Learning at the Core: Toward a New Understanding of Academic Advising

Abstract

This paper’s the result of our attempt to untangle the various meanings of “developmental academic advising.” We argue that the model of developmental academic advising should be abandoned and replaced by alternative theoretical traditions. We draw upon some recent critiques of the student development movement to suggest that the developmental academic advising movement has lost sight of the central mission of higher education. We indicate that other theories about advising are more promising, and we offer the educational concept of praxis as an alternative way of thinking about academic advising.