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Summary of Residence Life Programming
Foundations of Excellence: Improvements
Prepared by Todd Thomas and Spencer Walrath
Background
Ninety percent of UNI freshmen live in residence halls. Consequentially,
Residence Life programming is tailored to freshmen and specifically to those living on-
campus. Approximately 400 out of the ~1,500 freshmen live in a Springboard house,
which are houses exclusive to freshmen.
The Department of Residence’s Residence Life staff employ a relational model
for teaching eight core competencies and information to all students living on campus, as
opposed to an academic/formalized structure. This relational model involves Residence
Life staff personally interacting with students in an effort to convey programming
concepts and accomplish the goals of Residence Life, as opposed to an
academic/formalized structure of regularly meeting in a classroom or testing information
conveyed. Most internal assessments by Residence Life check to see if Residence Life
staff and programs are perceived to be challenging and supportive in the eight primary
competencies identified as important by programming staff.
The eight core competencies taught through Residence Life Programming are:
Citizenship
Health- Keep mind, body and spirit as healthy as possible
Diversity- Understand and communicate well with different kinds of people
Management- Manage money, time and other resources well
Service- Contribute to house, campus, city, and the world
Scholarship
Academics- Acquire successful academic skills and attitudes
Uniqueness- Explore what makes them unique
Major/Minor- Find the major, minor and programs that match unique talents,
interests and backgrounds
Deadlines- Meet degree deadlines and requirements
The eight competencies above represent an internal curriculum developed by
Residence Life staff through years of feedback, discussion, assessments, literature, and
recommendations by peer institutions.
Off-campus students and non-traditional students living in University Apartments
may utilize Residence Life programming by participating in events, reading material
created by Residence Life staff, and purchasing Panther Planners created by the
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Department of Residence. Residence Life staff also collaborate with a variety of other
campus departments to address issues that impact both on and off-campus students. For
example, the Residence Life staff provides the Springboard curriculum which was
designed just for on-campus freshmen and making that available before the start of the
fall semester to all UNI freshmen.
Professional Development and Involvement
Professional Residence Life staff attend the Association of College and University
Housing Officers (ACUHO) conferences once or twice a year, which includes
programming sessions. Every year professional staff take away a variety of ideas and
materials for use in the current or upcoming school year’s programming. Students in
Residence Life attend the National Association of College and University Residence
Halls (NACURH) conferences two to three times a year for programming and leadership,
sharing assessment information, or learning assessment information from other
institutions.
Most professional development activities are related to student development,
which includes residence programming. UNI has also given a variety of presentations at
national and regional conferences, such as information on the PAIR program, the Citizens
and Scholars model, and diversity programming. Several presentations have been given
special awards and UNI’s Residence Life program serves as a model for many other
colleges and universities throughout the nation.
Current Assessment Inventory
Residence education occurs through three primary methods:
Relationship building/teaching
Passive information (bulletin boards, fliers, e-mails, and web resources)
Programs and events (house, hall, or campus-wide)
Regardless of the method in which education takes place, Residence Life either
utilizes or has access to the following assessments. For an additional evaluation of each
assessment, review Appendix A: Residence Life Programming Evidence Evaluation
Matrix. Each evidence item below is listed along with a brief overview. All
assessments listed are done annually unless specifically noted.
Department of Residence Formal Assessments
The five assessments below utilize a formalized, structured assessment based on
data collection and analysis.
Association of College and University Housing Officers –
International/Educational Benchmarking, Inc. (ACUHO-I/EBI) Resident
Assessment
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This assessment provides insight into resident perceptions of satisfaction and is used as a
benchmarking indicator, comparing resident perceptions to previous years and other peer
institutions, as well as analysis and cross-tabulation or filtering on data.
House surveys
Each student in the residence halls has an opportunity to complete a House survey, asking
questions related to Resident Assistant (RA) performance, programming, and hall
resources (facilities, hall staff, etc.). House surveys all utilize a core set of questions and
then optionally include hall-specific questions as determined by the hall’s Residence Life
Coordinator (RLC).
Immersion Project
New for the fall of 2008 is the Immersion Project. Residence Life programming staff
identified several key topics that would be helpful for students and then immersed them
in information about that topic through events, bulletin boards, fliers, table tents,
electronic media (myUNIverse News, e-mail, etc.) and more. Some sample topics would
include friendship in August/ September, finals in December, etc. A pre-test before
starting the Immersion Project was created and administered in the spring of 2008. A
post-test will be conducted in early April to measure whether or not the immersive
programming efforts made an impact on students.
Peer Advisor In Residence (PAIR) survey
The PAIR program provides student academic advisors in residence halls and is
coordinated through the office of Academic Advising. This program helps fulfill the
Scholarship competency of Residence Life programming and offers academic help to
students. An annual survey of the PAIR program and its advisors is administered in the
spring through Residence Life. Questions are created with input from Residence Life and
Academic Advising.
Springboard Dive-In Days survey
Incoming freshmen living in freshmen-only Springboard houses have had the option to
arrive at UNI before the start of the fall semester and participate in Dive-In Days. Dive-
In Days provide freshmen a chance to learn about additional college-related topics and
meet with other students in their house. This assessment focused on the amount of value
students perceived from each session attended and provided two general questions on the
best part of Dive-In Days and how it might be improved. For fall of 2009, Dive-In Days
will be opened to all freshmen regardless of whether a student resided in a Springboard
house as well as being open to off-campus students. Dive-In Days will take place the
Saturday prior to the start of school for the fall, so this assessment will change for the
coming school year.
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Department of Residence Informal Assessments
The three assessments listed below utilize an informal, relational, and
observational assessment based on the experience and expertise of Residence Life staff.
Residence Life Coordinator (RLC) meetings with Residence Life staff
RLCs meet with residence programming staff to discuss programming progress on the
eight core competencies, develop strategies for improvements, and identify successes.
During these meetings, the RLCs develop the desired outcome of programming efforts
and the criteria used to evaluate the success of that programming in concrete and
measurable ways. For instance, the desired outcome of an event may be to increase
residents’ awareness of a particular topic. The criteria for success may be having a
certain level of participation, having students attend a future event, etc.
Resident Assistant (RA) meetings with RLC staff
RLCs meet weekly or bi-weekly with the Resident Assistants (RAs) in their hall. Many
topics are covered during these meetings, including Residence Life programming.
President’s Council
The President’s Council is a group of student representatives from each residence hall. It
was formed as a feedback mechanism for the Department of Residence staff to bring
forward ideas and gather opinions. Residence Life has utilized this group for input on
programming efforts.
External Formal Assessments Used by Residence Programming:
The two assessments listed below utilize a formalized, structured assessment based on
data collection and analysis and are administered by entities outside the Department of
Residence.
National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) has been administered through the
Office of Academic Assessment since the spring semester of 2006. Prior to 2006, the
College Student Experiences Questionaire (CSEQ) was employed. NSSE results are
used, along with other data, for assessment of learning in the Liberal Arts Core at UNI.
They also provide information on student experiences that can be useful to other program
areas and departments at UNI. Some topics pertain to general student demographics,
habits, and attitudes, which could apply to Residence Life programming.
American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment
(ACHA-NCHA)
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UNI’s Wellness Education department utilizes the ACHA-NCHA survey conducted
annually each spring. Residence Life is able to utilize general statistical information as
well as attitudes of students that may impact programming efforts. Health-related
assessment information is applicable since health is one of the core competencies for
Residence Life programming.
Analysis
Residence Life currently utilizes a variety of methods for assessing first year
students at UNI, both within the Department of Residence (internally) and through other
University departments (externally). Surveys, such as ACUHO-I/EBI Resident
Assessment, cover many topics pertinent to Residence Life programming, but focus on
satisfaction rather than actual behavior improvements. Asking students if their behavior
has changed as a result of programming is the current method used for determining
programming effectiveness and is addressed in a couple different surveys (the House
survey and Immersion Project survey). This survey evaluates perceived changes rather
than actual outcomes. The biggest challenge facing Residence Life is to not only use
existing assessments but both to utilize that information in an applicable fashion and to
create assessments that measure residents’ actual change in behavior.
After analyzing the evidence provided and speaking with Residence Life staff, it
is our recommendation that for Performance Indicator 9.1 “To what degree does
Residence Life programming include systematic assessment?” be rated as Medium.
Our recommendation for this is based around the following:
Assessing the success of Residence Life programming efforts through surveys is
difficult. Many informal assessments are done through RAs, students, and the
expertise and experience of RLCs , which then should provide feedback to
Residence Life staff regarding their programming effectiveness.
Many surveys utilized by Residence Life have a small sub-set of application for
programming efforts. While some surveys are highly systematic, they are not
necessarily systematically assessing the information useful to Residence Life.
Residence Life programming would like to assess whether behavior changed as a
result of programming efforts, whereas several surveys ask whether a student is
satisfied with how they received programming, which are two different types of
assessment. A student may not be satisfied with programming but still change
their behavior as a result of it, or vice-versa.
Participation rates for some surveys (House survey and Dive-In Days) had poor
and/or varied participation. This input makes utilizing these assessments difficult
since the data collection may be skewed or an inaccurate representation of
students.
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Despite the difficulty in assessing programming effectiveness, the current
assessment practices provide benefit to Residence Life and could continue to be
refined through review by other departments and the Recommendations listed.
It is our recommendation for Performance Indicator 9.2 “To what degree have
assessment results been used to improve existing practices?” be rated as High. With
a few exceptions, the assessments listed earlier are utilized regularly by Residence Life
staff as a decision-making tool for improving programming.
Some examples of findings made after reviewing current assessments include:
ACHA-NCHA confirmed the continued need for alcohol education.
House surveys identified that career-related issues could be improved and
revisions will be made to improve passing along this information to students.
The ACUHO-I/EBI survey identified improving the areas of managing time and
related academic excellence. Changes in these areas include Houses recently
being identified for positive academic achievement, the PAIR program’s
responsibilities were changed, and grade-related bulletin boards were mandated.
RLCs are given priorities gathered from the previous year's ACUHO-I/EBI
results, as well as other related assessment information, such as the House survey
results. In addition, RLCs provide feedback they have gathered from RA staff
and through their expertise and experiences.
Recommendations
Keeping in mind the goals of Residence Life programming, “Build communities
of outstanding citizens and scholars through example, challenge and support,” the
following recommendations have been created:
Springboard houses should be utilized to capture impressions of services offered,
programming effectiveness, and as a focus group for other Foundations of
Excellence assessing, since all students living in those houses are new to UNI and
fit the description of students examined in Foundations of Excellence.
Program participation rates should be utilized. Attendance of events and
programs is currently recorded for participation; however, these participation rates
are not utilized as an indicator of interest in a particular topic or for historical
prediction of attendance in the future.
Students attending programming events should be given the option of providing
basic feedback on that event through a brief survey for immediate feedback.
External resources should be examined to improve assessing the goals of
Residence Life programming. Grant funding or UNI special allocation money
could be pursued to specifically find opportunities to quantify traits related to
behavior for trending over time. National surveys should also be researched that
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could be used as a standard for benchmarking Residence Life effectiveness.
Collaboration with UNI’s Strategic Marketing Services or other consulting
companies should also be considered.
Examine utilizing other electronic methods to convey programming information
to students as a supplement to programming efforts. Examples include using a
Facebook group page, blogs, the Department of Residence website, and/or the
UNI cable TV station. Currently, marketing of survey participation primarily
occurs through e-mail solicitation and personal requests from RAs. Using
additional methods could help to increase participation rates, share assessment
information, and communicate helpful information to freshmen as they arrive on
campus.
Coordinate efforts between the Department of Residence Marketing department,
Public Relations, and Residence Life. These efforts could help increase
participation in assessments and convey applicable results to the UNI community.
A more formalized assessment review process should be examined to ensure
improvements based on formalized assessment data are being completely
reviewed for future changes. The creation of an assessment review committee,
comprised of RLCs, RAs, Residence Life staff, and perhaps other non-Residence
Life staff that may be able to help with information analysis would be useful.
Applicable assessment findings should also be shared with the campus
community or other departments for their feedback and knowledge.
House surveys should be coordinated centrally as a means to compare results
between different halls and increase participation rates. Providing a incentives to
complete this survey should also increase participation, which has proven
successful with other surveys within the Department of Residence.
Evaluate the timing of surveys and the populations affected. Also, examine how
Department of Residence surveys coincide with University surveying efforts, if
possible. This examination would help ensure students are not over-surveyed and
information is not duplicated among other University assessments.
The NSSE survey should be evaluated for future application to Residence Life
programming.
Special thanks to Drake Martin in the Department of Residence for his helpful
information, responsiveness, and useful insight into Residence Life programming.
Respectfully submitted,
Todd Thomas
Spencer Walrath
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Appendix A: Residence Life Programming Evidence Evaluation Matrix
FoE: Improvement Dimension
Prepared by Todd Thomas and Spencer Walrath
Evidence Item PI 9.1- Assessment PI 9.2 Use of Assessment
To what degree does this evidence To what degree have Notes
item include systematic assessment assessment results been used
(none to very high)? to improve existing practices?
ACUHO-I/EBI Resident Very high Medium EBI data is not tailored to Residence Life programming, so
Assessment many questions are generic/broad in nature; mostly measures
satisfaction rather than growth/change
House survey Medium Very High Varied rates of participation; questions change over time, so less
for benchmarking and more for immediate feedback; very useful
for RAs and how they are perceived; surveying performed
individually by RLCs with the results shared with each RLC
Immersion Project Very high High Will be evaluated for success based on the results from
comparing the April 2009 post-test to the April 2008 pre-test;
survey is administered through myUNIverse
Peer Advisor In Residence Very high High New as of 2008; survey results helped to adjust PAIR from
(PAIR) survey having Office hours to speaking at House meetings; surveyed
through myUNIverse
Springboard Dive-In Days Medium Medium Only given to Freshmen in Springboard houses that chose to
survey arrive for Dive-In Days; Used mostly to capture impressions of
Dive-In Days presentations; survey is changing for 2009
RLC meetings with Residence Medium High Meetings occur 10 times a year; very applicable and practical to
Life staff daily operations of Residence Life; utilizes the expertise of
RLCs and data they collect for discussion
RA meetings with RLC staff Low Medium Residence programming is one aspect of these weekly/bi-weekly
meetings and provides helpful insights into programming
effectiveness and topics for future programming
President’s Council None Low The President’s Council primarily is used as an optional source
of feedback for upcoming topics that may be related to
Residence Life programming
National Survey of Student Very high None NSSE information was reviewed in the past, but has not been
Engagement (NSSE) used recently; may contain helpful information for programming
ACHA-NCHA Very high Medium Health-related items are used for verification of programming
efforts; participation rates have been between 10-20% of a
random sampling of 4,000 students; reviewed annually
