Investigating the effect of the orientation program on the performance of academic advisor

Abstract

Background

Teacher-student interactions and academic advisors are critical for student success and have positive effects on academic integrity. On the other hand, studies show that the performance of the academic advisors has not been able to gain the satisfaction of the students. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of the orientation program on the performance of academic advisors from the perspective of students and advisor professors.

Materials and methods

This quasi-experimental study was conducted, before and after the intervention in 2022–2023 in Kashan School of Nursing and Midwifery. Data were collected from 220 students of different fields who were selected through stratified random sampling and 20 faculty advisors through a questionnaire of individual characteristics and two questionnaires “Evaluation of the academic advisor performance from the perspective of himself and the perspective of the student”. The intervention of this research included five 30 to 40-minute training sessions as a group for academic advisors. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) and analytical statistics (repeated-measures ANOVA) via SPSS version 22 software.

Results

The results of the repeated-measures ANOVA showed that the mean score of advisor performance from the perspective of students was 88.31 ± 46.70 before the intervention, which reached 114.09 ± 45.79 and 99.76 ± 37.53, respectively, 6 and 12 weeks after the implementation of the orientation program. Also, the mean score of advisor performance from their perspective before the intervention was 118.13 ± 35.89 before the intervention, and 6 and 12 weeks after the implementation of the orientation program, it reached 160.38 ± 17.23 and 168.75 ± 8.10, respectively. Also, the results showed that the effect of time on the changes in the performance scores of the academic advisors was significant, which means that the performance scores of the academic advisors increased significantly(p < 0.05).

Conclusions

Considering the position of academic advisors and the effects of their performance on students, it is better to look at counseling as a subject that needs education in order to increase the ability of professors to provide counseling and also to improve the provision of services.

Introduction

According to the “Academic Advisor Regulations” approved by the 39th meeting of the Supreme Planning Council of Medical Sciences, the academic advisor is a member of the academic staff of the university who takes responsibility for guiding students in the field of educational, research, and personal challenges [1]. The most important duties and functions of the academic advisors are to review the student’s academic status at the end of each semester and review the academic progress or decline, prepare the academic file, introduce the student to specialized units to meet personal and educational needs, encourage the student to overcome his weaknesses and hold counseling sessions [2]. Teacher-student interactions and academic advisors are important for a student’s success and bring social satisfaction and overall satisfaction with the university experience [3]. Also, counseling positively affects the academic integrity and success of students in the university [4]. Considering the necessity of students’ academic guidance, the position of the academic advisor is critical in the professional development of students. Given that the responsibility of a limited number of students is delegated to the advisor. It is possible to establish a closer interaction to investigate and resolve educational issues and the factors affecting them [5].

The results of several studies show that the performance of academic advisors has not been able to gain the satisfaction of students [6, 7]. Unfortunately, the plan of academic advisors in Iranian universities has not been able to bring brilliant results due to educational difficulties, lack of necessary expertise, lack of interest in solving students’ problems, and students’ lack of sufficient knowledge of the duties of academic advisors [8]. Students expect the academic advisor as a coordinator to have sufficient knowledge and information about the curriculum, educational issues, and personal, medical, and counseling services. Despite the need for counseling, several studies investigating the situation of counseling and guidance of students in universities have reported that, unfortunately, students do not recognize teachers as a reliable source and reference for meeting their needs during education [9]. Adhami et al. (2009) have reported by examining the opinions of students of Kerman University of Medical Sciences that the guidance of the academic advisor has not been able to achieve a satisfactory position among the students [10]. The results of a study at the Royal University of England also showed that students are not satisfied with the advice and guidance provided by teachers [11]. The results of Keshavarz et al.‘s study (2022) have shown that teachers’ lack of knowledge about educational rules and regulations and the counseling process is one of the problems in implementing the academic advisor project in universities [12]. Teachers must have adequate and appropriate knowledge, attitude and skills in performing the tasks of providing advice and guidance to help and assist students successfully [13].

The results of the study by Zare and Sam showed that by organizing workshops and training courses, it is possible to increase the knowledge of teachers about counseling. Acquainting the students with the academic advisor at the time of entering the university, providing feedback to the academic advisors regarding their performance, are other ways to improve the performance of the academic advisors [14, 15]. Due to the lack of clear and specific information about the implementation of these services in Kashan University of Medical Sciences, the present study was conducted with the aims of investigate the effect of the orientation program on the performance of academic advisors from the perspective of students and academic advisors in the School of Nursing and Midwifery of Kashan University of Medical Sciences.

Materials and methods

Study design, setting and objectives

This quasi-experimental study was conducted, before and 6 and 12 weeks after the intervention in the academic year of 2022–2023 in Kashan School of Nursing and Midwifery. In this study, the DoCTRINE guideline was used in the educational innovation report [16].

Primary objectives:

• 1. Comparison of the mean score of the performance of academic advisors from the perspective of students before, 6 and 12 weeks after the intervention.

• 2. Comparison of the mean score of the performance of academic advisors from the perspective of academic advisors before, 6 and 12 weeks after the intervention.

Secondary objectives:

• 1. Comparison of the mean score of the performance dimensions of academic advisors from the perspective of students before, 6 and 12 weeks after intervention.

• 2. Comparison of the mean score of the performance dimensions of academic advisors from the perspective of academic advisors before, 6 and 12 weeks after the intervention.

Study participants and sample size

Considering the aim of the study, which is to investigate the effect of the orientation program on the performance of academic advisors from the perspective of students and advisors, the research population was selected from two groups of advisors and students. The research population in the teacher group was 30 professors working in the School of Nursing and Midwifery of Kashan University of Medical Sciences who were working as academic advisors, all of whom were included in the study. Also, the research population to investigate the performance of academic advisors from the perspective of students was all students of the School of Nursing and Midwifery (600 people) who were studying in the academic year 2022–2023. The sample size of this group, based on Morgan’s table calculation method, was 220 students of nursing, operating room technology, midwifery, and emergency medicine who were included in the study using stratified random sampling.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

The inclusion criteria for professors were having at least a master’s degree, and having at least one year of work experience as an advisor to associate and bachelor students. The inclusion criteria for students were having at least 6 months since starting their studies and being willing to participate in the research. The exclusion criteria for professors in this study were the absence of an academic advisor in more than one session of the interventions.

Data collection tool

The tool for collecting information in this research was a questionnaire of personal characteristics and two questionnaires “Evaluation of the academic advisor performance from the perspective of himself” and “Evaluation of the academic advisor performance from the perspective of the student”. These questionnaires were prepared in two stages: questionnaire design and psychometric testing. In the first stage, two mentioned questionnaires were designed using the latest edition of the regulations of the academic advisor. Then, in the second stage, the overlapping items were reduced and the tool was validated using face validity, content, structure validity, and reliability calculation (Cronbach’s alpha and Intra-cluster correlation coefficient index¹). After conducting an exploratory factor analysis, five dimensions (educational and disciplinary, student guidance in special cases, professor behavior area, student and career opportunities, and lesson planning) with 36 items explained 79.52% of the total variance of the instrument. Cronbach’s alpha and ICC of “Evaluation of the academic advisor performance from the perspective of the student” are 0.908 and 0.912, respectively, and Cronbach’s alpha and ICC of “Evaluation of the academic advisor performance from the perspective of himself” are respectively 0.936 and 0.949. Scoring of the tool on a five-option Likert scale, whose dimension scores can be aggregated with each other, and the tool has a total score [17].

Intervention

To determine the performance of advisors before implementing the intervention, the researchers delivered the questionnaire to the students covered by each academic advisor, as well as to the advisors themselves, and the questionnaire was completed. This intervention was conducted in the form of five 30-40-minute group training sessions for academic advisors over a period of 5 weeks. The sessions were held one week apart in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, and by repeating each session in the same week, all professors were able to participate in the sessions. This training was designed as a lecture and question and answer session, and at the end of each session, the training materials were provided to the participants. The content of the training sessions was as follows: the first session: introduction of the goals of the training workshop, the description of the duties of the academic advisor, the second session: familiarization with the educational rules, the third session: familiarization with the communication skills of the professor and the student, the fourth session: familiarization with the welfare-student facilities and Research (with the invitation of the student and cultural vice-chancellor of the university and the faculty’s research vice-chancellor), the fifth session: familiarization with other regulations and special committees for students. Then, 6 and 12 weeks after the intervention, the performance of the professors was examined from the perspective of students and academic advisors using the pre-intervention method, and the mean performance before and after the intervention was calculated and compared (Fig. 1).

After collecting data, the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) and analytical statistics (repeated-measures ANOVA). Data analysis was done with the help of SPSS software version 22.

Fig. 1

Study timeline

Results

Thirty academic advisors were working in the School of Nursing and Midwifery of Kashan University of Medical Sciences, of which eight professors were excluded from the study due to advising for doctoral and master’s degree students, and two professors were excluded from the study due to absence from more than one training session. The analysis was done on 20 professors. The mean age of the academic advisors participating was 46.33 ± 11.90 years with a mean of work experience as an academic advisor was 17.54 ± 10.31 years. 80% of the academic advisors were female. 45% of the professors were from the field of nursing, 25% of the professors were from midwifery, 15% of the professors were from operating room technology, and 10% of the professors were from medical emergency.

The mean age of students participating in this research was 21.06 ± 1.55. Female students made up 53.3% and male students made up 46.7% of the research participants. The mean GPA² of the participants was 16.41 ± 1.50 (scale out of 20). The students participating in the research were 52.6% nursing, 18.7% midwifery, 14.8% operating room technology, and 13.9% medical emergency students. In terms of the academic semester, almost half of the participants (47.8%) were in the third and fourth semesters, and the majority of the students (93.5%) were undergraduates, and most of them were non-native (55.7%) (Table 1).

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of academic advisors and students

The results of the repeated-measures ANOVA showed that the mean score of advisor performance from the perspective of students was different over time. So that before the intervention, it was 88.31 ± 46.70, which reached 114.09 ± 45.79 and 99.76 ± 37.53, respectively, 6 and 12 weeks after the implementation of the orientation program, and the effect size was 0.142, which shows the performance of the consultant professors. It has improved after the implementation of the program (Table 2).

Table 2 Comparison of the mean score of the performance of academic advisors from the perspective of students before, 6 and 12 weeks after the intervention

Also, the results of repeated analysis of variance showed that the mean score of advisor performance from the perspective of academic advisors was 118.13 ± 35.89 before the intervention and 6 and 12 weeks after the implementation of the orientation program, it reached 160.38 ± 17.23 and 168.75 ± 8.10, respectively, and the effect size was 0.667. Also, the repeated-measures ANOVA test showed that the effect of time on the changes in the performance scores of the academic advisors was significant, which means that the performance scores of the academic advisors increased significantly (p < 0.05) (Table 3).

Table 3 Comparison of the mean score of the performance of academic advisors from the perspective of academic advisors before, 6 and 12 weeks after the intervention

Also, the repeated-measures ANOVA test showed the difference between the mean score of the performance dimensions of academic advisors from the perspective of student and the academic advisor over time, so that between the scores of the educational and disciplinary, student and career opportunities, lesson planning and student guidance in special cases from the perspective of students and the dimensions of student and career opportunities, lesson planning and student guidance in special cases from the perspective of academic advisors were observed to have a significant relationship during the time (Tables 4 and 5).

Table 4 Comparison of the mean score of the performance dimensions of academic advisors from the perspective of students before, 6 and 12 weeks after intervention

Table 5 Comparison of the mean score of the performance dimensions of academic advisors from the perspective of academic advisors before, 6 and 12 weeks after the intervention

Discussion

This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of the implementation of the orientation program on the performance of professors in the field of academic advising and guidance. The results of the present study showed that the mean score of performance of academic advisors from the perspective of academic advisors and students increased 6 and 12 weeks after the implementation of the intervention compared to before.

Most of the studies have investigated the knowledge and attitude of the academic advisors, and no study was found that focused on the performance of the professors and its changes. In the context of students’ views on professors’ performance, the aspect of satisfaction with performance has also been measured. Therefore, a study whose results can be directly compared with the results of the present study was not found. Also, existing studies have not provided training to improve the performance of academic advisors, and in this sense, researchers cannot compare. In the study of Lowe (2000), it was found that students have different views regarding their understanding of the importance of the responsibilities of advisors, and it is recommended that experienced advisors be trained in universities. Their responsibilities should be defined while providing access, accountability, evaluation, and reward facilities for them [18]. The results of Keshavarz et al.‘s study (2022) indicated that professors’ lack of knowledge of educational rules and regulations and lack of knowledge of the work process were other problems in implementing the academic advisor plan [12]. The study by Chan et al. (2019) stated that advisors lack administrative knowledge due to insufficient training, which may prevent them from providing accurate and useful information, which is an important function of an advisor [19]. The present study found that training academic advisors can remind them of their responsibilities and help improve their performance. From the students’ perspective, the performance of the academic advisors is lower 12 weeks after training than 6 weeks, while from the perspective of academic advisors’ perspective, performance 12 weeks after training is slightly higher than 6 weeks after training. The reason for this could be the difference in the level of student expectations of the performance of the academic advisors. The study of Hezavei and Adhami showed that the provision of guidance and advising by professors in the university has not been able to provide a satisfactory position for students, which could be due to the lack of familiarity of professors with the duties of advising students [10, 20]. However, in another study, the acceptable performance of advisor professors was reported by students [21]. The ability and skill of supervisors in providing appropriate counseling services to students strengthen the morale and satisfaction of students, and it will have a positive effect on the students’ views regarding the professors’ performance [22]. The results of the study by Delaram (2014) to compare students’ satisfaction with the performance of academic advisors before and after the implementation of academic counseling at Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences showed that there was no significant difference in the satisfaction of students with the performance of the advisor before and after the implementation of the counseling project. In the study, out of 10 satisfaction items, there was a significant difference only in the item “access to the advisor before and after the consultant’s plan” and in other items, this difference was not significant, which is not consistent with the results of the present study [23]. The Legato study (2006) conducted in America showed that students evaluate their advisors as scientists, understanding and available when needed. Since students do not have a proper understanding of their abilities and talents and are unaware of their career future, consultant professors consider themselves successful role models who can create positive attitudes in them due to the importance of the course and professional perspective [24].

In the present study, it was found that the training could improve the performance of the professors in the field of students and career opportunities, and the students also reported the favorable performance of the professors in this field. When a person has a good image of himself and his job, this issue leads to self-satisfaction and society. As it has been determined, the need for professional and career counseling is high among students. Job preparation program is one of the basic needs of students and about 80% of students need help and guidance in identifying career opportunities related to their field of study [25]. Factors such as good communication between students and professors, especially supervisors, and paying attention to students’ academic status and issues are effective in preventing their educational problems [26].

The solution to increase students’ satisfaction with the academic advisors was to improve the advisory services by equipping the academic advisors with sufficient knowledge through training courses and educational workshops [27]. The study by Bahrami et al. (2018) showed that the performance score of academic advisors from the perspective of students was evaluated at an average level and only a quarter (24.1%) of the studied students were sufficiently satisfied with the performance of the supervisors [28]. On the other hand, the findings of another study on doctoral students showed that more than 62% of the studied students were satisfied with their relationship with their advisor [29]. The reason for these differences could be the greater activity of the academic advisors or the difference in students’ expectations of the performance of the academic advisors. Therefore, various factors, including the skills and characteristics of counselors and counselees, can affect the performance of counseling and its results.

Conclusion

According to the results of the study in this setting, and considering the position of the academic advisors and the effects of their performance on the students, it is possible to improve and continue the counseling and guidance services to the students more effectively by holding educational workshops, explaining the rules, describing the duties and increasing the communication skills of the professors. Therefore, to increase the ability of professors to provide counseling and also to improve the provision of services, it is better to look at counseling as a subject that needs education.

Weaknesses, strengths, and limitations of the study

One of the strengths of this study is the use of a reliable questionnaire that was designed using the regulations of the academic advisors to evaluate the performance of the academic advisors. Also, the performance of the academic advisors after the implementation of the orientation program has been investigated simultaneously from the perspective of students and academic advisors. The limitation of this study is that its results are based on data obtained from students of different fields and a single university. Another limitation of the study is the reliance on self-reported data and the short follow-up period. It is recommended that the study be conducted at other universities with different fields and at longer assessment intervals.