October 22-26

 This week was a slow week in the office. However, I went to a meeting with the people who are recreating the DGS website. This meeting went really well and they are currently coming up with what the site is going to look like. We clarified what we think the current site is missing. There was a lot of discussion about improvements and what they need from us to move forward. I was surprised throughout the meeting when the people who are putting together the website understood students pretty well. They understood DGS students and what they are about and what the office is about. They also understood students. This impressed me, but I once I thought about it, it made sense that the people who are creating a website need to know their audience. I put together the suggestions I came up with and sent them to one of the people in charge of the new site and I am responsible for compiling advisor bios for the new site. Overall, this week was slow

This week, I read The Irrational Nature of Choice: A New Model for Advising Undecided Students? This article discusses how Americans go through a rational decision-making process and that this process is usually used in academic advising. The rational decision-making process is like a prescription  that is made up of facts and evidenced by proof and logic. Instead of using this process, the author suggests that academic advisors focus on the means rather than the ends. He suggests focusing on what students can do to decide a major rather than what major should be decided. He also suggests asking questions and digging for information so find the reason behind what the student says and asks, and to think about the context of the question. Finally, he suggests that advisors try to increase the time that they spend with students to develop a better relationship, especially in informal settings. He calls these suggestions irrational because  we usually wouldn't see this as the logical way to approach advising. It must be noted that this article was published in 1996 so it is a bit dated. For example, he talks about the new invention of the internet and how that has changed people's thinking processes. I think that DGS advisors are doing a good job at following this irrational decision-making process to help students. They constantly question what students have done/are doing to explore majors. DGS advisors ask a lot of questions to dig deeper into why the student might be asking a question or stating something. However, I think there is room for improvement, especially as a new advisor. I think these suggestions could benefit my student. As I get more comfortable with advising, I think I will be better at remembering to ask the student more questions and to more fully think about why the student is asking me certain things. His suggestions, to me, are conscious things that I will need to remember to do as I advise more students.

This week, I spent:
2 hours and 30 minutes on the website
45 minutes reading and journaling
20 minutes organizing my desk/new information and resources from campus offices
1 hour 15 minutes at a staff meeting (getting updates on DGS)


Bertram, R. M. The irrational nature of choice: A new model for advising undecided students? NACADA Journal, 16(2), 19-24.

Bert