AACSB ICAM 2024

Critical Professional Development in First-Year Business Education

Career Key, publisher of PathAdvisor student success courseware, is proud to support AACSB business educators at the 2024 ICAM conference in Atlanta, Georgia April 15-17.

We will share insights from the 45+ faculty, 125+ sections at five R1 universities and AACSB members using PathAdvisor and Career Key in professional development courses for first year and first-gen students.

We solve 3 business problems for high-performing, Student First undergraduate business schools:

  1. Short, professional development activity that identifies best-fit business majors at your institution;
  2. Identify students at risk for retention; and
  3. Gather actionable, holistic data at scale.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Holistic, proactive advising in FYE programs

Still Missing: holistic, proactive advising in First-Year (FYE) Courses

First year college students have access to more, higher quality courses than ever before, with resulting progress on student retention. But a 2023 research report from the National Resource Center (NRC) for The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition suggests many institutions still struggle to provide students with holistic, proactive advising.

What is holistic, proactive advising?

According to NACADA, the Global Community for Academic Advising, it includes actions like,

  • Reaching out to students about academic progress or performance
  • Asking questions about students’ educational background and needs

These occur less frequently, with fewer than 40% of students experiencing this level of advising.

Overcome barriers to better FYE advising

While I’ve been at NRC’s 2024 FYE conference this week, I’ve talked with a number of faculty and advisors that want to provide higher quality advising and gather data on its impact on students’ well-being, but don’t know how. They have limited staff and resources, coupled with the usual bureaucratic headwinds.

Become more proactive with snapshots of students’ needs

Recently more of Career Key partners overcome the resource barrier by taking short (5 minutes), scientifically validated snapshots of First-Year students’ academic and career well-being. The new PathAdvisor FYE courseware makes this possible.

They accelerate through bureaucratic processes and technology approvals because PathAdvisor is an approved LTI tool integrated through your LMS.  Then, you have a holistic, proactive advising support tool ready to go. You can track data and progress over time, in addition to following up with students.

Strengthening the human relationship in education

As noted in the NRC report, “[t]he single factor that makes for an excellent education is human relationships.”  Communication with students about their unique qualities is critical, and hard when you serve a lot of students. PathAdvisor’s ability to scale helps you do that.

Starting a conversation with a student becomes a lot easier when you have these snapshots. You’ll know “Other Factors” students want you to know about themselves and how they feel about where they are on their education journey. Let’s keep making progress in the first-year experience by adding more holistic, proactive advising. We can help you get there.

Learn more

Kinzie, J. “Unfinished Business in First-Year Programs: What Student Engagement Results Suggest,” Journal of the First Year Experience & Students in Transition, Vol. 35, No.1, pp 11-26 (2023).

National Survey of Student Engagement (2019) Engagement insights: survey findings on the quality of undergraduate education – Annual Results.  Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research.

First Year Experience Conference FYE 2024

PathAdvisor and publisher Career Key support FYE 2024

Join us in Seattle Feb. 18 – 21, 2024 in Booth 57 for the 43rd Annual Conference on the First Year Experience!

Introducing new FYE Courseware

Although publisher Career Key is new to course materials in higher education, it is not new to higher education. With that in mind, Career Key is exhibiting at #FYE2024 to introduce FYE faculty and advisors to its new personalized, AI-enabled courseware PathAdvisor.

This unique student success tool is a digital course material accessible through any LMS.

It’s an assignment that takes 20-minutes to complete on any device that helps students learn about their institution’s majors and fields of study at a particular college (business, social work, arts and sciences). They find where they belong, where they will thrive and be successful.

At the same time, faculty and advisors get to know students better, faster. They get valuable insights about students and can identify those who need the most help and how to help them.

AI-enabled features are carefully used to enable accurate, personalized advising that scales.

CEO of publisher Career Key, Juliet Jones, will be on hand at the conference to answer questions. She will also do a drawing for a $150 gift card to that famous Seattle institution, Pike Place Fish Market, who will ship anywhere in the continental U.S.. You also may know them as the fishmongers that toss fish around for the tourists! 🙂 See you in Seattle!

ICBA 2024 Conference

PathAdvisor.ai supports Independent College Bookstores at ICBA 2024 Conference in Denver

Personalized courseware PathAdvisor.ai’s publisher Career Key is pleased to support the Independent College Bookstore Association (ICBA) as an Exhibitor at the ICBA annual conference February 4-9, 2024 in Denver, CO.

ICBA Course Materials Institute (CMI) sponsor

PathAdvisor is also a proud spopnsor of the Course Materials Institute (CMI), and ICBA’s Pre-Conference Education and Professional Development Institute.

I can’t wait to see our partners, like the University Supply Store at the University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, and VitalSource.

Last but not least, I want to say I am not holding a grudge against Alabama for stealing our University of Washington football coach (I live in Seattle). Not at all. See you in Denver!

PathAdvisor.ai Launches!

I am pleased to announce the public launch of Career Key’s new personalized courseware for college students, PathAdvisor.ai. Right now, over 40 faculty and instructors at top U.S. and Canadian universities use it to help their students explore and find their best academic path, plan their future, and save money.

We offer faculty a new way to push back against attacks on higher education – by taking action to help students make the most of what they learn from you and your institution. Not by “corporatizing” college, but by connecting students directly from your majors and degrees to postgrad success. Learn about our courseware and unique history in Our Story.

AI-enabled PathAdvisor courseware matches students to academic environments where they will thrive in your college or department, such as Arts and Sciences, College of Business, School of Social Work, or Criminal Justice. We believe all majors lead to financial and career well-being – but it doesn’t magically happen without intention – without your support.

Career Key, my company and publisher of PathAdvisor, has over 25 years of experience in higher education. It was founded by a professor and a nationally recognized counselor educator, my father Dr. Lawrence K. Jones, NCC. I practically grew up on the N.C. State University campus. My brother and I played games in the observation playroom in the counseling psychology department many weekends while Dad was working.

As CEO, I am committed to higher education and ensuring its benefits are understood and realized by everyone – regardless of socio-economic status, where they live (urban, rural) or political affiliation. Our new personalized courseware PathAdvisor, composed of decades of research and field-tested assessments, can play a critical role at your institution in delivering those benefits. We look forward to hearing from you!