, yours. Although there may be overlap in what you hope to achieve through this course and what we aim to provide, we anticipate that these will be different for each of you. In the first week of the course we will ask you to create your own aims. Our hope is that you continue to develop your aims for the course well after the first week and that you learn many things that you never intended to learn!
RESPONSIBILITY FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING
Responsibility for teaching AND learning in the Appreciative Advising Course is shared among all community members. Please be prepared to participate every week. We expect you to not only have thoughts, opinions, and ideas; we expect you to share them! We also expect you to thoughtfully and fully consider the opinions and ideas others present. One of the great joys of teaching this course is the opportunity that we have to see things in new or different ways because the ideas others bring to the course. We likewise will also actively participate in discussion each week.
The Appreciative Advising course is designed to be a community of learners (instructors included). There are opportunities for you to interact with other community members each week via the course discussion boards. Active participation in our community enhances your own experience and the experiences of all of the other learners in our community.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
We believe in new things and new ideas. Our teaching philosophy is rooted in the newness created through the process of life-long learning and seeking ones’ full potential. It is through this conceptual newness that we teach through a process of shared responsibility. We no more expect to do all of the teaching in this course, than we expect our “students” to do all of the learning. We intentionally work to build a community of learners where the responsibility for teaching and learning is shared by instructors and students alike. Building on the work of Bain (2004) we “fundamentally recognize that people will learn best and most deeply when they have a strong sense of control over their own education rather than feeling manipulated by someone else's demands.” The teaching level for this course is set at a continuing education level. We fully believe your learning will match the time and effort as you put into the course.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Our suggested learning aims to: (a) inspire our community of learners to think critically and engage actively with topics related to Appreciative Advising and Academic Advising; (b) provide a foundation of knowledge about Appreciative Advising, in theory and practice, that will allow for personal growth and professional development; and (c) to foster a supportive community that allows for dialogue and discussion during the six-week course as well as build a collegial network at the conclusion of the course. Our objective is not to get you to think in any particular way, and it is not to “teach” you to think like us. In fact, we often do not always think like each other!
Your suggested learning aims for the course are just that, yours. Although there may be overlap in what you hope to achieve through this course and what we aim to provide, we anticipate that these will be different for each of you. In the first week of the course we will ask you to create your own aims. Our hope is that you continue to develop your aims for the course well after the first week and that you learn many things that you never intended to learn!
RESPONSIBILITY FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING
Responsibility for teaching AND learning in the Appreciative Advising Course is shared among all community members. Please be prepared to participate every week. We expect you to not only have thoughts, opinions, and ideas; we expect you to share them! We also expect you to thoughtfully and fully consider the opinions and ideas others present. One of the great joys of teaching this course is the opportunity that we have to see things in new or different ways because the ideas others bring to the course. We likewise will also actively participate in discussion each week.
ACCOMMODATIONS
It is the policy of Florida Atlantic University to make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. “In Compliance with The Americans with Disabilities Act (A.D.A.), students who require special accommodations due to a disability to properly execute coursework must register with the Office for Student Accessibility Services located in Boca – SU 133 (561-297-3880) and follow all Office procedures. The purpose of this office is to provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities.” Students who require assistance should notify the professor immediately by submitting a letter from the Student Accessibilities Office to your instructor requesting your need of specific assistance.
REQUIRED TEXT
Bloom, J. L., Hutson, B. L., & He, Y. (2008). The appreciative advising revolution. Champaign, IL: Stipes Publishing.
EVALUATION AND REFLECTION
“A little reflection will show us that every belief, even the simplest and most fundamental, goes beyond experience when regarded as a guide to our actions.” - William Kingdon Clifford
Evaluation for this course will follow our ideal of shared responsibility within our learning community. The work that you submit to us to be graded will be returned to you with feedback and an assigned grade.
COURSE ASSIGNMENTS
There are three (3) types of assignments for this course.
“The rallying cry for the Appreciative Advising Revolution is “To be better!” and it means to be better as an advisor, better as a person, and better as a role model” – The Appreciative Advising Revolution
COURSE READING SCHEDULE
All assigned reading below come from the course text: The Appreciative Advising Revolution.
It is the policy of Florida Atlantic University to make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. “In Compliance with The Americans with Disabilities Act (A.D.A.), students who require special accommodations due to a disability to properly execute coursework must register with the Office for Student Accessibility Services located in Boca – SU 133 (561-297-3880) and follow all Office procedures. The purpose of this office is to provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities.” Students who require assistance should notify the professor immediately by submitting a letter from the Student Accessibilities Office to your instructor requesting your need of specific assistance.
REQUIRED TEXT
Bloom, J. L., Hutson, B. L., & He, Y. (2008). The appreciative advising revolution. Champaign, IL: Stipes Publishing.
EVALUATION AND REFLECTION
“A little reflection will show us that every belief, even the simplest and most fundamental, goes beyond experience when regarded as a guide to our actions.” - William Kingdon Clifford
Evaluation for this course will follow our ideal of shared responsibility within our learning community. The work that you submit to us to be graded will be returned to you with feedback and an assigned grade.
COURSE ASSIGNMENTS
There are three (3) types of assignments for this course.
- Surveys - Two mandatory surveys will be given in this course: (1) a pre-assessment during the first week of class worth 1 point and (2) a post-assessment during the last week of class worth 1 point. The purpose of the surveys is to provide the course facilitators with insight into participants’ collective backgrounds and goals at the beginning of the course as well as assess what participants collectively learned in the course at the end. Although the system will know if the survey has been completed, the survey contents will be anonymous. Please note that the completion of both surveys is a required component of the course and necessary to obtain a Certificate of Completion following the conclusion of the course.
- Discussion Boards - We will engage in weekly dialogues through our course discussion boards. Each week we will have a set of discussion questions posted. You will be responsible for reviewing and responding to at least one question per week. We also expect you to review and respond to the discussion threads of your peers. Please provide substantive comments to at least 2 posts per week. In Week 1, you will have the opportunity to earn 2 points by responding to two separate discussion thread prompts. For Weeks 2-6, you may earn 1 point for participation. If possible, please try to submit your discussion post by Wednesday each week as this allows for ample time to engage in discussion the discussion threads submitted by your peers.
- Midterm & Final Project - In order to ensure we are getting the most out of this online experience, we will complete two (2) papers. The midterm is due at the beginning of Week 4, while the final is due at the end of week 6. The midterm and final project are worth 3 points each. Additional details about these papers will be available on our class BB site. Please note, your midterm and final project will be submitted through Blackboard.
“The rallying cry for the Appreciative Advising Revolution is “To be better!” and it means to be better as an advisor, better as a person, and better as a role model” – The Appreciative Advising Revolution
COURSE READING SCHEDULE
All assigned reading below come from the course text: The Appreciative Advising Revolution.
- Week 1: Chapters 1-4
- Week 2: Chapter 5
- Week 3: Chapter 6
- Week 4: Chapter 7
- Week 5: Chapter 8
- Week 6: Chapter 9-12