Pathfinder Guidebook ยท FYE 100 Instructor Guide
Part 5

Appreciative Advising in FYE 100

The six phases, where each one lives in the course, and your part in it.

About 10 minutes 5 of 6 in this guide

FYE 100 was built around Appreciative Advising from the start. The six phases describe the path students take through the course, and your teaching is what moves them along it.

The course is part of OCTC's Appreciative Campus Project, which the Dean of Students oversees. This part introduces the model for instructors who are new to it, shows where each phase lives in the course, and suggests what you can do in each one.

None of this vocabulary appears on student pages. Students experience the phases without needing the names.

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The appreciative mindset

Appreciative Advising starts with a habit of attention: look first for what is working. When a student is struggling, it is natural to go straight to the problem and hand over a fix. The appreciative approach begins with the student's strengths and uses them to work on the problem.

Here is the difference in three situations you will meet in FYE 100:

  • Deficit-focused"You've missed two Mile Markers. What happened?"
    Appreciative"You turned in four Mile Markers on time. What was working those weeks? Let's use that for the two that are missing."
  • Deficit-focused"This STAR(T) story is too vague."
    Appreciative"The part where you called your Success Coach is the strongest moment here. Tell me more about what you did next."
  • Deficit-focused"You need to go to tutoring."
    Appreciative"What has helped you in a class like this before? Here's who can help with that, and here's how to reach them."

Appreciative does not mean easy. The model ends with a phase called Don't Settle, and it asks for high expectations all the way through. You are still naming what is missing. You start from what the student has already shown they can do.

Where it comes from

Jennifer Bloom, Bryant Hutson, and Ye He introduced the six-phase model in The Appreciative Advising Revolution (2008). It draws on Appreciative Inquiry, positive psychology, and social constructivism.

The six phases

The phases run in order, and they also loop. A student who reaches Don't Settle sets a higher goal, and the cycle starts again.

The six phases of Appreciative Advising A ring of six segments, read clockwise from the top: 1 Disarm, 2 Discover, 3 Dream, 4 Design, 5 Deliver, 6 Don't Settle. The ring closes, so Don't Settle leads back to Disarm. 1 Disarm 2 Discover 3 Dream 4 Design 5 Deliver 6 Don'tSettle The6 Ds
The six phases, read clockwise from the top. Model: Bloom, Hutson, and He (2008).
  1. Disarm. Make a warm first impression so students feel safe.
  2. Discover. Ask open questions to learn students' strengths and stories.
  3. Dream. Invite students to share their hopes for the future.
  4. Design. Build a plan together to reach those hopes.
  5. Deliver. Students carry out the plan, with your support.
  6. Don't Settle. Challenge students, and yourself, to raise the bar.

The course as a six-phase journey

Each phase below says what it is for, what students are doing during that stretch of the course, and what you can do to help. The "Try saying" lines are examples to adapt for an announcement, a comment on a Mile Marker, or a conversation after class.

  1. Disarm

    Modules 1 and 2

    Put students at ease so they are open to learning. Many arrive expecting college to be intimidating, and first impressions form fast.

    What students are doing

    Getting oriented, naming why they are here in Mile Marker #1, mapping a support team, meeting their Success Coach, and practicing how to ask for help (Modules 1 and 2).

    Your part

    • Welcome students by name in your first announcement and your first replies.
    • Answer early messages quickly and warmly. The first reply sets the tone for the term.
    • Share a little of your own first-term story when it fits.
    • Treat asking for help as a normal thing capable students do.

    Try saying "I'm glad you're in this section. What would make this a good term for you?"

  2. Discover

    Modules 3, 4, 5, and 7

    Learn who the student is and what they already do well. Positive, open-ended questions bring out strengths, skills, and stories.

    What students are doing

    Finding out where their time and energy go (Module 3), how they study (Module 4), where their money goes (Module 5), and what their strengths and values are (Module 7). The Appreciative Advising Inventory, given in Module 5, belongs here too.

    Your part

    • Ask open questions in your feedback, and follow up on the answers.
    • Name the strengths you see in what students report, especially ones they did not name themselves.
    • When a student describes a rough patch, ask what they learned from it. That retelling is the groundwork for STAR(T) Stories.

    Try saying "Your time log shows you studied every morning before work. What made that stick?"

  3. Dream

    Module 8

    Invite students to say what they hope for, in their career and their life, and take the answer seriously.

    What students are doing

    Researching one career in depth, testing it for fit against their strengths and values, and asking what future that career would make possible (Module 8).

    Your part

    • Respond to the dream before you respond to the obstacles.
    • Connect it to what the student discovered earlier: their strengths, values, and interests.
    • When something does not line up, raise it as a question the student can explore.

    Try saying "You said helping people one-on-one is one of your top values. Where does that show up in the career you researched?"

  4. Design

    Modules 6 and 9

    Work with the student to build a plan that turns the dream into steps. The goal is to teach students how to plan and decide, so they can do it again without you.

    What students are doing

    Drafting an academic plan and writing questions for their Success Coach (Module 6), then learning the 4C Check and drafting a first STAR(T) story (Module 9).

    Your part

    • Plan with students. Ask what they would choose and why before you offer an answer.
    • Break big goals into small next steps.
    • Watch your vocabulary. "Credit hour," "prerequisite," and "AAS" are new words to many first-term students.
    • Make referrals specific: a person, a place, and what to ask for.

    Try saying "Which part of this plan are you least sure about? Let's figure out who can answer that."

  5. Deliver

    Modules 10, 11, and 12

    Students carry out the plan. Your confidence in them matters, and so does being honest that there will be obstacles and more than one way around them.

    What students are doing

    Finishing their Merit activities and naming how they work with others (Module 10), taking a first step in a community they belong to and choosing their four stories (Module 11), then telling those stories in the capstone (Module 12).

    Your part

    • Say plainly that you believe the student can do it, and say why.
    • Follow up on what students said they would do.
    • Remind students that a setback means trying another route.
    • End the course the way you started it: warmly, and by name.

    Try saying "You chose your four stories last week. Which one are you most ready to tell, and what's in the way of the others?"

  6. Don't Settle

    Module 12, and all term

    Keep raising the bar. Support and challenge go together: recognize what the student did well, then ask for more.

    What students are doing

    Looking back at their Starting Point, comparing their two Skills Snapshots, writing the Transfer step of each STAR(T) story, and planning how to finish the rest of the term (Module 12).

    Your part

    • Praise the specific action, then ask for the next level.
    • Use this phase in feedback all term. It is where "good enough" becomes "your best."
    • Hold the same standard for yourself. The model asks instructors to keep improving too.

    Try saying "This answer is solid. What would make it one you'd be proud to say out loud in an interview?"

Module by module

Every module touches more than one phase. This table shows the phase each module mainly serves.

The primary Appreciative Advising phase for each module
ModuleTitlePrimary phaseWhy
Module 1Your Pathfinder Journey BeginsDisarmWelcome, orientation, and a first look at why the student is here.
Module 2Building Your Support SystemDisarmStudents learn who is on their side and practice asking for help.
Module 3My Time PlanDiscoverStudents track where their time and energy go.
Module 4Your Academic ToolkitDiscoverStudents find out which study strategies work for them.
Module 5Financial Planning with PurposeDiscoverStudents look at their spending patterns. The Inventory is given here.
Module 6Map Your PathDesignThe academic plan, placed early so it is ready for registration.
Module 7Knowing Your Strengths & ValuesDiscoverStrengths and values, named in the student's own words.
Module 8Explore Your Career OptionsDreamThe future the student wants, and whether a career fits it.
Module 9Think It ThroughDesignTools for deciding well, and a first STAR(T) draft.
Module 10Team UpDeliverStudents put what they know about themselves to work with other people.
Module 11Making an ImpactDeliverA first step in a community, and four stories chosen.
Module 12Reflecting Back, Moving ForwardDeliver, Don't SettleThe stories are told, and the student decides what comes next.

Why Module 6 comes early

The academic plan in Module 6 is Design work, and it arrives before students have named their strengths (Module 7) or researched a career (Module 8). That order is deliberate. Students need a plan in hand when registration opens.

Treat the Module 6 plan as a first draft. After Modules 7 and 8, invite students to look at it again: does the plan still fit what they have learned about themselves? Going back to an earlier phase with better information is how the model is meant to work.

Don't Settle runs all term

Module 12 is where students look back and set their next goal, but the phase belongs in your feedback from the first Mile Marker on. Each time you recognize what a student did well and then ask for a little more, you are practicing it.

Virtual meet-ups

Merit asks students to attend three activities. Students who are on campus during the day can walk into an event. Online and commuting students mostly choose on-demand options, which they can finish from anywhere, but alone. A virtual meet-up is the one Merit option that works from anywhere and still puts students with other people. It is Disarm and Discover in practice: students meet you and each other, and you learn who they are.

Taking part is up to you. There are two ways to do it, and the first one costs you nothing.

Tier 1

Announce the shared sessions

Each term, a small number of virtual sessions are open to every FYE 100 student, whatever their section. They are run by whoever has a session ready. A Life Design Workshop is one example. The Dean of Student Success maintains the calendar.

  • Your part. Announce the sessions to your students, and remind them as each one comes up.
  • Why it works. One instructor can't offer evening, midday, and weekend times. A shared calendar can, and that is what lets a student who works evenings finish Merit.
  • Have an idea for a session? Contact the Dean of Student Success to propose it.
Tier 2

Host your own

If you'd like to host a meet-up for your own section, 30 minutes is enough. You don't need approval. Instructors have discretion over what counts for Merit, so a meet-up you host counts.

  1. Welcome and introductions, about 5 minutes. Have everyone share their name and one thing about their week.
  2. One topic, about 15 minutes. Pick something students are dealing with right now. See Topics that work.
  3. Open questions, about 10 minutes. Let students ask you, and each other, whatever is on their minds.

Use Microsoft Teams. FYE 100 courses connect to Teams through Microsoft Education, so you can create the meeting inside your course. Students join from the course, with no separate link or login.

Merit proof

  • A meet-up counts as a virtual activity, so students attach proof instead of signing a roster.
  • Tell students to take a screenshot of the meeting window during the session. Proving attendance afterward is much harder.
  • If you need to confirm who attended, Teams can give you an attendance report.

Topics that work

The Merit reflection asks students what they attended, what they learned or now think about differently, and how it connects to their goals. A session that covers only logistics gives students little to say about the last two. Choose a topic students can think about:

  • What to do when a plan stops working
  • How to decide whether to withdraw from a course
  • What this term has taught you so far
  • Taking stock of what you've already finished

In a series of sessions, include at least one on taking stock. Students are good at coming up with options, but many don't feel they are making progress. Looking at what they have already done helps.

Make it worth showing up for. A session that sounds useful or fun draws more students than one that sounds like a requirement.

The Appreciative Advising Inventory

Students complete the Appreciative Advising Inventory in Module 5. The Inventory is not in the book.

  • Your part. Make sure every student completes it, and tell them what it is: a look at their strengths and assets. It is not a test, and there are no wrong answers.
  • Where the results go. Results are compiled into a report for the Dean of Students, who uses it to guide the Appreciative Campus Project.
  • How results shape the course. Inventory results feed back into course design. When an item shows a gap, a lesson or Mile Marker may be adjusted to work on it.

Results in action

Each Inventory result that leads to a course change is recorded on the Results in Action page, term by term: what the Inventory showed, what changed, and what it means when you teach or grade.

Learn more

The other parts of this guide show how the same modules line up with the course outcomes, the 10 Essential Skills, and AI literacy. Start with the Course Map.