The second half of every semester greets each USC student with the same old difficulty — advisement. Juggling appointment times, clawing through bulletins and fighting others for that last spot in an afternoon class cause almost as much worry and frustration as exams. The complication of program requirements coupled with the often cluelessness of advisers leaves many students with their heads in their hands, wondering if their time at USC will ever lead to a diploma.
Student Services aims to resolve the tension of advisement with Banner, an online resource that would replace VIP. The site would integrate the master schedule, general and degree bulletins and the individual student’s progress report all into one digital tool that would offer students the interactive support they need to plan their college careers.
Yet how will this new resource work within the context of advisement staffs throughout the different schools? This site will take a large portion of these advisers’ responsibilities out of their hands, leaving doubts as to their continued relevancy.
Advisers still have a crucial role to play, but it is up to them and to the university to expand that role. Advisers in a Banner-driven system could spend much more time developing an individual student’s career options, providing firsthand knowledge of class difficulty and charting a student’s long-term goals.
Banner should complement the advisement that already exists — not push advisers into a role that is redundant. The personal mentorship of an adviser can make a college experience just as much as it can break it, and we would like to see Banner transform the advisement process into one where a variety of resources are used — not just one.
