Group Case Study Analysis

Group Case Study Analysis
Faculty members and student affairs professionals can benefit a great deal from performing case studies. Case study analysis helps provide the participants with many perspectives of the interactions between several aspects of a college campus. Case studies allow participants the opportunity to use the theories that have been discussed in coursework by applying them in a controlled, safe setting before attempting them in a real work setting (Stage & Hubbard, 2012). This paper will discuss a case study regarding academic advising and career service collaboration, and problems associated with increased enrollment and an increasingly diverse student population. Theories that apply to this case will be discussed and recommendations
will be made to alleviate these problems.
Key Issues There were several key issues presented in this case. The first is that academic advising needs to be revamped since the results of a student survey demonstrated that they were not pleased with the responsiveness of their advisors. A second issue is that faculty and staff did not appear to communicate with one another. A third issue is that students were often being given conflicting information. The conflicting information left students unsure of whom they should go to for advice. A fourth issue presented in this case study is the potential merger of the Academic Advising Office and the Career Services Department. Brook State College has experienced increased attrition and an increase in the amount of time taken to graduate partially due to inconsistencies in the advising process. In addition to the above issues, Brook State College has realized a recent increase in overall enrollment, perhaps causing advisors to take on more advisees than they can effectively handle. Essential Facts
There are several facts that are pertinent to this case. Brook State College has experienced a 15% increase in enrollment over the past eight years, which brings the total of undergraduate students to 15,000, with more than half (8,000) living on campus. Increasing enrollment has caused Brook State to become increasingly diverse with the majority of undergraduates being first-generation college students. During the same eight-year period, Brook State has also experienced a 20% decrease in retention between the freshman and sophomore year, and they are finding that “an alarming number of first generation students are taking close to six years to complete their baccalaureate degrees” (Stage and Hubbard, 2012, p. 125). Another important fact about this case is that a student survey described the academic advising at Brook State College as being cumbersome and not helpful.
As discussed earlier, the students felt like there was an overall lack of communication and that they were receiving either incorrect or conflicting information. The President of the college has tasked the Vice President of Student Affairs with increasing the number of partnerships between faculty and student affairs staff, specifically as it pertains to academic advising. Also, the Dean of Students has proposed a partnership between Career Services and Academic
Advising.

Additional information to be collected
Given the problems that have presumably been associated with and increased enrollment, it would be helpful to gather more information.
As the student body has diversified and grown larger, what programs or initiatives are being pursued around campus to make the campus more welcoming to all students? Is there any information available as to why students are taking longer to complete their degrees or why they are leaving after their first year? Perhaps these questions could be answered by conducting research on these specific student populations. Is the faculty as diverse as the student population? Have faculty members heard student discussion regarding their displeasure with the advising process, and is this contributing to the decreased retention? Are the academic advisors hearing the same complaints and concerns that the faculty is hearing? How is the current advising set-up? Are appropriate records kept? Is advising student or advisor initiated? What role does Career Services currently play in advising? Is the culture of the college highly political, or are politics not a large concern? When the college claims that the student population is increasingly diverse, what exactly do they mean? Is it racial, ethnic, religious, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and are some groups more represented than others? With increased enrollment, are there a sufficient number of instructors for the amount of students, and are the facilities adequate to handle the number of enrolled
students? More information is certainly needed and several questions need answering before any solution(s) can be implemented.