Purdue’s online advisors and success coaches help online students balance life, work and academic success
Earning a graduate degree is a huge personal accomplishment, requiring countless hours of hard work and careful planning. For online graduate students, this is especially true, since many of them spend over 20 hours a week on graduate coursework while working full time. Finding balance in a busy schedule is a team effort — one that requires the help of numerous university support staff.
At Purdue University, advisors and success coaches play a pivotal role in giving online graduate students the tools they need to make giant leaps. From helping students schedule courses to creating specialized resources and tutorials, Purdue’s online advisors meet online graduate students where they are and assist them in charting a path to success. Similarly, success coaches also work to ensure online graduate students are successful by providing holistic support — from helping them overcome life challenges to assisting with time management and motivation.
This article will explore the differences between advisors and success coaches and how each role serves online students throughout their educational journeys at Purdue.
Advising
Academic advisors are student support professionals who help students make informed decisions about their academic and professional paths by assisting them with choosing classes, creating a course schedule, program planning and navigating degree requirements. They make it easier for students to understand the requirements of their academic programs and the milestones needed to graduate.
For online students, advising is particularly important because they are completing programs away from campus, often while they’re working full time and balancing other responsibilities. According to Faith Giordano and Courtney McCarrey, academic advisors for Purdue’s online graduate programs, it’s important for advisors to meet online students where they are and provide individualized support that takes into account their unique circumstances.
“Barriers change and fluctuate for each student,” said McCarrey. “We have some students that have studied online before and know the ropes, and other students who may have been out of school for decades. We get to know our students so that we can provide them with the best possible advice and support.”
One of the major forms of support advisors provide is helping online students create a balanced academic schedule. The amount of courses online students take every semester depends on how many hours they’re working at their jobs, whether they have family responsibilities to manage and how quickly they want to move through the program. In many cases, online students might need extra guidance and resources when planning their schedules so they can strike a successful balance between school and life.
“With working professionals, time management is a big concern,” said Giordano. “There’s lots of factors we consider — are they learning a new subject? Do they have previous experience? What’s going on in their lives? All of that will influence how we advise them.”
Online students are often working adults studying part time, and needing to take time off is common, whether it’s for a medical procedure or the birth of a new child. Purdue’s advisors can help online students navigate how to take time off without falling off track.
“One of the biggest benefits of studying online is the flexibility,” said Giordano. “We help them utilize that flexibility so they can live their lives and still accomplish their goals.”
Online advisors also help online students feel a connection to campus, no matter how far away they are. At Purdue, online advisors build special resources for online students so they can stay engaged while doing distance learning. Through encouraging face-to-face meetings, online advisors keep students motivated and accountable, and they build relationships that make online students feel seen and valued.
“We are always strategizing about the best ways to reach online students,” said McCarrey. “We create a lot of resources that are for online students specifically, and we build relationships. It’s cool getting to talk to students regularly and seeing their excitement about what they’re learning and how they can use it in their careers.”
Success Coaching
Like advisors, Purdue’s success coaches also work closely with students to help them accomplish their academic and professional goals. However, success coaches specialize in providing holistic support to students. This support can take a myriad of forms — from helping students overcome personal challenges to assisting them with networking and career planning.
According to Kiley Kallenberger and Jamie Solomon, online student success coaches at Purdue University, success coaches provide online students with a robust network of support that can help them balance their responsibilities, navigate challenging situations and celebrate their wins.
“We act like mentors,” said Solomon. “We provide both personal and professional support, and we help online students find a balance between school and their lives.”
One of the ways success coaches help online students strike a healthy balance is by assisting them with goal-setting, time management and motivation. Studying online can be a culture shock for first-time online students, and success coaches can demonstrate how students can practice proactive planning and follow-through. Success coaches do this by working with online students to create schedules, overcome barriers and find what motivates them.
“I’ve had students who were at a really high level in their jobs, and they can struggle a lot with time management because they’re just so busy,” said Kallenberger. “So we can sit down and make a schedule and decided, day by day, what the student should be focused on. It’s really individualized support.”
Success coaches also provide online students with emotional support when life gets tough. Whether a student is encountering a personal challenge or dealing with the aftermath of a natural disaster in their home state, success coaches schedule consistent meetings and check-ins that ensure students feel cared for and connected to the campus community, even if they live thousands of miles away. In their check-ins, success coaches practice active listening and problem solving, giving students whatever resources they need to overcome a challenge.
“Life doesn’t stop, even when you’re going to school,” said Solomon. “It feels good to know when life happens, online students have support and help navigating those challenges.”
At Purdue, success coaches create specialized networking events and socialization opportunities that connect online students to resources on campus and Purdue’s vast alumni and student network. Both Kallenberger and Solomon work with online students to ensure they receive all the benefits that on-campus Purdue students receive, and they create spaces where online students can connect with one another for advice and support. Through creating these opportunities, Purdue’s success coaches ensure that online students feel like they belong at Purdue, even if they’re located somewhere else.
“Online students are just as much Boilermakers as every other student on campus,” said Solomon. “They just happen to be taking a program in a different modality. They deserve our commitment to providing the highest quality services to them as online learners”
To learn more about online student resources at Purdue University, visit our website.