Appreciative Advising & Advisor AI Partnership
Our collective mission: Empower more than 100,000 Advisors by 2029 with the resources to transform student success.
Advisor AI has partnered with the Office of Appreciative Education (OAE) at Florida Atlantic University to offer partnering colleges access to OAE’s award-winning professional development in Appreciative Advising. The six phases—Disarm, Discover, Dream, Design, Deliver, and Don’t Settle—are built into Advisor AI’s intuitive platform, and advising teams can further strengthen their skills and outreach strategies through OAE training and community support.
"What has excited me most about Artificial Intelligence is the promise and possibility that it has to free up time for advisors to focus their time and attention on building relationships rather than completing low impact tasks."
Transform Advising Experiences. Elevate Team Pride.
"The purpose of college is not to prepare you for what you will do the rest of your life. It is to prepare you for your first steps after graduation. You just need to make sure you are going in the right direction."
Phase 1: Disarm
Create a welcoming environment, help students feel seen.
- Intuitive, User-Friendly Onboarding: Simple to navigate services, easy onboarding, with a welcoming and personalized experience from day 1.
- Accessibility: Rooted in encouraging language, appreciative terminology, and key accessibility standards.
- Responsible AI Chatbot: AI chatbot built with extensive safeguards and accountability best practices to serve as a reliable “copilot” for all.
Phase 2: Discover
Explore every student's strengths, skills, and aspirations.
- Adaptive Career & Major Exploration: A research-backed assessment with dynamic personalization that helps students align their interests with institutional programs.
- Integrated Labor Market Data Analysis: Best-fit suggestions for majors and certificates aligned with relevant career trends in a compare/contrast format.
- AI-Powered Summarization: AI summaries help to easily navigate through complex institutional resources and labor market data, reducing student stress significantly
Phase 3: Dream
Help students envision their ideal future and long-term goals.
- Academic and Career Pathway Assistance: Personalized, easy-to-use career exploration and resume tools guide students toward clear, confident next steps on new career paths and opportunities.
- Individualized Plan Generation: By bringing together academic programs, campus resources, and personalized planning, teams can ensure every student has a clear path to success.
"There is always going to be someone who doesn't see your worth. Don't let it be you. Have a plan."
Phase 4: Design
Co-create personalized plans for all students at scale.
- Informed Roadmaps: Side-by-side plan comparison and exploration empower more students to make informed choices and seek feedback.
- Actionable Feedback: Detailed information on each pathway (key skills, industry trends, and job growth outlook) helps more students make informed decisions with their advisors supporting them at each step.
- Continuous Tracking: Students can design congruent academic and career plans that inform and build upon one another, encouraging meaningful conversations and collaborations with advisors overtime.
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Phase 5: Deliver
Empower students to take action on their plan and stay accountable.
- Collaborative Workflows: Facilitate communication and co-creation between students and advisors, and eliminate feelings of isolation through task-sharing, timely nudges, and easy engagement tools.
- Email Communication: Advisors can easily send personalized feedback and emails to students from within the platform.
- Comprehensive Student Insights: By automatically tracking each student’s interests and milestones, advisors can deliver more personalized and impactful guidance at scale.
Phase 6: Don't Settle
Encourage students to continuously strive for excellence and reach their full potential.
- Continuous Tracking: Real-time analytics and feedback loops reveal trends, allowing teams to refine outreach and optimize engagement.
- Actionable Engagement Insights: With analytics on advising tasks, milestone completion, and student interests, teams can refine academic support, guide curriculum planning, and strengthen team collaboration.
Advising is far more than a 15-minute meeting—it’s a co-creation of academic and career pathways, continuous growth, constructive feedback, and meaningful connections at every stage. By embedding proven advising practices and capturing the right data, teams can ensure that no student is left behind.
Advisors trained in Appreciative Advising best practices have been proven to boost student belonging, success, and confidence. The more advisors are equipped with these skills, the higher the rates of completion and career readiness.
Reduce professional development costs while providing advisors with an award-winning training experience and vibrant community resource. As advisors enhance their skills and amplify their impact, their roles become irreplaceable and critical to transforming institutional success.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Appreciative Advising?
Appreciative Advising is the intentional collaborative practice of asking generative, open-ended questions that help students optimize their educational experiences and achieve their dreams, goals, and potentials. It is perhaps the best example of a fully student-centered approach to student development. The centerpiece of Appreciative Advising are the 6 phases: Disarm, Discover, Dream, Design, Deliver, and Don’t Settle. These phases foster trust, uncover strengths, and empower students to set and accomplish meaningful academic and career goals.
What is the goal of this partnership?
This collaboration combines Advisor AI’s innovative advising technology with the renowned professional development programs of the Office of Appreciative Education (OAE), aiming to empower 100,000 advisors by 2029. Their shared mission is to inspire and equip teams nationwide with the support and infrastructure needed to transform student success and advising experiences.
What results can institutions expect?
- Increased student engagement through more personalized, proactive advising.
- Higher completion and persistence rates due to stronger student-advisor relationships.
- Improved operational efficiency from streamlined, integrated advising systems.
- Scalable impact—advisors can effectively support more students without sacrificing quality.
What types of Appreciative Advising course options are offered?
- Live! Virtual Appreciative Advising Institute: Synchronous course via Zoom, held 1-5 p.m. Eastern Time each day with interactive activities, reflections, and discussions.
- Appreciative Advising Online Course: Asynchronous course with weekly assignments, requiring 2-3 hours per week. Includes videos, readings, writing, and optional Zoom discussions.
- Appreciative Administration Online Course: Asynchronous course with weekly assignments, 2-3 hours per week. Features videos, readings, writing, and optional Zoom discussions.
What is your roadmap for supporting 100K+ advisors?
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2025 – (Completed) Informed by the First 1,000 Voices: Built alongside advisors and students, using real feedback to refine the platform and align with the six phases of Appreciative Advising.
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2026 – Scaling with Intention (10,000+ Advisors): Expanding across 10+ states, sharing insights through toolkits, training, and peer learning to support advising excellence.
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2027 - Regional Transformation (50,000+ Advisors): Partnering with 200+ institutions, publishing national insights, and launching Appreciative Advising–focused certifications.
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2028 - Global Impact (100,000 Advisors): Supporting advisors globally with human-centered systems, professional development, and shared benchmarks for transforming student support.
How will Advisor AI incorporate Appreciative Advising into its platform?
Advisor AI already integrates the six phases into its student-advisor workflows, enabling advisors to use personalized data to guide conversations and communications with students. This creates a consistent, research-backed advising process for all students—whether on campus, online, or in hybrid formats.
How will advisors be trained through this partnership?
Advisors at participating institutions will gain access to the Office of Appreciative Education’s professional development programs, workshops, and resources. These training opportunities prepare advisors to blend human-centered advising with AI-driven efficiency.
How do institutions get started?
Institutions can reach out to the Advisor.AI team to learn more about the partnership process, scope of services offered, and availability of options.
What learning methods are used for the training options?
- Live! Virtual courses use Zoom for live interaction, activities, reflection, and discussions.
- Online courses use videos, readings, writing assignments, and optional Zoom discussions.
Do we need to pay an additional fee to access the Appreciative Advising training resources?
No. The platform already incorporates best practices in appreciative advising and career navigation, and all partnering institutions are eligible to receive at least two course registrations at no additional cost, with potentially more registrations depending on the scope of the institutional agreement.