SNL Undergraduate Professional Advisors
- Introduction
- Welcome to SNL and thank you for serving as a Professional Advisor (PA). You play a crucial role in representing your profession in relation to your student's focus area. The following information is presented to support your work.
SNL was established in 1972 as DePaul's college for adult students, and has gained international recognition for its undergraduate and graduate programs.
The Bachelor of Arts with an individualized Focus Area at SNL is defined by a framework of 50 statements of competence. The competences are arranged into three areas: the Lifelong Learning Area, the Liberal Learning Area, and the individual Focus Area. In order to graduate, a student must satisfy all 50 competencies. Students satisfy these requirements in three ways: through completion of SNL courses, transfer courses from other universities, and by demonstrating college-level learning from experience.
- Role and Responsibilities
- As a Professional Advisor, you have five main responsibilities:
- Acquaint yourself with the SNL program of your student;
- Participate in Academic Committee meetings using University resources;
- Help the student develop the Focus Area (the set of competence statements consistent with the student's stated focus of study).
- Evaluate and assess student work within the Focus Area to ensure the student meets the standards of your profession and college-level criteria, following current SNL guidelines;
- Help evaluate and assess the student's Advanced Project.
- Qualifications
- The Professional Advisor:
- Is a professional practitioner in a field related to a student's focus area;
- Knows the aptitudes, skills, and body of knowledge practiced by professionals in that field;
- Knows the developments and trends in that field;
- Demonstrates professional mastery through appropriate academic work and achievements, usually including advanced degrees in the student's area or extensive and commensurate experience;
- Understands the structure, process and procedures practiced at SNL;
- Is committed to adult development, lifelong learning, and the educational process
- Recognizes and supports individual needs and learning styles.
- Orientation
- If you are serving as a Professional Advisor for the first time or would like to ask questions about your role and function, please contact your student's Faculty Mentor. Alternatively, you are welcome to attend an SNL Information Session of your choice. These sessions are held regularly at all SNL campuses. If you are advising an online student and live outside of the Chicagoland area, please email snlonline@depaul.edu with any questions.
- The Academic Committee
- The student works with a Faculty Mentor and you in an Academic Committee to determine competencies already mastered and to plan a program for mastering the remaining competencies. Students may fulfill competencies in a variety of ways, including demonstrating college-level learning from previous experience, completing coursework at SNL or other accredited colleges, and undertaking independent learning projects. This Committee is required to meet twice, once at the beginning of the student's program and again prior to graduation, although additional meetings can be held at the discretion of all participants. In addition, the Faculty Mentor and you will work collaboratively through the Committee to assess the student's Advanced Project.
The student is responsible for contacting and introducing him- or herself to you prior to the first Committee meeting. Upon this contact, you can clarify your mutual expectations and the appropriateness of your working together. In order to help your decision to advise a particular student, request a copy of his/her career and educational goals, and Learning Plan.
The Faculty Mentor is an SNL faculty member who assumes responsibility for the appropriate application of DePaul academic standards, criteria, and processes. Discussion and collaboration between the Faculty Mentor and you is essential to ensure that the guidance given to the student is consistent, clear, focused, and supportive. The Faculty Mentor also serves as an advisor to you; please contact the Faculty Mentor any time you have a question, suggestion or comment about your role or responsibilities.
First Academic Committee Meeting
The average time frame for this meeting is 1 hour. Specifically, this agenda includes:
- Introductions;
- Reviewing educational goals;
- Reviewing the student's Learning Plan;
- Specifically reviewing and discussing the individual Focus Area;
- Any ideas, plans or proposals for the Advanced Project;
- Setting an overall schedule or time frame for task completion;
- Complete First Committee Meeting W9 Tax ID Form, (Adobe Reader required)
- Complete First Committee Meeting PA Payment Form, and
- Any other items any committee member believes is necessary.
The anticipated outcome of the first Committee meeting is approval of the student's Learning Plan by both you and the Faculty Mentor, or clear direction and steps for the student to take toward developing a final Learning Plan.
Final Academic Committee Meeting
This meeting is held usually around two months prior to graduation. The major focus is to formally complete the degree process, have the student reflect on his/her development experiences, and celebrate the student’s educational achievement. Key agenda items are:
- Reviewing that all work is completed, approved, documented, and the student's file is complete;
- Reflection by the student on learning experiences and total experiences in SNL;
- Complete Final Committee W9 Tax ID Form, (Adobe Reader required)
- Complete Final Committee PA Payment Form, and
- Reflection by you and the Faculty Mentor on the student's developmental experiences.
- Individual Focus Area
- The Individual Focus Area is equivalent to the student’s concentration of study and is often but not always associated with his/her work environment/career goal. Competencies within the Individual Focus Area are written by the student as a result of interactions with the Academic Committee. Your specific role is to ensure these competencies are appropriate to current and future directions of the field. Specifically, these competencies should represent current standards, expectations, theories, models, practice, and specialized skills needed to function effectively in the area of concentration, as well as prerequisites for graduate study if appropriate.
After the competencies are agreed upon, you must consider ways in which the student may demonstrate them. Competencies are often satisfied through work experience, participation in training programs, internships, courses, readings, or reflection. The student will forward evidence of learning to satisfy competencies to both you and the Faculty Mentor for assessment. As specialist in the focus area, you will read and approve (by signing the assessment form sent to you by the student) the evidence before it is sent to the Faculty Mentor. Questions about assessment forms and documents will be discussed at the first Committee meeting.
- Evaluation and Assessment
- Some general criteria for evaluating student competence:
- Conceptual understanding: An ability to explain particular events in relation to general concepts.
- Reasoning skills: The appropriate presentation and logical development of ideas and conclusions without unfounded assumptions, unsubstantiated claims, and logical inconsistencies or omissions.
- College-level standards: The use of standard English, depth of analysis and breadth of research with appropriate documentation and use of source materials.
- Relevance to the competence statement: Each piece of evidence submitted for assessment should fit an individual competence statement.
Between the first and final Committee meetings which you will attend, the student will proceed with the Learning Plan, take SNL courses, accomplish approved independent studies, participate in a midpoint meeting with SNL faculty, and work on Externship and Advanced Project. During this time, the student will often submit completed work to either you or the Faculty Mentor. When you receive such work, please discuss it with the Faculty Mentor, identify what action needs to be taken and by whom for this work to be acceptable. In the feedback to the student, provide direction and encouragement.
- Compensation
- SNL enters into a contractual relationship with a Professional Advisor that codifies responsibilities and compensation. The Professional Advisor is paid at the time of the first and final Committee meetings. A payment form and taxpayer identifcation form must be filled out and submitted at both meetings. Current compensation rates are $100 at the time of the first meeting and $200 at the time of the final meeting. You have the option to choose not to accept payment for a meeting by completing the proper part of the payment form. In this case, the tax ID form does not have to be submitted. SNL maintains a database that allows students to search for and contact by email potential Professional Advisors from the pool of currently active PAs. Please indicate your preference for serving other students on the Final Committee Payment form.
- Resources:
- The University has on-campus conference rooms and conference calling services available to use during Academic Committee Meetings. Conference calls are conducted at the convenience of the Faculty Mentor, the student and the Professional Advisor and facilitated by the student's Faculty Mentor.
- Contact
- For further information on any issue, please contact your student's Faculty Mentor.
- Links
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