Navigating Critical Conversations with Students:  Practical Approaches for Academic Coaching

Faculty and staff advisors regularly find themselves engaged in critical conversations with students who are at a crossroads, seeking out guidance on pivotal decisions about their future. Academic coaching can give higher ed professionals a framework to guide these critical conversations and ensure that students feel heard and connected to the resources at their disposal. A coaching approach to advising doesn’t mean you have to be the expert on all things; academic coaching is built on a foundation of assumptions where the students are the experts in their own lives and the academic coach serves as a catalyst for progress and goal achievement. The objective of this session is to give faculty and staff who advise students the tools to help guide them towards self-efficacy. We can empower students to see choices and possibilities in response to their challenges rather than barriers. By asking open-ended and self-reflective questions, we can help students to recognize their own agency and the role they play in their academic success.

 Presentation Materials

 Jennifer Tilbury, Associate Professor Developmental Writing; 

Director of UAF CTC Learning Center

Amanda Triplett, Academic Advisor, UAS