“We’ve Heard Your Voice”: Sharing Data and Action Steps with Students

1. “We’ve Heard Your Voice”: Sharing Data and Action Steps with Students Nathan Lindsay University of Missouri - Kansas City NASPA Webinar April 24, 2012

2. Overview • Students are constantly asked to take surveys • However, rarely are they informed as to how the results are used. • In response to this problem, a campaign entitled “We’ve Heard Your Voice” has been initiated on the UNCW campus. • This session will feature: • a discussion on the various media used to communicate these improvements. • the benefits of these efforts.

3. Webinar Objectives Participants in this session will have the opportunity to: • Learn strategies for converting findings into manageable steps for implementation that can be shared across campus. • Develop an appreciation for the importance of sharing assessment results with students and other higher education constituents. • Learn innovative and thought-provoking ways to communicate assessment work.

4. Our university does an effective job of sharing the results and applications of our assessments with students. • Strongly Agree • Agree • Neither Agree nor Disagree • Disagree • Strongly Disagree • Don’t Know/Not Applicable

5. Our university does an effective job of sharing the results and applications of our assessments with other constituents. • Strongly Agree • Agree • Neither Agree nor Disagree • Disagree • Strongly Disagree • Don’t Know/Not Applicable

6. The Growing Importance of Assessment • Upcraft and Schuh (1996) on assessment: “Is what we are doing having any effect, is that effect the intended one, and how do we know?” (p. 218). • Well-designed assessments have facilitated increased student satisfaction and higher learning outcomes. • The tremendous growth of assessment in the past 15-20 years has led to the advancement and refinement of techniques, skills, and technologies that are integrated into university planning and assessment (Duderstadt, Atkins, & Van Houweling, 2002; Schuh, 2009).

7. Lack of Communication and Survey Fatigue • The number of assessments students are being asked to participate in is increasing each semester • A deficit that has emerged from this is a failure to share these changes with the consumer-minded students and parents who are directly affected. • Communicating our assessment findings effectively is paramount for continued support in higher education

8. Overview of UNCW • Regional, comprehensive university • 2010-2011 Enrollment = 12,968 • 60.4% Female • 86.5% White • Division of Student Affairs • Approx. 150 staff in 12 departments • Extensive recent growth in programs, services, and buildings

9. Assessment in Student Affairs at UNCW Long history of a divisional assessment coordinator Assessment Committee and first draft of divisional learning outcomes established in 2004-2005 Extensive benchmarking studies, needs assessments, satisfaction surveys, and learning outcome assessments are conducted regularly Use of many forms of technology for assessment Goal has been to create a decentralized culture of assessment

10. “We’ve Heard Your Voice” • Initiative developed by the Office of Student Life Assessment, based on similar program in student affairs at the University of Georgia. • Communicates assessment findings back to the student body and other constituents. • Emphasis is placed on demonstrating improvements made due to: • response to surveys • focus groups • other feedback

11. “We’ve Heard Your Voice” • We hope through this program to: • Positively influence the quality of student life • Address the survey fatigue at our institution • More effectively “close the loop” for accreditation requirements • Through this process students: • See and experience changes firsthand • Understand that voicing their opinions helps these changes come to fruition, creating a “culture of improvement”

12. “We’ve Heard Your Voice” • This in turn gives students a sense of ownership and personal responsibility towards the campus. • Also, this encourages a spirit of collaboration and community between students and staff.

13. Distribution of Media • Each department in the Division of Student Affairs was included in this initiative, which was made possible through strong support and encouragement from the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs • Each area was asked to develop 5-10 talking points • Assessment outcomes were publicized via: • The school newspaper • The school’s parent newsletter • Fliers posted around campus • Email • On-campus Television ads

14. Flyer Format • 65 different fliers were developed to post around campus • Specific questions and answers were compiled for each of these fliers • A “talking head” was used on each of the fliers; a cartoonish bust of a character that shouted out a specific question enclosed inside of a talk bubble • Survey questions were rephrased to succinctly capture the spirit of the data • A caption below the talk bubble displays the action taken by the university in response to the issue

15. Flier Examples

16. Other Constituents at UNCW: Parents • By including parents in our dissemination of information: • The University can hear and respond to issues that may not be voiced by the students • Highlight the improvements that have been made based on parents’ feedback • Alleviate some of the anxiety surrounding their children’s education

17. SPLASH (Parent Newsletter) Articles

18. The Seahawk (Student Newspaper) – Article on Surveys

19. Examples • The next few slides will list examples of how our “We’ve Heard Your Voice” initiative has been developed in student affairs departments. • We will also take a look at how various departments have adapted to better fit our students’ needs based on assessment data.

20. Examples: Career Center • In an April 2009 survey, 92% of respondents said, “An internship is important to my future career.” • What are some ways that a Career Center or a university as a whole could respond to this finding?

21. How would you have responded to these results? • Increase Career Center staff • Increase number of internships posted • Contact more small and large businesses to inform them of students’ desire for internships • Inform students it is their responsibility to search for internships outside the postings • Nothing

22. What We Did: • In response, the Career Center staff is dramatically increasing the number of internships posted to our online listing, SeaWork. Current internship listings have been twice as many as they were the last year.

23. Examples: Career Center • Respondents to a “60 Second Survey” stated that the top two services they wanted from a Career Center were resume/cover letter review, and the opportunity to talk with a Career Counselor. • Again, what are some ways that a Career Center or the University as a whole could respond to this feedback?

24. How would you have responded to these results? • Offer more walk in hours. • Increase Career Center staff • Offer workshops on resume creation. • Offer students the chance to talk with Career Center staff via a chat service on the Career Center website • Advise students to take more initiative.

25. What We Did • The Career Center responded by holding several “Resume Doctor” events held in multiple campus buildings each semester. • In addition, the staffing for daily drop-in hours for career counseling was doubled for this academic year.

26. Examples: Center for Education Leadership and Service (CLES) • In a fall 2007 Leadership Needs Assessment, 44% of students indicated an interest in an academic leadership course that was not available at the time in the leadership studies minor or their academic major. • CLES responded by creating an Elective Leadership course, which was offered in spring 2009.

27. Examples: CLES • In 2008-09, students expressed an interest in new workshops on diversity, public speaking and time management. • CLES responded by developing workshops for all these topics and began holding them in the fall of 2009 and spring of 2010.

28. Student Feedback • Part of the initiative has been to solicit feedback from students. Two focus groups were conducted to assess this: • Resident Assistants (RA’s) • Seahawk Links (student mentors and TA’s for Freshman Seminar courses) • In both groups, the students expressed strong support for the program • The students encouraged more active advertisement and student involvement within the initiative

29. Quotes from the RA’s • “Some of the things which have changed, I just took for granted, I didn’t know there was any other way. I think that when you tell people what has changed, they will see that they’re helping the future generations of UNCW, and making the University better as a whole.” • “When you take into account things like the national government, you have a lot of people who would say “I don’t vote because my vote doesn’t count”. It was so cool to see—hey, the things that I’m saying are making a difference. It’s great when people see that when I take my time to do this, changes really do happen.”

30. Quotes from the Seahawk Links • “I was happy to see [We’ve Heard Your Voice]. It was nice to know that people actually looked at what students had to say and were taking the time to make a difference. I thought it was really nice, heartwarming.” • “I think that it’s great, letting the students know their voice is heard...I think that it provides relief to know that some of the things being done are things you’ve voiced about, as opposed to the university just seemingly randomly spending our tuition money.”

31. Quotes from the Seahawk Links • “Now we know if we ever have a problem in the future we can bring it up, and something may get done about it if enough people have that same concern.” • “I’ve always known that the career center has been available for those kinds of things, but now to actually see that there’s more of an emphasis on the students’ wants and needs, and where more people know about what’s available, I think is really great.”

32. Other Recommendations fromthe Focus Groups • Share findings/action steps from previous surveys in the invitation emails for online surveys • Have students check a box at the end of the survey if they would like to receive a report of the findings/action steps • Share with students the names of those who won the incentives (e.g., gift cards, iPods)

33. Other Recommendations fromthe Focus Groups (cont.) • Promote the “We’ve Heard Your Voice” initiative through more active table presentations/interactions on campus • Tag the “We’ve Heard Your Voice” marketing along with an event that was influenced by “We’ve Heard Your Voice” (e.g., at the expansion of the Recreation Center) • Finding a more personalized way to collect data (e.g., using iPods or Facebook for assessment)

34. Discussion Questions • What are other ways that you are sharing assessment results with your students? • What are other ways that you are sharing these results with other constituents of your institution? • What are some strategies you’ve used to ensure that assessment results are converted into action steps and improvements?

35. References • Duderstadt, J., Atkins, D., & Van Houweling, D. (2002). Higher education in the digital age. Westport: Praeger Publishers. • Keeling, R., Wall, A., Underhile, R., & Dungy, G. (2008). Assessment reconsidered. USA: ICSSIA. • Schuh, J. (2009). Assessment methods for student affairs. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. • Upcraft, M.L., & Schuh, J.H. (1996). Assessment in student affairs. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

36. Contact Information • Nathan Lindsay • lindsayn@umkc.edu