You Matter! Personal Growth Series

Using Assessment to Facilitate Student Learning

Erica Lake, Associate Director of Greek LifeRachel Marsh, Graduate Assistant

University of South CarolinaMay 14, 2008

www.sa.sc.edu/greeklife

Mission Statement

• Greek letter organizations at the University of South Carolina are recognized for the purposes of providing students a small group living and learning experience facilitating maturational growth in the areas of scholarship, personal and leadership development, campus and community service involvement, and the clarification of values.

The Office of Greek Life serves as a liaison among the collegiate chapters, parents, alumni, national and international organizations, and the University of South Carolina to provide educational programs, services, and resources toward holistic growth and to support the ideals of fraternity by challenging members to live by their purposes.

Goals

• Participants will learn what the AFA/EBI Assessment is and what it measures

• Participants will learn about the development and implementation of the You Matter! Personal Growth Series

• Participants will learn the results from immediate assessment of the program via Survey Monkey

• Participants will learn the plans for future of the You Matter! Personal Growth Series

 AFA/EBI Assessment

• Association of Fraternity Advisors/Educational Benchmarking Inc.

• Satisfaction/Perception Survey• Spring 2006• Attempted to survey 2360• 1383 surveys were returned• 59% response rate (502 Fraternity, 873 Sorority)• Paper surveys• Weekly chapter meeting• Incentives were used• Other functional areas of the assessment: Housing,

Campus Activities, First-Year Programs, etc.

Analysis

• Three-fold analysis– Self-assessment of Greek Life program on

students– Comparative assessment – reference against

differences of members opinions and opinions of members from the select 6 Carnegie Class(Texas Tech, Auburn, Bowling Green, Univ. of Arizona, Univ. of Central Florida, University of Oklahoma – must participate in the same year)

– Continuous assessment – comparison of longitudinal results to measure improvements

Assessment

• Questions were grouped in 15 areas called factors

• Topics included– Demographic information– Interpersonal– Academic– Self-Awareness– Personal Development– Leadership– Greek Life Office– Programming– Housing– Career Development– Alumni Involvement– Alcohol consumption

Priority Matrix

• Impact of the Overall Program Effectiveness

Maintain – Low Impact, High Performance

Monitor – Low Impact, Low Performance

Maintain/Improve – High Impact, High Performance

Top Priority – High Impact, Low Performance

• Data-Driven Decision Making – development of the program

You Matter! Learning Outcomes

• Students will learn information about Personal Growth Topics which include: Academic Success, Career Development, Social Skill Development, Self-discipline, Community Service, Low Risk Drinking, and *Diversity

• Students will receive resources about services available to them as students at the University of South Carolina

• Students and student leaders will be provided an open forum to ask questions and have contact with the Office of Greek Life staff (initiate a relationship hence the name You Matter!)

What is the Personal Growth Series?

• In an effort to help students grow personally in the areas of Academic Success, Career Development, Social Skills, Self Discipline, Community Service and Responsible Drinking, the Office of Greek Life is introducing the new Personal Growth Series starting this fall semester. Feedbackfrom USC Greeks in the Association of Fraternity Advisors (AFA)/EBI Assessment helped us to identify needs that students in the Greek community expected from their Greek experience and our office. This intentional Personal Growth initiative will feature a monthly E-Newsletter on a specific topic to all Greek students via email. Each week student's will receive a "Tip of the Week" regarding the featured topic for the month.The office will also sponsor a Business Etiquette Dinner to help students prepare for the job search and interviews. We hope that you will benefit from this new initiative and look forward to helping you grow throughyour Greek experience! Erica Lake Associate Director of Greek Life

First Steps for Implementation

• Assigning Topics for Months• Method for Communication – Monthly E-Newsletters– Weekly Supplemental Tips and Resources

• When– Newsletter: first Monday of each month– Weekly tips each Monday

Newsletter Layout• Original Content Ideas– Cover Page:• Article(s) on monthly topic• Left side column have a calendar of Greek

& campus events for that month – Second Page:• Campus Resources• Ideas to Implement• Chapter Spotlight

• Reality: Adapted Content for Each Month

Newsletter Distribution

• E-mailed over Greek Life listserv, in the content of e-mail

• Posted as a link to our Greek Life website

• October, started handing out hard copies to chapter Presidents

Weekly E-Mails

• Sent articles or resources that supplemented the months theme- Members of the USC Greek Community:

Take a few minutes to click the link below and test your knowledge on historically Black Greek organizations. 

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=myrze0cS8i7lIGN7mrIPQA_3d_3d

• Consistent message at end of e-mail that connected them to the newsletter– This information is brought to you by the Office of Greek Life

as part of the You Matter! Personal Growth Series. Don't forget to check out this month's edition of the You Matter! newsletter by clicking the link below. Have a safe and productive week! http://www.sa.sc.edu/greeklife/docs/PGfeb.pdf

Assessing our Work

• Created an on-line survey about the You Matter! Personal Growth Series

• E-mailed link out last two weeks of school year

• As of May 8 had 65 responses

Feedback from Students

• 95.4 % received the newsletter via e-mail

• 65.6% reported that their President’s hung the newsletter in their house or passed it around chapter

• 35.4% report sometimes, and 32.3% report rarely reading the newsletter

Feedback Cont.

• Relevance of each month’s topic to their college experience– Very Relevant: Low Risk Drinking, Stress &

Time Management, Student Engagement– Relevant: Community Service, Academic

Success, Career Development

• For every topic 54.5-68.6% reported that the information in the newsletter somewhat increased their knowledge on the specific topic

Feedback Cont.

• 50.8% think that the emailed newsletters were an effective way to communicate the information to the Greek Community

• 57.1% report that they do not read the weekly information sent

• 52.4% believe the weekly supplement emails are somewhat beneficial

Feedback Cont.

• Interest in attending workshops or sessions on various topics.– Very Interested: Cooking classes,

Yoga/Exercise Workshops– Somewhat Interested: Leadership

Development, Community Service, Career Development, Student Engagement, Peer Leadership, Conflict Management Skills

Feedback Cont.

• Suggestions on how to educate the Greek Community

• Multiple contributors• Make the stories more interesting and more

geared towards our campus. More stories written by students we know, personal experiences.• Make more of a personal effort

Now What?

• Other ways to get messages across:– Monthly educational sessions (more personal)

• Template of the newsletter• Reconsider weekly e-mails • Increase student and chapter involvement• Reaching out to other constituents • Continue to increase the knowledge out about

campus resources for students

Future Assessment

• Second round of AFA/EBI launched Spring 2008• Attempted to survey 1500, 900 were returned • 31% of the Greek community surveyed• Evaluate trends and measure improvement• Six Benchmark Schools: Clemson, Colorado

State, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Univ. of Central FL and Duke

• Use results to help student plan and set goals for their chapters

• Utilize results to provide guidance with programming

Value of Assessment

• Confirms effectiveness or ineffectiveness of programs and/or services

• Provides credibility and rationale for programs

• Helps to prioritize and establish goals• Provides opportunities for intentional

conversations with students

Questions/Comments

• Erica Lake erlake@mailbox.sc.edu

• Rachel Marsh Marshrw@mailbox.sc.edu

• www.sa.sc.edu/greeklife