Wednesday’s Associated Students of Madison Shared Governance Week of Action forum facilitated a discussion between students and campus leaders on academic issues such as advising and Educational Innovation.
The forum’s panel featured Wren Singer, campus advising director; Chris Olsen, Interim Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning; and Elaine Klein, Assistant Dean for Academic Planning in the College of Letters and Sciences.
Singer said she is currently focused on improving advising training and student accessibility to advising, as well as streamlining the technology used in course planning.
Grace Bolt, a UW-Madison sophomore and ASM Assistant Press Office Director, said her advising experience was disappointing and felt advisers need to better facilitate discussions with students who seek their assistance.
“I'm going to advising to get advice and I’m not getting it,” Bolt said.
Singer said she is looking to incorporate better training for advisers on how to engage students in discussion, but also encouraged students to take more initiative.
“Students need to increasingly understand that advising is not going to tell them what to do and we’re not doing that because we don’t know,” Singer said. “We’re not doing it because one of the things students need to learn is how to make decisions.”
Klein and Olsen discussed Education Innovation, a strategy emphasized by Chancellor David Ward, which strives to improve teaching and learning through the use of new technologies, such as online classes, as monetary resources become increasingly scarce in higher education.
Ronald Crandall, an ASM Student Council representative, asked how the university is working to garner the campus support behind these new strategies.
Olsen said the university is trying to show a sense of urgency around the change, as well as finding faculty and staff who are willing to be the first to adopt the innovative strategies and serve as models for the rest of campus.
