Sofia Barry Talks Worldwide Academic Advising

In this episode we are joined by Sofia Barry, a Graduate Academic Advisor II for ERAU-W. Sofia gives us a general overview of Academic Advising’s role, discusses things students struggle with in the online classroom environment, and talks about actionable ways faculty can contribute to a positive student experience. She also offers advice about how faculty members can collaborate with advising for the benefit of student success.

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Hello and welcome to the Rothwell Center for
Teaching and Learning Excellence podcast. Our
mission here at RCTLE is to empower faculty
members in their pursuits of professional growth
through diverse offerings for the universal goal
of student success. Each episode will offer
insight into best teaching practices, new
resources and interesting people here at Embry

(00:25):
Riddle worldwide. We hope you will find our show
to be helpful and enlightening. Happy listening.
Today, we are joined by Sophia Barry, a graduate
academic adviser for Embry Riddle Aeronautical
University worldwide. Sophia has been a graduate
academic advisor with the worldwide online campus
since twenty fifteen. In addition to advising, she

(00:48):
supports her team members through advanced
trainings and workshops. Sophia participates in
the Eagle Launch Pad, a monthly live training
session hosted by online advisors geared towards
new incoming students. She has also been involved
in multiple committees, task forces, trainings and
presentations over the years. Sophia is lauded as
one of the most trusted go to advisors on the team

(01:09):
and has a constant flow of student accolades who
sing her praises from their first course until
graduation. Without further ado, please enjoy
Sophia Barry. So can you just tell us a little bit
about yourself and how you ended up with Embry Riddle
world wide? Sure. So I am half Italian and half
American, and I started working overseas in

(01:30):
education at Central Texas College. I was an
adviser at the military base in Sigonella and
that's where I met my husband. And then we ended
up moving to Florida. And so I applied when I got
stateside for a job that I was already familiar
with being an adviser. And I got selected with a
grad team. And I've been with Embry Riddle ever
since this year. It'll be seven years that I've

(01:50):
been as an advisor with Embry Riddle. So I feel
very fortunate that they've kept me on, even
though I'm halfway now across the world. Back in
Italy, I shared with you I'll be coming back
stateside. So I'm looking forward to rejoining
everyone there on the team. That's that's exciting.
And seven years. That's a while. That's an
accomplishment. Have you been in academic advising

(02:12):
the whole time? Yes, that is correct. I was an
advisor one and then in twenty eighteen I became
an adviser two, if not mistaken. Yeah. So you were
super familiar with academic advising and the ins
and outs and kind of like the progression of their
role within the university. So can you just give
us a general overview of academic advising role?
Absolutely. So as an advisor, I feel like my role

(02:36):
is first and foremost the students advocate. So I
help the student with degree planning, mapping,
registration. I guide them through policies and
procedures. I'm also a liaison to many other
departments at the university. I feel like there
is an endless list of departments I can connect
them to financial aid, the registrar that colleges,

(02:58):
student affairs, when they have concerns that
their instructors, those types of things, given
our broad reach of acting as a liaison to. I also
try to learn more about each department so I can
offer some general advice and counsel to students,
especially if there's initial questions that I can
help answer versus just trying to redirect them
each time I try to filter some of those, because a

(03:20):
lot of times they're basic things that I can
answer. So I kind of find myself to being a jack
of all trades. But I'm always the advocate of the
students. I always have the student's best
interests at heart. Yeah, and there's a few things
that you said in there that I resonate with
because I feel like I've always felt a kinship
with the advisors because I feel like our
positions are very similar. But on different

(03:41):
spectrums, you guys are you said advocate, you're
definitely the advocate for the student. And I
feel like you're our subtlely we're definitely the
advocate for the faculty member. And naturally, we
have to work together because the faculty and
students have to work together, but also the term
liaison. We kind of both have to know, even just
like a broad knowledge of what all the other
departments are doing, because we have to redirect

(04:03):
either the students or redirecting the faculty and
all of these different areas. So it's always been
really, really great to work with the advisors and
have a good relationship with you guys, because
we're definitely working together to advocate for
our different stakeholders. I guess you could call
them online. Learning can sometimes be a little
bit more difficult than learning in a face to face
classroom. And I'm sure you have been privy to

(04:24):
that because you are interacting with students all
day, every day. So what are some of the things
that students struggle with in an online classroom
environment? So I think the different type of
learning modality versus the face to face is
important to keep in mind, especially for students
who haven't been exposed to it and those who maybe
have been out of education for quite some time.

(04:48):
They come into it and it might be foreign to them.
And a lot of it is done through the portal with
minimal interaction. So I think one of the things
that students might struggle with in the online
environment is that lack of interaction,
engagement that they would traditionally have had
a brick and mortar institution. I always tell
students the great thing about online education is

(05:10):
you can do it anywhere in the world. You have that
flexibility. You can't beat that, especially when
you're in a working professional and you have
limited amount of time to be able to dedicate to
coursework. It's just not feasible to be able to
attend in person. But on the other side, of course,
is that lack of interaction, engagement. And I
think there have been some strides in recent past
couple of years, whether it's pandemic related or

(05:31):
something that we were naturally. Coming to you,
that kind of gotten a push from this greater shift
to remote learning and remote interaction even in
work environments, so I heard from students that
they really enjoyed when faculty do post videos
with feedback where they do have their office
hours and they're able to schedule those calls and
speak with them, because I really think they want
to have more of the instructor's input in the

(05:54):
courses, in the material and be able to get that
professional knowledge imparted to them. So I
think that's one of the main things. Another one
which you probably hear about to when you get
things that filter through from advisors, are
grading feedback and a tremendous focus on a
formatting and application. I think sometimes

(06:15):
students, they feel that some of the instructors
are very nit picky about AP. And while their
intention, at least for me, I'm a graduate advisor,
so I deal mainly with graduate students or like
I'm going for my graduate program, but I'm not
trying to go into academia and write journal
articles. Why is there such a big focus on it?
They're just not as familiar with it and they tend

(06:37):
to struggle and understanding always the purpose
behind it and why sometimes faculty members might
focus so much on it. So that's another area I
think that can be a struggle, especially, again,
for somebody who's been outside of education and
is coming back. And the last one that I want to
touch upon is group work. There have been quite a
number, I feel like in the past few days, too,

(06:57):
that I've heard about from students. And I was a
graduate student at Embry Riddle, too, and I did
the project management program and there was a lot
of group work. And I can say even from my
experience, group work can be challenging when you
don't have some students who participate fully or
pull their weight or are timely. And, you know,
you're trying to already balance what you have

(07:18):
going on with graduate coursework and a hectic
schedule and then throw in your group members that
it can be a little bit chaotic and stressful. But
on the flipside, when you have a really awesome
group, it makes it a worthwhile experience. So
there are some pros and cons there. I guess it
depends really on who you end up getting in your
team, which, you know, none of us have control
over. Not the university, not the students. But I

(07:39):
know it can give students more anxiety when it
comes to their grades and academic performance. So
I think those would be some of the areas that I
feel I get mostly when students have to discuss
struggles with an online class environment, that
definitely and you bring up a lot of great points.
It's important for us to realize that our student
population isn't necessarily like a traditional

(08:02):
first time in college population. So, you know, a
lot of our students might not be familiar with
even the elements and familiar with the different
ways that they can be using canvas or just, you
know, they're not really familiar with online
education. At also, it's really important for
faculty members to be intentional with the ways
that they're engaging with their students, making

(08:22):
sure they're being as present as possible in the
classroom for those students who I mean, for all
of their students, but definitely for the students
who might be struggling and group or group work,
it definitely is a pain point for students and a
tipping point for faculty members sometimes do,
but definitely encouraging our faculty members to
again, setting the group work expectations, being

(08:43):
very explicit about what they're expecting from
their students, what each member of the group,
what role that they might play. So, yes, a lot of
really, really great points. Now, our subtlely all
of our professional development is focusing on the
five C's, their connection, consistency, content,
community and compassion. And these are ways that

(09:04):
instructors can improve and promote student
engagement in the online classroom. And every
quarter we have been picking a new see to kind of
focus on in this quarter, we are really focusing
in on compassion, which I think is really, really
important in online education in general, but
definitely important here at every little
worldwide where our students aren't necessarily

(09:26):
traditional students. Like I said, they're all
coming from different backgrounds. They all have
different things on their plate, full time working
professionals. They're in the military. They're
not necessarily like 19 year olds that don't have
a lot of responsibilities. So it's important for
us to kind of approach these students in these
situations with compassion because they do have a
lot on their plate. So from your perspective, what

(09:48):
are some actionable ways that faculty contribute
to a positive student experience? I mean, there's
so many ways that faculty can do that. So I'm just
going to take a stab at a few of them because I'm
sure the list could be infinite. But I think
engagement is a key portion of that, using and
incorporating different mediums and options for
students to be able to communicate. I've gotten

(10:11):
great feedback from certain faculty members who
have provided a variety of ways and kept it open
to because there are those students who will want
to go on the course and just do their discussion
where the traditional way do everything the
traditional way and that's set. But then you have
those others who are really craving for more. And
I think being able to afford different
opportunities because, you know, keeping in mind

(10:32):
to the time. Allotments that even instructors have
towards their courses, you can't expect them to
have an infinite list of tasks to be able to
complete, but giving some options there. So for
those who do want that flexibility portion, of
course, but also the engagement to be able to do
that, I think personalized feedback is huge. I
can't tell you when I get things from students

(10:52):
that will say, I just think my instructor copied
and pasted because it looks all the same for
everybody else. That is a huge turn off.
Personalized feedback is very key, I think, to
AIPA resources maybe be more pronounced. I don't
know if faculty members can make it an intent to
post announcements that are related to that. And

(11:14):
then, you know, the first couple of weeks when you
see somebody who's coming in and struggling with
that and has maybe no clue, not penalize them, has
harshly and gradually maybe of that difficulty as
they're going through the class, but trying to
really offer them that meaningful guidance and
giving them the benefit of the doubt of their
somebody who's coming. And that may not be exposed
as much to it. Different undergraduate backgrounds

(11:35):
may have led them to do Imlay or Chicago and not
AP. So I think coming in with that sense of
understanding, at least in the couple of week,
first couple of weeks, and trying to offer more of
that guidance, especially if that's going to be a
point where the instructor tries to provide a
bunch of feedback in that specific area. So I
think those are a few of the ways. The only other
one that I can think of that I been telling my

(11:55):
students a lot about from their end, because I
think students and instructors can work on this is
when it does come to group environments. I think
having a charter or a set of expectations that all
members have to agree upon and even the instructor,
like from the beginning of that group assignment,
can be very beneficial. So that way you don't have
any lingering doubts of where am I supposed to

(12:17):
submit this or how am I supposed to do this or
when should my instructor even get involved? If we
are getting into those issues, I think that can
help make the process of being engaged and groups
to be more seamless. So those are a few of the
ways that I can see the faculty. But I really
think the personalized engagement is key. Yeah,
definitely. And we obviously always encourage

(12:39):
faculty members to offer that personalized
feedback because it is easy to get into,
especially when you have a huge course load and
there are huge papers or whatever. It's easy to
kind of get into a flow of using that copy paste
feedback and just thinking that the students
aren't going to notice. But they do talk to each
other and they do compare notes. But it's

(13:00):
important. It's important because we don't see
them face to face. We don't get to have those one
on one conversations with them as often as you
might in a face to face environment. So it is
really important to maximize that opportunity. You
have in the great book to give them that really
detailed, personalized feedback, especially
because campus is such a great platform and offers
so many tools to do that really easily, whether

(13:24):
that be through the viewer annotations or the
assignment comments or the audio or the video
feedback. So we're there trying to make it as easy
as possible for the instructors to do that. And we
definitely encourage the faculty to do that as
well. I agree with what you said about the APA
resources making those resources more explicit
from day one. Here's where you can go to get the

(13:44):
help that you need, whether it's the AP manual or
it's a reference to Vector because the vector is
really, really helpful. I liked what you said
about the gradual release of the APA, focusing on
a couple of things maybe at the beginning in
increasing the difficulty as you go on, because I
totally agree. When I was doing my undergraduate
work, it was all MLA and I felt like an expert and

(14:07):
MLA. And then I got to grad school and I was like,
I don't even know what it is. So it's a learning
curve for sure. And it's difficult, especially
when you have so much other stuff on your plate.
So definitely agree with everything that you said.
We work really closely with advising to kind of
troubleshoot and make sure students are having the
best possible experience. So how can faculty

(14:28):
members work with advising to help and assist
their students? I mean, it's great when you have
that collaboration among different teams. And one
of the things I just want to say right off the bat,
from the time when I first started to now there is
so much more engagement between faculty and
advisors. And I feel like it grows each year that
faculty early alert that we receive or even

(14:50):
faculty members reaching out directly to the
advisor. Sometimes I've seen that versus going
through the faculty early alert. Regardless, there
are ways that they have reached out and shared
their concerns and what's going on in the course.
I had a great experience the other week with a
faculty member talking about a student who had
consistently been struggling, and I had a video
call with this faculty member and was able to get

(15:13):
more insight into what was going on in my student
situation because I only get a portion of it and
they have another portion. So I feel like, you
know, you're trying to piece things together. So I
think continuing to build upon this relationship
that we've constructed over the past several years
and and even more so as advisors transition. Into

(15:33):
the new organizational structure of us being
divided by colleges versus alpha sections, I think
those ties and those bonds can become stronger
with that opportunity, even though not every
student situation is going to have a favorable
outcome when we do engage. But at least we can say
at that point that we've really exhausted every

(15:55):
measure to be able to promote student success. So
I think that's very valuable. Another item that I
think faculty and this might be more so again,
when we get into that reorgs structure where we're
aligned by colleges, is having more insight into
the program's coursework, what students are going
to expect, maybe some common areas that students

(16:16):
have struggled with in particular classes. Maybe
there's some advice then that advisers can provide
on the front end to adjust expectations, because I
know as an advisor, I'm always trying to figure
out which classes are harder, which classes are
more moderate and workload, and trying to help
students navigate that. Because I realized during
the summertime it'd be really hard to take a heavy

(16:37):
research course, and if I set them up in that
class, they may not do as well, or they may get
burnt out and decide not to do anything for the
fall. So I'm always trying to find a way to help
students balance their schedule, and having more
of that insight would be very beneficial. The
course syllabi resources that we have now that we
didn't have before, that has been a huge plus very

(16:58):
beneficial. If we can keep going into maybe
getting more personalized information from the
colleges on, you know, in particular programs when
students should take things that there's a
particular order, even though there's not
prerequisites that they would advise that can help
them too, with setting themselves up more for
success versus just us basing it off of OK, the

(17:19):
schedule says this is available. There's no pre
Iraq. They can do this. Just having more of that
insight going into it would be, I think, very
helpful and advantageous. The first thing you
mentioned about faculty reaching out directly, I
mean, I'm encouraged to hear that you appreciate
that sort of communication I wanted to touch on in
the great book. When you select a student's name

(17:41):
and that right hand toolbar pops out and it says
Contact advisor. And there is a form that they can
fill out. I'm constantly encouraging faculty
members to use that. How does that form work? Are
you guys notified directly when a faculty member
fills that out? So if it is the form that's the
early faculty alert or something, I don't know if

(18:01):
that's the exact title, but more or less something
to that effect. We end up getting an email to our
W-W advise box and then that gets divided out to
the get sent out to the specific advisor. So we
get just a snapshot and then the comments that the
instructor is placed on there. And from there we
typically take action in trying to connect with a

(18:23):
student or if there's things that we seeking
clarification on, I've reached out at times even
to the faculty member, if there was something
placed in there that I wasn't quite sure of. And I
usually follow up with the faculty members. Well,
because there's sometimes where I will have and
then activity notice and then also get a faculty
alert. So I've already contacted the student that
day. And so I'll just follow up with a faculty

(18:44):
member and let them know. Yes, I've tried to
contact John Smith and left a message or I've
gotten in touch with them. So it usually prompts
these types of conversations, but that's where it
comes. We'll get the email notification of it. OK,
and then you're prompted to reach out to what are
some reasons that you would encourage faculty
members to use that form? And activity is usually

(19:05):
one where I've seen it. Even though we do get the
inactivity notices, it's helpful to you to
understand where the student might be in the
course because the inactivity notice, it just
tells us if a student hasn't logged on in eight
days, there's sometimes I reach out to students
and they've been in touch with a faculty member.
They had something coming up like maybe a military
exercise. And so they had everything coordinated.
And I'm reaching out and everything's already good

(19:26):
to go. So it doesn't tell me much of that. But in
instances where it is something that is concerning
because they've really fallen behind, it helps to
emphasize that and also kind of give me more ammo
as the advisor of going into that conversation, of
what I really need to touch upon and focus upon,
which, again, that inactivity notice doesn't tell
me anything like that. It says this person hasn't

(19:47):
logged on in eight days. So it's pretty vague. So
I think having that insight into it, it also helps
me understand, too, if a student might be
struggling and of course, if there's other
resources that I can provide, I mean, I usually
feel like the faculty alert has been mainly for
students who haven't been participating or have
been falling behind. But if I again, if I have
more of that insight, then I can look at what

(20:08):
options that I can discuss with a student, whether
I need to talk about a link, drop, a drop or
withdrawal. You know, usually those types of
scenarios or if there's something else that I can
provide them to help them be successful just
depends. But I get more info. So, yes, more info
is better. OK, so just kind of wrap things up. Our
last question is, how is our student demographic

(20:30):
changing and what are those changes? Faculty
members, so I think this question would have been
different on the undergraduate end than the
graduate, I think they have been experiencing more
changes in their demographics than in their
population than perhaps maybe graduate. So in what
I was kind of looking at and because one of the

(20:52):
great things that we have now is the dashboard for
advising so we can keep better tabs on how our
student population is, quote unquote changing. You
can see it divided up into, OK, who's military
affiliated, which ones are civilians, what are
their ages? And like the break out of that, it's
really neat tool that I might fall worked on along

(21:12):
with others. And that's been an awesome tool. So
one thing that I can say for graduate is I still
see a lot of working professionals who are that
make up the population on the graduate side. But I
have seen some younger ones coming into to like
Beilby, fresh off of their undergraduate, just
starting their first job, and they've decided to

(21:33):
go for their master's. So I am seeing more of an
under 30 population where the graduate program
might be for undergraduate, that they are first
time and college students because we did have a
dedicated first time in college student advisor,
which when I started seven years ago, wasn't there
for the undergraduate. I think that came about

(21:55):
maybe three or four years ago. You do have more of
the shift towards online learning at the
undergraduate level for the graduate side to. I've
also seen it move, I feel, and a bit away from
military. I feel like there's a lot of working
professionals. But on the civilian side and I
actually looked at my dashboard and I was like, OK,

(22:16):
let's see how many do I have of active duty or our
veteran status? So half of my graduate student
population is either military affiliated, meaning
active duty reserve or veteran status. Whereas
when I looked for undergraduate, it was two thirds.
So there's a noticeable difference between

(22:36):
undergraduate and graduate, and it can be for many
reasons. I think active duty makes up more of the
undergraduate. I think it's like 50 percent active
duty. And that might be because tuition assistance
covers the funding there. One hundred percent,
whereas the graduate level, it covers maybe a
little bit more than a third of the tuition. So
that could be a big difference since we have a

(22:56):
fifth basically that are active duty. So I think
some of the changes to for at least graduate level
might be involved more with non-military. But
again, some of these that are just entering the
workforce that have finished their undergraduate
program. So I think to if that is the case, then
this regardless, I think would happen over the

(23:17):
next few years, is that the people that are coming
in are ones that have had experience with
different types of technology. So I think trying
to engage with them in different mediums of
communication. I know in advising we've been doing
so. I mean, we've launched the virtual
appointments now where the texting capabilities
that we're going to be having with the CRM, so, so
many different ways of trying to now engage with

(23:38):
them using the technology and different means of
communication. I think that's what faculty members
have to continue to evolve and look at. And then,
of course, if you do have these younger
professionals coming in, I think mentorship is
going to be a big thing as well. They may not be
as established in their career and they may be
looking for more of that direction. And a lot of

(23:59):
times, to people who come for the graduate program,
I've had several that I've looked at, changing
career fields. And I think with the what happened
with the aviation industry over these past couple
of years now, it's obviously it's ramping up. It's
doing fine. But back in twenty twenty, when things
were looking pretty sour, lots of people were
looking OK, what else am I going to do? What's
going to be my plan B? And I think faculty members

(24:20):
with their wealth of industry experience, can help
mentor coach students through these types of
scenarios. So these are things, too, that I know
happened a couple of years ago. But it's there's
bound to be another one. There always tends to be.
So I think helping students more so in these areas
that they are looking for these changes. So these
are just some of the things that come to mind when

(24:41):
thinking of demographics and where instructors
might be more engaged. I think that's great advice.
Oftentimes, instructors might not realize that
their influence goes beyond the classroom or
beyond the curriculum, but really there is that
opportunity to mentor these students and help
guide them in ways that they should go to have

(25:04):
flourishing careers. But I know that the different
colleges have different mentorship programs
getting started. So I think that that is really,
really great advice. Is there anything else that
you would like to share and your last tidbits of
wisdom or advice, personalization, engagement,
different forms of communication, those all really
make this student experience worthwhile. They just

(25:26):
have to feel that the instructor cares. And those
are some of the ways that it comes across. So that
compassion. And focus that you mentioned, that's a
big part of it, and to remember, too, that and I
remind myself this all the time, is that being
remote, you can often overlook the human part of
it because you're just going through a machine.

(25:47):
But on the other end, there is another person and
you don't know what that person's going through.
There's been a lot of hard times over the past
couple of years, so I feel like even more so than
before. I try to cut people slack because you just
never know what's going through on that person's
side of it and what they're going through to try
and be able to get an education. So I think really
having that approach to it and not assuming that

(26:11):
just because something may look some way, that
that's exactly how it is, because it's oftentimes
not been that way. I feel like I've had a lot of
surprises with students and things that I've
learned about them and what they've been going
through. So, yeah, I guess if there is anything
else that I would add to it, it's just always
remember, you never know what somebody is going
through and try and be there to support them
because they've come to a place to better

(26:31):
themselves ultimately. Yeah, I think that's the
perfect way to leave it. Thank you so much for
taking the time to speak to me, Sylvia. Yeah,
absolutely. It's been great. I loved it when I saw
it at.
That's all we have for today, and thank you so
much for listening. If you liked what you heard,
hit the subscribe button. So you never miss an

(26:52):
episode. If you have any questions or even
suggestions for topics you'd like to hear in the
future. Feel free to leave a comment below or send
an email to [e-mail].