The Context

There is increasing evidence in the literature on student success, that academic advising is a critical component in retention of students (Portland State University Student Advising Action Council, 2001). The Center for Distance Learning (CDL) at Empire State College, State University of New York (SUNY), is known for its leadership in mentoring of students, adult pedagogy and online learning. The majority of students are working adults (average age 35 years) with some prior college experience. A mentor/advisor is assigned when the student enrolls, and serves as the student’s primary contact with the college throughout his/her experience until graduation. Given that students enrolled in the CDL are not required to come to a physical campus at any time, regular advising takes place via telephone and email. It is traditionally an individualized activity conducted between each designated advisor and his/her assigned student. The Challenge One challenge facing the CDL is that enrollment in online courses is growing at nearly 20 % per year. Hiring qualified faculty and staff to keep pace with the growth is an ongoing issue. In the meantime, the additional students put pressures on the current advising model in terms of the time it takes to conduct individual mentoring with each student. Increased student enrollment also challenges the advising model in terms of information delivery and technological support. However, the one-to-one mentoring model is a core value of the college and highly prized by students and advisors. Therefore, the challenge is to protect the individualized nature of working with students, and also to provide increased efficiency in working with large numbers of students. As a result of recognizing these challenges, we reflected that one (advisor) was a member of an advising system, one-to-one (student, advisor) was a partnership in that advising system, and that many (other advisors, student affairs/services, academic review, student support) needed to be brought into the advising system