Assessment of Living Learning (ALL Survey)

Dec 2006

Tappan Hall

Response Rate

Used QuestionPro but had problems sending out because of MU spam protection. Sent out using OXF### listservs which made tracking participants more difficult.

It was distributed to an estimated 6800 residents. 2574 viewed it. 2184 started it. 1813 (26%) completed it. Almost the same demographics responded as last year with the exception of class rank. This year 63% of the respondents were first-year students.

All Campus / 6800 / 1813 / 26.6%
Tappan Hall / 286 / 161 / 56.3%

Academic Adviser

In previous years we only asked the first-year students about academic advising. This year we asked all participants and made the questions applicable to all advisers on campus.

Percentage who answered “strongly agree” or “agree” / all / FY / UC / TPN
My academic adviser was available to schedule to meet with me about academic matters. / 71.9% / 86% / 45.6% / 87.6%
My academic adviser asked me questions about my academic goals and major. / 67.2% / 83.9% / 37.2% / 78.8%
My academic adviser helped me understand resources for academic decision making (DARS, Bulletin, Miami Plan, other administrative offices or advisers on campus, etc.) / 65.2% / 80.7% / 37.4% / 75%
My academic adviser effectively answered my questions about academic matters. / 62.6% / 73.5% / 42.7% / 69.4%
My academic adviser took a personal interest in my academic success. / 58.6% / 70.5% / 37.0% / 69.6%

Implication: Use this data when developing public relations piece for faculty and staff at MU. “When surveyed, most students indicate that their academic advisers in the residence halls are available, were knowledgeable about academic matters at Miami…

RA/CLA

My Current RA/CLA:

Agree or Strongly Agree / all / FY / UC / TPN
...available to me and has a presence on my corridor. / 78.2% / 80.8% / 73.7% / 70.6%
...a good resource and can respond to my questions about Miami. / 74.7% / 80.2% / 65.0% / 74.4%
...a good listener and helps when I have a problem. / 66.2% / 70.6% / 58.1% / 62.5%
...a strong community builder on my corridor and in my residence hall. / 65.2% / 68.7% / 59.1% / 63.1%
...a positive role model. / 76.8% / 79.7% / 71.7% / 76.7%
...a good programmer and creates educational opportunities in the residence hall. / 68.1% / 70.3% / 64.3% / 69.4%

All of the values in the all column were significantly higher than the previous year (between 11% and 15% higher). Whereas I’d like to conclude that our staff are doing that much better work, it is not known how much of the difference can be attributed to the change in timeline of the survey implementation.

Implication: During training, ask RAs to predict numbers – then post. Challenge how they think they are perceived. Ask them to reflect on what each of the descriptors means and how residents might be measuring each item.

FYA/AFYA/RD

My First Year Adviser/Assistant First Year Adviser (first year halls) or Resident Director (upper class halls) is:

Strongly agree or agree / all / FY / UC / TPN
...available to me and has a presence in my residence hall. / 70.3% / 74.1% / 63.5% / 67.3%
...a good resource and can respond to my questions about Miami. / 70.1% / 75.1% / 61.1% / 66.7%
...a good listener and helps when I have a problem. / 60.0% / 64.3% / 52.2% / 53.9%
...a strong community builder in my residence hall. / 59.4% / 61.6% / 55.4% / 52.6%
...a positive role model. / 67.6% / 71.6% / 60.2% / 68.6%
...a good programmer and creates educational opportunities in the residence hall. / 65.1% / 67.3% / 61.3% / 66%

All of the values in the all column were significantly higher than the previous year (between 11% and 16% higher). Whereas I’d like to conclude that our staff are doing that much better work, it is not known how much of the difference can be attributed to the change in timeline of the survey implementation.

Frequency of meaningful discussions with other students about…

Meaningful discussions about race / all respondents 05-06 / all respondents Dec 06 / TPN
not at all / 33% / 34.2% / 28%
very little / 24% / 25.1% / 23%
Some / 30% / 27.8% / 34.8%
quite a lot / 10% / 8.6% / 12.4%
a great deal / 4% / 3.9% / 1.9%

The decrease could be attributed to the change in timeline for the implementation of the ALL Survey. (Do some of these conversations occur in the spring?)

Men were no more or less likely to talk about race than women.

Those who reported their RA to have a greater presence and were good programmers reported more frequent conversations about race.

Meaningful discussions about gender / all respondents 05-06 / all respondents Dec 06 / TPN
not at all / 33% / 31.0% / 23%
very little / 23% / 24.6% / 23.6%
Some / 29% / 27.9% / 29.2%
quite a lot / 11% / 11.3% / 16.8%
a great deal / 5% / 5.3% / 7.5%

Women were only slightly more likely to have meaningful conversations about gender then men.

Again, those who reported their RA to have a greater presence and were good programmers reported more frequent conversations about gender.

Meaningful discussions about sexual orientation / all respondents 05-06 / all respondents Dec 06 / TPN
not at all / 33% / 32.5% / 25.5%
very little / 23% / 25.1% / 24.8%
Some / 29% / 27.3% / 32.3%
quite a lot / 11% / 9.5% / 13%
a great deal / 5% / 5.6% / 4.4%
Meaningful discussions about politics / All respondents / all respondents Dec 06 / TPN
not at all / 25% / 23.4% / 11.8%
very little / 20% / 21.3% / 16.8%
Some / 30% / 31.9% / 32.9%
quite a lot / 16% / 15.1% / 22.4%
a great deal / 8% / 8.3% / 16.2%
Meaningful discussions about class material / all respondents / all respondents Dec 06 / TPN
not at all / 14% / 9.1% / 5%
very little / 8% / 6.4% / 2.5%
Some / 21% / 25.0% / 18%
quite a lot / 32% / 34.5% / 41%
a great deal / 24% / 25.0% / 33.5%
Meaningful discussions about career issues / all respondents / all respondents Dec 06 / TPN
not at all / 19% / 15.1% / 8.7%
very little / 12% / 13.1% / 13.7%
Some / 27% / 31.5% / 24.2%
quite a lot / 28% / 27.5% / 38.5%
a great deal / 13% / 12.7% / 14.9%
Meaningful discussions about religion or spirituality / all respondents / all respondents Dec 06 / TPN
not at all / 25% / 20.0% / 11.8%
very little / 20% / 23.0% / 17.4%
Some / 29% / 31.9% / 31.7%
quite a lot / 17% / 16.6% / 26.1%
a great deal / 9% / 8.7% / 13%

Survey note: Continue to ask these questions next time so that we can look for longer term trends.

Implication: Let the staff know that this is one way we are evaluating the living learning communities.

Implication: Conversations about meaningful topics occur in the residence halls at a lower frequency than we wish. Train staff on how to engage students in conversations, both formal through programming and informal or reactive, about these issues.

Programming

I am satisfied with the quantity and quality of the following types of programs and events in my residence hall:

Strongly agree or agree / All / FY / UC / TPN
Recreational / 49.4% / 52.3% / 44.4% / 49.1%
Social / 62.7% / 65.1% / 58.6% / 61%
Educational / 47.4% / 49.4% / 43.9% / 65.4%
Diversity related / 33.1% / 33.7 / 32.1 / 42.4%
In which residence hall do you currently live? / Sex: 1=female 2=male / One way I would improve academic advising at Miami would be… / The most significant learning experience I had in the residence halls this year was (discussion, program, situation, class, event, etc.): / What suggestions do you have for improving the residence halls at Miami?
Tappan / 2 / I'm not sure there is a way. My advisor was extremely helpful.
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 1 / The advisors should be more knkowledgable about honors requirements and classes.
Tappan / 1 / Having study sessions with friends from my corridor.
Tappan / 1 / Getting tohether a study group for a class. I realized that the study group with the people around me helped a lot.
Tappan / 2
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 2 / better availability of departmental advisors. / observing social behavior to postulate that the most abhorrent persons are also the most liked.
Tappan / 2 / To have an academic advisor from the department of major for all first year student who have selected a major. / That I can't stand living in a residence hall with a roommate. / To have more single rooms for first-year students
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 2 / to actually help guide students--suggest courses to take, etc. I suggested to Carolyn Haynes, that at least for the honors program, an upper level honors student in a certain major could mentor and advise first-years on which courses to take, etc. they
Tappan / 2 / Hire someone who cares a little more, someone with better hours, and someone a little more knowledgeable. / Meeting people of different backgrounds. We might all be Tappan honors kids, but we all bring something to the table. / Not much - I loved living in Tappan and couldn't imagine living anywhere else this year.
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 2 / make the advisor more knowledgable / Diwali / Make the rooms bigger
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 2
Tappan / 2 / Get more highly qualified advisors.
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 1 / my faculty mentorship class is by far the best teacher/student relationship i have found here on campus. i learned alot by sharing a bathroom with 100 other girls too! / I think a better roommate match up system is in order. I can think of SEVERAL pairs that are unhappy, myself included. Also people who are not in the Honors and Scholars program SHOULD NOT be allowed to in our dorm. Their lazy lifestyles ruin our habitat
Tappan / 1 / More active involvement by advisors
Tappan / 1 / Nothing. I really like my advisor, Erica Bischer. / new furniture
Tappan / 2
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 2
Tappan / 2 / Provide a Departmental Advisor to incoming students. The academic advisor that 'answers' questions now is just not knowledgeable in every major and its requirments, including the difficulty of classes and what should be taken to prepare for Graduate Schoo / Listening to the immorality of my RA. / INVOLVE THE STUDENTS.
Tappan / 2
Tappan / 2 / hire more knowledgeable advisers. I think I knew more about scheduling and classes required for my major than she did. / Renovate the buildings. The honors dorm has rooms with holes in the wall and wallpaper peeling.
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 2
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 2 / enforcement of noise policies at night
Tappan / 2
Tappan / 1 / The study abroad, presentation was veyr benefital. / Coffee, and Hot Chocolate machine in the basement, along witha fridge, pots, and in the kitchen,
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 1 / a discussion with my acedemic advisor on classes. / Water and electricity saving programs. Hall formals.
Tappan / 2
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 1 / That there is a fine line between RA and friend, or so my FYA says. I have come to be very close to one of my RAs and our FYA did not like that and said that I am not supposed to talk to that RA about my life. I've learned that you can't always please e / I love the residence halls the way they are.
Tappan / 2 / Help work miami plan into schedule / add air conditioning everywhere
Tappan / 1 / N/A
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 1 / My advisor was very helpful in answering questions about the Miami Plan and broad subjects, but as a whole I would like academic advising at Miami to be better equipped to handle students who come in with multiple semesters of AP credit and who would like
Tappan / 2
Tappan / 1 / be able to find my adviser easier / meeting everyone
Tappan / 1 / Assign us real advisors that deal with our major that actually care about our academic future. / Discussion with other residents
Tappan / 2 / I don't know. / More interactive programs (or at least more promotion of them).
Tappan / 1 / How to live with someone else. / Dim the lights in Tappan so people can actually tell when to be quiet. 24 quiet hours mean nothing when the lights in the hallway are always on all the way.
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 2
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 1 / more suggestions on how to get into necessary honors classes.
Tappan / 1 / sharing my space with other people (bathrooms)
Tappan / 2
Tappan / 1 / have more advisors available to talk to students more frequently
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 1 / More time and better organization in the actual scheduling of meetings. My advisor was unaware she had a meeting with me because of a lack of communication between her assistant and herself. / discussion with peers. / stronger enforcement of quiet hours at absurd hours like post 4 a.m. on the weekdays.
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 2
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 2
Tappan / 2 / That there be more schedualed meetings witht the advisor that is mandatory, 1 is not enough. / The pre-med meeting that informed me of the task ahead and the long road. / There be more activities that the learning living communities suggest.
Tappan / 1
Tappan / 2 / More contact with the advisor / I haven't had a learning experience / People need to be shown more respect, and I think this will happen if there is a better sense of community.
Tappan / 2
Tappan / 1 / Have the graduate students who do advising be more knowledgeable. / The discussions I hold with my friends in the lobby about our differences. / Slightly later quiet hours not in effect due to a toddler.
Tappan / 2 / Improve the amount of information academic advisers know outside of basic scheduling and registering...not very consistent with answers concerning the Bursar, Registrar, etc., and a decent amount of personal calls need to be made. / My English class helped me a great deal with writing techniques and improving my overall writing ability. / The mail should get to the residence halls earlier in the day, because I often find myself waiting all day for important documents coming through the mail. The washers and dryers need to be cleaned more regularly (dryer ducts, tops of washers, etc.)