Assessment

2009 Assessment - Outcomes Assessed

Outcome: 90% of program participants will report a 4 or better on a 5 point satisfaction scale.

90.6% of program participants reported a 4 or better on a 5 point satisfaction scale. (U-LEAD criterion met; Orientation criterion not met - 88.2%.)

Outcome: Required U-LEAD evaluative papers reflect that 90% of student participants demonstrate desired critical thinking skills.

100% of required U-LEAD evaluative papers demonstrated desired critical thinking skills. (Criterion met.)

Outcome: The diversity of student staff will mirror or exceed that of the UNC Asheville studet body.

94% of Orientation student staff was white/caucasian, 6% Arabic; 50% female, 50% male; 100% heterosexual. Orientation student staff demographics did not mirror or exceed that of the UNC Asheville student body. (Criterion not met.)

Outcome: Will collaborate with at least one other program area for 80% of programs.

Orientation and Leadership programs collaborated with Student Affairs departments to enhance the OL plus positions, U-LEAD Retreat, and U-LEAD workshops with all programs. (Criterion met.)

Results

Orientation administered four surveys during the 2009-2010 orientation season: the embark orientation survey (for freshmen and transfer students), rendezblue survey, and NASPA Consortium Orientation survey. In addition to administering internal orientation surveys, as a part of the NASPA Consortium, UNC Asheville participated in the national orientation survey to benchmark ourselves against some of our peers and other national colleges and universities.

The embark orientation survey for freshmen was administered to the 573 freshman embark participants and received 256 responses. The transfer embark survey was administered to 260 transfer embark participants with a return rate of 84. The rendezblue and NASPA Consortium surveys were administered to 644 participants with a return of 217 and 153, respectively.  We believe the lower response rate for the NASPA survey was due to survey fatigue of our students since they had received the rendezblue survey, a Mapworks survey, and the NASPA survey within a six week period; two of these surveys included 70+ questions and this may have contributed to the lower response rate.

Results of each survey are linked below.
embark orientation survey for freshmen
embark orientation survey for transfers
rendezblue survey
NASPA Consortium Orientation survey

In reviewing the surveys, although it is noted that Orientation has achieved total satisfaction in every area of the program, two specific areas of the embark program stand out as areas in need of attention: Advising/Registration and Sample Asheville Expo.  Overall, students were more dissatisfied with their experiences with these two components of the orientation program than any other areas of the program.

Based on the information we received from these surveys, Transition and Leadership will take the following actions:
1. Revamp and enhance the Advising and Registration process for new students. Orientation will be more intentional in preparing students for course registration in an attempt to reduce the anxiety and stress of class selection.
2. Redesign and enhance the Sample Asheville Expo. Orientation will remove Sample Asheville Expo from the dinner portion of embark and establish a time separate from meals so that students have a dedicated meal time and feel more comfortable with meeting area businesses/services.