Advising the advisor

I asked my students this morning what they like about autumn and they mentioned the cooler weather, colorful leaves, and decorated pumpkins, but I notice that none of them brought up the joys of scheduling courses for next semester. Good thing this time of year offers us so many lovely rewards because pre-registration season is upon us and it's terrifying.

For years I taught the first-year seminar every fall, which brings with it the task of serving as advisor to a whole class of brand-new college students, and then I've generally picked up a few English major advisees along the way as well. But I haven't taught the first-year seminar for a few years now and all our English majors seem to be finding help elsewhere. Last year I had exactly one advisee, who how now moved on to an advisor in her major. This year I have thirteen.

Which is nothing, really, compared to the huge advising load some of my colleagues carry, but here's the complication: last year we moved to a brand-new online program for advising students, but I didn't go to any of the training sessions because I didn't have advisees. I was quite adept with the previous setup, even able to troubleshoot problems that arose while students tried to register. This new program is better in every way, offering a more user-friendly experience, more helpful options, more ways for students to take charge of their registration experience, but the problem is that I don't know how to make it work. I haven't used it enough to know where the potholes are hiding, and I'm still fumbling to figure it out well enough so that I can help my students.

Fortunately, all my advisees this semester are honors students, so some of them have already mastered all the intricacies of the new program. Maybe I'll ask them to show me how it works. As an advisor, I'm supposed to have all the answers (or know where to find them), but at this point I'm full of questions, and maybe the best place to find answers is among my students.