An advising circle is a group of 10-12 faculty and staff advisers who meet once each term to talk about advising, share best practices, and foster a “community of practice” around the important work of academic advising. For example, advising circles have designed prompts for students to engage in brief written reflections that could later be used in follow-up advising conversations. Each eligible participant that attends one meeting each term for two terms will receive a stipend.
Like the teaching circles that the LTC has sponsored over the last several years, advising circles are designed to give us a chance to learn from one another. But because advising, unlike teaching, cannot be observed easily in a classroom, these gatherings provide a context for hearing from one another about how we can work most effectively with our advisees as we guide them through Carleton. Sometimes this might involve discussing specific interactions that we’ve had (without identifying the students, of course); at other times we might discuss general topics of interest to the group, (e.g., setting clear boundaries with advisees or engaging students who don’t seem to want advising); sometimes we might discuss a brief article on advising.
The Director of Advising puts out an ad and a call to join at the beginning of each term in which advising circles will run. Normally, two advising circles run during these terms. For more information, contact the Director.