Most students need academic advising, no matter what form it comes in. Salt Lake Community College has academic advisors along with more than one form of online academic advising to service students.
New things are always coming out on the Internet. To keep up, SLCC has online academic advising associated with MyPage, Facebook and Twitter accounts, and a blog dedicated to the Academic Advising program.
Lyndsey Eliason is a student at SLCC that frequently looks online for the answers to her questions.
“It is easy to find any information about school online,” Eliason said. “What classes you need to take, what you need to do for financial aid, and any dates you need.”
Online advising began in October of 2009. 19 e-mails were received in the first month of online advising. Now, an average of 1,135 e-mails per month are received by the program.
Joanne Thomas has been an academic advisor for 21 years, beginning long before SLCC had a webpage with academic information. She explained which method of advising might be most beneficial for different types of students.
“If you’re a visual learner you might want to come in so we can map it out for you,” Thomas said. “If you are used to doing a lot of things online, e-mails or chat could be easy.”
MyPage is a good place to start when looking for online advising. A link under the Student tab will lead you to the online academic advising. Online chat with an academic advisor is available Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
SLCC’s Facebook sends posts on when registration is and other important dates you should know. On Twitter, SLCC gives a few tutorials on how to find information such as a degree evaluation on MyPage, which will show students what classes they still needed to complete a degree.
SLCC’s blog has videos showing how to register for classes, find a degree evaluation from Mypage, and how to sign up on a waitlist for a class. It also comes with other information to assist in academic advising.
“We are just trying to have more ways to serve students.” Thomas said.
Going to the Academic Advising Center is another way to talk to an academic advisor. Academic advisors are there to help with school transfers, clarify SLCC policies, explain programs and degree requirements, and more.
David Bobo recently visited the Academic Advising Center to review his academic analysis.
“The advisor I talked to helped me get a class transferred to count for my required credit,” Bobo said. “It was very useful, but I feel I need to follow up. I may use the online chat to do so.”
You can learn more about SLCC academic advising. On Facebook, search for SLCC Academic and Career Advising. The Twitter account is @slccadvising, and on their blog, www.slccadvising.wordpress.com
