Orgsync Blog

Guest Blogger: Evelyn Wang, former OrgSync Marketing Intern, Student at the University of Texas at Austin

As I grow older and hopefully wiser, I have come to the conclusion – communities matter. Before coming to college, I never fully comprehended the importance of having a group of friends and belonging to a community. Not to say, I didn’t have friends before college, but from elementary to high school my classes were filled with the same 30 students. Everything was familiar and structured; I knew where I belonged and fit in.

However, everything changed after graduating high school. We all went our separate ways – different colleges and different life paths. From my class, I was one of the three people that went to The University of Texas at Austin. When I arrived at UT, things were certainly different. I felt like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, and I was definitely not “in Kansas anymore.” Like most freshman, I had a difficult time adjusting to college. Actually, that might be an understatement. I had an extremely difficult time adjusting to college. Everything about it – the unfamiliarity, the people, the campus size, the crowded sidewalks and hallways, all the idle time I had, and the absolute lack of freedom from not having a car in Austin, it spun my world around.

As a freshman, I would have never thought I’d stay at UT long enough to graduate, let alone miss UT. But here I am, attending my last semester at UT, a bit disappointed that my college career is almost over.

So, how did I manage to turn things around, succeed and have a different opinion about UT? In hindsight, it was definitely the people I connected myself to through the communities I joined my first year in college. By joining a Freshman Interest Group and an organization called Christians On Campus, I was able to meet and befriend people who shared my interests that would ultimately be the support I needed to succeed at UT.

Student groups provide a sense of belonging.

With encouragement from these friends, I soon joined a business club, the McCombs Diversity Council and was able to expand my network and become more involved in school. I can say with absolute certainty I would NOT have continued my studies at UT if it were not for my involvement in these groups. I would be living at home in Dallas, attending UTA, never leaving my comfort zone, and definitely not growing as a person.

The three student organizations I joined early on helped me form a group of friends and become a part of a community. I met peers that helped me enjoy my college experience, and who have probably influenced and impacted my life in ways I will never know. This was essential to my development as a student and in many ways saved my college career. Student organizations and communities on campus matter more than most people realize. Connections keep people growing and developing, and I was certainly no exception.

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OrgSync will be publishing several eBooks this fall. We want to give the higher ed community an opportunity to contribute to our eBooks in an effort to help other Student Affairs Administrators across the country.  It is becoming increasingly important for Student Affairs Professionals to have a voice and find publishing opportunities so we have made it easy for you!

We are currently taking submissions for the following eBooks:

Best Practices for Programming on a Tight Budget
By sharing your department’s process for programming on a tight budget, you are helping campuses sustain their co-curricular programs! As budgets are still getting cut, we realize the importance of implementing successful programs that connect students and help build a community on campus. How has your department adjusted to recent budget cuts to offer free or cheap programming on your campus?

You can submit entries here
Deadline: Sept 30^th

Best Practices in Student Organization Registration
By sharing your department’s process for student organization registration, you are helping campuses across the nation grow student involvement!

You can submit your entries here
Deadline: September 30^th

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Glen Baumgart

Today’s Guest blogger is Glen Baumgart, a longtime friend of mine in higher education. Glen has been working with higher education community engagement programs for over 12 years, and  currently serves as the Director of the Volunteer and Service Learning Center at The University of Texas at Austin.

If you work in higher education, then you have heard this line before, “I learned more outside the classroom than in the classroom” as students reflect on what they have learned and how they have grown. There is a lot of truth to that statement. In the classroom, students wrap their minds around theories, concepts, lessons, and content. But it is outside the classroom in student organizations, internships, community service activities, leadership programs, and other experiences where students are challenged with putting this new knowledge into action. And its not just putting knowledge to action, but integrating this new knowledge into the fabric of their lives, their morals, values, goals, and social interactions.

Universities and colleges seem to be well aware of this. Look at any institution of higher learning, and you will see a number of professional positions aimed at outside the classroom learning and programming. And the learning is very intentional. Ask any leadership, housing, community service, career, or programming staff what students learn through their programs, and they are sure to rattle off a laundry list of learning outcomes. But ask how that learning is measured, and you would likely hear staff mention a lack of assessment, or mention reliance on evaluation surveys or on quick reflection discussions. The assessment or measure of learning seems much less rigorous than that of an academic course with its grades, assignments, measures, and evaluations.

But it is possible to beef up the rigor of co-curricular programs in a way that matches the rigor often seen in academic coursework. To do this, we start by looking at the abundant research on college classroom learning. We know what works, and can identify the most important elements in classroom instruction that lead to learning. So, lets apply what works to achieve learning outcomes in the classroom, and apply them to our co-curricular programs.

The following components are used most often by teaching effectiveness professionals in higher education and used in research on classroom learning to help faculty improve their course structures. Lets use these elements, but adjust them to fit or co-curricular programs. Think of it as creating a co-curricular syllabus:

1. Identify the learning outcomes

Sounds easy, but this is likely the hardest part. Most college courses only have three to five learning outcomes – understand this theory, know this lab skill, etc. Three to five, and that’s when the instructor has three hours of student attention per week. In co-curricular terms, its wise to start with just one specific learning outcome. What is the most important learning outcome your program teaches?

2. Evaluation or measurement system

How will the student know they have met the desired outcomes? Try to describe in measurable terms what the learning outcome would look like. Is there a certain behavior? Do students respond to a survey in a certain way? How would they demonstrate the desired outcome?

It is important to start with these two components. It is from here that one build the rest of the co-curricular syllabus.

3. Students MUST understand the learning goals

This is the most missed component in college courses, but one of the most important. If your goal is for students to learn a specific outcome, then tell them that at the start. Students who understand the goals from the start are more likely to cue into the instructional techniques. A good practice for this is to make sure the outcome is part of the recruitment / application process.

4. Estimate prior knowledge

What do the students know in regards to your learning outcome prior to joining the program? A simple survey or questions on an application can help you understand where your students are coming from. In course lingo, we call these “prerequisites”, and most co-curricular programs have them too, but are seldom stated. What experiences or knowledge should the students in the program bring with them? If a certain prior knowledge is important, then that should be part of your recruitment or advertising.

5. Estimate motivation and interest in the learning outcome

Any course should be designed to peak the student’s interest by not being too difficult, but not being too easy either. This is why the prior knowledge is so important. Students must have some motivation or interest in the topic, otherwise it unlikely they will learn. This will help in designing the logistics of the program to help determine what might be boring, or what might be overwhelming. How does your program maximize students’ interest? How will it keep them motivated to finish?

6. Now develop the actual instruction logistics

Huge mistake by instructors and program coordinators alike, we tend to jump into the program’s logistics before we think about learning outcomes, measures, prior knowledge, or motivation. We tend to start creating a program, then looking back to what is being learned. Try, and its hard to do, but try to answer the first five components first before any thoughts on how you’ll do it.

7. Identify the learning moments

Another often missed component in course construction as well as co-curricular. As you plan the instruction, think hard about when instruction is actually taking place. If it’s a course, then you know you have time in a classroom when the instructor teaches, and that assignments must be done for grades. So, it is during these times you know students are interacting with material. In co-curricular it is much harder to identify the time. Some groups meet only once a week. So, during that hour meeting, when is it and under what circumstances do you know students are paying attention to instruction? Is there a time for reflection? What about online chats? Tweets? If you can identify the most likely time the student learns, the more impactful the program will be.

8. Evaluate and adjust

Look at your measurement instruments, your surveys, and make adjustments for next time. Try to be creative in your evaluation. Lets say your learning outcome was the understanding of a certain leadership concept. Then send the students an online survey during the following semester. See if they still have that understanding. If so, success! Now you can really say that they learned that concept.

These steps are often used to help increase the effectiveness in college courses. Shifting them a little, one can use them to help ensure a rigorous learning experience in the co-curricular program.

Also See our interview with Glen when we were on the UT campus this past summer.

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Blog by: Angel Quicksey, OrgSync Campus Liaison, Claremont McKenna College

Today’s world is smaller, flatter, and more connected than ever before. Places and people that once seemed remote are now only a click away and virtually right next-door.  Neighbors that once chatted through a fence are now chatting online through a social network such as Facebook, Twitter or AIM. Young people – students, especially – use the internet to stay connected, as it’s easier than ever to reach out to the classmate across campus, parents back home, or even the friend made while studying abroad.

Yet, students can use such technologies to reach out in a different way. Young people on campuses around the world already promote social justice and create change. Clubs raise money for relief actions in war-torn countries, they prod politicians and their fellows to take action on environmental issues, they support campaigns for AIDS relief, clean water, and health care. But if one club on one campus can raise a few thousand dollars for Darfur or Burma or the environment, imagine what could be accomplished if those students came together to accomplish something even greater. This is where social media comes in. Recall what students can do without our new technology:

•    The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s – the group, begun at Shaw University, staged many of the sit-ins and freedom rides of the civil rights movement and had a leading role in the1963 march on Washington.
•    The students of the 1970s and ‘80s who protested apartheid in South Africa – beginning with students of Stanford University in 1974, these young people divestment from companies involved in South Africa during apartheid. By 1988, 155 universities had partially or fully divested funds from the country.

These students saw a need for change and combined their efforts across the nation to guarantee civil rights in America and abroad.

Today, students have even more tools available to them to create social change. Through the internet, particularly social media sites, students can easily spread information by broadcasting videos, photos and headlining news.

The power of these sites has become especially apparent in recent weeks as students and opposition leaders in Iran used Facebook and Twitter to spread their message and capture images, like the death of Neda Agha-Soltan.

While perhaps not facing the same immediate strife as the people of Iran, many college and university students tackle other important issues at home and abroad. Yet, most campus organizations seem to work independently, though they may be working toward a similar goal.  Why not take advantage of this new age of social networking and connect with others at your college, in your area, or in a similar branch of your club? Then, once these connections are established using social media, you can create larger events, campaigns and movements that will greatly impact your campus, your nation and even the world.

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Before getting into the complexities of a college campus, it is best to step back and look at the big picture. People, in general, need a community to call their own, to live as a healthy individual. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs values this necessity to be in a community as number 3 of the 5 categories.  This proves even further that this necessity is even more crucial during one of the greatest growing phases in a person’s life, their time in college.

Maslow's Hiearchy of Needs

College students grow up with multiple cohesive communities such as their families, close group of friends, church, and other extra-curricular groups. They are nestled in these groups for so long, and most are unprepared for the dramatic shift from high school life to college life where they are forced to go out and find new communities. This is where the institution and the student affairs department come into play. Their role is to provide a gateway to the new opportunities for on campus involvement, so the student can choose from a variety of inviting communities.

The unfortunate part of the college transition is that most students fill their insecurities with even more seclusion. This can affect student academic performance. A study by the American College Health Association revealed several factors that affect performance including: stress, alcohol abuse, and depression/anxiety (American College Health Association, 2002).  Students can battle this by forming bonds and reaching out to other students which can be best developed on a “healthy” campus.

How can institutions make their campus “healthy?”
According to an article by Teanca Shepherd, assistant coordinator of Student Activities at The University of Memphis, four essential components must exist to maintain healthy campuses which are:
1.    Vibrant Student Organizations
2.    Co-Curricular Resources
3.    A Wide Variety of Academics
4.    Surrounding Community Involvement

What are the overall benefits of healthy campuses for both students and the institution?
Teanca Shepherd lists the following benefits:
•    An increase in student enrollment
•    Increases in funding for programs and organizations
•    Better recruitment of faculty
•    Increases in funding for programs and organizations
•    Better recruitment of faculty and staff
•    Students providing innovative ideas for better policy development
•    An increase in diversity
•    An increase in alumni support and involvement
•    Growth of the surrounding community as a whole

When a healthy campus has been achieved, the institution can combat those security walls that students put up and invite them to find the organization to foster development, experiences, and new friendships. In the end, these experiences are what truly set a part a successful college graduate from another graduate who missed out on them.

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As I grow older and hopefully wiser, I have come to the conclusion – communities matter.

Before coming to college, I never realized the importance of having a group of friends.  Not to say, I didn’t have friends before college, but from elementary to high school, I have been with basically the same people.  In high school, my classes were filled with the same 30 students.  Nobody in class was a stranger and we were all basically friends, if not acquaintances.  Everything was familiar and structured; I knew where I belonged and fit in.

However, everything changed after graduating high school.  We all went our separate ways – different colleges and different life paths.  From my class, only 3 people went to The University of Texas at Austin, and I was one of the 3.  When arrived at UT, things were certainly different.  I felt like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, I definitely was not “in Kansas anymore.”  And like most freshman, I had a difficult time adjusting to college.  Actually, that might be an understatement.  I had a really difficult time adjusting to college. Everything about it – the unfamiliarity, the people, the campus size, all the people in my way, all the idle time I had, and the absolute lack of freedom from not having my car in Austin.

As a freshman, I would have never thought I would have stayed long enough at UT to graduate, let alone miss UT. But here I am, about to start my last semester at UT, and sad that my college career is one semester away from being over and already missing it.

So, how did I manage to succeed at UT?

In hindsight, it was definitely the people I connected myself to through my FIG (not the fruit, it stands for Freshman Interest Group or a small group that meets once a week based on a interest and where we have the 2-3 classes together, so that we have familiar faces in classes that are 300+ students) and an organization I joined on campus – Christians On Campus.  Through these 2 main groups, I was able to meet and befriend people who shared my interests, and have a group of people that helped me succeed at UT.

According to a research article by the Office of Institutional Research on student extracurricular activity and academic performance, the graduation rate for students involved in extracurricular activities was almost doubled compared to students who were not involved in extracurricular activities and commuted to school.

I can say with absolute certainty that I would NOT have continued at UT if it weren’t for those groups.   With the encouragement from those friends, my sophomore year, I joined a business club, McCombs Diversity Council with a friend from Christians On Campus and was able to expand and become more involved in school.  Otherwise, I would probably be in Dallas right now, attending UTA, living at home, never leaving my comfort zone, and not growing as a person.

So, the two student organizations I joined my freshman year, which helped me form a group of friends and be a part of a community, were essential to my development as a student and may have even saved my college career.  I met peers that helped me enjoy my college experience, and who have probably influenced and impacted my life in ways I will never know.

Student organizations and communities on campus matter more than most people realize.  Connections keep people growing and developing, and I was certainly no exception.

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In today’s society, a college education is more important than ever, and there is no shortage of institutions for students to choose from. So, how do prospective students make up their mind? What draws them to one institution over another? More than anything else, they look for a place they can call home. They consider what the University has to offer them. Student involvement in the campus community is vital to a successful college life. Prospective students don’t want to attend an institution where they will be isolated, and have nothing to do but study. While it’s true that students are looking for a good education, without a comfortable environment, learning won’t be possible.

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE Studies) shows that student success is directly linked to student involvement. NSSE measures student involvement in academic and co-curricular programs and activities, and the effect they have on students. According to NSSE, the more involved students are in an institution, the more invested they will be. The higher the student involvement level the higher their grades are and the more likely they are to re-enroll for the next semester. Highly-engaged students are more likely to re-enroll than less-engaged students. An institution that offers inviting options for student involvement is also creating free, word-of-mouth marketing. The more a student likes an institution the more likely they are to promote and recommend it to others. Among institutions that scored appropriately in the NSSE student involvement and engagement study 93 percent of students reported having a favorable image of their college.

Because student involvement is so important, it is vital for an institution to create a culture, not just a campus. When students are involved and engaged, they feel like they are a part of something. This sense of belonging fosters loyalty and pride in their institution, as well as academic achievement, and community involvement. There are five benchmarks laid out by NSSE to gauge a successful student involvement environment.

These benchmarks are:
1. Sufficient level of academic challenge
2. Favorable amount of active and collaborative learning options
3. Quality faculty and student interaction
4. Abundant amount of enriching community interaction
5. Existence of a supportive campus environment.

Students who are involved devote more time and energy to academics, spend more time on campus, while participating actively in student organizations, and having more positive interactions with faculty and staff. All of this leads to a more productive educational environment that benefits every part of the institution. On the other hand, uninvolved students neglect their studies, abstain from extracurricular activities, spend little time on campus, and rarely contact faculty and staff. This lack of interest leads to a lack-luster college experience.

Students are not the only ones to benefit from an engaged environment. Student involvement is often the catalyst for other institutional and community improvements. Faculty, staff, and the surrounding community all benefit from student involvement. From volunteering, to relaxed and free flowing conversation, the benefits are endless. But, meaningful and worthwhile student involvement does not just happen overnight, it’s an investment process that takes time, effort, and money. But this is an investment that has been proven to be worth the effort. Student involvement on campus is one of the quickest ways for students to become part of an institution’s community and create a personalized college experience.

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Eric Fortenberry and I (Nicole Andreas) recently returned from a campus visit at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa!  We were warmly welcomed by Dr. Stacy Jones and her team in the Student Involvement and Leadership office.

Nicole and Eric with the Leadership and Involvement Staff

The Division of Student Affairs at the University of Alabama is actively pursuing opportunities to maximize each UA student’s learning experience.  “After searching for a solution to manage students’ co-curricular involvement on the student side, campus side and staff side for about three years, we brought OrgSync to our campus as the “Source” to manage our student involvement.  After conducting focus groups composed of faculty and students, we quickly learned OrgSync was the only choice that fully met our management needs and excited students,” said Dr. Stacy Jones.

UA is creating an entire program and team dedicated to providing their students with the services and tools they need to manage their student organizations and involvement needs.  They are branding the program as the “Source”, as in: the source to go to for all student involvement and student organization management.

To kick off the launch of the Source powered by OrgSync, Stacy Jones and Kristen DuBose planned an exciting Launch Party on the Plaza with games, prizes, food and fun to intrigue students about the new Source program.  Everyone signed up on OrgSync through their “My Bama” accounts(a single-sign-on solution that UA chose to implement to simplify user registration through their current campus sign-on information), and the Launch Party was a brilliant success.

Our visit also included meetings with several campus departments including Bama faculty, advisors and administrators.  Each department was excited about bringing OrgSync to campus for different reasons.  Vice-President of Student Affairs, Dr. Mark Nelson, immediately saw value in getting every campus department at UA on board.  He even asked, “Does OrgSync print money too?  What can’t this [OrgSync] platform do!?”

Signatures for the Children's Miracle Network

In between scheduled meetings, Eric and I were shown around Alabama’s extraordinary campus by Daniel Ware, a student leader from UA’s Residence Hall Association.  It was fascinating to learn the history behind the Tuscaloosa campus, and it was great to meet so many friendly students during our tour.  While traveling through campus, Zeta Beta Theta and Phi Mu were campaigning on the Quad to gain signatures on a giant blow-up ball.  For each signature, a donation would be made to the Children’s Miracle Network.  Of course, Eric and I had to sign the ball.  We are all about giving back to those in need.

Daniel was a great tour guide!  He brought us to see the football stadium and to see the famous “Walk of Champions.”  The Walk of Champions honors Bama football coaches who have lead the school to victory, and it displays the SEC titles and awards the football team has been recognized for.

After our tour, we met in the Student Recreational Center on campus to get all of the club sports team signed up.  We had a great turnout and we met with many different teams who were excited to start using OrgSync in the Fall.  The women’s soccer team was especially excited to be able to manage different user groups and target their specific information to manage and engage their team more efficiently.  Primarily, the players were particularly excited to learn that they could juggle their hectic sports schedules AND their involvement with other campus activities from just one place.

Before we left, Eric and I were asked to share our story with two entrepreneurial classes in the business school.  We really enjoyed talking to the students, and we felt inspired as these future entrepreneurs sat in the same seat I was in not too long ago.  I think a lot of them were inspired too, just to know it really was the same seat, and many of them told us about their dreams of starting their own company some day.  Several students even came up to us after the class to learn how they could get involved, and help spread the word about OrgSync.

Overall, our visit was extremely successful, and I can’t wait to go back to the University of Alabama.  Roll Tide!

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The OrgSync team is dedicated to educating the higher education community about experiential learning, co-curricular management, leadership development and other important issues challenging higher education professionals and student leaders. Our series of educational webinars is developed for both higher education professionals and student leaders to learn, teach and collaborate with one another to better the higher education community as a whole.

Higher Education and Social Media

Friday May 8 2:00 pm (PST)

More info & Register

Case Study in Launching a Campus

May 28  10:00 AM (PST)

More info & Register

(This webinar is focused to current and potential community members)

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