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.

Effectively pass your knowledge and experience on to future leaders!

“[An] effective leadership transition is the process by which past and future student leaders in an organization work together to review and learn from previous events and programs and prepare for the upcoming year.”  -Adrienne M. Craig

The transition from old to new leaders is vital to an organization’s success.  Leadership transitions allow members to reflect on the past and plan for the future.   Chloe Chavez, a former Vice President of the Hispanic Business Student Association (HBSA) at The University of Texas at Austin (UT) had a very positive experience:

At the end of each school year our current officers hold a transitional meeting to brief incoming officers on the success and debacle of that year’s events, the most attention would center around the largest events that consistently brought in the most revenue and/or provided the most benefit for our members.  Our leadership transitions run especially smooth because our leaders create soft copies of important files such as event planning that future leaders may use as a How To Guide; this gives them a head start for the upcoming year. Efficient transitions enable the professional progression of our organization, officers and members.

Chloe’s situation is definitely the exception.  Other organizations lack a systematic way of transitioning new leaders into their organization.  Some new officers are even left with the responsibility of contacting a past officer, sometimes even after they’ve graduated, to gain needed event or contact information.  Some have no luck and have to start their planning from scratch.

In this situation, this leader’s valuable experience of what works and what does not work is no longer existent; the organization can no longer benefit from this leaders hard work and will have to, basically, reinvent the wheel over and over again until an effective leader transition system is implemented.  Sadly this is a problem for many organizations.

So how can organizations avoid this dilemma? Adrienne M. Craig, director of Student Activities at Johnson & Wales University-Florida, in an issue of Campus Activities Programming by NACA (May ’09) gives a few tips for effective student leader transitions:

1. Plan a retreat. Allow leaders to focus on having a successful year for their organization.
2. Create a map of the organization’s journey. Reflect on the past, in order to plan for the future and maintain traditions.
3. Be honest about the past and realistic about the future. Discuss and assess past events that way past mistakes will not be repeated.
4. Take time to learn your available resources. Whether they may me past food deals or other resources from staff.

What tips would you give students who are transitioning into a student leader position?

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.

Marketing your organization can be tricky if you have no prior training or experience in marketing.  So where do you start you ask? We have three steps to follow while creating your marketing plan. If you would like more information on the topic feel free to leave a comment!

1. CREATE A POSITIONING STATEMENT FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION

Clearly define your organization by assessing its benefits, target membership and competitors. This information and your promotional materials will go hand in hand and will enable you to have a clear and consistent message.

Positioning Statement – (Fill in the blank with your organization’s info)

_______(Your Organization Name)_______ is ______(List 3 of Your Most Unique and Most Important Claims)_____  among all ______(List Your Competitive Frame *example: Student Organizations)______  for ______(Your Target Membership)______   because ______(Include Support for your 3 Unique Claims)_____.

•    Define your expectations for organization growth; do you want to expand your organization or merely preserve your current member base?
•    Use this information when deciding which channels to use while distributing your message (Channels are stated below)

2. CREATE YOUR PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL

•    Create a concise tag line using content from your positioning statement
•    Consider Your Audience When Choosing Benefits to Highlight
-Social organizations – Promote how your org will meet emotional needs
-Professional organizations -Promote facts and encourage “information gathering”

Promotional material should always include the following (but is not limited to):
•    Organization name
•    Message
•    Contact information
•    Website URL
•    Tag-line

Possible Communication Channels to Reach Your Qualified Audience:
•    Online: Organization website, School Organization directory and social media
•    Print: Flyers, Posters, Banners & Kiosks can create a consistent campus presence
•    Programs: Information included can educate prospective and current members
•    Broadcast: TV and Radio stations,  Campus monitor advertisements

3. CREATE A STRONG PRESENCE ON YOUR CAMPUS

•    Sign up to showcase your organization at the freshman orientation student org fair
•    Showcase your org along popular areas of your campus for the first few weeks of school
•    Create relationships with organizations that relate to your target members interest

CHECK OUT MY FUTURE BLOGS!  TOPICS WILL INCLUDE:
•    Marketing for Small Organizations – A Focused Approach
•    Creating a Marketing Plan for an Expanding Organization
•    Large Organizations and How to Keep a Consistent Message Across Campus

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.

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.

Student Organizations Find Co-Sponsorship Opportunities by Networking with Other Organizations Using OrgSync

This past semester, I, Jessica Reyes, attended a meeting at the McComb’s School of Business as a representative of Alpha Kappa Psi. The meeting was held to discuss the recent student org budget cut for the 2009-2010 school year due to the business schools exclusion from receiving any monetary sponsorship from the University Coop.

As students, we knew the University Coop’s budget cut would lead to the end of many of our organizations’ events due to inadequate funding.   At this meeting we broke up into several groups to brainstorm different ways we could work this problem out effectively.    We found that each organization created and funded its events without collaboration of other organizations.  We came to the conclusion that greater communication amongst all business organizations was needed and that it would be best if the organizations could co-sponsor events so that the funds could benefit more than one organization.  This not only would spread the student org funding evenly, it would also inspire greater event attendance among business organizations with the benefit of networking with others.

The next question to ask is how this communication could be implemented with such a large amount of students involved.  With the advent of OrgSync on campus, organization leaders could create a group to facilitate the planning of their events. Other organizations can view this information and respond if they are interested in co-sponsoring an event.  This new means of communication will reduce spending, and create more opportunities for great events to take place even with the absence of the external monetary sponsorships.

OrgSync would like to announce our Implementation Webinar Series in June. We will focus on two campuses, one large and one small, who have already established the implementation process on their campus. They will share their best practices, successes, challenges, and suggestions for making the transition to OrgSync.

Our large campus implementation model will be on Thursday, June 11 at 1:00 EST and will feature Deborah Felder of the Student Organization Resource Center at North Carolina State University. NCSU began working with OrgSync last summer and developed a marketing plan to increase awareness of OrgSync to their 500+ student organizations and 31,000 students. Deborah has been an instrumental partner in helping define best practices for implementation and providing helpful feedback and suggestions for our new developments. Sign up for the large campus webinar.

We will feature our small campus implementation webinar on Wednesday, June 24 at 1:00 EST. Our feature presenter will be Rebecca Delo, Assistant Dean of Students for Student Life and Leadership Development at Muskingum College. Muskingum also joined the OrgSync family last summer, and Rebecca was very proactive in establishing the student organization registration process through OrgSync, as well as successfully attaining a high level of student adoption on her campus across their 100 organizations and 1500 students. Sign up for the small campus webinar.

We hope that our new clients and anyone who could benefit from these free webinars will attend! Please contact us with any questions.

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!

During the month of February, OrgSync started working with many new campuses from coast to coast.  We are extremely excited to welcome the University of Alabama – Birmingham, Arizona State University, Florida International University, Pace University @ Pleasantville-Briarcliff, University of the Incarnate Word, Adelphi University, Denison University, California State University @ Dominguez Hills, The City College of New York, Saint John’s University, and the University of Colorado @ Denver.  Together these schools account for approximately 150,000 students in over 1,900 organizations.

At Arizona State University, OrgSync will become the primary management tool for over 700 student organizations. “As one of the largest universities in the country, we have an extensive network of clubs and organizations that will benefit greatly from the organizational tools OrgSync offers” states ASU Assistant Director for Student Development, Jennifer Stultz; “OrgSync will not only help our individual clubs and organizations grow, but will also help them better integrate with one another and into the larger ASU community.”

To emphasize the importance of getting members involved on campus, OrgSync offers an unlimited number of online training webinars to students and faculty members.  OrgSync also includes an onsite training session with every initial purchase of the OrgSync platform.  The onsite trainings are very effective at helping organizations transition to a newer, more efficient method of communication. So far this spring, we’ve conducted onsite trainings with hundreds of leaders from The University of Alabama, St. John’s University, Bowling Green University, and Sacramento State University in conjunction with their respective spring leadership conferences.

As members of the OrgSync community, users from these schools will have the opportunity to provide feedback about the platform and drive future developments.  We look forward to working closely with each of these schools to provide them with a cost-saving, state-of-the-art management platform they can be proud of.