Helping students accomplish their goals is often determined by how well advisors,
staff, and faculty work together by sharing information, tracking students’ progress,
and interjecting assistance at appropriate moments.
The Advising Staff at the University Advising Center created and has been using an
electronic database advising information management system since 2000. It is a system
designed by and for academic advisors to support students in reaching their goals.
Here are your options at this point:
AXIS is written in PHP/JavaScript and utilizes a MySQL Community Edition database
(v.5). Because the AXIS interface is web-based, it can utilize a wide array of browsers
that support java scripting. MySQL and PHP will run on a wide array of platforms.
See http://www.mysql.com and http://www.php.net for details. Because PHP, MySQL, and AXIS are GPL licensed, the costs incurred with setting up this system can be dramatically reduced.
There are many specific features of the AXIS system. Click to learn more.
Student Sign-in
Assessment staff is able to have the students sign-in when they show up in one of
three ways. They either are able to swipe their student ID through the card reader,
write down their SSN, or input their SSN through our wireless keypad.
Tracks why each student came in and how we saw the student
This is done when the student signs in. We select the reason the student came in and
also the contact portal.
Updates students major status
The advisor is able to select the student’s major status as undecided, uncertain,
undeclared or declared.
Updates student’s possible majors
The advisor is able to select a possible major for the student and record that in
our database.
Selects referrals for the student
The advisor is able to select a referral for the student and verbally provide the
referral information to the student.
Updates department specific notes
Student records can be exported to another department that uses the system without
compromising “department specific notes”.
Views all student contact history
View all instances where this student was visited by our staff. Staff can click on
an instance and view information from that visit
Private comments
Advisors are able to input comments specific and private to other advisors. No one
else is able to view that information. These are important during quality assurance
checks.
Public Comments
Advisor’s comments will be emailed to the student upon completion of the AXIS session.
These notes are viewable by other advisors during quality assurance. If students request,
they can access these notes from the web by requesting the advisor to set up a student
AXIS account.
Quality Assurance
Every instance in AXIS must go through quality assurance. This is done to ensure accurate
and timely advising for each student. By default, the advisors of record will not
be able to perform quality assurance on their own work.
Files to Fix
If there are problems with an advising event, both the student and initial advisor
are notified through email, and the students name is put in the “file to fix.” Then,
the initial advisor is able to go back and review the public and private notes for
the initial advising instance as well as the quality assurance. They are also able
to update the notes and ensure that there are no more problems with that particular
advising instance. Each time an advisor updates the problem advising instance, the
student is notified of the status.
Email System
Students are sent email receipts of all advising sessions they have with AXIS. This
receipt informs them of all information that was discussed and left by the advisor
including referral information. Students also receive an email when a file has been
quality assurance checked to inform them that there are no problems. Students and
staff receive emails if there is a problem with the advising session that needs to
be addressed.
This is the common ground that both Advisors and Students agree upon. The content
of the email (AXIS) is what the advising center understands is the most accurate information
regarding the student’s future plans and/or current situation. The email sent to students
gives them a moment to reflect upon the actual advising session and compare it with
the summary received from AXIS. Any discrepancies should make students aware that
the Advising Center needs to be notified.
Look up student information
Advisors have the ability to search the database for student information based on
their SSN or search by first or last name. They are able to either view their academic
record or can view all instances they have had with the ACTT and AXIS.
Add Contacts
The assessment team keeps track of all contacts they have each day. This includes
telephone calls, walk-ins, etc. They also categorize each contact into one of several
areas. At the end of each day they input information to be used in reporting.
Student Access
If a student requests, advisors can create an account so that students can go back
and view the information that advisors put in their public notes through a web interface.
Modify Advisors
AXIS Administrators may add new users and update current user information (email,
permission level, supervisor, description, etc).
Modify Reasons
This allows the Advisors to update and add different reasons for students to appointments.
This information is tracked for reporting.
Modify Majors
This allows the staff to update and add majors as they change. We are able to update
the major as well as the major abbreviation.
Modify Referrals
This allows the staff to update and add referral information.
Statistics by date
AXIS administrators are able to run a report that lists each student seen by each
advisor, and then totals those numbers and calculates the percentage. We are also
able to track ethnicity of students seen by each advisor and the percentage. As well,
first generation college status for a specified range of dates may be tracked.
Search by common words
Staff can search the public and private notes for a common word and have a listing
of those identifying numbers (ss# at TTU) where that word appeared. The staff member
can then select the SSN and view that particular advising instance.
Refresh new data files
The system administrator updates the records we have in our database based on a new
tech report pulled from the main frame.
Plug-ins
Modules may be developed that can harness the information contained in AXIS without
compromising security. These plug-ins take advantage of existing database connectivity
as well as the group/application permission structure.
Organizational Structure
Functions or aspects of AXIS (like files to be fixed) may be elevated to the person’s
supervisor when certain criteria is met (ex: the initial advisor being a part-time
employee).
Permission Structure
Integrated into the core of AXIS is a permission structure based upon user-created
groups or individually assigned application permissions. With this setting a portion
or plug-in of AXIS can be restricted.
The section that follows contains an outlined version of the coming entry to the AXIS
interface for students, advisors, and others who may venture into the world of myAdvising.
We encourage you to check back frequently to monitor our progress toward this exciting
and incredibly useful tool. MORE
