Using A Participatory Process To Create A Faculty Advising Model

Abstract

This qualitative study aimed to explore whether and how faculty were empowered by a participatory experience in the design, development, and implementation of a new faculty-driven academic advising model. This study focused on a core team of full-time faculty volunteers with an assigned advising load within the Arts and Sciences division of a rural community college. Using Donnan's (2005) 5-D Cycles of Appreciative Inquiry, the goal of this process was to build capacity among faculty to assist in future problem-solving tasks. The theory of actionguiding this study was that if faculty members were fully engaged in all aspects of the design and implementation of a community college advising program, then there would be measurable gains in faculty satisfaction and an enlargement of the capacity of faculty to address problems of practice in their institutional contexts. The results suggest that core team faculty overwhelmingly support the participatory process used. They appreciated the thorough, yet positive, tone and felt relieved by the opportunity to be heard in a safe environment. Some expressed the tone as therapeutic and reported having a sense of procedural justice. Most acknowledged feeling empowered to make decisions, and they described the importance of having a process to follow and knowing how the process would unfold. This empowerment to make decisions created a sense of ownership of the advising process.