Dear Rice Advising Community,
Recently, the Faculty Senate Working Group on Academic Advising submitted a report that evaluated the quality of academic advising and developed recommendations for improvements. Academic advising is an important form of teaching at Rice and our split-supplemental modality includes the commitment of a number of dedicated faculty advisors, peer advisors and professionally trained staff in the Office of Academic Advising and other collaborative offices.
However, the group also noted that there is no coordinated digital infrastructure for communicating academic advising information about students across the community of advisors. Noting this critical deficit, Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman and her team have invested in the Navigate Rice collaborative platform. This student success management system was created by the education technology firm Education Advisory Board and is currently used by more than 500 universities. We hope that with this added tool, we will be able to accelerate our retention efforts and better support students from matriculation through graduation.
In fall 2020, the Navigate Rice platform was adopted by the Office of Academic Advising, the Office of Student Success Initiatives and our faculty divisional advisors across campus. It was also introduced to our 2020 matriculating freshmen class with ease and immediate utility. Given this success, we are now ready to launch the platform this summer to our full community of advisors.
Navigate Rice has two components:
- Navigate Student: A mobile app designed to help students effectively navigate Rice, communicate with advisors, schedule appointments and access their schedules. Students also will be able to receive push notifications and get the information they need to be successful.
- Navigate Staff: The faculty/staff dashboard allows advisors to access student information easily from their desktops and laptops. The dashboard provides a quick overview of a student, with all identifying information, as well as features to schedule appointments, take notes, upload pertinent documents, make referrals and connect with other members of the advising community.
These features create a connected and coordinated network of support for every student that provides opportunities for targeted intervention and proactive care through student profiles, campaign management, appointment scheduling, note taking and multimodal communication. It also provides guidance for advisors and students at critical points to help students navigate their undergraduate pathway.
To roll out Navigate Rice, we will offer training sessions, as well as supplemental guides and instructional videos so you feel comfortable using Navigate and are prepared to advise all incoming students through the platform. Aliya Bhimani, director of academic advising, is leading the campus integration team, along with a team of colleagues from across campus under the oversight of Dean Gorman. Shortly, division heads and faculty advisors will hear from Aliya and her team about the rollout. They are excited to have a platform to enhance your advising workflow and will be here to answer your questions and create the best Navigate Rice platform for our community. The microsite, which will be updated regularly with new content and instructional materials, can be found here. If you have questions, you can direct them to aadv@rice.edu and Aliya and her team will assist you.
By using the Navigate Rice platform, we believe we will be able to make an even greater impact on retention and provide our students with tailored help to reach their goals. We expect to have the entire advising community fully engaged in the Navigate platform as we move into the fall semester. You will find an anticipated training schedule below and attached. Thank you in advance for your commitment to helping our students succeed.
Warmest regards,
Reginald DesRoches, Provost
Bridget Gorman, Dean of Undergraduates
Anticipated Training Schedule (Save-the-Dates):
Group One - University Leadership - Week of June 7
- Dean of Undergraduates Staff
- Office of the Registrar
- Office of the Provost / Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
- Division Deans (ENGI, SS, HUMA, NS, ARCH, MUSI, BUSI)
- OIR and OIE
Group Two - Division of Undergraduates - Week of June 14
- Center for Civic Leadership / OUIR
- Multicultural Affairs
- Study Abroad
- Student Activities
- Student Center
- Center for Career Development
Group Three - Residential College Life - Week of June 21
- College Magisters
- RAs/HRFs
- College Coordinators
Group Four - Non-DOU - Week of June 28
- Financial Aid
- Housing/Dining
- Cashier’s Office
- Office of International Students & Scholars
- Undergraduate Admissions
- Athletic Leadership
Group Five - HIPAA Compliant/HIPAA Like Offices - Week of July 5
- Student Judicial Programs
- Disability Resource Center
- Student Wellbeing
- SAFE Office
- Student Health Services
- Rice Counseling Center
Group Six - Faculty - Week of August 9
- Major & Minor Advisors
- Transfer Credit Advisors
Group Seven - Full Student Push - August 16/August 23
- Class of 2025 - Week of August 16 (O-Week)
- Continuing Students - Week of August 23 (Week One and onwards)