Revolutionizing Academic Advising: Proactive Practices and Holistic Wraparound Services with InSpace’s AI-Powered Platform
Proactive practices and holistic wraparound services will help professional academic advisors navigate the student experience.
As Former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in the May 2022 University Innovation Alliance panel on the future of academic advising, “We know the majority of folks who go to college don’t graduate […] I don’t think anyone has ever gone to college saying, ‘My goal is not to graduate.’ But that’s what’s happened. That’s an untenable reality that we have to change together.”
Part of the change, Duncan believes, is wrapping holistic support into the academic advising experience.
For many institutions, this realization was a part of their COVID-19 understanding—many institutions found that academic advisors suddenly shouldered work far beyond the typical scope of academic advising to include holistic advising on mental health supports, food and housing insecurity, family needs, and beyond. Duncan believes this model needs to be solidified sustainably to remedy the have/have-not division around educational opportunities in the United States.
This means moving towards a professional advisor core at institutions rather than relying on professors, who may be better suited as mentors. Academic advising must focus fully on navigating the student experience and understanding how to answer critical student questions, even those students don’t know they should be asking. Dr. Tim Renick of Georgia State, also present at the May 2022 panel, observes that dedicated proactive advising must assess a wide array of student risk factors and notify students with early alerts to keep them on track.
It’s only by refusing to let students fall through the cracks—and refusing to leave students floundering when they don’t know the questions to ask—that institutions can rebuild trust in the efficacy of advising and improve the student experience.
Your campus, everywhere.
One code on your platforms unites your campus tech stack for an equitable and accessible student experience.
InSpace’s immersive AI-powered video platform gives students more control over their online learning environment, empowering them to make meaningful connections with their peers, staff, and professors with the click of a button.
InSpace is known for putting community, collaboration, and relationship-building at the center of online teaching and learning. Now, this immersive learning environment is available campuswide as a front door for everyone at your institution, streamlining processes and logistics for students and staff.
Install anywhere your students are.
InSpace’s intuitive online education platform, designed by and for educators, promotes purposeful, productive, and joyful connections between students, professors, advisors, and coaches. It seamlessly integrates with existing learning management systems, adding innovative features such as AI-powered virtual assistants and live notes. And, InSpace removes barriers, provides flexible opportunities, and builds strong learning communities.
- AI-powered features, including a virtual assistant that harnesses institutional knowledge to answer students’ questions in real time.
- With one click, students who need help can see when advisors are available, make an appointment, add it to their calendar, and join a meeting—all in one beautiful, fun, and collaborative space.
- An innovative Live Notes tool seamlessly generates meeting notes, summaries, and action items, providing students with a clear course of action.
- Notes are saved in a centralized, searchable archive, where students and staff can quickly reference previous conversations.
- Dashboards for professionals enable at-a-glance check-ins, nudges, and notifications so that students don’t fall through the cracks and advisors are always up to date on student progress.
When it comes to academic advising, students seek meaningful connections with peers, faculty, and staff on campus, but it’s not happening enough.
At InSpace, we’re passionate about creating learning experiences that center the joy of the student journey and make learning a social experience. Students thrive when they collaborate with others, including with their academic advisors. The student experience blossoms when students themselves take ownership of the student experience in collaboration with their advisors.
With the launch of the campuswide InSpace advising experience, we’re working to dismantle barriers to quality conversation and connection.
Together, we’ll harness the power of technology to take the logistics out of the way for advisors, students, and administrators so they can focus on what they do best: learning, teaching, and building community.
We hope you will join us as we reimagine the future of online education together.