Workspace

Results in Action

What each Inventory showed, and what changed in the course because of it.

About 6 minutes 6 of 6 in this guide

This page is the workspace behind the course: what each Appreciative Advising Inventory showed, and what changed because of it.

Students complete the Inventory in Module 5. When an item shows a gap, a lesson, Mile Marker, or journal may be adjusted to work on it, and the change is recorded here. Start with the table for a quick view, then open any entry for the full reasoning and what it means when you teach or grade.

Look back at

The Appreciative Advising Inventory in Chapter 5

Fall 2026 Inventory Changes for Spring 2027

Fall 2026 Inventory findings and the course changes they led to
What the Inventory showed	What changed	Where
Knowing three people who work at the college lags far behind family and friend support.	Question 1 asks for three people at OCTC, at least two who work here.	Mile Marker #2
Students who can't name their Success Coach are the least connected on every other measure.	A new Lookout callout points students to their coach at key moments.	Lessons 3.2 and 4.2, Register Early, Finishing Strong
Campus participation is the lowest item. Connection comes from being around people, not from finishing activities.	Shared virtual meet-ups, plus a plan for hosting your own.	Chapter 5, Virtual meet-ups
Students can find routes to their goals but have little evidence they're moving along one.	A journal prompt asks for one time the student acted on a value.	Module 7 journal; Module 6 journal note
Students ask for help well with people they trust, but not yet at the college.	Help-seeking is framed as a skill students already have, aimed somewhere new.	Lessons 2.3 and 2.4

Mile Marker #2, Question 1: three people at OCTC

What the Inventory showed

One item asks whether students know at least three people who work at the college they can go to for advice and support. Students arrive with family and friends behind them, but this item lags. After the Success Coach lookup was added to Module 2, it rose more than any other item.

What changed

Question 1 now asks for three people at OCTC, at least two who work here, so the assignment works on the same thing the item measures. Family and friends moved to an optional part.

When you grade

Three people at OCTC, at least two who work here. Instructors, advisors, tutors, peer mentors, and office staff all count as working here. A classmate can be the third.
The Success Coach by name is one of the three.
You count. If a student names you, their FYE instructor, because they feel connected, that's a real answer.
A person, not an office. "The Library" isn't a person. "The librarian who helped me find sources" is, even without a name. Early in the term, who they are and where to find them is enough.
Family and friends belong in the optional "Who else is in your corner?" part. They're welcome, but they don't count toward the three.

Lookout: Ask Your Success Coach

What the Inventory showed

About one in five students could not name their Success Coach when they took the Inventory, even though Lesson 2.2 had asked them to look the coach up. These students scored well below their peers on knowing people at the college, feeling valued by other students, and taking part in campus life. Students who lose track of their coach tend to be the least connected students overall. The item on knowing three people at the college rose more than any other item after the Module 2 lookup was added. A specific assignment moved that item. General statements that help is available had not.

What changed

A new recurring element, the Lookout, marks content about the Success Coach. It uses an owl icon, a navy header band, and the heading "Lookout: Ask Your Success Coach." Every heading uses the term "Success Coach" because that is the term students are not retaining. Each placement covers a different way a coach can help, and each ends with a link to Lesson 2.2.

Lesson 3.2: when a time plan isn't working. Covers withdrawing, a possible bi-term course, and next semester's course load.
Lesson 4.2: when new study strategies aren't improving a grade. Covers tutoring, Accessibility Services, and whether the grade can still be raised.
Register Early Trail Tip: schedule changes after classes start.
Finishing Strong Trail Tip: students can keep working with the coach after FYE 100 ends, including on decisions that come up late in the term.

When you teach

Use the title. When a student brings you a problem with a schedule, a grade, or a withdrawal, refer them to their Success Coach by name or title, not just to "advising."
Send aid questions to the coach. Withdrawals and schedule changes can affect financial aid, so refer students to the coach before they act instead of answering aid questions yourself.
Remember the end of the term. FYE 100 ends before full-term courses do. After that, the coach is the student's main continuing support through finals, incompletes, and registration.
Keep it to five placements. If the element appeared everywhere, students would stop reading it. Each Lookout is placed where a struggling student needs it, not to move an Inventory item.

Virtual meet-ups

What the Inventory showed

Campus participation is the lowest item in the Inventory, and it is the only item where a large share of students actively disagree. The items that move with it are about contact with people, not about finishing activities: knowing three people at the college, and feeling valued by other students. Early College students, who are on campus during the day, score far higher on all three. Connection seems to come from being around other people. An earlier awareness campaign did not move campus participation, so awareness was not the problem.

What changed

This guide now has a section on virtual meet-ups: a shared calendar of sessions any FYE 100 student can attend, and a simple plan for hosting your own. On-demand options are the easiest to fit in, but students complete them alone. A meet-up is the one option that is both flexible and connected. If every Merit activity can be done alone, participation numbers may rise while connection does not.

When you teach

Announce the shared sessions. That is the only ask.
Hosting is up to you. Nothing here is required of you or your students.
Point students to live options. When a student asks which Merit activity to choose, a meet-up is the one that also helps them get to know people.

Module 7 journal: acting on a value

What the Inventory showed

On the academic hope items, students score higher on finding ways to reach their goals than on feeling they are moving toward them. On the item about meeting the goals they have set, most students agree, very few disagree, and a sizable group is neutral. The gap is not students who think they are failing. It is students with no evidence either way. Early in a first term, that may be an accurate read, so the answer is not to persuade students they have done more than they have. It is to give them practice noticing the small things they have already done.

What changed

The Module 7 journal, My Top 5 Values, has a fourth prompt: one time this term the student acted on one of their values, even in a small way, like saying no to something that conflicted or making time for something that mattered more. It asks for evidence of a value, not a claim about progress. It also matches a field students already fill in on My Values Snapshot, and the journal now points them there. The Module 6 Career Coach journal gained a matching note that students will use their interests in the STAR(T) Stories capstone.

When you grade

Small counts. Skipping a shift to study, or calling home because family matters most, is a full answer. Don't push for something bigger.
An action, not an intention. "I want to be more disciplined" is a plan. "I turned down a ride to the lake so I could finish my essay" is evidence.
Point forward. Prompt 4 already has the Situation and Action of a STAR(T) story, with a value behind it. When students draft their stories in Module 9, send them back to it.

Lesson 2.3: help-seeking as a skill students already have

What the Inventory showed

Students arrive with strong support. Items on family support, feeling loved by family, parents backing their education, close friends, and someone outside the family all score high. Knowing three people who work at the college scores more than twenty points lower, the widest gap of its kind in the Inventory. Students already ask for help, and do it well, with people they trust. What's missing is doing it here.

What changed

Lesson 2.3 now treats help-seeking as a skill students bring with them, aimed somewhere new. A short opening to the tips names what they already do, like asking someone about a car noise or texting a manager about a shift. It points out that three of the four tips are familiar and that communicating professionally is the new one. The reflection now asks who they asked, what made it easy, and what would make asking someone at OCTC feel different. This is the Discover phase in practice: start from what students already do well.

When you teach

Start from what they know. Students don't need convincing that asking for help is OK. They need help applying it to people they don't know yet.
Teach the professional piece. That is the part that is new. Lesson 2.4 covers it in email.
Read the reflection for the barrier. The last question asks what would make asking someone here feel different. The answer tells you what is in the way for that student.