{"id":3357,"date":"2026-03-19T21:54:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/?p=3357"},"modified":"2026-03-19T21:55:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:55:04","slug":"transforming-academic-advising-delivering-student-launchpad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/2026\/03\/19\/transforming-academic-advising-delivering-student-launchpad\/","title":{"rendered":"Transforming Academic Advising: Delivering Student Launchpad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As part of the Education for Life Strategy, Student Launchpad sets out an ambitious vision to enhance how students are supported throughout their academic journey. A key part of this work is the development of a new digital system designed to transform academic advising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This project focuses on creating a single, consistent, and accessible advising record for every student. By bringing together interactions, goals, and referrals in one place, the system aims to support more connected, transparent, and equitable advising experiences across the student lifecycle. The system is being developed and delivered by the FMS Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) team, in close collaboration with academic and professional services colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Moving beyond fragmented systems<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In many institutions, advising information is spread across multiple platforms, making it difficult to build a complete picture of a student\u2019s experience. This project addresses that challenge by providing a structured space where advising interactions can be recorded and shared appropriately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result is a more holistic view of each student\u2019s progress, enabling better conversations, more informed support, and improved continuity over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What we\u2019re delivering first<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The initial release, a <strong>Minimum Viable Product (MVP) launching in September 2026<\/strong>, focuses on the core foundations needed to support effective advising:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A persistent advising record across academic years<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Role-based access for staff and students<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Simple logging of advising interactions and actions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Referral workflows to specialist services with status tracking<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A student-facing view to support reflection and engagement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This approach prioritises usability and consistency, ensuring the system is easy to adopt while delivering immediate value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Designing for real use<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A central principle of the project is simplicity. Interfaces are being designed to reduce administrative burden and support intuitive use, while still maintaining robust permissions, audit trails, and data security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Early design work is exploring how students and advisers can clearly visualise progress, interactions, and support pathways &#8211; helping to make advising more meaningful and visible.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-block-image size-large is-resized\">\n<figure class=\"alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/files\/2026\/03\/Fullscreen_19_03_2026__07_092-1-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"engagement view\" class=\"wp-image-3374\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/files\/2026\/03\/Fullscreen_19_03_2026__07_092-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/files\/2026\/03\/Fullscreen_19_03_2026__07_092-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/files\/2026\/03\/Fullscreen_19_03_2026__07_092-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/files\/2026\/03\/Fullscreen_19_03_2026__07_092-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/files\/2026\/03\/Fullscreen_19_03_2026__07_092-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/files\/2026\/03\/Fullscreen_19_03_2026__07_092-1.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Figure 1: Prototype interface showing student advising record and interactions<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Looking ahead<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This work represents a shift from transactional advising towards a more connected and data-informed approach. By making advising visible and trackable, the project supports more proactive and personalised support for students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the system develops, it will also enable better evaluation of advising activity and impact \u2014 helping Newcastle University continuously improve how it supports student success<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Figure 1: Prototype interface showing student advising record and interactions<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>We\u2019ll continue to share updates as the project progresses towards its initial launch in 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As part of the Education for Life Strategy, Student Launchpad sets out an ambitious vision to enhance how students are supported throughout their academic journey. A key part of this work is the development of a new digital system designed to transform academic advising. This project focuses on creating a single, consistent, and accessible advising &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/2026\/03\/19\/transforming-academic-advising-delivering-student-launchpad\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Transforming Academic Advising: Delivering Student Launchpad&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4879,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,2],"tags":[719,717,718],"class_list":["post-3357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-case-study","category-software-update","tag-academic-advising","tag-education-strategy","tag-student-launchpad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4879"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3357"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3380,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3357\/revisions\/3380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/fmstel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}