“Are We Doing This Right?” The Importance of Assessment Metrics in Student Affairs
Civic Engagement LEAD Initiative
February 7, 2017
The Political Engagement Living Learning Community at Towson University (TU) was the first living community on campus to have a class component.TU has long had an assortment of living community options for incoming freshman to select when choosing their housing, but fall of 2015 was the first time Towson introduced a full Living Learning Community to campus. The research on LLC’s has been positive so far, with the communities being linked to higher retention rates and greater reported levels of student involvement. But in a program’s first year, sometimes it can be hard to tell if you’re making a difference, or even if what you’re doing is working.
The first year of the Political Engagement LLC at TU was a learning experience for everyone involved. The community was conceived of during a game of bowling and was the first time the Office of Civic Engagement & Leadership or the College of Liberal Arts had ever partnered with Housing and Residence Life to support a learning community. Needless to say, there were some growing pains. The Office of Civic Engagement & Leadership was in charge of providing programming support for the students, but we weren’t sure how many programs students would be willing to go to in a given semester. Would freshmen be more or less willing to attend events than upperclassmen? A student worker position was created in the Office of Civic Engagement & Leadership to partner with the professor for the community’s class, but no such position or relationship had ever existed before. As a result, the student’s role took a month or two to actually pin down, and she split her time between acting as a teaching aid for the professor and a programming support for the Office of Civic Engagement & Leadership.
And on top of that were the students. Equal parts inspirational and maddening, the 28 freshmen did their part to keep the partnership guessing as to whether or not we were being effective in our roles. Students would often complain about having to show up for events, but when the time came they would be there early and bring their friends. One event was “mandatory” and garnered 5 attendees, and had us questioning the future of the community. By the end of the semester, we were consistently engaging 18-20 of the students per event, even if it would often take poking and prodding on the part of the partners. In the end, we felt pretty confident that we had made a difference in the lives of the students, and that they had benefited from being a part of the community. But we had run into enough trouble that we had our doubts.
This right here is the beauty of dedicated assessment metrics. The Office of Civic Engagement and the College of Liberal Arts administered the Carnegie Foundation Political Engagement Survey to the students two times: once at the beginning of the fall semester, and once at the end (which was also the end of their class time together). Students reported increases in civic knowledge. They reported an increase in the amount of times per week they read the news. They reported an increase in their levels of political engagement on campus. Increase in the likelihood that they would engage in political conversation. The list goes on and on. And not a single student from the community dropped out. At the end of the day we were able to know exactly how well we did because we had dedicated assessment metrics for what we were working on. Without them, we may have been floundering around wondering whether or not the community was worth the resources it took up. With them, we were able to assess exactly where our successes laid, and decide exactly how to tackle the second year of the program.
The first year of the Political Engagement LLC at TU was a learning experience for everyone involved. The community was conceived of during a game of bowling and was the first time the Office of Civic Engagement & Leadership or the College of Liberal Arts had ever partnered with Housing and Residence Life to support a learning community. Needless to say, there were some growing pains. The Office of Civic Engagement & Leadership was in charge of providing programming support for the students, but we weren’t sure how many programs students would be willing to go to in a given semester. Would freshmen be more or less willing to attend events than upperclassmen? A student worker position was created in the Office of Civic Engagement & Leadership to partner with the professor for the community’s class, but no such position or relationship had ever existed before. As a result, the student’s role took a month or two to actually pin down, and she split her time between acting as a teaching aid for the professor and a programming support for the Office of Civic Engagement & Leadership.
And on top of that were the students. Equal parts inspirational and maddening, the 28 freshmen did their part to keep the partnership guessing as to whether or not we were being effective in our roles. Students would often complain about having to show up for events, but when the time came they would be there early and bring their friends. One event was “mandatory” and garnered 5 attendees, and had us questioning the future of the community. By the end of the semester, we were consistently engaging 18-20 of the students per event, even if it would often take poking and prodding on the part of the partners. In the end, we felt pretty confident that we had made a difference in the lives of the students, and that they had benefited from being a part of the community. But we had run into enough trouble that we had our doubts.
This right here is the beauty of dedicated assessment metrics. The Office of Civic Engagement and the College of Liberal Arts administered the Carnegie Foundation Political Engagement Survey to the students two times: once at the beginning of the fall semester, and once at the end (which was also the end of their class time together). Students reported increases in civic knowledge. They reported an increase in the amount of times per week they read the news. They reported an increase in their levels of political engagement on campus. Increase in the likelihood that they would engage in political conversation. The list goes on and on. And not a single student from the community dropped out. At the end of the day we were able to know exactly how well we did because we had dedicated assessment metrics for what we were working on. Without them, we may have been floundering around wondering whether or not the community was worth the resources it took up. With them, we were able to assess exactly where our successes laid, and decide exactly how to tackle the second year of the program.